VIA's Joshua: Born Again Cyrix III

by William Henning
Editor, CPUReview
Copyright February 24, 2000
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Introduction

On Tuesday VIA finally launched their new processor, which was previously known by the code name "Joshua".

[Editor: See "VIA/Cyrix Joshua: A Preview" for my earlier article about Joshua; and VIA's page. - you also might want to subscribe to our newsletters, the subscription form is in the navigation bar to the left!]

The official name of the new processor is the VIA Cyrix III - this names the processor after Cyrix, the company that developed the technology it is based on (which was bought by VIA last year).

It looks like it will be an interesting chip for low end systems; but it is too early to say how well it will perform - especially for gaming.

Cyrix 3 specs:

• Socket 370
• 64Kb L1 cache
• 256Kb L2 cache
• 66/100/133Mhz FSB officially supported
• 3DNow! instructions
• dual pipelined FPU & MMX
• 0.18 micron process
• NOT CLOCK LOCKED!!!

Q&A with VIA

Donald Eubank of VIA was kind enough to answer the questions I sent him.

[Question: what I asked, Answer: the response, Analysis: what I think of the answer]

Question: How did the introduction go? Were you pleased with the response?

Answer: I was happy to see that most of the press did understand the position of the Cyrix III, and didn't confuse for something that it isn't. As Wen Chi Chen, VIA's CEO and President, said:

"We may not be the fastest processor-we don't have a gigahertz-and we may not have the [lowest] power, but we can provide an alternative to fit the market's needs, while continually improving our products, That's the benefit of open standards, open technologies."

We aren't looking to take on the PIII or Athlon, they will always be the high end enthusiasts processors of choice. But what we see is that there is a place in the Value PC market, sub $500-700 systems, that is looking for a processor that can provide high performance features at a reasonable price.

Analysis: VIA's approach makes sense; look at the profilitation of the "low cost" PC's - in this space even a $5 savings on the CPU for the manufacturer can result in a $20 savings at the retail level.

NEXT: More Questions & Answers...

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