VIA C3
The VIA C3 is an x86 central processing unit for personal computers. It is made by a Taiwanese company, VIA. It is based on the CPU design technology of Cyrix, which VIA bought.The fastest edition currently available works at the speed of 1 GHz with a 133 MHz front side bus on a Socket 370 motherboard.
While being much slower than x86 CPUs being sold by AMD and Intel, it has special niche qualities which make it attractive to some buyers:
- Relatively low electrical consumption levels, at only 11.25 watts maximum
- Its price is cheap
- It produces very little heat for a PC processor, and therefore can be run without a cooling fan if it is underclocked or if it has got a suitable heatsink
- It runs on older Socket 370 motherboards
