Launched in October 1997 the IDT WinChip C6 was designed and marketed as a low power x86 processor running at 200MHz. Although it gained little market traction, IDT launched a WinChip2 in 1998 at 225Mhz, and a WinChip 2A in early 1999, the final designs reaching 240MHz.

While the processor was cheap it never gained much market share and in 1999 the Centaur Technology division of IDT was sold to VIA. Although VIA continued to use the Cyrix name initially, it uses the WinChip technology in its Cyrix III and VIA C3 processor lines.

The fundamental design of the WinChip was different from other processors of the time. Instead of a large gate count and die area IDT used experience in the RISC processor market to create a small and electrically-efficient processor. Although the small die size and low power-usage made the processor extremely cheap to manufacture the volume was never large enough to make the device a success. The industry's move away from Socket 7 and the release of the Intel Celeron sealed the fate of the WinChip.

External links

• Centaur technology