VIA readies versions of its Cyrix III chip

VIA will release the next version of its Cyrix III processor, based on the upcoming Samuel II core, next month. An additional update, codenamed Ezra, is set for release around August.

VIA will release the next version of its Cyrix III processor, based on the upcoming Samuel II core, next month. An additional update, codenamed Ezra, is set for release around August.

Samuel II technology will add 64Kb of on-die L2 cache to the 128Kb of on-die L1 on the existing Samuel I chips that VIA currently ships.

The new technology is a long-time feature of IDT/Centaur's WinChip CPUs, which VIA acquired two years ago. The part will ship in March at 750Mhz, a slight increase on the final 700Mhz Samuel I-based Cyrix III processors VIA launched last month.

Samuel II-based 800Mhz and 850Mhz parts will soon follow, the company said, and all three versions of the new chip will support 100Mhz and 133Mhz front-side bus speeds.

Fabbed at 0.15 micron, the new chips will be smaller than the current 0.18 micron Cyrix IIIs, despite having a higher number of on-chip transistors.

Like the Samuel I, Samuel II also runs Intel MMX and AMD 3D Now! instructions, and uses a Socket 370-interface. VIA has not yet announced the prices of its Samuel II-based Cyrix III chips.

VIA has also revealed that Samuel II's eventual successor, codenamed Ezra, will be fabbed at 0.13 micron, allowing it to exceed 1Ghz speeds.

In addition, VIA plans to introduce a chipset for Pentium 4 processors at CeBIT next month without formal permission from Intel.

VIA has not signed an agreement with Intel to use Pentium 4 patents, but said it can produce chipsets for the processor because it has the necessary paperwork from its takeover of graphics card vendor S3 last year.

First published in Computer Reseller News