VIA just demoed a prototype dual-core version of its much-acclaimed but hard-to-find Nano CPU at Computex in Taipei.  The Nano DC is a 1.6 GHz dual-core processor, but VIA reps says it’s only meant for low-cost desktops, not netbooks.  We did some digging and found that the prototype CPU basically consists of two of company’s single-core Nano 3000 dies put together in one package.  The Nano 3000 is a 65nm chip, and putting two of them together probably pushes power and heat levels way too high for netbook usage.

Nonetheless, a 65nm dual-core Nano might still offer a decent low-cost CPU option for desktops.  VIA’s demo motherboard paired the Nano DC with a VN1000 Digital Media Chipset and dual-channel DDR3 memory.  VN1000 includes an S3 Chrome 520 GPU, which was demoing a 720p video loop and supports 1080p HD playback, DirectX 10.1, and HDMI and DisplayPort outputs.

VIA’s true (single-die) dual-core Nano chip for netbooks should be out by early next year.  The company was experimenting with 45nm manufacturing processes but wasn’t able to lock down the details in time to launch the CPU this month, as originally planned.

Photo: Engadget

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Presenting the world’s smallest model of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise-D!  Measuring a whole 8.8 micrometers in length — or less than one-tenth the thickness of a human hair — “Nano Trek” was fabricated by Japanese scientists at one-billionth scale using a “30 kV Ga+ focused-ion-beam CVD using phenanthrene gas.”

EIPBN via Zeray

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