PC\'s
Perhaps not quite as well known in the world of motherboards and processors, VIA has started showing up in the world of Mini-ITX formats dedicated to audio/video. Based on the new VIA C7 Esther processor and the CX700M2 chipset, VIA is clearly looking towards the general public and those interested in PC Media Centre. With a reduced size, this new platform has enough points going for it to be able to seduce users. In this article we will see what it has to offer.
Things became a little more interesting when performing some “real” tests. If the power use poses no real problems when compared to an old Pentium III 800 Mhz or a Celeron 1.4 Ghz (Internet, chat, playing audio files, office, etc) with there being less power use and noise although we did notice a reduction in performance when using Media Centre.
The cooling system doesn’t allow you to over clock, which would have made playing HD files better. The absence of an AGP port also makes it useless to try and change the video card, which would have been nice so as to reduce the load on the processor when playing a HD video.
Even if the audio aspect poses no particular problem, the video is a little more delicate. For the occasion we decided to play a range of HD videos, which were mostly trailers, HDTV recordings and a few television series and other HD films, to see what I could do. With the exception of the VidX HD formats, and despite the hardware acceleration allowing you to theoretically decode Mpeg2/4 or WMV9 streams, VIA is not quite powerful enough to allow for fluid play back of HD videos at 1080i/p or videos at 720p.
The association of the C7 Esther processor and IGP Unichrome doesn’t quite cut it. As you can see from the picture, the processor is running at maximum when trying to play 720p and 1080p files.
The cooling system doesn’t allow you to over clock, which would have made playing HD files better. The absence of an AGP port also makes it useless to try and change the video card, which would have been nice so as to reduce the load on the processor when playing a HD video.
Even if the audio aspect poses no particular problem, the video is a little more delicate. For the occasion we decided to play a range of HD videos, which were mostly trailers, HDTV recordings and a few television series and other HD films, to see what I could do. With the exception of the VidX HD formats, and despite the hardware acceleration allowing you to theoretically decode Mpeg2/4 or WMV9 streams, VIA is not quite powerful enough to allow for fluid play back of HD videos at 1080i/p or videos at 720p.
A speed of 1.5 Ghz, the Esther C7 processor with the IGP UniChrome™ element is a little limited to be a HD supported platform.
The association of the C7 Esther processor and IGP Unichrome doesn’t quite cut it. As you can see from the picture, the processor is running at maximum when trying to play 720p and 1080p files.
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