VIA Technologies announced this morning that the company's new C7-D processor is now available. That wouldn't seem like such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that VIA has also taken the initiative to make this the world's first carbon-free desktop CPU.

What does "carbon-free" mean?

The term "carbon-free" isn't what it sounds like -- it's not like sugar-free or caffeine-free. It means that in using this CPU, the carbon dioxide produced by generating the electricity necessary to run it is offset or nullified. A byproduct of electricity production (and the burning of fossil fuels) is carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse" gas that insulates the planet. A certain level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is necessary to keep the Earth suitably warm, but an overabundance of greenhouse gases could lead to excessive global warming. Fortunately, many plants have the innate ability to naturally eliminate small amounts of carbon dioxide, thereby reducing some of the greenhouse gas that human beings are making through energy production.

So how is the VIA C7-D processor carbon-free? It consumes a maximum of 20 watts at 1.8Ghz, which is considerably lower than Intel and AMD desktop CPUs that, system-wide, can easily exceed 300 watts. For the small amount of carbon dioxide generated from the power consumed by every C7-D processor sold, VIA claims it will work with Carbon Footprint Ltd. to invest in "regional projects in energy conservation, reforestation, and alternative energy," thereby making each C7-D CPU carbon-neutral.

VIA's carbon offset measures assume that a C7-D-based computer will be in operation all day, every day for three years, with 27% of that time being spent in standby mode, 3% in sleep mode, 67% in idle mode, and 3% in performance mode. Any use beyond these estimates will increase the carbon footprint of the machine, thereby eliminating its carbon-free status.

VIA Technologies representative Keith Kowal told me in a phone interview that VIA is currently partnered with OEMs in the United Kingdom and China to produce entirely carbon-free "green" PCs based on the C7-D.

C7-D technical details

Before you get too excited about the C7-D, you should know that you can't just log onto Newegg or run down to your local CompUSA, buy one, and put it into your existing desktop machine. The C7-D, like all other VIA CPUs, is designed to be part of an integrated product like VIA's own EPIA series of Mini-ITX motherboards. As of this writing there are no EPIA boards that include the C7-D, but VIA seems to be planning some C7-D-based machines for its PC-1 initiative.

The C7-D is the most technologically advanced VIA processor to date. In the past, VIA CPUs were behind the times in terms of raw speed, memory bandwidth, and integrated processor extensions like Intel's MMX and SSE (Streaming SIMD Extensions). VIA processors have also traditionally been too slow for a lot of desktop work, though in recent months that reputation has been changing. Here's a brief overview of the technologies found in the C7-D:

• 400Mhz frontside bus (FSB), which is faster than previous VIA CPUs and supports DDR2-400 or DDR2-533 memory. A faster frontside bus means higher memory bandwidth, which translates into improved performance of RAM-intensive operations.
• VIA PadLock Security Engine, which adds RSA, AES, SHA1, and SHA-256 hardware encryption/decryption for OpenSSL.
• Intel Streaming SIMD Extensions v. 3 (SSE3), which primarily speeds up multimedia functions.
• The VIA CN700 northbridge chipset is also part of the platform. It includes an MPEG-2 accelerator for playing DVD movies, 6-channel audio, and S3 UniChrome Pro graphics with the ability to output to two displays.

The complete data sheet can be found here.

Market impact

VIA's marketing efforts for the C7-D will begin in Europe and Asia, where energy consumption and environmental considerations are of higher importance. "This is something new to the market, and we're watching to see how it responds. In Europe this is a growing trend -- companies trying to reduce their carbon footprint," VIA's Keith Kowal told me. When asked if competitors like Intel and AMD would feel challenged by VIA's carbon-free CPU initiative, Kowal said that it would be much more costly because their processors can use more than seven times as much electricity.

Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.

Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.