Via Technologies earlier this week unveiled a new single-chip chipset meant to be paired with its low-power, x86-compatible C7 and Eden processors. The 37.5mm-square CX700M integrates northbridge and southbridge functions, plus “premium” graphics, audio, memory, storage, and HDTV support, and targets consumer devices and embedded… applications, according to the company.

As with the earlier CX700, introduced last April, Via expects the CX700M's highly integrated, “unified design” to enable the creation of smaller devices that consume less power and generate less heat. Compared to the earlier CX700, the CX700M implements essentially identical functions, but adds HDTV capabilities.

Typical applications are expected to include point of sale (POS) equipment, industrial PCs, and ultra-compact, low-power, desktop systems such as thin clients, Via says. The chip is also expected to find use on board-level embedded computers in the mini-ITX, EBX, EPIC, ETX, and PC/104 formats.

CX700M functional diagram
The CX700's built-in graphics are based on Via's mature 128-bit UniChrome Pro IGP core, which offers stable 2D performance under Linux using open source drivers. The UniChrome core also provides 3D and MPEG-2 acceleration, when driven by binaries released by Via for the kernels included in major desktop distributions. The graphics core features an internal 200MHz 2D/3D graphics engine with dedicated 128-bit data paths for pixel data flow and texture/command access.

Key features of the CX700M, as listed by Via, include:

• 533MB/sec Front Side Bus
• Supports up to 4GB DDR2 533/400MHz or DDR400/333/266MHz SDRAM
• Integrated VIA UniChrome Pro Graphics
• Built in HDTV encoder
• Chromotion video engine
• MPEG-2 decoder
• Video de-blocking
• Adaptive de-Interlace
• DuoView+
• Optimized Unified memory Architecture (UMA)
• 200MHz Graphics Engine Clock with separated 128-bit data paths
• 128-bit 2D and 3D Graphics engine
• Multi-configuration LVDS/DVI transmitter
• Support for VIA Vinyl HD Audio
• Serial ATA support for up to 2 devices
• Parallel ATA133/100/66 support for up to 2 devices
• Support for up to 6 USB 2.0 ports

Availability

The CX700M is expected to be available in volume quantities later by Q4. Pricing was not disclosed.

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