VIA Technologies today announced the VIA VX855 Media System Processor (MSP) - a power efficient, all-in-one chipset that addresses the performance and entertainment requirements of today's small form factor and mobile PC systems. Set to be Microsoft Windows 7-ready, the VIA VX855 MSP is offering support for full hardware acceleration of the widest variety of video standards including H.264, MPEG-2/4, VC-1 and WMV9, reducing the workload and thus the power consumption of the processor.

"For the first time, system developers have an ultra low power media system processor that delivers high bit-rate HD video to small form factor and mobile devices," said Richard Brown, Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "The VIA VX855 opens up exciting opportunities for several PC segments, particularly the mini-notebook category that will now be able to offer true 1080p HD video playback."

Compatible with the ultra compact VIA Nano, VIA C7 and VIA Eden processor families, the VIA VX855 MSP integrates all the cutting-edge features of a modern chipset's North and South bridges into a 27mm x 27mm single chip package that saves over 46% of silicon real estate compared with competing twin-chip core logic implementations, VIA claims. This miniaturization, combined with power management technologies and the ability to run fanlessly within a tiny 2.3 watt power envelope, enables system builders to design ever smaller, lighter, and more portable systems.

The VIA VX855 MSP integrates a DDR2 memory controller, a 400/800MHz FSB processor interface, and extensive I/O capabilities (such as 6 x USB 2.0, SDIO, UART, SPI, LPC and SMBus) in a single chip. Support for the integrated VIA Chrome9 HCM Graphics Processor, HD audio controller, and a host of display interfaces in its in-built LVDS transmitter, CMOS LCD and CRT interfaces, allows for more flexible multimedia playback options.

Graphics are powered by a high frequency 2D/3D graphic engine, while the high performance image processing features include support for hardware decode acceleration of leading video standards as well as up to three audio streams of up to eight channels each, with 32-bit sample depth and sample rates up to 192kHz.



Key Specifications

- Supported Processors
VIA Nano / C7 / Eden processor
400 - 800MHz FSB speed

- Memory Controller
Up to DDR2 800
Supports up to two 64-bit DDR2 DIMM slots (4 GB max)
Supports 16-bit dedicated display frame buffer (optional)

-Storage Interface Support
UDMA IDE
Support SD/MS/MMC/XD

-Peripheral Interface
Six USB2.0 ports
One USB2.0 device port
Supports LPC bus
Supports SDIO, SPI and UART

- Integrated 2D/3D/Video Processor
VIA Chrome9 HCM DX9 3D engine
128-bit 2D engine with hardware rotation capability
High Definition video processor with VMR capability
Up to 512 MB frame buffer

- Display Interface
Three 10-bit 350 MHz RAMDACs
Single - channel LVDS
18-bit TTL

- Unified Video Decoding Processor
MPEG-2/H.264 VLD hardware decoding acceleration
MPEG-4, VC1 and DivX video decoding acceleration

- High Definition Audio Interface
Supports up to 32-bit sample depth at 192 kHz sampling rate
Supports three codecs and eight streams
Supports HD modem

- Video Capture Port
One 16-bit input or One 8-bit TS input + one Serial TS input or CCIR656/601 input + one Serial TS input

- Supported Software Standards
Microsoft DirectX 9.0,
Microsoft Windows XP and Vista, Win CE and Linux

- Power Management
ACPI 3.0 and PCI Bus Power Management 1.1 compliant
Snapshot extensive system power management

- Package
Flip-Chip Ball Grid Array (FCBGA)
Package Size: 27 x 27mm/0.8mm

- Core Voltage
1.2V