Enter the Pentium Era
After the 386 and 486 were introduced to the market, they were both great successes, and Intel's dominance in the chip field became increasingly prominent. Since then, Intel began to bid farewell to the era of microprocessor digital numbering and entered the Pentium era.
March 10, 1994: Intel Pentium central processing unit chip
In 1993, Intel released the Pentium (commonly known as 586) central processing unit chip (CPU). Originally, according to the usual naming rules, it was 80586, but in fact, numbers like "586" cannot be registered as trademarks, because any competitor can use 586 to disrupt the consumer market. In fact, at the end of the development of 486, some companies already labeled 486-grade products as 586 for sale. Therefore, Intel decided to use its own brand as the trademark for its new product - Pentium.
The world's first Pentium processor
Pentium processor internal structure
The Intel Pentium processor is manufactured using 0.60 micron process technology, with a core of 3.2 million composed of transistors. Allowing computers to more easily integrate "real world" data, such as speech, sounds, handwriting, and pictures, the word "Pentium" frequently appeared in comics and TV talk shows, making it a household word soon after its launch. Pentium is an epoch-making product and has influenced the PC field for ten years, and the "name" is still used.
Intel Pentium processor
Pentium is a major innovation in the x86 series. Among them, the number of transistors has been greatly increased, the floating point computing function has been enhanced, and the operating voltage has been reduced to 3.3V, which has not changed in ten years. When Pentium was first launched, it had an incorrect floating-point division bug (FDIV Bug), which caused Intel to recycle a large number of first-generation products (products before December 1994), so there are not many microprocessors with FDIV Bug left. Pentium 50Mhz also has this FDIV error, but A80501-50 is just an industry sample and has never appeared on the market. The Intel Pentium 60Mhz pictured above is the first product in the entire Pentium series, and it is also the one containing Bug FDIV. This engineering sample is the earliest Pentium CPU (Q0352) in the official Intel record in the world, and it is also the only one known to exist in the world.
On March 27, 1995, Intel released the Pentium 120MHz processor, which used two process technologies: 0.60 micron/0.35, but the core still consisted of 3.2 million transistors.
In June 1995, Intel released the Pentium 133MHz processor, which was manufactured using 0.35 process technology and the core was upgraded to consist of 3.3 million transistors.
On November 1, 1995, Intel released four processors: Pentium 150MHz, Pentium 166MHz, Pentium 180MHz, and Pentium 200MHz. They adopted two process technologies of 0.60 micron/0.35, and the core was upgraded from 5.5 million composed of transistors. At this time, INTEL added L2 cache in 256K and 512K versions based on the previous design.
On January 4, 1996, Intel released two more processors, Pentium 150MHz and Pentium 166MHz, using 0.35 micron process technology, but the core is composed of 3.3 million transistors.
On June 10, 1996, Intel released the Pentium 200MHz processor, which used 0.35 micron process technology, but the core was still composed of 3.3 million transistors.
January 1997: Intel Pentium MMX central processor
In January 1997, Intel launched the Pentium MMX chip, which added 57 instructions to the X86 instruction set Multimedia instructions. These instructions are specifically used to process video, audio and image data, giving the CPU more powerful processing capabilities in multimedia operations. Pentium MMX also uses many new technologies. Single instruction multiple data stream SIMD technology can process multiple data in parallel with one instruction, shortening the time used by the CPU for calculations when processing video, audio, graphics and animation; the pipeline has been increased from 5 to 6 levels, and the first-level cache has been expanded It is 16K, one is used for data cache and the other is used for instruction cache, so the speed is greatly accelerated; Pentium MMX also absorbs the excellent processing technologies of other CPUs, such as branch prediction technology and return stack technology.
Pentium MMX central processor
Pentium MMX is an enhanced version of the Pentium central processing unit chip (CPU). In addition to adding 67 MMX (Multi-Media eXtension) instructions and 64-bit In addition to the data type, the built-in instruction and data cache (Cache) has also been increased from the previous 8KB to 16KB, and the internal operating voltage has been reduced to 2.8V. Desktop CPUs after Intel all include MMX instructions.
1997: Intel Pentium Overdrive
Intel Pentium Overdrive Processor
The Intel Pentium OverDrive central processing unit chip (CPU) is another Intel benefit for the old An upgrade option for computer users. There are two types of Pentium OverDrive, one (excluding MMX, 5V) is for 80486 upgrades, and the other (including MMX, 3.3V) is for upgrading early Pentium products (Socket6, 50-66Mhz). They all include radiators and fans.
Intel Pentium MMX overdrive 200 1997-1998: PentiumII processor
On May 7, 1997, Intel released three PIIs: Pentium II 233MHz, Pentium II 266MHz, and Pentium II 300MHz. The processor uses 0.35 micron process technology, and the core is upgraded to 7.5 million transistors. Using the SLOT1 architecture, it is connected to the motherboard through a single-sided plug-in card (SEC). The SEC card box encapsulates the CPU core and the second-level cache. The working speed of the second-level cache is half the working speed of the processor core; the processor It adopts the same dynamic execution technology as Pentium PRO, which can accelerate the execution of software; it is connected to the system bus through dual independent buses, which can perform multiple data exchanges and improve system performance; Pentium II also contains the MMX instruction set. Intel hoped to use the patent of SLOT1 architecture to beat AMD and others to death with a stick, but they did not expect that the Socket 7 platform would enter another spring with the support of processors led by AMD's K6-2. From then on, Intel also began to embark on an uncertain path, and began to frequently forcefully formulate its own standards in an attempt to quickly squeeze out its competitors. However, the needs of the market and users made Intel continue to fall into passivity. and unfavorable situation.
Pentium II processor
During this period, SDR memory with a frequency of 100MHZ had appeared on the market, but Intel surprisingly announced that they would abandon parallel memory and mainly promote a memory called Rambus. At that time, many Large companies such as Siemens, HP and DELL all invested in Rambus, but the popularity of DDR memory later proved Intel's failure.
On June 2, 1997, Intel released the Pentium II 233MHz processor with MMX instruction technology, which uses 0.35 micron process technology and has a core composed of 4.5 million transistors.
On August 18, 1997, Intel released the Pentium II 200MHz processor with an L2 cache of 1M, using 0.35 micron process technology, and the core is composed of 5.5 million transistors.
On January 26, 1998, Intel released the Pentium II 333MHz processor, which used 0.35 micron process technology and the core was composed of 7.5 million transistors.
On April 15, 1998, Intel released Pentium II 350MHz, Pentium II 400MHz and the first Celeron 266MHz processor. These three CPUs all used the latest 0.25 micron process technology, with 7.5 million cores. Composed of transistors.
On August 24, 1998, Intel released the Pentium II 450MHz processor, which used 0.25 micron process technology and had a core composed of 7.5 million transistors.
When the CPU has developed to this stage, we have to talk about the Intel Pentium II Cerelon processor. Intel set the L2 Cache of the Celeron processor to only half that of the Pentium II (that is, 128KB), which not only has reasonable performance, but also has a relatively low price (with an A suffix); this strategy has continued until today. However, someone soon discovered that there was not much difference between a system using dual Celeron and a system using dual Pentium II, but the price was much cheaper. As a result, Celeron impacted the high-end market. Later, Intel decided to cancel the SMP function of the Celeron processor, which solved this problem.
Pentium II Celeron processor
The Celeron 300A is a product that has moved many people upon hearing about it, and it has accompanied many young readers through their long student days. The Celeron 300A is, in a sense, Intel's second-generation Celeron processor. The first-generation Celeron processor only had two versions: 266MHz and 300MHz. Since the first-generation Celeron processor did not have any L2 cache, although it effectively reduced the cost, its performance was not satisfactory. In order to make up for the lack of performance, Intel finally launched Celeron processors with level 2 cache for the first time - Celeron300A, 333, 366 using Mendocino core. A classic was born. On February 26, 1999, Intel released the Pentium III 450MHz and Pentium III 500MHz processors, which also used 0.25 micron process technology and the core was composed of 9.5 million transistors. From then on, INTEL began to embark on the PIII journey.
Intel Pentium III processor
Pentium III is a central processing unit chip (CPU) for desktop computers. It is equivalent to an enhanced version of Pentium II, with 70 new features. Instructions (SIMD, SSE). Pentium III, like Pentium II, has different versions such as Mobile, Xeon and Cerelon.
The biggest gap between the Celeron series and Pentium III lies in the secondary cache. The 100MHz FSB Tualatin Celeron 1GHz can easily jump to the 133MHz FSB. More importantly, Tualatin Celeron also has good backward compatibility. Even 440BX motherboards are expected to adopt this CPU after using an adapter card, so it has become the first choice for many upgrade users.
Intel Pentium III processor
It is particularly pointed out that the desktop Pentium III alone has three different series: Katmai Slot 1, Coppermine Slot 1 and Coppermine Socket 370. . In the later period, Intel gave up the plug-in interface and returned to the slot interface (Socket 370). When the socket370 package began to be introduced, some consumers abandoned the slot1 platform and chose new processors. The new PGA package is divided into two types: PPGA and FC-PGA. The former is cheaper and is used by Celeron processors, while the more expensive latter is used by Pentium III processors. The exception is: Celeron processors using the Mendocino core are available in both different packages. The Celeron processor packaged in PPGA can be used on the slot1 motherboard through an adapter card, while the Ben3 processor packaged in FC-PGA is powerless. 2000: Intel Pentium 4 processor
I believe everyone is familiar with Pentium 4. This is also the beginning of a new era for Intel's market strategy. Starting from P4, Intel has no longer launched a newly named central processing unit chip (CPU) every two years. Instead, it has repeatedly used the name Pentium 4. This approach has resulted in the Pentium 4 family having a bunch of brothers and sisters, and the P4 family Continuing for five years, this Intel market strategy is unprecedented. Penitum 4 has many manufacturing processes. Willamette is the earliest product of P4, which also includes Socket 423, a package that is incompatible with later ones (because the number of pins is different). However, it is precisely because it cannot be upgraded and can only use the monster memory of Rambus. specifications, so the sales of this model are not very good.
Socket423 pin P4 processor
Socket423 is a short-lived product like the slot1 interface. It was only used for less than a year from its launch in October 2000 to August 2001. . Most users eventually upgraded to the more mature socket478 platform, while many users who purchased socket423 processors saw their investments in vain. There is only one CPU using the socket423 interface, the Pentium 4 processor with the Willamette core. In the end, the sales of this processor in the market were far lower than expected, but Intel's market share increased during the same period. The release of Pentium IV and Netburst gave people great encouragement. Until today, Intel's 3.8GHZ main frequency processors still use this architecture. A series of new technologies are also applied in the new processor, such as the SSE2 instruction set that supports fast video stream encoding.
478-pin P4 processor
As the processor frequency and the number of internal integrated transistors increase, the energy consumed by the processor also begins to increase significantly. In order to meet the huge power required by the processor, because the power of the Pentium 4 processor reaches 72W, it requires an additional power interface on the motherboard to meet the power supply needs of the processor. Due to the increase in heat generation, a cooling fan It has also become a necessity. The platform that Intel mainly promotes to match the Pentium 4 is the 850 platform. The dual-channel Rambus memory has reached an unprecedented memory data bandwidth of 2.5GB/S. However, due to the high price of Rambus memory, the early P4 platform was quite expensive.
Due to contract restrictions, Intel was unable to use DDR memory that was already on the market at that time.
Although the new Ben4 processor is quite mature, its sales in the market are still unsatisfactory. The main reason is expensive RDRAM memory. Although Intel later launched the 845 solution so that users could use SDR memory, the data transfer rate of SDR memory was obviously not satisfactory. DDR memory was already on the market at that time, but Intel could not use this cheap solution due to protocol issues.
After a long wait for consumers, Intel finally reached an agreement with Rambus. Intel immediately launched 845D and 845GD two chipsets based on DDR memory platforms. Although DDR has doubled the data bandwidth compared to SDR, it is still insufficient compared to Rambus. This problem was not solved until the emergence of dual-channel DDR memory.