VIA CN700 - Advanced Digital Media Chipset Enabling the Latest in System Design Innovation

The first chipset to support the new VIA C7® processor family, the VIA CN700 is fully optimized to provide an outstanding HD digital media experience. Featuring the all new high bandwidth V4 bus as well as support for DDR2 memory modules, the VIA CN700 delivers a highly advanced solution for developers interested in designing a wide range of powerful embedded and desktop devices.

Integrating the VIA Graphics UniChrome™ Pro IGP graphics core, the chipset features the Chromotion CE Video Display engine with hardware MPEG-2 playback. Together with an advanced 2D/3D graphics core, the VIA CN700 offers exceptional playback and streaming of various digital video formats while maintaining ultra low power consumption and exerting minimal load on the processor. The VIA CN700 also provides extensive display support with outputs to CRT, LCD and standard definition TV as well as support for HDTV up to 1080p resolution with a compatible DVI or TV encoder.

The CN700 features a robust shared memory architecture and support for up to 2GB of high bandwidth DDR2 533 or DDR400 memory, as well as a high speed V-Link interface for a 533MB/sec connection to VIA's feature-leading South Bridge options.

Combined with a VIA VT8237A South Bridge, the VIA CN700 offers a comprehensive range of integrated storage, multimedia and connectivity options, including native Serial ATA and V-RAID, with support for RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID+1 arrays, as well as support for VIA Vinyl HD Audio and high throughput Gigabit Ethernet with the VIA Velocity controller.

Features of VIA CN700

Benefits of VIA CN700

Hi-Def Visual Experience
VIA UniChrome Pro with its optimized shared memory architecture and high definition video support through the Chromotion CE Video Display Engine, offers a breathtaking visual experience for the latest HDTV formats with a compatible DVI or TV encoder.

Flawless Digital Media Playback
VIA UniChrome Pro includes native support for the most popular digital video and audio formats through hardware MPEG-2 playback and acclaimed VIA Vinyl HD Audio suite, delivering spectacular performance for entertainment devices.

VIA UniChrome™ Pro Graphics Core
With an internal data flow equivalent to what is available to the latest AGP 8X graphics cards, VIA UniChrome Pro has a separate 128-bit data path between the North Bridge for pixel data flow and texture/command access. Separate 128-bit 2D and 3D graphics engines ensure optimal performance for all multimedia, entertainment, and productivity applications.

Native Serial ATA/RAID Support
The VIA DriveStation™ Controller Suite with native dual channel Serial ATA/RAID controller, provides direct support for two 150MB/s Serial ATA devices and its unique SATAlite™ interface expands support for two additional SATA devices. The V-RAID controller features native RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1* and JBOD, ensuring optimum data integrity and system performance. The user-friendly V-RAID software interface enables easy disk array configuration and management.

Ultra Low Power Consumption
With its unmatched feature set, the CN700 assists in reducing overall system power consumption by reducing the workload on the processor during critical applications such as digital video and audio playback.. Power consumption is further reduced through advanced power management features that vary its power consumption according to workload.

* RAID Level 0+1 requires four Serial ATA drives; support for the two additional drives can only be implemented with two external Serial ATA ports enabled through a SATALite PHY.

Block Diagram

Key Features

» Supports up to 2GB DDR2 533/400MHz or DDR400/333/266MHz SDRAM
» 533 MB/sec 8-bit V-Link Host Controller supporting V-Map Modular Architecture
» Chromotion CE Video Display engine
» MPEG-2 Decoder
» Video De-blocking
» Adaptive De-Interlace
» DuoView+™
» Integrated VIA UniChrome Pro Graphics
» Optimized Unified memory Architecture (UMA)
» 200MHz Graphics Engine Clock with separated 128-bit data paths
» 128-bit 2D and 3D Graphics engine
» 12-bit DVI transmitter
» 24-bit Flat Panel Display Interface and Dual 12-bit Flat Panel Display Interface
» 12-bit interface to external TV encoder for SDTV and HDTV display
» Support for VIA Vinyl Gold 8-channel HD Audio Controller & integrated VIA Vinyl 6-channel HD Audio
» Serial ATA support for up to 4 devices
» Integrated V-RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 0+1*, and JBOD (SATA) support
» Parallel ATA133/100/66 support for up to 4 devices
» Support for up to 8 USB 2.0/USB 1.1 ports
» Support for VIA Velocity Gigabit Ethernet companion controller & Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet
» Advanced System Power Management Support

Resources

	VIA CN700 press release
	VIA CN700 image kit