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Single-Chip x86 Chipsets Around the Corner?

Posted by Zonk on from the bet-you-can't-eat-just-one dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Kontron, a giant among industrial single-board computer vendors, yesterday revealed a credit-card sized board apparently based on a single-chip x86 chipset that clocks to 1.5GHz and supports a gig of RAM. It targets portable devices — not x86's usual forte. Kontron isn't saying whether the board uses a Via or an Intel chip(set) — both vendors reportedly have single-chip chipsets in the works, part of their respective missions to drive 'x86 everywhere.'"

3 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. It's VIA by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 5, Informative

    If the chip is codenamed John, as the article claims, it's a VIA chipset. VIA uses biblical names for their CPU codenames.

    Previous VIA CPU codenames:

    Samuel
    Esther
    Nehemiah
    Ezra

    Note also that VIA combined a C3 CPU and a northbridge into a single package - it was codenamed "Luke".

  2. Re:Power consumption please? by RightSaidFred99 · · Score: 4, Informative

    This isn't true because of some "law" that says x86 must be power hungry, it's true because nobody's really sat down and done an x86 processor for the embedded market, or at least not donw well. Check out Silverthorne, it has power use comparable to MIPS/ARM.

  3. More info for x86 in embedded dev. at arstechnica by IYagami · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can find articles about the use of x86 in embedded devices at arstechnica, from Jon Stokes:

    Return of the Son of Pentium in 2008? Intel's new ultramobile processors

    Intel's low-cost "Diamondville" CPU to power OLPC/Eee PC mobile category

    And a very interesting article why processor makers want to extend their architecture to other realms: Beyond the BlackBerry crowd: life in a post-32nm world