By way of Nano Processor
We have fallen in really like with Intel's Atom 230 processor, a tiny powerhouse delivering 1.6GHz of power on a motherboard the size of an open DVD case. It shows a great deal of promise for the future of house computing: at last a media centre-capable Pc in a small sufficient type factor that will not search and sound like you have got an electricity substation sitting next to your Television.
But the Atom-powered board is not without a crucial difficulty - in that it only has support for the positively Neanderthal PCI graphics slot, as opposed to the far much more modern PCI-E. It is a significant, deliberate hobbling of the platform by Intel that does affect its efficiency as a media centre Pc: it couldn't deal with current video games, and could only run 1080p video with a firm overclocking boot up the processor's behind.
Enter Via's Nano processor and Epia mini-ITX board. It's the same size as Intel's, but the chip runs at one.8GHz, and - crucially - contains a PCI-E slot. It puts Intel's board to shame but there's a catch in that it is not really accessible but, and Via have but to finalize the type it is going to come in. Nevertheless, we'd never allow that cease us putting the pre-production model through its paces.
Admittedly, we had been slightly skeptical about Via's most recent venture: the company has a spotted history, to say the least. From extreme technical difficulties utilizing their prior processors with AGP graphics cards, to an virtually-business-destroying patent wrangle with Intel suffice to say By way of is at the infamous end of chip organizations.
Thankfully, the Nano looks set to place all that animosity in the previous, and exhibits the business is finding its feet once more. The Nano utilizes the identical C7 architecture as Via's prior mini-CPUs, and as a result is backward compatible with older mini-ITX motherboards. The Epia motherboard itself includes Via's most recent CN896 Northbridge, which is in which the PCI-Express help lies, as well as an onboard VGA port. Alas, there is no constructed-in DVI port as of but - a chief complaint of a colleague is that he would be unable to plug in a Television tuner card and output high definition broadcasts at the same time.
Slot Togel88 As with the Atom motherboard, the Epia contains passive cooling on the processor itself, and has a single tiny reduced-electrical power fan on the Northbridge. The Nano achieves this by immediately scaling the overall performance and voltage states based mostly on the temperature of the die, which causes optimum cooling with out affecting overall performance. Not only does this cease your personal computer melting but it also optimizes the electrical power consumption of the processor - the Nano will draw a minimum of 5W, and highest of 25W. So in spite of not fairly equaling the Atom from a straight performance angle, it stands head and shoulders over on the power/overall performance ratio.
A drama out of a Crysis
But there is 1 thing we've neglected to mention: the Nano will run Crysis. We coupled the board with an ATI 4850 and a gig of ram then ran Crysis in DX9 with all settings on ‘high'. It achieved an astonishing typical of 20 frames per 2nd - which admittedly isn't that smooth, but is at least playable. There was some slightly odd blurring about the HUD, but for the most component the South China Sea looked as good as we would anticipate from a completely fledged bargain Computer. Large definition 720p video playback was acceptable, but the processor's touted capability to perform back 1080p fell a tiny brief, with video clips playing gradually. An overclocked processor might have dealt with the total 24 frames per second, but our check model didn't give tweaking the BIOS as an alternative. Nonetheless, with a cheap graphics card occupying the PCI-E slot the GPU will be able to get the strain of HD playback without a problem.
By way of clearly has the technical clout to knock Intel's Atom out of the ring, but it lacks Intel's canny advertising and brand recognition. If Through can smooth out the niggles we knowledgeable on the processor and card, it'll certainly be a winner the Nano could be the item that launches Via into the stratosphere.