VIA subsidiary Centaur Technology is rumored to be launching a new x86 processor at the end of August based on the "Isaiah II" architecture. This upcoming chip is a 64-bit SoC aimed at the mobile and low power space. So far, the only known implementation is a quad core version clocked at up to 2.0 GHz with a 2MB L2 cache. Benchmarks of the quad core Isaiah II-based processor recently appeared online, and if the SiSoft Sandra results hold true VIA has very competitive chip on its hands that outperforms Intel's Bay Trail Z3770 and holds its own against AMD's Jaguar-based Athlon 5350.

The SiSoft Sandra results below show the alleged Isaiah II quad core handily outmaneuvering Intel's Bay Trail SoC and trading wins with AMD's Athlon 5350. All three SoCs are quad core parts with integrated graphics solutions. The benchmarks were run on slightly different configurations as they do not share a motherboard or chipset in common. In the case of the VIA chip, it was paired with a motherboard using the VIA VX11H chipset).

Processor VIA Isaiah II Quad Core AMD Athlon 5350 Intel Atom Z3770
CPU Arithmetic 20.00 GOPS 22.66 GOPS 15.10 GOPS
CPU Multimedia 50.20 Mpix/s 47.56 Mpix/s 25.90 Mpix/s
Multicore Efficiency 3.10 GB/s 4.00 GB/s 1.70 GB/s
Cryptography (HS) 1.50 GB/s 1.48 GB/s 0.40 GB/s
PM Efficiency (ALU) 2.90 GIPS 2.88 GIPS 2.50 GIPS
Financial Analysis (DP FP64) 3.00 kOPT/S 3.64 kOPT/S 1.50 kOPT/S

For comparison, The Atom Z3770 is a quad core clocked at 1.46 GHz (2.39 GHz max turbo) with 2MB L2 cache and Intel HD Graphics clocked at up to 667 MHz supporting up to 4GB of 1066 MHz memory. Bay Trail is manufactured on a 22nm process and has a 2W SDP (Scenario Design Power). Further, the AMD "Kabini" Athlon 5350 features four Jaguar CPU cores clocked at 2.05 GHz, a 128-core GCN GPU clocked at 600 MHz, 2MB L2 cache, and support for 1600 MHz memory. AMD's Kabini SoC is a 28nm chip with a 25W TDP (Thermal Design Power). VIA's new chip allegedly supports modern instruction sets, including AVX 2.0, putting it on par with the AMD and Intel options. 

Processor VIA Isaiah II Quad Core AMD Athlon 5350 Intel Atom Z3770
CPU 4 Cores @ 2.00 GHz 4 Cores @ 2.05 GHz 4 Cores @ 1.46 GHz (up to 2.39 GHz turbo)
GPU ? 128 GCN Cores @ 600 MHz HD Graphics @ (up to) 667 MHz
Memory Support ? 1600 MHz 1066 MHz
L2 Cache 2 MB 2 MB 2 MB
TDP / SDP ? 25W 2W
Process Node ? 28nm 22nm
Price ? $55 $37

The SiSoft Sandra benchmarks spotted by TechPowerUp suggest that the Centaur Technology designed chip has potential. However, there are still several (important) unknowns at this point. Mainly, price and power usage. Also, the GPU VIA is using in the processor is still a mystery though Scott suspects an S3 GPU is possible through a partnership with HTC. 

The chip does seem to be offering up competitive performance, but pricing and power efficiency will play a major role in whether or not VIA gets any design wins with system OEMs. If I had to guess, the VIA chip will sit somewhere between the Intel and AMD offerings with the inclusion of motherboard chipset pushing it towards AMD's higher TDP.

If VIA prices it correctly, we could see the company making a slight comeback in the x86 market with consumer facing devices (particularly Windows 8.1 tablets). VIA has traditionally been known as the low power x86 licensee, and the new expanding mobile market is the ideal place for such a chip. Its past endeavors have not been well received (mainly due to timing and volume production/availability issues of the Nano processors), but I hope that Centaur Technology and VIA are able to pull this one off as I had started to forget the company existed (heh).