verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message via technologies inc. type subsidiary industry computer hardware founded 1987 ; 29 years ago 1987 fremont california united states headquarters new taipei city taiwan roc products chipsets motherboards cpus parent formosa plastics group website via.com.tw via technologies inc. chinese ; pinyin w ish ng di nz is a taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits mainly motherboard chipsets cpus and memory and is part of the formosa plastics group . it is the world s largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets . as a fabless semiconductor company via conducts research and development of its chipsets in house then subcontracts the actual silicon manufacturing to third party merchant foundries such as tsmc . contents 1 history 2 products 2.1 audio circuits 2.2 processors 2.2.1 via padlock 2.3 chipsets 2.3.1 vx900 2.3.2 vn1000 3 market trends 4 legal issues 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit the company was founded in 1987 in fremont california usa by cher wang . in 1992 it was decided to move the headquarters to taipei taiwan in order to establish closer partnerships with the substantial and growing it manufacturing base in taiwan and neighbouring china . 1 in 1999 via acquired most of cyrix then a division of national semiconductor . that same year via acquired centaur technology from integrated device technology marking its entry into the x86 microprocessor market . via is the maker of the via c3 via c7 & via nano processors and the epia platform . the cyrix mediagx platform remained with national semiconductor . in 2001 via established the s3 graphics joint venture . in january 2005 via began the via pc 1 initiative to develop information and communication technology systems to benefit those with no access to computers or internet . in february 2005 via celebrated production of the 100 millionth via amd chipset . on 29 august 2008 via announced that they would release official 2d accelerated linux drivers for their chipsets and would also release 3d accelerated drivers . 2 products edit a via usb phy on a rosewill branded pci usb 2.0 desktop expansion card a via envy sound card for pc . pci slot 5.1 channel via s business focuses on integrated chipsets for the pc market . among pc users via is best known for its motherboard core logic chipsets . however via s products include audio controllers network connectivity controllers low power cpus and even cd dvd writer chipsets . pc and peripheral vendors such as asus then buy the chipsets for inclusion into their own product brands . in the late 1990s via began diversifying its core logic business and the company has since made business acquisitions to form a cpu division graphics division and a sound division . as advances in silicon manufacturing continue to increase the level of integration and functionality in chipsets via will need these divisions to remain competitive in the core logic market . audio circuits edit circuit sampling rate resolution digital analog digital analog vt1613 96 khz 96 khz 20 bit 20 bit vt1618 96 khz 96 khz 20 bit 20 bit vt1708b 96 khz 192 khz 24 bit 24 bit processors edit main article list of via microprocessor cores see also list of via c3 microprocessors list of via c7 microprocessors list of via eden microprocessors and list of via nano microprocessors series model core frequency mhz front side bus mhz year process nm die size mm 2 power w l2 cache k l1 i d cache k performance spec2000 eden eden esp samuel 2 300 600 66 100 133 2001 150 35 35 2.5 6 64 64 64 eden esp nehemiah 667 1000 133 200 2003 2004 130 35 35 6 7 64 64 64 eden n nehemiah 533 1000 133 2003 130 15 15 2.5 7 64 64 64 eden esther 400 1500 400 800 2006 2007 90 30 7.5 128 32 32 eden x2 800 2011 40 11 6 c3 c3 samuel 2 667 800 100 133 2001 150 13 64 64 64 c3 ezra 800 1000 100 133 2002 130 8.3 10 64 64 64 c3 nehemiah 1000 1400 133 200 2003 130 35 35 15 21 64 64 64 c3 m nehemiah 1000 1400 133 200 2003 130 35 35 11 19 64 64 64 c7 c7 d esther 1500 1800 400 2006 90 21 21 20 25 128 16 16 c7 m esther 1000 2000 400 2005 90 21 21 12 20 128 16 16 c7 esther 1500 2000 800 2007 90 21 21 12 20 128 16 16 quadcore quadcore isaiah 1000 1460 1066 2011 40 21 21 27.5 4 1024 4 4 64 64 30.1 24.1 rate 5 via padlock edit the via padlock security engine is implemented in most recent via x86 processors . it contains at least a hardware random number generator . the c5p core gained aes acceleration on top of the random number generator using a different instruction set than intel aes ni . the c5j esther core has sha 1 and sha 256 acceleration and a montgomery multiplier as well . a montgomery modular multiplier can be used to speed up asymmetric encryption such as rsa signing and decryption . finally the c5p esther core also contains nx bit security which via considers a component of the padlock suite . the difference with the other features is that it doesn t provide additional functionality to the user . 6 chipsets edit main article list of via chipsets vx900 edit 7 supported processors via nano via nano 3000 series via c7 m processor via eden processors v4 protocol supporting 800 533 400 mhz fsb memory controller supports up to two unbuffered 32 64 bit dimms ddr3 1066mhz ddr2 667 unified video decoding processor wmv vc1 video decoding mode vc 1 sp mp ap up to level 3.0 accelerates ap l3 from vld or idct de blocking filtering adaptive macroblock quantization h. 264 decode mode accelerates mp l4 .1 h. 264 stream from vld level multi mode multi reference mc interlaced frame mbaff decoding cavlc and cabac support inner loop de block filter bp mp hp cabac or cavlc up to level 4.1 mpeg 2 decoding mode fully compatible iso iec spec in main profile supports vld xvid interlaced frame decoding supports 1 4 pixel mc high definition audio interface up to 32 bit sample depth at 192 khz sampling rate supports three independent codecs streams supports jack sensing and retasking integrated 2d graphics processor 128 bit 2d engine with hardware rotation capability high definition video processor with vmr capability up to 256 mb frame buffer integrated 3d graphics processor 250mhz engine clock via chrome9 hc3 programmable directx 9 graphics engine 128 bit dx9 graphics engine with 2ps and 2vs internal full argb for high rendering quality display support dedicated crt interface single channel lvds transmitter dvp1 to external hdmi lvds dvi transmitter and tv encoder multiplexed interface for displayport hdmi multiplexed interface for displayport pci express supports duoview dual image capability video capture port parallel and serial transport stream inputs supports 8 bit or 16 bit ccir656 601 input external hsync vsync support supports hd resolution up to 1080i 60 or 1080p 30 storage and peripheral interface 2 sata 2.0 interface support sd mmc ms ms pro memory card interface supports pci express one 4 lane and two 1 lane ports supports eight usb 2.0 ports supports pci and lpc buses supports sdio and spi supports four uart ports power management acpi 3.0 and pci bus power management 1.1 compliant extensive system power management vn1000 edit 8 processor support via nano via c7 c7 d and eden v4 processors powersaver support yes via v4 bus 400 800 mhz memory support ddr2 677 800 and ddr3 800 1066 max . memory 16gb pci express one 8 lane four 1 lane north south bridge link ultra v link 1 gb s graphics core via chrome 520 directx graphics directx10 .1 video acceleration h. 264 wmv mpeg 2 hdtv support yes hdtv resolutions inc 1080p 1080i and 720p multi display support yes including dual hdmi displayport and lvds market trends edit this section may require cleanup to meet wikipedia s quality standards . no cleanup reason has been specified . please help improve this section if you can . july 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message via established itself as important supplier of pc components with its chipsets for socket 7 platform . with the apollo vp3 chipset via pioneered agp support for socket 7 processors . 9 via s present market position derives from the success of its pentium iii chipsets . intel discontinued the development of its sdram chipsets and stated as policy that only rambus memory would be supported going forward . since rambus was more expensive and offered few if any obvious performance advantages manufacturers found they could ship performance equivalent pcs at a lower cost by using via chipsets . in response to increasing market competition via decided to buy out the ailing s3 graphics business . while the savage chipset was not fast enough to survive as a discrete solution its low manufacturing cost made it an ideal integrated solution as part of the via northbridge . under via the s3 brand has generally held onto a 10 % share of the pc graphics market behind intel ati and nvidia . via also includes the via envy soundcard on its motherboards which offers 24 bit sound . while its pentium 4 chipset designs have struggled to win market share in the face of legal threats from intel the k8t800 chipset for the athlon 64 has been popular . via has also continued the development of its via c3 and via c7 processors targeting small light low power applications a market space in which via is successful . in january 2008 via unveiled the via nano an 11 mm 11 mm footprint vm enabled x86 64 processor which debuted in may 2008 for ultra mobile pcs . legal issues edit on the basis of the idt centaur acquisition 10 via appears to have come into possession of at least three patents which cover key aspects of processor technology used by intel . on the basis of the negotiating leverage these patents offered in 2003 via arrived at an agreement with intel that allowed for a ten year patent cross license enabling via to continue to design and manufacture x86 compatible cpus . via was also granted a three year grace period in which it could continue to use intel socket infrastructure . see also edit mini itx pico itx nano itx nanobook list of via chipsets list of via microprocessor cores references edit corporate history via technologies inc. . via.com.tw . retrieved 3 january 2014 . via releases foss graphics driver . slashdot . 31 august 2008 . retrieved 3 january 2014 . via nano x2 spec2000 ratio and rate scores . via.com . retrieved 2014 02 03 . via quadcore processor . via.com . retrieved 2014 02 03 . via nano x2 whitepaper pdf . via.com . retrieved 2014 02 03 . what is via padlock via technologies inc. . via.com.tw . retrieved 2015 06 28 . via vx900 chipset . via.com . retrieved 2014 02 03 . via vn1000 chipset . via.com . retrieved 2014 02 03 . 1 dead link via and intel settle patent infringement cases . via technologies inc. retrieved 2007 03 12 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to via . via technologies taiwan via arena homepage the 100 millionth via amd chipset viagallery.com s photostream palm sized zotac zbox featuring via nano x2 zotac zbox nano performance via vs. amd v t e via technologies processors cyrix iii via c3 via c7 via nano