Via Technologies has unveiled details of its newest Isaiah processor architecture.

The x86 processor is aimed at Via's next generation of 'Small is Beautiful' devices.

Via claimed that the range offers the best performance-per-watt on the market, helping in the production of green, silent and small form-factor desktop PCs.

The chips will also be designed for home media centres, ultra-thin/light notebooks and ultra-mobile PCs.

Isaiah has been designed from scratch by Via's US-based processor design subsidiary, Centaur Technology.

It is based on 65nm CPU technology and includes a 64-bit micro-architecture, multimedia computation and a new virtual machine architecture.

"With fewer than 100 first-class engineers we have created the world's most power-efficient x86 processor architecture with state-of-the-art features, outstanding performance and flexible scalability," said Glenn Henry, president of Centaur Technology.

The first generation of Isaiah-based products will also be pin-compatible with the current Via C7 family in order to provide an easy upgrade path for system builders.

The company's C7 range has proved popular for products that have low heat and power requirements, but which do not necessarily need the power of today's high-end CPUs.

"The introduction of the Isaiah is an extremely significant milestone in Via's processor business," said Wenchi Chen, president and chief executive at Via.

"In achieving these new levels of functionality and performance, Isaiah provides the ideal complement to our industry-leading family of low power Via C7 processors and will enable us to extend our presence in the global x86 processor market."

Processors built on the new architecture are expected to start shipping in the first half of 2008.