Date:
Tuesday , July 29, 2008
Author:
Kyle Bennett
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Intel Atom vs.VIA Nano

A battle of the most powerful processors on the face of the Earth? Nope. Who sucks the least? Not really, but closer. Marketing teams will have you believe one thing, but we are here today to show HardOCP readers what they likely care about. Which one just works better, Atom or Nano?

Introduction

To get straight to the point, VIA approached us and asked us to write this article. They handed over the hardware and said, “Write what you want about it.” We looked at what the VIA PR folks wanted compared and it seemed to make a lot of sense to me. I constantly see the VIA Nano and Intel Atom processors talked about in the same breath as if they are very similar parts. The fact is that the Nano and the Atom are very different. We see sites openly pondering whether this next mini-notebook will have the Nano or the Atom inside. I would suggest that the guys that are talking about the parts as if the CPUs are interchangeable have never really used them. And of course that is exactly what we have been doing here at HardOCP, really using them. Yep, got some good old synthetic benchmarks too, for all you real geeks.

It is worth mentioning that I am a fan of VIA, and Intel as well, but VIA is the underdog and it is good to see this company still making waves in the industry. We don’t write that many CPU articles anymore, due to the fact that we don’t see anything “new” very often and CPU reviews about clock speed bumps are just plain boring when it comes to Intel’s Core 2 ruling the roost for over a year now. VIA wowed us in January of this year with the then yet-to-be named Nano, and followed up with an amazing tour of Centaur Technology in pictures.

So here today we will be comparing Intel’s Atom processor with VIA’s Nano in a desktop environment doing real world stuff, and undoubtedly some stuff the CPUs were never meant to do. I would like to say that I can’t find anywhere that Intel truly markets Atom to go into notebooks (although it is alluded to) and other desktop systems. Intel is selling the Atom motherboard tested here at retailers and e-tailers in a Mini-ITX format (which VIA pioneered 1.5 years ago). Also most of the buzz I have seen around Atom so far has been around notebook-type devices, which are certainly on their way to market, so I think that comparing the Atom to the Nano in this environment is fair.

System Specs

Intel Atom: Intel D945GCLF, Mini-ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo – 1.6GHz (12x133) – 533MHz Memory bus – 945GC NB / ICH7 SB – 1GB DDR2 4-4-4-12-2T

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VIA Nano: SAMPLE Board Not Retail – What VIA has done here is provide a proof of concept taking a VIA EPIA-SN18000G motherboard that was previously built for its VIA C7 1.8GHz processor and shown that the Nano is pin-compatible. We have a 1.8GHz VIA Nano processor, 1GB DDR2 5-5-5-15-2T, PT890 NB / VT8251 SB.

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Holy Mini-Watts Batman!

Now what most HardOCPers are going to notice is that both of these systems seem pretty damn girly when it comes to “moar power!” Interestingly enough, both of these systems are likely to use less wattage than most of yours’ video cards do at idle. And that of course is something that VIA and Intel are trying to do.

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Keeping in mind these wattages are taken at the wall and figuring in our PSU’s efficiency at 82%, we can easily multiply our data by .82 and see what our approximate system draw is. One 150GB WD Raptor is plugged into the system as well, but nothing more beyond that besides a keyboard and mouse.

At idle we see the Nano and the Atom coming in neck and neck, almost too close to call, but the Nano edges the Atom out. Given that the Nano boasts a 500mW Idle Power draw, it is not surprising to see it pull such a low number, even besting the Atom. And it is worth mentioning here that the Nano motherboard has much deeper feature set than its Intel competition. (Score: Atom-0 / Nano-1)

However, when we put the CPU to use with a 100% load crunching prime numbers, we see the story change quite a bit. We see our delta pull to 10 watts with the Atom pulling much less power, equal to about what is spent on a child’s nightlight. What is likely more interesting here is how dead on the 5w load delta for the Atom is. Intel has repeatedly said that the 1.6GHz Atom would be sub-5 watts and apparently that is the truth. (Score: Atom-1 / Nano-1)

So what exactly is the VIA Nano doing with that extra 8.2 watts?