Earlier this year, VIA has introduced its first dual-core processor, the Nano X2, and now the company is quickly following on the footsteps of this CPU with a new chip which packs four computing cores and is known as the VIA QuadCore L2400.
Just as Intel's first quad-core chips based on the Penryn architecture, the L2400 was built by pairing together two dual-core dies on the same chip package.
The two independent cores communicated with each other through VIA's V4 front-side bus which works at 1333MHz and is compatible with the company's existing chipset and motherboard infrastructure.
Right now,
VIA has only announced a single CPU based on this quad-core design, the L2400, that has a base operating frequency of 1.2GHz, a maximum thermal and power envelope (TDP) of 27.5W, and a total of 4MB of L2 cache.
However, the base frequency is dynamically adjusted according to the CPU load and to its thermal and power headroom by a technology similar with Turbo Boost, which via calls Adaptive Overclocking.
Just like Intel's technology, Adaptive Overclocking also enables the chip to exceed its specified TDP peak for short periods of time, provided that the system temperatures allow it, and the maximum frequency that can be reached is 1.46GHz.
Performance wise, the QuadCore L2400 is expected to be faster than both Intel's Atom
CPU and AMD's E-350 APUs, and some internal benchmarks run by VIA show its chip beating the E-350 with margins ranging from 5% in SysMark 2007 to 28% in CPUMark 99 and 100% in Cinebench R10.
According to the company, the VIA QuadCore L2400 is expected to ship in the third quarter of this year and will be used in a wide range of products, including
netbooks, low-cost desktops, small-form-factor PCs, and mini servers.
Outside the L2400, VIA is also working on developing a more energy efficient QuadCore chip that will run at about 1GHz. (via
TechReport)
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