VIA unveils PC on a chip

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Chipmaker VIA Technologies has announced a single chip which can replace the majority of the key components on a PC mainboard. The chip will go into mass production later this year, and is expected to appear in products next year, sources said today. VIA chief executive Chen Wenchi showed a palm-sized computer mainboard built around the chip, codenamed 'John', during a presentation at the Computex trade show in Taipei. Taiwan-based VIA is targeting the new chip, and similar existing products, at mobile devices, thin client PCs, and other devices in which space, weight or power consumption are at a premium.

The 'system on a chip' is made by packaging two separate chips so they occupy the space of one. The component chips are VIA's 2GHz C7-M low voltage CPU and VX700 chipset. The VX700 is an earlier creation which combines two large chips into one, and includes entry-level 3D graphics support. Some earlier products which combined CPU, graphics and other support functions in a single chip have rapidly fallen behind as users have demanded more powerful computing devices.

News source: VNU.net

#1 yardman on 12 Jun 2006 - 12:14

This sound like a very good idea...hope they can put it to good use.

#2 kravex on 12 Jun 2006 - 12:19

If they can get it to run Window Media Centre well maybe we could soon see TV's with it built in or one the size of a small freeview box.

#3 Mathiasdm on 12 Jun 2006 - 12:38

Oh, I like this :-P Very useful for Mini-ITX and such.

#4 callumy on 12 Jun 2006 - 13:18

This sounds like a great idea. Hopefully they can break into a mainstream market with this product. I don't have a reason for such a product, but if I did, then I would seriously consider it. it would be pretty sweet if it could run a Media Centre system. Imagine the size of the machine - a really tiny DVD player than incorporates a lot more - it would probably fly off the shelves (if it were to be a reasonable price).

Cal

#5 Ash on 12 Jun 2006 - 14:31

I guess they are running out of cool code-names in the tech industry. "John" hehe.

#6 eilegz on 12 Jun 2006 - 15:21

very useful for lowend machines and as well as multimedia and media center, i think that sometimes its not about bringing the best performance but also size and power consumption

(1 reply) #7 Foub on 12 Jun 2006 - 20:16

I wonder if something like this could be used in the 'One Laptop Per Child' program?

#7.1 pyehac on 12 Jun 2006 - 20:23

Quote - Foub said @ #7

I think they can expand it to 'one desktop per child' if this is successfull (but then, it might be 'one SFF per child'

(2 replies) #8 Osprey on 12 Jun 2006 - 22:08

This should be really good for UMPC (Origami) devices. The industry needs technology advances like this in order to get the prices of those devices down to where they can be successful.

#8.1 Aq3e on 12 Jun 2006 - 22:30

Those devices were a flop.

#8.2 HawkMan on 13 Jun 2006 - 13:43

a little early to call them a flop isn't it.

and they'r ento a flop because theyd ont' sell well to home users, it'snot like they're meant for home users either, thoguh I'd get one if I had money

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