Taiwan’s VIA Technologies are well known for their niche low power, small form factor products which form the basis for embedded systems worldwide, but the line between a ‘true’ computer and a low-power embedded system just became a little more blurred with VIA adding a quad core CPU option to their Mini-ITX lineup.
Based on the proven ‘Isaiah’ micro-architecture that powers the Nano X2, the creatively named ‘VIA QuadCore E’ combines two 40nm process dies on a 21x21mm package to make up the full complement of cores and features the same adaptive overclocking and hardware support for visualization/cryptography as its dual core sibling. Currently only one of the planned range of three CPUs is available, with the 1.2GHz 27.5W TDP L4700E set to stand alone until the 1.46GHz 45W TDP L4800E and ultra-low voltage 1GHz 18W TDP U4650E make it to release.
The only motherboards with the QuadCore option for the moment are the decidedly industrial EPIA M900 and M910, but given the QuadCore is backwards compatible with everything from the ancient C7’s to the current generation Nano x2 there is no reason we couldn’t see this appearing in some more consumer-oriented products in the future.
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