Power-efficient chipset supports DirectX 10.1

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Jonathan Angel

Via announced a new chipset claimed to be the industry's most power-efficient supporting Microsoft's DirectX 10.1. Including the VN1000 northbridge and VT8261 southbridge, the chipset supports up to 16GB of DDR3 memory, provides smooth HD video playback, and includes dual-channel support for displays including HDMI and DisplayPort, the company says.

Intended to support Via's recently announced Nano 3000 processor (right), the VN1000 northbridge and VT8261 southbridge are said to consume a total of up to 12 Watts. This makes the chipset the most power efficient to support Microsoft's DirectX 10.1, Via claims. Such support is key, because it allows Windows 7 to run using Microsoft's advanced Desktop Driver Model 1.1, with significant gains in memory efficiency and responsiveness, the company adds.

The graphics capabilities are courtesy of what Via is branding as the Chrome 520, an integrated graphics processor on the VN1000 that has 32 stream processors and four sampling units. According to the company, a 128-bit 2D graphics engine provides GDI/GDI+ acceleration, hardware 2D rotation, and a true-color hardware cursor with 256-level blending.

Via's VN1000 (left) and VT8261 (right)
(Click to enlarge)

Via says the Chrome 520 supports Shader Model 4, OpenGL 3.0, and OpenCL 1.0 for "next-generation GPGPU applications." Meanwhile, a ChromotionHD 2.0 video processor is said to offer "advanced filtering and cutting edge post-processing," performing "ultra-smooth decoding" of 1080p HD video in MPEG-4/AVC, H.264, MPEG-2, VC-1, WMV-HD, and AVS video formats.

According to Via, display support on the VN1000 includes a dedicated CRT interface, an integrated LVVDS transmitter, a multiplexed display interface for DisplayPort and HDMI, and a 12-bit digital video output port (DVP) for an external HDMI/LVDS/DVI transmitter. DuoView support allows multi-monitor extended desktop support, where two independent display engines can display different content at different resolutions, pixel depths and refresh rates, the company adds.

Like other northbridges, the VN1000 is also responsible for memory and other key functionality. Via says the device supports up to 16GB of DDR2 (up to 800MHz) and DDR3 (up to 1066MHz) memory in dual-channel symmetric mode, with 64-bit data width for each channel. The VN1000 additionally is said to offer PCI Express expansion, one 8-lane and four 1-lane.