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VIA Eden ULV processor  (Source: VIA)
New 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV is the most power efficient x86 processor in the world

VIA today announced the world’s most power efficient x86 processor, in a mere 1-Watt envelope, the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV processor. The new 1-watt processor operates at 500 MHz and optimized for fan-less operation. At idle, the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV processor only requires 0.1-watt of power.

VIA targets the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV processor for industrial, commercial and ultra mobile applications. The 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV is a small processor, measuring in at 21 mm x 21 mm and packaged in a NanoBGA2 package.

The processor operates on VIA’s V4 bus clocked at 400 MHz. It has 16-stage pipeline with 128KB of full-speed L2 cache. VIA also integrates the PadLock Security Engine for hardware encryption algorithms such as AES, SHA-1, SHA-256 and Montgomery Multiplier.

“Giving our customers the building blocks to create innovative systems and driving PC technology into new markets defines our ‘Small is Beautiful’ strategy,” said Richard Brown, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “With its performance, energy efficiency and compact size, our new VIA Eden ULV processor provides a way for embedded developers to add real value to their systems and push the market forward.”

VIA recommends pairing the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV with the CX700/M chipset for a system that only draws 3.5 Watts, at a maximum, storage devices not included. VIA expects a system powered by the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV and CX700/M with storage and connectivity options to consume no more than 10-watts of power.

Expect the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV processor to show up in embedded systems.


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Cool
By jak3676 on 8/23/2007 12:04:42 PM , Rating: 5
As much as I don't like a lot of the x86 baggage, It'll be nice when there's a single architecture for a large range of items. Something like this will be great for PDA's and smart phones, etc. Definitely makes my life easier as a software developer.




RE: Cool
By grenableu on 8/23/2007 12:22:37 PM , Rating: 3
that cpu would make a great start for my next home file server.


RE: Cool
By mindless1 on 8/23/2007 5:40:51 PM , Rating: 3
Not really, the performance is too low for peak gigabit throughput and you'd be fairly limited in having to use a hardware raid if you wanted redundancy (or again, a performance bottleneck).

Via has several other processors that are more appropriate for a desktop system if you merely want the processor passively cooled, let alone the option to underclock one of those to your required performance level instead of having to try to overclock this to get there (and if history is any indicator, it won't overclock very well).


RE: Cool
By MrFluffo on 8/23/2007 12:26:39 PM , Rating: 2
Having a processor like this is any type of mobile device would be nice due to its low power usage. I wonder what the battery life would be on simple products such as mp3 players etc.


RE: Cool
By TomZ on 8/23/2007 12:31:31 PM , Rating: 4
The article states that systems based on this chip would take 10W. That would use up the battery in an MP3 player in a few minutes. :o)

Seriously though, this processor is not designed for that type of application. Think of bigger devices.


RE: Cool
By mindless1 on 8/23/2007 5:42:15 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed, if nothing else the packaging (carrier) is too large.


RE: Cool
By Torched on 8/27/2007 10:54:36 AM , Rating: 2
The nanoBGA2(21mm x 21mm) is very tiny for a x86 CPU if you ask me. The whole eden-N line uses the same packaging.


RE: Cool
By Torched on 8/27/2007 10:48:52 AM , Rating: 2
This processor is aimed to compete with the already ~1W AMD Geode LX800 SOC. These chips are used in ATM, POS, & other industrial applications. My company has used the LX800 for our products for the past year now. The nearest competitors for the LX800 were the VIA Luke & Mark dual die SOC & ULV Celeron M. Even though this new chip is not a SOC it is low enough power to compete.


RE: Cool
By tcsenter on 8/27/2007 8:52:21 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
These chips are used in ATM, POS, & other industrial applications. My company has used the LX800 for our products for the past year now.
Precisely. These aren't mobile battery-powered devices, but near always plugged.

21mm x 21mm may be tiny for an x86 processor, but its not nearly efficient enough for the kind of mobile battery-powered applications some have suggested as suitable for Eden ULV.

Eden ULV would be great for numerous plugged machines; kiosk PCs (internet, ticketing and reservation, electronic catalog and ordering), ATMs, thin clients, small industrial PCs, et. al.


RE: Cool
By TomZ on 8/23/07, Rating: 0
RE: Cool
By grenableu on 8/23/2007 12:32:31 PM , Rating: 2
Um, "X86 baggage" has nothing to do with USB ports. Its the instruction set of the cpu. And sure you can do WinCE development under ARM, but you still have to rewrite everything else. X86 compatibility is an extremely important feature for certain embedded markets.


RE: Cool
By psychobriggsy on 8/23/2007 12:36:52 PM , Rating: 2
Anything requiring hand-written assembly would have to be written especially for the x86 (SSE3/4 etc) or the ARM (whatever co-processor is attached), except that the 1W x86 variant will probably not implement the features, or they'll be really slow compared to the co-processor on a 0.2W ARM SoC.

Sure, embedded markets can use x86, but mobile ones can't, and won't for a while. ARM's performance is ever increasing too - ARM Cortex for example whilst keeping power use low. Industrial apps like x86, especially no-moving-parts x86, so this will be great for them (no fans, flash hard drive, ...).


RE: Cool
By TomZ on 8/23/2007 12:47:44 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
Um, "X86 baggage" has nothing to do with USB ports.

It depends on what you're talking about. For example, the system described in this article has a chipset that helps it implement and support PC-compatible hardware.

Sure, you could run an X86 stand-alone without a PC chipset, but what would be the point of that? You might as well run a smaller, cheaper, more power efficient ARM instead.


RE: Cool
By grenableu on 8/23/2007 12:53:03 PM , Rating: 3
The "recommended chipset" here is just that. A recommendation. There are other chipsets, with other featurs.

ARM and X86 are different markets plain and simple. Neither one is 'better' than the other, they're each better suited for certain applications.


RE: Cool
By DallasTexas on 8/23/2007 1:48:26 PM , Rating: 2
As usual, you will be proven wrong. X86 moving down to smartphone and similar products is going to happen faster than you think. It will first happen with UMPC's and MID's as these devices feature larger displays (5-7inch diagonal) and will tolerate the higher energy penalty of x86 vs ARM.

In one years time or so this discrepancy in energy will be irrelevant at the platform level. The benefits of x86 as the architecture of choice for Web 2.0 development is very important for smarthone & UMPC's moving forward.

The customization of applications like YouTube for things like iPhone is a fantasy and a short term "fix" to run internet and other social networking apps.

And as someone correctly said, the peripheral set has ZERO to do with x86. Even so, the PC peripheral set is hardly the "baggage" it once arguably could have been.


RE: Cool
By TomZ on 8/23/2007 2:01:15 PM , Rating: 5
I've heard the same argument for 5 years already, and it still hasn't happened. The fact of the matter is that ARM and other low-power architectures are also moving forward. So both become more efficient, but at any point in time, if you compare the two for a particular product design, ARM is always more efficient.

The only reason to have mobile X86 is to run Windows XP or Vista. For smaller devices where the OS choice is less critical (e.g., PDAs and smartphones), ARM seems to get all those design wins.
quote:
As usual, you will be proven wrong.

I'll try not to take that personally. :o)


RE: Cool
By omnicronx on 8/23/2007 2:10:16 PM , Rating: 3
You keep count of the times that he 'will' be wrong? Do you have some 'you will be wrong' software to keep track? Written for an x86 smartphone maybe?.. without the baggage of course..


RE: Cool
By DallasTexas on 8/24/2007 9:24:21 AM , Rating: 2
Yes, I do. I merely click on the persons name and out comes a record of their posts from DailyTech servers. I import it all to a spreadsheet, pick out the outrageous ones and put on the big screen for a good laugh with friends.


RE: Cool
By mindless1 on 8/23/2007 5:53:05 PM , Rating: 1
This "discrepancy in energy" is going the wrong direction. We don't need x86 to have functionality and who really cares if a developer actually has to do some work instead of the easy bloated way out?

This is the kind of thinking that is ruining consumer devices, trying to make them all do more than the buyer needs, thus leaving the owner with no way to get an acceptible runtime per battery charge and unnecessarily higher expense, and probably shorter product lifespan as well.


RE: Cool
By tcsenter on 8/24/2007 5:24:19 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
As much as I don't like a lot of the x86 baggage, It'll be nice when there's a single architecture for a large range of items. Something like this will be great for PDA's and smart phones, etc. Definitely makes my life easier as a software developer.
Not quite ideal for PDAs or smart phones, at 440mm² for the CPU alone. The same 21mm x 21mm footprint will get you a complete ARM/PPC System on Chip (SoC) that integrates a RISC CPU running at 400MHz ~ 533MHz, 128KB L2 cache (full-speed), hardware encryption engine, and a complete core logic solution including 2D/3D graphics accelerator, all for not more than 500mW MAX TDP (~250mW is typical).

Check-out the Freescale i.MX31 SoC, which brings all of this (and more) on an even smaller 14mm x 14mm BGA package:

http://www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/prod_brie...

http://www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/fact_shee...

That chip is iPhone material and only costs $21 in 10K quantities. Honestly, I don't know what VIA's market is here other than small budget prototyping with off-the-shelf components, custom integration, and hobbyist DIY. Real developers of set-top boxes, PDAs, gaming portables, video entertainment, navigation systems, and the like have access to vastly superior and less expensive embedded components that would have a fraction of the power requirements.


Heat
By dm0r on 8/23/2007 12:07:58 PM , Rating: 2
Wow, only 1 Watt...I wonder if it requires a heatsink