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VIA Zhaoxin x86 4 and 8-core SoC processors launch
As we talked about a while ago, VIA launches their Zhaoxin processors, well SoC's really. Zhaoxin has launched the new processors in the KX-5000 series. With the to be released KX-7000, it wants to compete with AMD again.
KaiXian
KX is short for KaiXian, the 5000 series is to be used in laptops and desktops. The KaiXian chips are fabbed on a 28nm process from Chinese HLMC, using a WuDaoKou microarchitecture. The procs are quad-cores up to 2.0 GHz with 8 cores versions as well at the same maximum speed.
The KaiXian 5000 series is mostly aimed forPCs, workstations, and laptops. Those SKUs are positioned against Intel’s Core i3 and Core i5 processors.
| New SKUs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Cores/Threads | Frequency | L2 Cache |
| KX-5640 | 4/4 | 2.0 GHz | 4 MiB |
| KX-5540 | 4/4 | 1.8 GHz | 4 MiB |
| KX-U5680 | 8/8 | 2.0 GHz | 8 MiB |
| KX-U5580 | 8/8 | 1.8 GHz | 8 MiB |
| KX-U5580M | 8/8 | ≤ 1.8 GHz | 8 MiB |
The fastest 8-core proc thus has eight cores and eight threads at 2.0 GHz based on a 187 mm2 64-bit chip that has 2.1 billion transistors. 64 kb L1 cache is present per core and a total of 8 MB L2 cache. Instructions include Intel VT-x, Trusted Execution Technology, SSE4.2, AVX, and AVX2. The chips have PCIe 3.0, a total of 16 lanes and then four lanes likely for an additional interconnect to a chipset or heck, even something M2. The integrated memory controller supports dual channel ddr4-2133 up-to 64 GB. The integrated GPU provides a maximum of 4096 x 2304 pixels at 60 Hz via display port or HDMI. This is a DirectX 11.1 part, not DX12.
KaisHeng 20000
Zhaoxin also announced the KaisHeng 20000 series which is geared towards embedded networking, storage, and servers. This series should not be confused with a similarly named “ZX-2000” series which are actually quad-core ARM Cortex-A17 CPUs.
| New SKUs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Cores/Threads | Frequency | L2 Cache |
| KH-26800 | 8/8 | 2.0 GHz | 8 MiB |
| KH-25800 | 8/8 | 1.8 GHz | 8 MiB |
As with the KX-5000 parts, all models have virtualization support compatible with Intel’s VT-x, Trusted Execution Technology (TXT), SSE 4.2, and AVX support. The KaisHeng 20000 parts support up to 128 GiB of memory and have added support for ECC and RDIMMs. Additionally, those SKUs do not have a GPU enabled. Zhaoxin reported the following SPEC CPU 2006 scores:
| SPEC CPU 2006 Scores | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Test | KX-5640 (4C @ 2GHz) | KX-U5680 (8C @ 2GHz) | Atom C2750 (8C @ 2.4GHz/2.6GHz) |
| SPECint | 19.1 | 19.9 | 17.5 |
| SPECint_rate | 64.3 | 115 | 101 |
| SPECfp | 22.9 | 25.7 | 23.0 |
| SPECfp_rate | 53 | 81.3 | 76.8 |
Source: fuse.wikichip.org
Hilbert Hagedoorn
Don Vito Corleone
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Don Vito Corleone
Posts: 40330
Joined: 2000-02-22
#5512983 Posted on: 01/22/2018 03:28 PM
These are SoC's based on a BGA package. So a platform with a chipset is not required similar to say the proc in your smartphone.
These are SoC's based on a BGA package. So a platform with a chipset is not required similar to say the proc in your smartphone.
uKER
Senior Member
Posts: 193
Joined: 2004-12-13
Senior Member
Posts: 193
Joined: 2004-12-13
#5512984 Posted on: 01/22/2018 03:30 PM
Oh, so they're staying out of the PC-building market then, and only selling to OEMs.
Oh, so they're staying out of the PC-building market then, and only selling to OEMs.
slimmy427
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Member
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Joined: 2017-01-31
#5512985 Posted on: 01/22/2018 03:32 PM
28nm...sounds like they are trying to compete with the wrong era. I would be interested to see the energy efficiency. May have something to do with the low clock frequency?
28nm...sounds like they are trying to compete with the wrong era. I would be interested to see the energy efficiency. May have something to do with the low clock frequency?
schmidtbag
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Senior Member
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#5512993 Posted on: 01/22/2018 03:47 PM
Interesting... I wasn't expecting VIA to come out with such an upgrade over their previous generation, and I didn't think they were going to do laptops. I'm interested in the idea of a Zhaoxin laptop, but, VIA is notorious for their negligence with GPU drivers, on any OS. Unless they ditch their GPUs entirely, I'd rather just get a laptop based on Snapdragon, Tegra, or i.MX.
Interesting... I wasn't expecting VIA to come out with such an upgrade over their previous generation, and I didn't think they were going to do laptops. I'm interested in the idea of a Zhaoxin laptop, but, VIA is notorious for their negligence with GPU drivers, on any OS. Unless they ditch their GPUs entirely, I'd rather just get a laptop based on Snapdragon, Tegra, or i.MX.
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One vital piece of info is missing here: what platform do these run on?
Do they hijack one of Intel's or AMD's platforms or are they intending to introduce their own?