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VIA introduces new energy efficient motherboard

Press release, August 22; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES Asia

VIA Technologies announced its VIA pc3500 motherboard, a low-power platform that enables OEMs and system integrators (SI) to build desktop PCs that draw less than 24W in an idle state.

The pc3500 motherboard draws only 1.09W in sleep mode, and 0.68W in standby (off mode). The system even draws less than 35W when playing back a DVD, according to VIA.

The pc3500 is based on the VIA CN896 digital media IGP chipset, certified by Microsoft for Windows Vista Basic and featuring the VIA Chrome9 HC IGP with a DirectX 9.0 3D accelerator for high performance, a 2D accelerator for productivity applications, and the Chromotion 3.0 video display engine for advanced hardware-based video processing. Combined with the power efficient VIA C7-D processor supporting the 400MHz VIA V4 bus, the VIA pc3500 motherboard delivers an average power consumption of less than 25W.

The pc3500 motherboard features two DDR2 DIMM slots, supporting up to 2GB 400/533/667MHz memory, and provides additional expansion flexibility with its PCI Express x16 slot and PCI slot. The board also comes with a full set of connectivity features, including four USB 2.0 ports, two SATA II/PATA connectors, 10/100 Ethernet, and eight channel onboard audio. Additional options include support for Gigabit Ethernet and S-Video and S/PDIF audio.

The pc3500 motherboard is available globally with the pricing information available upon request, noted the company.

VIA pc3500 motherboard specifications

Item

Detail

Form factor

Micro-ATX, 190.5×228.6mm

Processor

1.5/1.8 GHz VIA C7-D processor with 400/800MHz V4 bus

Chipset

Northbridge: VIA CN896

Southbridge: VIA 8237A or VT8237S (supports SATA II)

Memory

DDR2 400/533/667MHz memory up to 2GB, two DIMM slot s

VGA

Integrated VIA Chrome9 HC Graphics core engine

Expansion slots

One PCI Express x16 slot and one PCI slot

Onboard audio

Realtek ALC883 HD audio eight channel Codec

Source: Company, compiled by Digitimes, August 2007

VIA pc3500 motherboard

VIA pc3500 motherboard
Photo: Company