VIA C3 (Samuel 2) processors
Introduction: March 2001
Overview
The VIA Cyrix III/C3 was a family of x86 central processing units for Socket 370 personal computers, designed by Centaur Technology and sold by VIA Technologies. The different CPU cores were built following the design methodology of Centaur Technology.
The VIA Cyrix III was later renamed VIA C3, as it was not built upon Cyrix technology at all.
The Samuel 2 core
VIA Cyrix III was renamed VIA C3 with the switch to the advanced "Samuel 2" (C5B) core. The addition of an on-die L2 cache improved performance somewhat. As it was not built upon Cyrix technology at all, the new name was just a logical step. To improve power consumption and reduce manufacturing costs, Samuel 2 was produced with 150 nm process technology.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.