VIA VX855 Ultra Low Power Chipset with Full HD Media Decode Capability for Netbook Market

Intel Atom processor has been so successful especially in both netbook and embedded space. While some may have doubt about its performance especially when handling graphics and HD (High Definition) media video playback when pairing with its comparatively older technology companion SCH US15W chipset, VIA has actually come out with a next generation chipset, named as VX855 that is claimed to be able to handle full HD 1080p video playback without significantly increase the complexity of design for fanless application.

The new chipset is a successor of VX800 with lower TDP (Thermal Design Power) and smaller form factor. Measured at only 2.3 watt with dimension of 27mm X 27mm, it is integrated with both northbridge and southbridge functionality that allows board vendors to design with 2-chip solution optimized for space and thermal constraint applications. The chipset will be coupled with either older generation VIA’s Eden, C7 or even the latest Nano processor to ease up the whole platform migration effort. Impressively, VX855 with integrated graphics core is claimed to be able to handle intensive high bitrate 1080p Full HD media playback while also supporting Microsoft’s VMR (Video mixing renderer), Direct X 9.0 as well as hardware decode for various famous Codec such as H.264, MPEG-2/4, DivX and WMV9.

No pricing and availability yet, but the new solution from VIA Technologies is expected to able to capture some new design opportunities especially with the recent increase demand of embedded graphics and multimedia capabilities in netbook market.