VIA Technologies, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced a powerful new 3-chip silicon platform that brings HD performance to ultra compact systems for a far richer user experience.

While desktop PCs, notebooks and embedded devices are getting smaller and thinner, demands on system resources are growing by the day, with higher definition video content, richer Internet resources and increasingly complex image manipulation requiring more powerful processing, video and graphics capabilities. Codenamed "VIA Trinity", the new platform meets all these performance requirements using much less board real estate than traditional 4-chip platforms, yet still within a comparably low power envelope.The VIA Trinity platform couples a power efficient VIA processor like the VIA Nano processor with one of VIA's highly integrated unified digital media chipsets, and adds the power of an onboard S3 Graphics PCI Express discrete GPU to bring the latest in x86 technologies to even smaller spaces.

VIA's focus on power efficiency at the silicon level has enabled the integration of all chipset core logic, memory control, IGP, peripheral and networking connectivity, and multimedia functionality into a single-chip solution, such as the VIA VX800 media system processor, allowing for the addition of a discrete graphics accelerator without blowing the space or power budget. This enables OEMs to offer systems with superior computing, 3D graphics and HD video performance over current nettops, netbooks and embedded devices.

"With Mini-ITX 2.0, we declared that small form factor meant no compromise on essential technologies or performance. The VIA Trinity platform is a natural extension of that philosophy for ultra compact systems," said Richard Brown, Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "This platform leverages VIA's long-standing expertise in shrinking the form factor to deliver a truly high definition experience in small devices, perfect for a variety of lifestyles and applications."

VIA Trinity Hi-Def Platform: Get More Out of Three!

The VIA Trinity silicon platform provides all the Hi-Def performance and latest x86 technology support in three chips that other vendors require in four, yet uses less power, granting system and board builders an immediate head-start in the SFF market.

Designed from the ground up for performance-per-watt leadership, VIA processors such as the VIA Nano processor are the bedrock of the VIA Trinity Hi-Def platform. The first 64-bit, superscalar processor in VIA's portfolio, the VIA Nano processor provides scalable, power efficient performance for a truly optimized computing experience with no compromises. This is coupled with one of the VIA system media processors, all-in-one, highly integrated digital media IGP chipsets featuring the 800MHz VIA V4 front side bus.

The S3 Graphics Chrome onboard graphics accelerator supports the latest DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL graphics architectures, HDMI output and playback of the latest Hi-Def content with the Chromotion HD 2.0 video engine. Delivering the full add-in card graphics experience in an extremely low-power onboard package, Chrome brings hardware acceleration for all leading video standards including H.264, MPEG-4, VC-1, WMV-HD and AVS for a stunning visual experience, yet remains within the strictest of thermal envelopes.

Further information on VIA's new Hi-Def Platform may be found at the VIA Trinity website.