VIA LongHaul is a

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...

speed throttling and power saving technology developed by

VIA Technologies VIA Technologies, Inc. () is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory. It was once the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets. As a fabless semiconductor company, ...

. By executing specialized instructions,

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

can exercise fine control on the bus-to-core frequency ratio and

CPU core voltage The CPU core voltage (''VCORE'') is the power supply voltage supplied to the processing cores of CPU (which is a digital circuit), GPU, or any other device with a processing core. The amount of power a CPU uses, and thus the amount of heat it di ...

. When the

system A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, str ...

first

boots A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

, the ratio and voltage are set to hardware defaults. While the

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

runs, a ''CPU driver'' controls the throttling according to how much load is put on the CPU. This fine control over the CPU's operating parameters brings LongHaul in contrast to other competing technologies, where a CPU is typically allowed to switch between only two states - one that is fast but power-consuming and one that is slow but uses less power. However LongHaul is considered similar to

Transmeta Transmeta Corporation was an American fabless semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California. It developed low power x86 compatible microprocessors based on a VLIW core and a software layer called Code Morphing Software. Code Morphing ...

LongRun LongRun and LongRun2 are power management technologies introduced by Transmeta. LongRun was introduced with the Crusoe processor, while LongRun2 was introduced with the Efficeon processor. LongRun2 has since been licensed to Fujitsu, NEC, Sony, ...

technology. There are 3 versions of LongHaul: * Version 1 only supports

dynamic frequency scaling Dynamic frequency scaling (also known as CPU throttling) is a power management technique in computer architecture whereby the frequency of a microprocessor can be automatically adjusted "on the fly" depending on the actual needs, to conserv ...

and is implemented in the

Cyrix III Cyrix III is an x86-compatible Socket 370 CPU. VIA Technologies launched the processor in February 2000. VIA had purchased both Centaur Technology and Cyrix. Cyrix III was to be based upon a core from one of the two companies. History The Cyr ...

Samuel (C5A) core and C3 Samuel 2 (C5B) stepping 0 core. * Version 2 adds

voltage scaling In computer architecture, dynamic voltage scaling is a power management technique in which the voltage used in a component is increased or decreased, depending upon circumstances. Dynamic voltage scaling to increase voltage is known as overvolt ...

and is implemented in the C3 Samuel 2 (C5B) stepping 1-7 and Ezra (C5C) cores. * Version 3 was renamed to PowerSaver and is implemented in the C3 Ezra-T (C5N) and Nehemiah cores as well as the C7 Esther (C5J) core. Some variants of the C7-D do not support PowerSaver.

Processors supporting LongHaul

- some model

*

VIA C3 The VIA C3 is a family of x86 central processing units for personal computers designed by Centaur Technology and sold by VIA Technologies. The different CPU cores are built following the design methodology of Centaur Technology. In addition to ...

VIA C7 The VIA C7 is an x86 central processing unit designed by Centaur Technology and sold by VIA Technologies. Product history The C7 delivers a number of improvements to the older VIA C3 cores but is nearly identical to the latest VIA C3 Nehemiah ...

(PowerSaver) *

VIA Nano The VIA Nano (formerly Code name#Commercial code names in the computer industry, code-named VIA Isaiah) is a 64-bit CPU for personal computers. The VIA Nano was released by VIA Technologies in 2008 after five years of development by its CPU di ...

(PowerSaver)

External links

VIA C3 in EBGA Datasheet
- ''LongHaul'' entry Computer hardware tuning Clock signal VIA Technologies {{Compu-hardware-stub