14 DAY TRIAL // Intel rules the high-end CPU market, even AMD has decided to just leave it be, but the mid-range and entry-level segments are a different ballgame. As it happens, VIA is finally ready to try and win some ground back from the other two.
Intel may practically own the x86 architecture, but between antitrust regulations and authorities that work against the establishment of monopolies, it will probably never be allowed to revoke AMD's license.
There are other companies that make processors based on x86, however, or there were at some point in the past. VIA is the best known of them, even though its share is of less than 0.5%.
But that's mostly owed to the company focusing on specific-purpose integrated circuits. VIA is ready to try and challenge AMD and Intel once again. It doesn't have anything too overpowered, but it did just unveil a chip that could give AMD Kabini and Intel Bay Trail a run for their money.
AMD Kabini is the codename that the Sunnyvale, California-based company uses for its entry-level, low-power accelerated processing units. The Athlon chips, employed in tablets, HTPCs, and other small form factor PCs (as well as embedded ones) will be the main opponents for VIA Isaiah II. The same can be said about the Intel Bay Trail Celeron and Atom units.
The chip is a quad-core unit with each core working at 2 GHz. Data is processed with the help of 2 MB of L2 cache memory. In tests run by VIA on its own VX11H chipset, the Isaiah II outdid Intel's Atom Z3770 and even AMD's Athlon 5350 in some cases.
The Intel Atom Z3770, codenamed Silvermont, is a quad-core unit with 2.4 GHz clock, yet it lost to VIA's own BGA model, which features the latest multimedia and cryptography instruction-sets (including AVX 2.0), but nonetheless working at 2 GHz frequency.
The AMD Athlon 5350 quad-core Jaguar, with 2.05 GHz clock, actually held better against VIA's unit, but still lost in most tests. In a way, it's pretty nostalgic. Once upon a time, VIA made some of the best CPUs and even had some of the best motherboard chipsets as well. The Isaiah II quad-core x86 CPU won't bring back the glory days, at least not on its own, but it's a steady step in that direction.
If VIA really launches the Isaiah II in late-August, 2014, we may see a visible change in the PC, kiosk, and digital signage landscape by the end of the year.
