Few people are aware that there is an alternative to the mainstream processors made by Intel and AMD. VIA sells a number of x86 processors, called C3, Eden, and C7. Why aren"t they better known? The main reason is performance. No matter what benchmark is used, VIA"s processors take a beating compared to even low-end offerings from Intel and AMD.
On the other hand, even the lowest-performance offerings from Intel and AMD are overkill for many — perhaps most — computing tasks, which is why VIA"s offerings are viable at all. Performance alone is no longer king, and performance-per-watt is increasingly important. In this arena, VIA is a pace or two ahead of both of the big boys. The original C3 processor was designed with power efficiency as a primary design goal.
VIA"s power-miserly approach has continued with the Eden and the latest C7 processors. The Eden is designed with a thermal envelope of just 7.5 watts — which only Intel"s limited edition Ultra Low Voltage processors can match. By comparison, both the Pentium M and the Turion 64 are designed with a thermal envelope of around 30 watts.
VIA processors are most commonly embedded in a Mini-ITX motherboard. VIA"s own series is called EPIA, but other manufacturers also make VIA-processor embedded M-ITX motherboards. SPCR has looked at several EPIA boards in the past. Both SPCR and EPIA have evolved considerably since the last review in 2003, so it"s time to take another look. VIA was kind enough to supply a sample of the EPIA EN12000E, a fully passive board featuring a VIA Eden processor clocked at 1.2 GHz. A more powerful version with a 1.5 GHz C7 processor is also available, but it is less suitable for a low noise system as it requires active cooling. We"re told that the cores of these processors is identical; the clock speed is the only difference. (Then why call them by different names?)
The low power consumption and small footprint of the EPIA makes it a good candidate for a home theater PC or any other application where space and power are limited. VIA knows its market and has integrated just about everything an A/V nut could want into the constraints of the tiny 17cm × 17cm Mini-ITX form factor. The result is a system that promises to be small, silent and power efficient. The big question mark is performance: Is it fast enough to work flawlessly in a "digital" home?