Processor architecture boosts computer performance

The first processors implementing the VIA Isaiah Architecture will use proven 65nm technology for greater power efficiency.

VIA Technologies' VIA Isaiah Architecture is a x86 processor architecture that will deliver significant boosts to the functionality and performance of desktop, mobile and ultra-mobile PCs while minimising power requirements, saving on battery life and enabling ultra compact system designs.

It combines all the latest advances in x86 processor technology, including a 64bit superscalar speculative out-of-order microarchitecture, high-performance multimedia computation and a new virtual machine architecture.

The first generation of Isaiah-based products will be pin-compatible with the VIA C7 processor family, enabling a smooth transition for system builders and providing them with an easy upgrade path for current designs.

The first processors implementing the VIA Isaiah Architecture will use proven 65nm technology for greater power efficiency, help drive the rapidly emerging categories of green, silent and small form factor desktop PCs and home media centres and ultra thin and light notebooks and mini-notes.

"The introduction of the new VIA Isaiah Architecture is an extremely significant milestone in VIA's processor business", said Wenchi Chen, President and CEO, VIA Technologies.

"In achieving these new levels of functionality and performance, it provides the suitable complement to our industry-leading family of low-power VIA C7 processors and will enable us to further extend our growing presence in the global x86 processor market".

VIA C7 processors have been optimised to meet the rapidly growing demand for smaller, more functional and more stylish mobile and desktop computing and personal electronics devices.

These devices range from easily portable slim and light notebooks and pocket-sized Ultra Mobile PCs and Ultra Mobile Devices with rich multimedia and wireless broadband capabilities to Small Form Factor Green PCs and Digital Entertainment centres that combine space saving designs with minimal energy consumption.

The VIA Isaiah Architecture has been designed to deliver all the performance and features necessary for running the most demanding computing, entertainment and connectivity applications including high-definition video, 3D games, imaging and virtual worlds, within a very low power and thermal envelope that makes it suitable for small form factor mobile devices such as mini-notebooks and ultra mobile devices.

The VIA Isaiah Architecture is comprised of a superscalar and out of order architecture, macro-fusion and micro-fusion functionality and sophisticated branch prediction, which significantly improve processor efficiency and performance.

In addition, it also features a full and unrestricted 64bit instruction set with plenty of headroom to support 64bit operating systems and applications as they become available and a new virtual machine architecture for running systems more securely and efficiently in virtual environments.

As well as support for clock speeds of up to 2GHz in initial products and a high-speed, low-power front side bus scalable from 800MHz up to 1333MHz, the VIA Isaiah Architecture also has a highly-efficient cache subsystem with two 64Kbyte L1 caches and 1Mbyteexclusive L2 cache with 16-way associativity for more effective memory optimisation.

The VIA Isaiah Architecture also integrates the world's fastest x86 processor floating point unit (FPU) with the ability to execute four floating point adds and four multiplies per clock and also featuring a new algorithm that minimises latency.

Support for new SSE instructions and a 128bit wide integer data path further boost multimedia performance.

To minimise energy consumption and reduce heat, the VIA Isaiah Architecture uses new low-power circuit techniques and in addition to aggressive management of active power includes support for the new "C6" power state, in which power is turned off to the caches.

Extensive Adaptive PowerSaver Technology features further reduce power consumption and improve thermal management, including the TwinTurbo dual-PLL implementation, which acts like automatic transmission in permitting smooth transitions between activity states within one clock cycle, ensuring always-on service and minimising latency.

It also features new mechanisms for managing the die temperature.

To enhance the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of electronic data, the VIA Isaiah Architecture incorporates industry-leading on-die hardware cryptographic acceleration features within the VIA PadLock Security Engine, including the world's best random number generator (RNG), an AES Encryption Engine, SHA-1 and SHA-256 hashing for secure message digests for data integrity and a new specialised "secure execution mode" that includes features such as a secure on-chip memory area and encrypted instruction fetching.

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