Original URL: http://www.reghardware.com/2006/06/16/via_socket-479_cpu/
VIA socket-479 CPU appears in Japan
Works with Intel chipsets
VIA has been very quiet recently, especially in the UK. Although it had a stand at Computex this year, there was really very little in terms of new products on display.
Then, out of nowhere, this socket-479 processor appears on a Japanese website, without any mention of it from VIA.
Admittedly, VIA seems to have been planning a socket-479 part for some time - rumours were around at CeBIT two years ago that such a part would be available.
The processor in question is based on the C7 core and is a mobile part with model number 754, which indicates that it's clocked at 1.5GHz. VIA has a range of mobile processors listed on its website [1], but there's no indication what interface these processors use.
According to VIA, these processors only work with the VIA VN800 chipsets, but judging from the information on Akiba [2] the socket-479 works just fine on an Intel 915G platform.
Based on this information one has to wonder how different the VIA C7 bus is from that of the Intel Pentium M processors.
Apparently, the BIOS doesn't recognise the C7 processors correctly, but the system booted up into Windows without any problems.
VIA C7-M socket-479 on the right compared to an Intel Pentium M
With 64kb L1 and 128kb L2 cache, the VIA C7 is hardly a competitor for the Pentium M in terms of performance. But there's no reason why VIA couldn't eat away at Intel's entry level market share if all that is needed is a simple BIOS upgrade. ®