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Hardware VIA Announces VN896 Chipset
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - January 24, 2007 3:14 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 9 comment(s) - last by danijelzi.. on Jan 28 at 8:59 AM
Low-power chipset for low-power devices with VIA C7-M and Intel Core architecture compatibility

VIA Technologies today announced its latest VN896 chipset tweaked for low-power devices such as notebooks and UMPCs. The new VN896 features VIA C7-M and Intel Core architecture processor support with a DirectX 9.0 compatible integrated graphics core.

Delivering DirectX 9.0 capable graphics is the VIA Chrome9 HC integrated graphics core that previously made its debut in the VIA P4M900. Although the integrated graphics core is DirectX 9.0 capable, Microsoft only certifies the VN896 as being Vista Basic ready strangely. Nevertheless, the Chrome9 HC integrated graphics core features VIAs Chromotion video engine that provides hardware accelerated MPEG2 video decoding and adaptive de-interlacing.

Other notable features of the integrated Chrome9 HC integrated graphics core include multiple display support. LCD, CRT and TV-outputs are available with high definition resolutions up to 1080i. The integrated Chrome9 HC can also drive two independent display devices as well. Integrated graphics aside, the VN896 also features 17-PCIe lanes configurable for one PCIe x16 port and one PCIe x1 port for external graphics processors or PCIe peripherals.

Memory support with the VN896 is quite flexible with DDR2-667/533/400 and DDR-400/333 compatibility. As with other VIA chipsets the VN896 pairs nicely with the VIA VT8237A and VT8237R Plus south bridges via VIA’s proprietary V-Link interconnect.


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After MVP3 I'll never use VIA again, but...
By chucky2 on 1/24/2007 10:48:15 PM , Rating: 2
...one just has to wonder if this VIA offering, albeit for Intel, will beat AMD's 690G to market....at the rate AMD has been moving on that chipset lately, this stands a good chance of happening...

Chuck




By Samus on 1/25/2007 12:50:20 AM , Rating: 2
I haven't had a VIA chipset in years.

not to fond of them after the whole 686b southbridge problem corrupting hard drives and all, usually when used with a creative labs sound card, which was pretty common at the time when most boards didn't have onboard audio and aureal was dying.


By stmok on 1/25/2007 2:24:11 AM , Rating: 3
Well times have changed, and VIA's hardware is much better than it was. The encryption in their C3/C7 CPUs is totally awesome. The MPEG2 acceleration features in some of their chipsets actually works. (lowers CPU usage by a considerable amount).

My only issue with them is drivers. They can talk about support for this and that in their hardware, but if there is no drivers to actually allow the user to take advantage of it, then what's the point?

Then there is my favourite topic...Drivers for Linux. VIA, like a number of companies out there, are totally unhelpful. We are forced into a position where we have to write our own drivers (simply because the VIA ones just suck a donkey's nuts on so many levels)...This is mainly concerned with these types of chipsets with MPEG2/4, etc features used in EPIA mobos. Its a slow process of trial and error. But at least we avoid any legal issues with VIA.

So they have improved the hardware. It is more stable now...Its just the effort they put on the software side. It is a bit lacking and it shows.


Sweet
By scrapsma54 on 1/24/2007 9:22:29 PM , Rating: 2
I've been contemplating to get a Barebone pc, and I guess what has discouraged me was lack of PCIe 16x on most of them. I might buy this soon (if shuttle will make it) and pair it with a heavy ordinance card like a G80 for good measure.




RE: Sweet
By Calin on 1/25/2007 4:01:27 AM , Rating: 2
In this case, you really really don't need an integrated graphic core (as they usually deactivate themselves when a discrete card is detected).


RE: Sweet
By FITCamaro on 1/25/2007 6:45:11 AM , Rating: 2
It's a notebook chipset. Not a desktop or microPC chipset. Even if it wasn't, why would you pair a lowend powersaving chipset with a G80 graphics card. You'd be bottlenecking the hell out of it.


very interesting
By Comdrpopnfresh on 1/25/2007 9:45:56 AM , Rating: 2
support for either ddr2 or ddr??




Southbridge
By stevehp on 1/26/2007 1:34:30 AM , Rating: 2
8237A eh?

How old is this thing? What happened to the 8251? Via really needs to concentrate on this.




By danijelzi on 1/28/2007 8:59:43 AM , Rating: 2
VIA VN896 is also claimed to support the 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo processors. It certified for both Vista Basic 32bit and 64bit versions.

http://64-bit-computers.com/via-vn896-chipset-vist...

So, we are waiting to see 64-bit computing on UMPCs!




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