Preview: VIA VN1000 And Nano DC Platform: An IGP With Game?

[Crashman]

It's been a long time since we've previewed a VIA chipset. And yet, here we are with an S3-based DX10 GPU that VIA claims is ready for gaming. How does the VN1000 compare to Intel's Atom and Nvidia's ION? Is it strong enough to ward off Core i3?

Preview: VIA VN1000 And Nano DC Platform: An IGP With Game? : Read more

 

[damasvara]

At last, VIA! Let the triple threat flame war begins! :lol:

 

[dEAne]

VIA shouldn't stop it should move right away.

 

[Ramar]

I'm interested, but I guarantee that I won't be by the time this is actually released.

Technology seems to be the one thing in which the underdog third-party can't seem to do better. =[

 

[luke904]

im glad they are making a good try. I believe they will be on par (or maybe even better than an intel and ion platform) by the time the chip is manufactured at 40nm and drivers are finalized.

 

[CTPAHHIK]

D525 and ION2 is expensive combination. If VIA can deliver at price level of D400 series with ION2 or cheaper it would put good pressure on Intel.

nVidia was late to market with GTX460, but given it's price point a lot of pressure was put on ATI.

 

[firebee1991]

Very interesting. While they should take their time and not try and get into the market too quickly, I would be happy to have a third competitor to Intel and AMD. The more competition the better.

 

[super_tycoon]

Oh good, Tom's did examine the performance of a d525/ion2 platform. For this, I am pleased, even if they chose relatively intense dx10 games, not oldish dx9 ones.... point being I still love my 1215n. The i3 efficiency is damning though, too bad all the optimus ultraportables are (imho) way overpriced.

However, when the new shrunken processor arrives, I think Tom's should also include netbook-like tests. These low-energy platforms aren't meant to encode videos or apply 100 photoshop filters to a terabyte tiff. The atom was specifically built to reduce cpu overhead (it doesn't even have out-of-order execution). Maybe toss in a ulv i3 if you can scrounge one up. So ya, I'll be waiting.

 

[Jarmo]

Doesn't this remind me of previous S3 GPU offerings?
Pretty decent low end performance... if the drivers were up to the task. But they're not.
The shipping product needs to be rock solid if Via wants to overcome the suspicion.
5 bucks cheaper but doesn't work... is not the way.

 

[sudeshc]

At least they are trying and seems like a good one. They should speed up things a bit.

 

[lashton]

correct me if im wrong but i thought no intel CPU had OOO execution

 

[theshonen8899]

Yay VIA! I hope they can finally topple Intel and bring back powerful mobile solutions. All hail competition and the price drops that follow!

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]CTPAHHIK[/nom]D525 and ION2 is expensive combination. If VIA can deliver at price level of D400 series with ION2 or cheaper it would put good pressure on Intel. nVidia was late to market with GTX460, but given it's price point a lot of pressure was put on ATI.[/citation]I will be very happy if the production version can stomp on the D525 while consuming similar power at a lower cost, mostly because I think the low-energy market is far too inflated right now.

Yet rather than brag about what could be a performance leader in the low-energy class, VIA calls this a "mainstream desktop" solution. I think they need to rethink the marketing on this.

 

[Darkerson]

All things considered, I was rather impressed by what Via has to offer, especially since its not finalized yet. While I would never game with this, I would more then consider using it for an always on file server/NAS. Heres to hoping they are able to further improve it along the way. In the long run, the more options we have, the more these companies will compete for our money. Good job Via!

 

[liquidsnake718]

at least its good to know my dual core atom 330 and nvidia ion 1 12inch netbook is in good company and almost as good as a general laptop while my PC is still a beast.... asus really makes the lightest and thinnestdual core atom netbooks..... check out the asus eesashel 1020n... its a great netbook...

 

[IzzyCraft]

I enjoyed you VIA when you made mobos that didn't need expensive rambus ram for intel but sorry you mean nothing to me anymore :T

The thing i would look for was movie playback and in that arena it's not exactly a show stopper. With that platform i'd be most concerned with if it can play full 1080p movies and flash particularly flash playback. then i'd look into power consumption etc.

Really these low power solutions are meant for cheap media playback or cheap workstation solution.

 

[randomizer]

Heatsink orientation is all wrong! Must resist urge to straighten...

 

[dominatorix]

I' want to see this on a netbook/notebook solution.

 

[Reynod]

No AMD products in the comparison charts?

 

[elbert]

I want to see the 40nm Nano DC clocked at 3GHz with an Nvidia discrete GPU compared against i3's. Good review but could the Nano DC been tested for OCing. I would like to get an ideal of how far a 40nm Nano DC can OC.

 

[K2N hater]

Looks pretty good for HTPCs rather than gaming.

 

[mchuf]

[citation][nom]reynod[/nom]No AMD products in the comparison charts?[/citation]
Really, what's up with that? AMD has a set-up that is used in some netbooks. I would have liked to see a comparison including that.

 

[COLGeek]

Back in the day, I was a huge VIA fan and nearly all of my mobos used VIA chipsets. I even had a few of their mini-ITX offerings (C3 and C7 based) for special uses (linux firewalls and file servers). The thing I really appreciated about VIA was the lost cost of ownership and stable products with good driver support. It would be good for the market for VIA to offer viable (and desirable) products to consumers, again.

 

[tommysch]

[citation][nom]reynod[/nom]No AMD products in the comparison charts?[/citation]

lol...

The real question here is: can it play crysis?

Hell no it can't.

 

[ta152h]

Thomas,

The Nano has nothing to do with Cyrix. Via bought Centaur, and the Nano is from that lineage, not the Cyrix design, which was killed. The design team is still Centaur. They were part of IDT before VIA bought them.

Having said that, I'm glad someone finally gave them some attention. Although, AMD may have given them too much with the Bobcat, which may compete for the same market.