Lenovo to use chinese Zhaoxin x86 CPUs? (VIA's back!)

[Tralalak]

Had a really old PC with S3 integrated graphics , so I knew about them but never saw anything powered by VIA CPUs though.

e.g. with dGPU 4GB GTX 960

or with on-board VIA/S3G Chrome C-645/640 GPU

etc.

 

[RejZoR]

Because the FBI had to get a hacker to break a phone? I am no Apple fan, but if you look at the list of trusted devices approved for Diplomats or others you will begin to understand what is and is not secure, and if you don't like the US list, try the UK, China or others.

Yeah, that's what they said to the public. Do you really think they'll just openly admit it to the public? Lol you folks are naive...

 

[kn00tcn]

Yeah, that's what they said to the public. Do you really think they'll just openly admit it to the public? Lol you folks are naive...

the interesting thing is apple has said something about their own hardware being intercepted in shipping as it goes to their corporate offices (not consumer hardware) & how they want to control that aspect, it's as if apple isnt quite the same as MS or FB or G

 

[brandonwh64]

Every VIA cpu product I have ever used was not even worth the money. Most were so sluggish even in windows xp.

 

[StrayKAT]

There no "not really" about it, the CPU core is designed by Centaur in the US and this is a part owned partnership by VIA.



Are you saying that the US is a communist country now? As above, the CPU core is designed in the US by Centaur, more specifically in Austin.



That's a load of hogwash. How did Apple transition from PowerPC to x86 if something along these lines would be "impossible"? Anything is possible, but today there isn't enough willpower, nor a need to do so. Possible, for sure, but it won't be painless, that's for sure and it'll take time. However, is there a viable alternative today? No, and there isn't likely to be one any time soon, simply because Intel has invested enough money into the architecture and have enough market share and money to continue to push x86/x64. If/when something better arrives, then maybe we'll see a shift, but as of right now, it doesn't make a whole heap of sense.

That's funny actually... and good to know.. since I'm near Austin.

If something is called xaoxin though and steals patents, it's easy to assume it's Chinese

 

[R-T-B]

PAE allows >4GB on 32-bit, but has a moderate <10% perf penalty (iirc).

It also does not allow more than 4GB per process.

 

[remixedcat]

y'all member huaweii stealing source code from cisco...

pepe farms members.

 

[StrayKAT]

y'all member huaweii stealing source code from cisco...

pepe farms members.

IP is a foreign concept to China. Like, literally. There's no point in even shaming them. It's like dealing with a little kid.

 

[GoldenX]

The True x86 King is back.

 

[R-T-B]

IP is a foreign concept to China. Like, literally. There's no point in even shaming them. It's like dealing with a little kid.

The funny thing is, technically it's not. I mean Chinese law does acknowledge copyright. It's just, you have to be big before anyone cares.

Example: China DID attain a MIPS license for their Loongson processors (the predecessors to the same ones now used in their world leading super computers).

 

[Tralalak]

ZX-D vs ZX-C vs ZX-A

source: https://kknews.cc/tech/eabb8gn.html

 

[john_]

The whole world is talking about NSA and how it was spying everything and everyone, even other US security agencies and people here worried about Chinese government spying through these CPUs. Funny...

If/when something better arrives, then maybe we'll see a shift, but as of right now, it doesn't make a whole heap of sense.

If Windows on ARM succeeds, then we might start looking at a shift from x86 to ARM architecture. Not a complete shift, gaming will still requires high IPC cores, but at least the low/mid range systems, where power consumption is a key parameter, could see a big shift to ARM cores.
AMD's survival is also a key for x86's survival. Intel doesn't have high end graphics and with Nvidia playing with the ARM platform, without AMD, Intel is defenseless against Nvidia. Nvidia could move all it's future gaming products to ARM and show the middle finger to Intel that 10 years ago threw Nvidia out of the chipset business. Selling the whole platform is always better than selling just the GPU.

 

[Vya Domus]

ARM is RISC , that does not necessarily mean it has lower IPC , if anything the requirements for a RISC processor are to have as many instructions as possible executable within just one clock cycle something that modern x86 are incapable of doing. There are other reasons why ARM is weak , such as lack of powerful SIMD instruction and CUs that aren't robust enough.

 

[micropage7]

nice to hear via is back, but i dunno i feel like they will get a hard time entering the market right now. ryzen is booming and intel still hard to beat, theres small market to enter and i think most people will take amd or intel for their processor.
why dont they move their points to where they strong enough, or mobile processor where today its pretty promising

 

[Tralalak]

The whole world is talking about NSA and how it was spying everything and everyone, even other US security agencies and people here worried about Chinese government spying through these CPUs. Funny...

There is a unique security engine in ZX-C series processor, which could provide hardware-based high-performance and affordable security features.
Keep improving and expanding the function of unique security engine in Kaixian ZX-C+ series 4-core processor or Kaisheng ZX-C+ series 8-core processor, by adding SM3, SMS4 cryptographic algorithm support in it.
It is a very useful and important tool for content protection and system security.

Data Protection Technology (VIA/Zhaoxin PadLock Security Engine)

• Advanced Cryptography Engine (ACE): AES
• Secure Hash Algorithm: SHA-1
• Secure Hash Algorithm: SHA-256
• Secure Algorithm: SM3/SMS4
• Random Number Generator: RNG

They give you the opportunity (Algorithm):

1. either FIPS (U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard) NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) as AES, SHA-2, SHA-3, RSA;
2. or chinese Academy of Science (Chinese Commercial Cryptography Administration Office) as SM3 and SM4;
3. their combination

The choice is only for the user. And maybe that's not like anyone ...

 

[xorbe]

It also does not allow more than 4GB per process.

We know.

 

[R-T-B]

We know.

I'm not sure everyone does actually, hence the statement. Misinformation is common with that tech.

There is a unique security engine in ZX-C series processor, which could provide hardware-based high-performance and affordable security features.

The functions it provides are available in most modern processor lineups, actually.

 

[Steevo]

I will await trusted third party reviews, and let the hacker community put one in a box and see what it does first before I would trust it. It only takes a few thousand well placed transistors to transmit data almost invisibly.

 

[R-T-B]

It only takes a few thousand well placed transistors to transmit data almost invisibly.

Kinda a myth, really.

With things like wireshark, nothing is invisible. Only unreadable, at best.

 

[Tralalak]

Lenovo RS312Z

source: http://en.zhaoxin.com/ZXC.aspx?seriesid=13

source: http://www.zhaoxin.com/InCenterContent.aspx?id=133

 

[Tralalak]

China-based Zhaoxin Semiconductor expect CPU sales to double 2017, 2018
source: www.digitimes.com


• Zhaoxin KX-5000 Series processors
28nm HLMC - Shanghai Huali Microelectronics Corporation) (2017)


• Zhaoxin KX-6000 Series processors
16nm FF TSMC - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited (2018)


兆芯开先KX-5000系列国产x86处理器闪耀2017工博会
source: www.zhaoxin.com

 

[Tralalak]

 

[Thefumigator]

Via please bring back the Volari series GPUs... and make them perform great so all miners will have another choice and leave our geforces and radeons alone!

 

[RejZoR]

Would be nice to have AMD, NVIDIA, VIA and Intel in graphics segment again. Not just 2 players. More option, the better. Especially now that graphic API's are much more standardized than back in the DX5+ days when we had tons of GPU makers.

 

[john_]

Volari series GPUs

I know this is the worst place to put this comment, but I have to say that I miss SiS more than I miss VIA.