Via Unveils 1-Watt x86 CPU 276
DeviceGuru writes "Taiwanese chip and board vendor Via Technologies has introduced a new ultra-low voltage (ULV) processor aimed at industrial, commercial, and ultra-mobile applications. Touted as the world's most power-efficient x86-compatible CPU, the 500MHz 'Eden ULV 500' processor debuted at an Embedded Systems Conference in Taipei this week. Via says its chip draws a minimum of 0.1 Watts, when idle, and a maximum of 1 Watt, making it a great candidate for consumer electronics devices such as UMPCs, PVRs, and such."
laptop anyone (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Obligatory (Score:3, Insightful)
So like. . an intel 2 duo that takes a room and miles of cable?
PVRs? (Score:3, Insightful)
Redundand? (Score:4, Insightful)
Linux and Windows CE (or whatever they call it today) run just fine on ARM and similar. Will a low-power x86 compete performance-wise with a low-power RISK architecture?
I wish mainstream CPUs / GPUs would focus on power (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I wish mainstream CPUs / GPUs would focus on po (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly. Who cares? People are generally selfish and sometimes you must do things that benefit people as a whole instead of individuals. If slapping a tax on the most energy consuming devices in some category causes people to buy the more efficient ones, that is a benefit to every one. If you still want to buy that device despite the tax then nobody is stopping you. But I guarantee that for everyone who does than many more will choose one which doesn't.
It does not mean either that you're getting a crappier machine as a result. While there is a relationship between CPU / GPU performance and power, I doubt it is a 1:1 mapping. Some processors and GPUs are going to deliver more operations per watt than others. Companies and consumers should be encouraged to favour the more efficient designs over the less efficient designs and a tax for the worst offenders in any class is one way of going about that.
Re:I wish mainstream CPUs / GPUs would focus on po (Score:2, Insightful)
In some EU countries economic cars have less yearly tax already, I think it's calculated from the CO2 emission pr. km.
And cars that can't perform 15km/l or more, have had their price tax raised, while longer running ones have had it reduced.
Re:How does it compare? (Score:1, Insightful)
How on earth would you decide what CPUs to use for what purposes if you couldn't compare them, because they were different? Is this a 'embrace diversity' PC thing?
x86 remains a good choice if you have to run x86 binaries, like Windows, or if you want good performance at mass-production prices. Apparently 'the world's most power-efficient x86-compatible CPU' still doesn't cut it for embedding. Stating that is not grounds for being sent to reeducation.
Re:How does it compare? (Score:4, Insightful)
RISC is an instruction set thing, with the caveat that RISC instruction sets lend themselves to pipelined instruction execution as a by product.
Yes, modern x86 processors have RISC like microcode implemented using pipelined cores, but the x86 -> microcode converter is extra logic RISC processors just don't need.
There is no way you can implement an x86 chip in the same number of transistors as a RISC chip like ARM or MIPS, hence this VIA chip having considerably more power draw.
Re:How does it compare? (Score:2, Insightful)
(Score:4, Wrong)
Re:laptop anyone (Score:3, Insightful)
For a user-oriented workstation, true. Even with the Via C7, a single HDD (at spin-up, anyway) could consume more than the CPU.
I think, though, these things mostly don't go into actual desktop machines. They go into car audio solutions (with a 4x20 non-backlit LCD or even VFD), or routers (headless and with CF or USB storage) or various low-demand servers (also headless).
But for use in a laptop, yes, a backlit LCD would dwarf this CPU for power consumption. But then, in a laptop, ever watt matters - If this CPU only cuts the total load by 10%, that means 10% more runtime on a given battery, or the same runtime with a smaller and lighter battery.
Also, consider that low-power system designers typically pick the lowest fruit first... If we have a 1W CPU, solid-state primary storage, that leaves the LCD as the worst offender. How long will it take them to find ways to improve that? Whether making better use of ambient light (I've never understood why laptop screens don't have a clear/frosted back anyway, giving you the option of turning off the backlight), or using active OLED pixels that don't require an external light source, or something else entirely new and different.
I, for one, look forward to a moderately powerful portable PC that can run for over a day on a pair of AA batteries.
Re:How does it compare? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ex. Take an Barton core Athlon and compare it with a 1st Gen P4, running both at the same clock speed. That Barton will significantly outperform the P4, even with the same Mhz. Conversely, thake a Core2 Duo and an Athlon64 X2 of the same clock speed - the Core2 Duo will wipe the floor with the Athlon64 X2.
Mhz only means something when the processors are of the same line. Different lines in an arch can drastically modify the CPUs relative performance by Mhz, varying app to app, and changing the arch completely will destroy most comparisons.
Another example, would be to compare a 500Mhz EV6 Alpha to a 1Ghz Athlon - There are many tasks at which that Alpha will pretty much destroy the Athlon in terms of performance, even at half the clock speed.
So, what you want is power:performance-at-desired-tasks ratios, it's more complex, but it's not useless (and in some cases, counterproductive/counter intuitive)
Screw you, I like feeding trolls (Score:2, Insightful)
1. I point at my wrist because you aren't paying attention. You might not realize the words, but the motion is undeniable.
2. I search for the remote because while the channel may eventually be changed, the remote is still fucking missing.
3. Fuck you and your 4 pounds. Either you're part of the EU or you're not.
4. Maybe you're not waiting for a bus.
5. "Are you alright" is a simple of way of asking if you can talk, move, respond. If you don't, you're not. You probably deserved the punch anyway..