VIA Technologies on January 22 added one more product line to its C3 processor portfolio. Based on the company’s new-generation Nehemiah core, VIA’s latest C3 processors are manufactured on the 0.13-micron process and available now in both the Socket 370 CPGA (ceramic pin grid array) and EPGA (enhanced ball grid array) packaged modes.

The processors are priced at US$45 per unit in OEM volumes, VIA said.

Currently available at a speed of 1GHz, the new Nehemiah-core processor is based on the advanced CoolStream architecture, which helps the product maintain low levels of power consumption and efficient heat dissipation. According to VIA, its latest C3 processor requires 11.25 watts of power.

Incorporating the PadLock Data Encryption Engine, the new C3 processors offer greater confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of electronic data either stored in the computer or transmitted over a network or the Internet, and enable a host of powerful new security applications, including heavy-duty data encryption and safer online transactions, the company indicated.

Other new performance features include SSE multimedia instructions, StepAhead Advanced Branch Prediction, 64KB L2 cache and a full-speed FPU (floating point unit).