Via Speeds Cyrix, Releases Athlon Companion

Via Technologies has unveiled the speediest Cyrix III processor to date--hitting 700 MHz--and is shipping in volume a new chip set tailored to Advanced Micro Devices' newest Athlon.

The 700-MHz Cyrix III processor is one speed grade faster than the 667-MHz version that Via introduced last November. It's designed to fit into the same Socket 370 architecture that Intel uses for its low-end Celeron processors.

Other features include a front-side bus running at speeds of 100 MHz or 133 MHz, 128KB of Level 1 cache, and support for both the Intel MMX and AMD 3DNow multimedia instruction sets.

Via in February is scheduled to unwrap a new processor series code-named Samuel II. The new processors will be produced on a 0.15-micron process by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Via's manufacturing partner. To date, Cyrix III processors have been manufactured using 0.18-micron process technology.

Smaller Chips Save Power

The smaller geometries are expected to result in smaller and faster chips with a lower power consumption, Via officials say. In addition, Via has also tried to raise the performance of the Samuel II design by including on-chip, performance-enhancing Level 2 cache memory. Current versions of the Cyrix III series have not fared well in performance-comparison reviews with competing Intel Celeron and AMD Duron processors.

Last week, Via also announced that it is now shipping in volume the Apollo KT266 chip set designed to support the speedier front-side bus of AMD's latest Athlon processors. The chip set also supports double data rate (DDR) SDRAM.

DDR SDRAM is an emerging memory standard billed by AMD, Via, and several memory makers as a cheaper alternative to RDRAM (Rambus DRAM), which is based on proprietary technology from Rambus, a memory technology design company.

Via has cranked up development and release of fast but budget-priced mobile units since releasing its first mobile Cyrix III processors in September. They run at clock speeds of 500 MHz and 600 MHz and are the first to use Via's LongHaul power-saving technology, which officials say can extend battery life by up to 50 percent.