Hi Guys
Thought it would be quite interesting and handy to have as a reference, the Intel CPU/chipset history and their support. Pls feel free to add anything that I have missed. I have deliberately, not included the Itanium CPU's and chipset.
4x0 chipsets
80486 Chipsets
The Intel i486 (also called 486 or 80486) is a range of Intel CISC microprocessors which is part of the Intel x86 family of processors. The i486's predecessor was the Intel 80386 processor. The i486 was named without the usual 80-prefix, and with its successor, the Pentium processor, Intel dropped number-based naming altogether. From a software point of view, the instruction set of the i486 family is very similar to its predecessor, the Intel 80386, with the addition of only a few extra instructions.
From a hardware point of view, however, the architecture of the i486 was a vast improvement. It had an on-chip unified instruction and data cache, an optional on-chip floating-point unit (FPU) (DX models only), and an enhanced bus interface unit. In addition, under optimal conditions, the processor core could sustain an execution rate of one instruction per clock cycle. These improvements yielded a rough doubling in performance over an Intel 80386 at the same clock rate. However, some low-end i486 models were actually slower than the highest-speed 386s, especially so with the 'SX' i486s. A 25 MHz version was introduced in April 1989, a 33 MHz version in May 1990, and a 50 MHz version in June 1991.
* 420TX (Saturn)
- Intel's first 80486 chipset. Supported PCI 2.0, FPM DRAM and up to 33MHz bus.
* 420EX (Aries)
- 420TX with support for 50MHz bus.
* 420ZX (Saturn II)
- 420TX with higher memory capacity, and PCI spec updated to 2.1.
Pentium Chipsets
The Pentium is a fifth-generation x86 architecture microprocessor by Intel which first shipped on March 22, 1993. It is the successor to the 486 line. The Pentium was originally to be named 80586 or i586, but the name was changed to Pentium because numbers could not be trademarked. i586 is however, used in programming referring to all the early Pentium processors, and Pentium-like processors made by the Intel competition.
Major changes from the 486:
* Superscalar architecture - The Pentium has two datapaths (pipelines) that allow it to complete more than one instruction per clock cycle. One pipe (called "U") can handle any instruction, while the other (called "V") can handle the simplest, most common instructions. The use of more than one pipeline is a characteristic typical of RISC processors designs, the first of many to be implemented on the x86 platform, thus signaling the road to take, and showing that it was possible to merge both technologies, creating almost “hybrid” processors.
* 64-bit data path - This doubles the amount of information pulled from the memory on each fetch. This doesn't mean that the Pentium can execute so-called 64-bit applications; its main registers are still 32-bit wide.
* MMX instructions (later models only) - A basic SIMD instruction set extension designed for use in multimedia applications.
Pentium architecture chips offered just under twice the performance of a 486 processor per clock cycle. The fastest Intel 486 parts were almost the same speed as a first-generation Pentium, and a few late-model AMD 486 parts were roughly equal to the Pentium 75.
* 430LX (Mercury)
- First Pentium chipset, supported EISA in certain configurations. FPM memory, PCI 2.0, and PIO Mode 4.
* 430NX (Neptune)
- Improved version of 430LX, supported up to 512MB of cached memory, lower voltages on Socket 5 motherboards and dual processing. Also supported EISA in certain configurations.
* 430FX (Triton)
- Added EDO support, as well as integrating a disk controller and certain other mainboard level functions.
* 430VX (Triton II)
- Added support for SDRAM and updated PCI spec to 2.1.
* 430HX (Triton II-A)
- 430FX with support for dual processors, PCI 2.1 and higher memory capacity.
* 430MX
- 430FX optimised for use in portable computers.
* 430TX (Triton III)
- 430VX with support for higher RAM densities, also added ATA-33 support.
Pentium MMX
The earliest Pentiums were released at the clock speeds of 66 MHz and 60 MHz. Later on 75, 90, 100, 120, 133, 150, 166, 200 and 233 MHz versions gradually became available. Pentium OverDrive processors were released at speeds of 63 and 83MHz as an upgrade option for older 486-class computers.
The original Pentium microprocessor had the internal code name P5, and was a pipelined in-order superscalar microprocessor, produced using a 0.8 µm process. It was followed by the P54, a shrink of the P5 to a 0.6 µm process, which was dual-processor ready and had an internal clock speed different than the front side bus (it's much more difficult to increase the bus speed than to increase the internal clock). In turn, the P54 was followed by the P54C, which used a 0.35 µm process - a pure CMOS process, as opposed to the Bipolar CMOS process that was used for the earlier Pentiums. Subsequently, the P55C was released as the Pentium with MMX Technology (usually just called Pentium MMX); it was based on the P5 core, the 0.35 µm process was also used for this series, but it had a new set of 57 "MMX" instructions to improve working on multimedia tasks, such as encoding and decoding media. However, software must be specially optimised to make use of MMX, and the increased speed the P55C showed in its aparition was mainly due to the fact that the internal cache had been doubled in size to 32 KB.
Pentium Pro/II/III Chipsets
#Pentium Pro
Pentium Pro clock speeds were 150, 166, 180 or 200 MHz with a 60 or 66 MHz external bus clock. Many users chose to overclock their Pentium Pro chips, with the 200 MHz version often being run at 233 MHz, and the 150 MHz version often being run at 166 MHz. The chip was popular in symmetric multiprocessing configurations, with dual and quad SMP server and workstation setups being commonplace. Many of the Pentium Pro systems that were produced are still employed today for those purposes. The Pentium Pro was succeeded by the Pentium II, which was essentially an improved and re-branded Pentium Pro with the addition of MMX and enhanced 16-bit code performance. A 333 MHz Pentium II processor for Socket 8 was produced by Intel as an upgrade option for owners of Pentium Pro systems.
#Pentium II
The Pentium II is an x86 architecture microprocessor by Intel, introduced on May 7, 1997. It was based on a modifed version of the P6 core first used for the Pentium Pro, but with improved 16 bit performance and the addition of the MMX instructions which had already been introduced on the Pentium MMX. The original Klamath Pentium IIs ran at 233 and 266 MHz, were produced in a 0.35 µm fabrication process and produced (for that time) an incredible amount of heat. They also worked with a 66 MHz front side bus, which was a speed that was inadequate for the CPU's design to show its full potential. A 300 MHz version was released later in 1997. The Deschutes core Pentium IIs which debuted at 333 MHz in January 1998 were produced in a more suitable 0.25 µm fabrication process and ran significantly cooler. Support for 100 MHz front side bus speeds heralded decent performance improvements. During 1998, Pentium IIs running at 350, 400, and 450 MHz were also released. Pentium II-based systems also saw the introduction of the new generation RAM-standard, SDRAM (which replaced EDO RAM), and the AGP graphics bus.
Pentium III
Katmai
The original version, Katmai, was pretty much the same as the Pentium II (using a 0.25µm fabrication process), the only differences being the introduction of SSE, and an improved L1 cache controller (which was the cause of the minor performance improvements over the latter PIIs). It was first released at speeds of 450 and 500 MHz. Two more versions were released: 550 MHz on May 17, 1999 and 600 MHz on August 2, 1999. The Katmai used the same slot based design as the Pentium II.
Coppermine
The second version, Coppermine, had an integrated 256 KiB L2 cache with lower latency, which improved performance over Katmai. Under competitive pressure from AMD’s Athlon processor, Intel also re-worked the chip internally, and finally fixed the well known instruction pipeline stalls. The result was a remarkable 30% increase in instruction processing performance.
It was built on a 0.18 μm process. Pentium III Coppermines running at 500, 533, 550, 600, 650, 667, 700, and 733 MHz were first released on October 25, 1999. From December 1999 to May 2000, Intel released Pentium IIIs running at speeds of 750, 800, 850, 866, 933, and 1000 MHz (1GHz).
A 1.13GHz version was released in mid-2000, but famously recalled after a popular hardware review website proved it was not stable enough to compile the Linux kernel. Ironically, the problem was traced to the integrated cache, which simply could not operate at speeds above 1GHz.
Tualatin
The third version, Tualatin, was really just a trial for Intel's new 0.13 μm process. Had the Pentium 4 been on a sounder footing, it's doubtful whether Tualatin would have ever been made. Tualatin performed quite well, especially in variations which had 512 KiB L2 cache (called the Pentium III-S). Pentium III-S variant was mainly intended for, and used in servers, especially where power consumption mattered: thin blade servers. Pentium III Tualatins were released during 2001 until early 2002 at speeds of 1.13, 1.2, 1.26, and 1.4 GHz. Intel didn't want a repeat of the situation where the performance of a lower priced Celeron rivaled that of the more expensive Pentium II, so Tualatin never ran faster than 1.4 GHz, the introductory clock rate of the Pentium 4. Later on, the Pentium M proved that the design was good for at least 1.7GHz on the 0.13 μm process. The Tualatin core was named after the Tualatin Valley and Tualatin River in the Oregon area.
* 450GX (Orion)
- High-end chipset, support for quad processors, but limited to FPM memory and PIO.
* 450KX (Mars)
- Dual-processor version of 450GX.
* 440FX (Natoma)
- Dual Pentium Pro, supported EDO and BEDO memory. Also used on early Pentium II motherboards.
* 440LX
- Added support for the AGP bus, SDRAM and ATA-33.
* 440EX/ZX-66
- Cheaper version of 440LX, only supported 3 PCI slots and 256MB memory.
* 440BX
- Supports 100MHz bus, AGP 2x and PC100 SDRAM memory.
* 440GX
- Version of 440BX adapted for workstations. Supports higher memory capacity.
* 450NX
- Server chipset, supported up to quad processors (oct in some configurations), also supported 64-bit PCI.
* 440ZX
- 440EX with support for 100MHz bus, PC100 SDRAM memory and AGP 2x.
* 440MX
- 440LX with North and Southbridges combined into the same unit. Designed for usage in mobile computers.
8xx and Exxxx Chipsets
#Pentium II/III Chipsets
* 810 (Whitney)
- Integrated graphics, 133MHz bus and support for ATA 66. Updated PCI Spec to 2.2. No AGP support.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 810L - ATA 33 and only 3 PCI slots.
+ 810E - Added support for ATA 100.
+ 810EP - Supported Tualatin revision Pentium III.
* 820 (Camino)
- Supported Rambus RDRAM, and also supported the Memory Translator Hub which allowed usage of SDRAM. The MTH ended up being recalled due to signal problems. Also supported 133MHz bus and ATA 66.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 820E - Added support for ATA 100.
* 840 (Carmel)
- Workstation version of 820. Also supported SDRAM use with the SDRAM Memory Repeater Hub, but that was never used because of problems with ECC support. Also supported 66MHz PCI slots.
* 815 (Solano)
- 810 with an external AGP slot, and a slightly better graphics core.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 815E - added ATA 100.
+ 815P - Same as 815 but with onboard graphics removed.
+ 815EP - as above, but with ATA 100 support.
+ 815EPT - as above, but with support for Tualatin.
+ 815G - 810E with faster graphics core.
+ 815EG - as above, but with ATA 100 support.
* 830 (Almador)
- Mobile version of 815, designed for use with Pentium III-M.
Pentium 4 Chipsets
The Pentium IV has evolved through 5 different flavours- Williamette, Northwood, Extreme Edition, Prescott and Dual core.
Williamette
Willamette, the first Pentium 4, suffered long delays in the design process. Most industry experts regarded the initial 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 GHz P4 release as a stopgap product, introduced before it was truly ready. According to these experts, the Willamette was released because the competing AMD Athlon Thunderbird was at that time outperforming the elderly Pentium III, and further improvements to the Intel P-III were not yet possible. The cores were produced using a 0.18 micrometre (180 nm) process and utilized socket 423 on motherboards. The 2.0 GHz was the first P4 to provide a serious challenge to the rival Athlon Thunderbird, which until then had been unquestionably the fastest x86 CPU on the market.
Northwood
With Northwood, the P4 came of age. The battle for performance leadership remained competitive (as AMD introduced faster versions of the Athlon XP) but most observers agreed that the fastest Northwood P4 was usually a fraction ahead of its rival. This was particularly so in the northern summer of 2002, when AMD's changeover to a 0.13 micrometre (130 nm) production process was delayed and the P4s in the 2.4 to 2.8 GHz range were clearly the fastest chips on the market.
A 2.4 GHz P4 was released in April 2002, a 2.53 GHz part in May (at which point the bus speed was increased from the original 400MHz to 533MHz), 2.6 and 2.8 GHz parts in August, and a 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 arrived in November. The 3.06 GHz processor supported Hyper-threading (first appeared in Xeon), enabling multiple threads to be run together by duplicating some parts of the processor in order to let the operating system believe that there are two logical processors. In April 2003, Intel launched new variants, ranging from 2.4 to 3.0 GHz. The key difference on these new versions was that they all supported Hyper-Threading, and ran their system buses at 800 MHz. This was supposedly to compete better with AMD's Hammer line of processors. However, only Opteron was launched, and AMD initially refused to provide an AGP controller, thus preventing the Opteron from encroaching on the Pentium 4's territory.
AMD did boost the Athlon XP's bus speed from 333 MHz to 400 MHz, but it wasn't enough to hold off the new 3.0 GHz P4. A 3.2 GHz variant was launched in June and a final 3.4GHz version was launched in early 2004. Overclocking Northwood cores yielded a startling phenomenon. When VCore was pumped past 1.7v, the processor literally died. This occurance has since been called "NDS," or Northwood Death Syndrome.
Extreme Edition
The design was mostly identical to Pentium 4 (to the extent that it would run in the same motherboards), but differed by an added 2 MB of Level 3 cache. It shared the same Gallatin core as the Xeon MP, though in a Socket 478 form factor (as opposed to Socket 603 for the Xeon MP) and with an 800MHz bus, twice as fast as that of the Xeon MP. An LGA775 version is also available. The effect of the added cache was somewhat variable. In office applications, the Extreme Edition was generally a bit slower than the Northwood, owing to higher latency added by the L3 cache. Some games benefited from the added cache, particularly those based on the Quake III and Unreal engines. However, the area which improved the most was multimedia encoding, which was not only faster than the Pentium 4, but also both Athlon 64s.
Prescott
Upon release, the Prescott turned out to generate approximately 60% more heat clock-for-clock than the Northwood, and almost every review of it was negative. A shift in socket type (from Socket 478 to LGA775) was expected to reduce the heat to more acceptable levels, but in fact proved to have the opposite effect, with power requirements increasing by a further 10%. However, the LGA775 reference cooler and mounting system were somewhat better designs, so average temperatures were slightly lowered. LGA775 Prescotts use a rating system, labelling them as the 5xx series (Celerons are the 3xx series, while Pentium Ms and Extreme Editions are the 7xx series). The fastest, the 570J is clocked at 3.8GHz. Plans for 4GHz proccessors were recently axed by Intel in favor of dual core processors. [3] (http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2004Oct/gee20041015027427.htm)
The 570J processor also introduced the XD Bit (eXecute Disable) or Execute Disabled Bit [4] (http://www.intel.com/business/bss/infrastructure/security/xdbit.htm) to Intel's line of processors. This technology, first introduced to the x86 line by AMD and called NX (No eXecute), can help prevent certain types of malicious code from exploiting a buffer overflow to get executed.
Intel recently (Q'1 05) released a new Prescott core with 6xx numbering. It features new 64-bit technology, execution disable, speed step technology, and 2 MB of L2 cache. However, any advantage introduced by the added cache is mostly negated due to higher cache latency.
Dual Core
Intel have planned three mainstream dual-core variants of the Pentium 4. Reputed to have a 60-80% increase in performance per clock-speed, this would be marketed as the Pentium D. An extreme edition is also planned. These chips have already started production and would be launched by 2Q 2005.
Dubbed the Smithfield core, the first Pentium-D processors will basically be two connected Prescott cores. Power consumption is estimated to be 130 watts. Intel developes have managed to keep power consumtion of the processor incrementally larger than the Prescott's power useage (115w) due to the fact that the cores will execute independently. Futhermore, the cores will be rated at lower frequencies, with the EE edition at 3.2 Ghz and the mainstream models clocked at 3.2, 3.0, and 2.8, respectfully. The major difference betweent he EE edition of P-D and the mainstream models is the 1066 Mhz bus (the mainstream models will have a P4 standard 800 Mhz FSB) and the retention of HyperThreading Technology for each core.
This will be followed in Q1'06 by the Presler, which has a dedicated bus interface bridging the two cores together. Presler will also be a 65nm architecture.
* 850 (Tehama)
- Used RDRAM, feature set identical to 815EP.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 850E - Supports 533MHz bus, otherwise identical.
* 860 (Colusa)
- Xeon version of 850. Supports dual-processors and 66Mhz PCI.
* 845 (Brookdale)
- Same feature set as 850, but supports SDRAM (natively, not through an MTH).
+ Sub-versions:
+ 845D - Supports DDR SDRAM up to 266MHz.
+ 845E - As 845D, but with support for 533MHz bus and USB 2.0.
* 845G (Brookdale-G)
- Integrated graphics core, USB 2.0 and 533MHz bus. Officially runs DDR memory at up to 266MHz, but design error allowed stable operation at 333MHz.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 845GE - Official support for 333MHz DDR memory, and slightly faster graphics core. Fixed Hyper-Threading support, which was unstable in early versions of 845G.
+ 845PE - Officially an 845E with support for 333MHz DDR memory. In reality an 845GE with the graphics core removed.
* E7500 (Plumas)
- Similar feature set to 860, but uses dual-channel SDRAM, and has support for PCI-X, but no AGP.
+ Sub-versions:
+ E7501 - Mostly the same as E7500, but with support for 533MHz bus and USB 2.0.
+ E7505 (Placer) - E7501 with AGP 8x.
* E7205 (Granite Bay)
- Workstation chipset, supports AGP 8x and dual-channel DDR. Other features are the same as 845PE.
* 875P (Canterwood)
- Similar to E7205, but adds support for 800MHz bus, DDR at 400MHz, Communications Streaming Architecture (CSA), Serial ATA (with RAID in certain configurations) and Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT), a mode deigned to cut down memory latency.
* 865PE (Springdale)
- 875P without PAT, though it was possible to enable PAT in some early revisions. Also lacks ECC Memory support.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 865P - 865PE, but only supports 533MHz bus and 333MHz memory.
+ 848P - Single memory channel version of 865PE.
* 865G (Springdale-G)
- 865PE with integrated graphics. PAT never supported in any revisions.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 865GL - 865G without external AGP slot.
* E7525 (Tumwater)
- Dual Xeon, supports an 800MHz bus, PCI Express and DDR-II. Other features are the same as 875/865.
+ Sub-versions:
+ E7520/E7320 (Lindenhurst) - Same feature-set as E7525, but has the PCI Express links set out in a way better suited to servers than workstations. In spite of the different names, there is no difference between the E7520 and E7320.
Pentium M Chipsets
The Pentium M couples the execution core of the Pentium III with a Pentium 4 compatible bus interface, an improved instruction decoding/issuing front end, improved branch prediction, SSE/SSE2 support, and a larger cache. The usually power-hungry secondary cache uses an innovative access method to avoid switching on any parts of it not being accessed. Other power saving methods include dynamically variable clock frequency and core voltage, allowing the Pentium M to run slowly (typically 600 MHz) when the system is idle in order to conserve energy. The processor forms part of the Intel Centrino platform.
Although this CPU was intended strictly as a mobile processor at first, desktop motherboards were manufactured for it in limited quantities beginning in late 2004, and Intel began tweaking the core for the possible release of a desktop version around the same time. The Pentium M processor shall be avilable in 4 different flavours-Banias, Dothan, Yonah and Merom.
Banias
The first Pentium M was identified by the codename Banias. It was manufactured on a 0.13 micrometre process, was released at frequencies from 1.3-1.7 GHz, and had 1 MB L2 cache (compared to 256 KB or 512 KB in the contemporary P4 and Athlon processors). It did not support the Hyperthreading enhancement that was just becoming available on the Pentium 4.
Dothan
These 700 series Pentium M processors retain the same basic design as the original Pentium M, but are manufactured on a 90 nm process. Die size, at 84 mm2, remains in the same neighborhood as the original Pentium M, even though the 700 series contains ~140 million transistors, most of which make up the massive 2 MB cache. TDP is also down to 21 Watts (from 24.5 Watts in Banias), though power use at lower clockspeeds has increased slightly. However, tests conducted by third party hardware review sites show that Banias and Dothan equipped notebooks have roughly equivalent battery life.
Yonah
Yonah is a dual-core design targeted for manufacturing on a 65 nm process, and it will be Intel's first dual-core processor designed from scratch (as opposed to just duplicating existing processor cores onto a single die). Yonah is expected to include 2MB of L2 (possibly 4MB) and to target 2.5GHz at launch (possibly 2.67GHz), with a front side bus of 667MHz. The cores are believed to be based on the Banias microarchitecture, extended with SSE3, EM64T, the Vanderpool (VT) virtualization technology, but most likely without Hyper Threading (HT). The processor is also expected to have the capability to disable one core to conserve power. There will also be a single core version.
Merom
Intel expects to launch the Merom core in late 2006. Merom will support the EM64T instruction set, and Intel plans to use the Merom core as a basis for a new desktop core, Conroe.
* 855PM (Odem)
- Similar feature-set to desktop 845E chipset, but optimised for low-power usage, in combination with the Pentium-M. Also has a CSA bus for the wireless chipset component.
* 855GM (Montara-GM)
- 855PM with added graphics core (same design as 865G). Also has the capability to use an external AGP card.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 855GME - Supports 333MHz memory.
9xx Chipsets
Pentium 4 Chipsets
* 915P (Grantsdale)
- Supports Pentium 4 on a 800MHz bus. Uses DDR memory up to 400MHz, or DDR-II at 533MHz. Replaces AGP and CSA with PCI Express, and also supports "Matrix RAID", a RAID mode designed to allow the usage of RAID levels 0 and 1 with two hard drives.
+ Sub-versions
+ 915PL - Cut-down version of 915P with no support for DDR-II and only supporting 2GB of memory.
* 915G (Grantsdale-G)
- 915P with an integrated graphics core. The core is compliant with Vertex and Pixel shader versions 2.0, and has similar specifications and functionality to a GeForce FX 5200 or a Radeon 9600.
+ Sub-versions
+ 915GL - Same feature reductions as 915PL.
+ 915GV - Same as 915G, but has no way of adding an external graphics card.
+ 910GL - No support for external graphics cards or 800MHz bus.
* 925X (Alderwood)
- Higher end version of 915. Supports another PAT-like mode and ECC memory, and exclusively uses DDR-II RAM.
+ Sub-versions
+ 925XE - Supports a 1066MHz bus and Intel EM64T technology
* 945P (Lakeport)
- Update on 915P, with support for Serial ATA II, additional RAID modes, an improved memory controller with support for DDR-II at 667MHz and additional PCI-Express slots. Support for DDR-I may be dropped.
* 945G (Lakeport-G)
- A version of the 945P with an integrated graphics core. Whether or not the core will be changed from 915G is still unknown.
* 955X (Glenwood)
- Update for 925X, with additonal features of "Lakeport".
Pentium M Chipsets
* 915PM (Alviso)
- Mobile equivalent to 915P chipset.
* 915GM (Alviso-GM)
- Mobile equivalent to 915G chipset
#Images and additional info courtesy of Wikipedia
PV
More pics will be uploaded, shortly
Thought it would be quite interesting and handy to have as a reference, the Intel CPU/chipset history and their support. Pls feel free to add anything that I have missed. I have deliberately, not included the Itanium CPU's and chipset.
4x0 chipsets
80486 Chipsets
The Intel i486 (also called 486 or 80486) is a range of Intel CISC microprocessors which is part of the Intel x86 family of processors. The i486's predecessor was the Intel 80386 processor. The i486 was named without the usual 80-prefix, and with its successor, the Pentium processor, Intel dropped number-based naming altogether. From a software point of view, the instruction set of the i486 family is very similar to its predecessor, the Intel 80386, with the addition of only a few extra instructions.
From a hardware point of view, however, the architecture of the i486 was a vast improvement. It had an on-chip unified instruction and data cache, an optional on-chip floating-point unit (FPU) (DX models only), and an enhanced bus interface unit. In addition, under optimal conditions, the processor core could sustain an execution rate of one instruction per clock cycle. These improvements yielded a rough doubling in performance over an Intel 80386 at the same clock rate. However, some low-end i486 models were actually slower than the highest-speed 386s, especially so with the 'SX' i486s. A 25 MHz version was introduced in April 1989, a 33 MHz version in May 1990, and a 50 MHz version in June 1991.
* 420TX (Saturn)
- Intel's first 80486 chipset. Supported PCI 2.0, FPM DRAM and up to 33MHz bus.
* 420EX (Aries)
- 420TX with support for 50MHz bus.
* 420ZX (Saturn II)
- 420TX with higher memory capacity, and PCI spec updated to 2.1.
Pentium Chipsets
The Pentium is a fifth-generation x86 architecture microprocessor by Intel which first shipped on March 22, 1993. It is the successor to the 486 line. The Pentium was originally to be named 80586 or i586, but the name was changed to Pentium because numbers could not be trademarked. i586 is however, used in programming referring to all the early Pentium processors, and Pentium-like processors made by the Intel competition.
Major changes from the 486:
* Superscalar architecture - The Pentium has two datapaths (pipelines) that allow it to complete more than one instruction per clock cycle. One pipe (called "U") can handle any instruction, while the other (called "V") can handle the simplest, most common instructions. The use of more than one pipeline is a characteristic typical of RISC processors designs, the first of many to be implemented on the x86 platform, thus signaling the road to take, and showing that it was possible to merge both technologies, creating almost “hybrid” processors.
* 64-bit data path - This doubles the amount of information pulled from the memory on each fetch. This doesn't mean that the Pentium can execute so-called 64-bit applications; its main registers are still 32-bit wide.
* MMX instructions (later models only) - A basic SIMD instruction set extension designed for use in multimedia applications.
Pentium architecture chips offered just under twice the performance of a 486 processor per clock cycle. The fastest Intel 486 parts were almost the same speed as a first-generation Pentium, and a few late-model AMD 486 parts were roughly equal to the Pentium 75.
* 430LX (Mercury)
- First Pentium chipset, supported EISA in certain configurations. FPM memory, PCI 2.0, and PIO Mode 4.
* 430NX (Neptune)
- Improved version of 430LX, supported up to 512MB of cached memory, lower voltages on Socket 5 motherboards and dual processing. Also supported EISA in certain configurations.
* 430FX (Triton)
- Added EDO support, as well as integrating a disk controller and certain other mainboard level functions.
* 430VX (Triton II)
- Added support for SDRAM and updated PCI spec to 2.1.
* 430HX (Triton II-A)
- 430FX with support for dual processors, PCI 2.1 and higher memory capacity.
* 430MX
- 430FX optimised for use in portable computers.
* 430TX (Triton III)
- 430VX with support for higher RAM densities, also added ATA-33 support.
Pentium MMX
The earliest Pentiums were released at the clock speeds of 66 MHz and 60 MHz. Later on 75, 90, 100, 120, 133, 150, 166, 200 and 233 MHz versions gradually became available. Pentium OverDrive processors were released at speeds of 63 and 83MHz as an upgrade option for older 486-class computers.
The original Pentium microprocessor had the internal code name P5, and was a pipelined in-order superscalar microprocessor, produced using a 0.8 µm process. It was followed by the P54, a shrink of the P5 to a 0.6 µm process, which was dual-processor ready and had an internal clock speed different than the front side bus (it's much more difficult to increase the bus speed than to increase the internal clock). In turn, the P54 was followed by the P54C, which used a 0.35 µm process - a pure CMOS process, as opposed to the Bipolar CMOS process that was used for the earlier Pentiums. Subsequently, the P55C was released as the Pentium with MMX Technology (usually just called Pentium MMX); it was based on the P5 core, the 0.35 µm process was also used for this series, but it had a new set of 57 "MMX" instructions to improve working on multimedia tasks, such as encoding and decoding media. However, software must be specially optimised to make use of MMX, and the increased speed the P55C showed in its aparition was mainly due to the fact that the internal cache had been doubled in size to 32 KB.
Pentium Pro/II/III Chipsets
#Pentium Pro
Pentium Pro clock speeds were 150, 166, 180 or 200 MHz with a 60 or 66 MHz external bus clock. Many users chose to overclock their Pentium Pro chips, with the 200 MHz version often being run at 233 MHz, and the 150 MHz version often being run at 166 MHz. The chip was popular in symmetric multiprocessing configurations, with dual and quad SMP server and workstation setups being commonplace. Many of the Pentium Pro systems that were produced are still employed today for those purposes. The Pentium Pro was succeeded by the Pentium II, which was essentially an improved and re-branded Pentium Pro with the addition of MMX and enhanced 16-bit code performance. A 333 MHz Pentium II processor for Socket 8 was produced by Intel as an upgrade option for owners of Pentium Pro systems.
#Pentium II
The Pentium II is an x86 architecture microprocessor by Intel, introduced on May 7, 1997. It was based on a modifed version of the P6 core first used for the Pentium Pro, but with improved 16 bit performance and the addition of the MMX instructions which had already been introduced on the Pentium MMX. The original Klamath Pentium IIs ran at 233 and 266 MHz, were produced in a 0.35 µm fabrication process and produced (for that time) an incredible amount of heat. They also worked with a 66 MHz front side bus, which was a speed that was inadequate for the CPU's design to show its full potential. A 300 MHz version was released later in 1997. The Deschutes core Pentium IIs which debuted at 333 MHz in January 1998 were produced in a more suitable 0.25 µm fabrication process and ran significantly cooler. Support for 100 MHz front side bus speeds heralded decent performance improvements. During 1998, Pentium IIs running at 350, 400, and 450 MHz were also released. Pentium II-based systems also saw the introduction of the new generation RAM-standard, SDRAM (which replaced EDO RAM), and the AGP graphics bus.
Pentium III
Katmai
The original version, Katmai, was pretty much the same as the Pentium II (using a 0.25µm fabrication process), the only differences being the introduction of SSE, and an improved L1 cache controller (which was the cause of the minor performance improvements over the latter PIIs). It was first released at speeds of 450 and 500 MHz. Two more versions were released: 550 MHz on May 17, 1999 and 600 MHz on August 2, 1999. The Katmai used the same slot based design as the Pentium II.
Coppermine
The second version, Coppermine, had an integrated 256 KiB L2 cache with lower latency, which improved performance over Katmai. Under competitive pressure from AMD’s Athlon processor, Intel also re-worked the chip internally, and finally fixed the well known instruction pipeline stalls. The result was a remarkable 30% increase in instruction processing performance.
It was built on a 0.18 μm process. Pentium III Coppermines running at 500, 533, 550, 600, 650, 667, 700, and 733 MHz were first released on October 25, 1999. From December 1999 to May 2000, Intel released Pentium IIIs running at speeds of 750, 800, 850, 866, 933, and 1000 MHz (1GHz).
A 1.13GHz version was released in mid-2000, but famously recalled after a popular hardware review website proved it was not stable enough to compile the Linux kernel. Ironically, the problem was traced to the integrated cache, which simply could not operate at speeds above 1GHz.
Tualatin
The third version, Tualatin, was really just a trial for Intel's new 0.13 μm process. Had the Pentium 4 been on a sounder footing, it's doubtful whether Tualatin would have ever been made. Tualatin performed quite well, especially in variations which had 512 KiB L2 cache (called the Pentium III-S). Pentium III-S variant was mainly intended for, and used in servers, especially where power consumption mattered: thin blade servers. Pentium III Tualatins were released during 2001 until early 2002 at speeds of 1.13, 1.2, 1.26, and 1.4 GHz. Intel didn't want a repeat of the situation where the performance of a lower priced Celeron rivaled that of the more expensive Pentium II, so Tualatin never ran faster than 1.4 GHz, the introductory clock rate of the Pentium 4. Later on, the Pentium M proved that the design was good for at least 1.7GHz on the 0.13 μm process. The Tualatin core was named after the Tualatin Valley and Tualatin River in the Oregon area.
* 450GX (Orion)
- High-end chipset, support for quad processors, but limited to FPM memory and PIO.
* 450KX (Mars)
- Dual-processor version of 450GX.
* 440FX (Natoma)
- Dual Pentium Pro, supported EDO and BEDO memory. Also used on early Pentium II motherboards.
* 440LX
- Added support for the AGP bus, SDRAM and ATA-33.
* 440EX/ZX-66
- Cheaper version of 440LX, only supported 3 PCI slots and 256MB memory.
* 440BX
- Supports 100MHz bus, AGP 2x and PC100 SDRAM memory.
* 440GX
- Version of 440BX adapted for workstations. Supports higher memory capacity.
* 450NX
- Server chipset, supported up to quad processors (oct in some configurations), also supported 64-bit PCI.
* 440ZX
- 440EX with support for 100MHz bus, PC100 SDRAM memory and AGP 2x.
* 440MX
- 440LX with North and Southbridges combined into the same unit. Designed for usage in mobile computers.
8xx and Exxxx Chipsets
#Pentium II/III Chipsets
* 810 (Whitney)
- Integrated graphics, 133MHz bus and support for ATA 66. Updated PCI Spec to 2.2. No AGP support.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 810L - ATA 33 and only 3 PCI slots.
+ 810E - Added support for ATA 100.
+ 810EP - Supported Tualatin revision Pentium III.
* 820 (Camino)
- Supported Rambus RDRAM, and also supported the Memory Translator Hub which allowed usage of SDRAM. The MTH ended up being recalled due to signal problems. Also supported 133MHz bus and ATA 66.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 820E - Added support for ATA 100.
* 840 (Carmel)
- Workstation version of 820. Also supported SDRAM use with the SDRAM Memory Repeater Hub, but that was never used because of problems with ECC support. Also supported 66MHz PCI slots.
* 815 (Solano)
- 810 with an external AGP slot, and a slightly better graphics core.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 815E - added ATA 100.
+ 815P - Same as 815 but with onboard graphics removed.
+ 815EP - as above, but with ATA 100 support.
+ 815EPT - as above, but with support for Tualatin.
+ 815G - 810E with faster graphics core.
+ 815EG - as above, but with ATA 100 support.
* 830 (Almador)
- Mobile version of 815, designed for use with Pentium III-M.
Pentium 4 Chipsets
The Pentium IV has evolved through 5 different flavours- Williamette, Northwood, Extreme Edition, Prescott and Dual core.
Williamette
Willamette, the first Pentium 4, suffered long delays in the design process. Most industry experts regarded the initial 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 GHz P4 release as a stopgap product, introduced before it was truly ready. According to these experts, the Willamette was released because the competing AMD Athlon Thunderbird was at that time outperforming the elderly Pentium III, and further improvements to the Intel P-III were not yet possible. The cores were produced using a 0.18 micrometre (180 nm) process and utilized socket 423 on motherboards. The 2.0 GHz was the first P4 to provide a serious challenge to the rival Athlon Thunderbird, which until then had been unquestionably the fastest x86 CPU on the market.
Northwood
With Northwood, the P4 came of age. The battle for performance leadership remained competitive (as AMD introduced faster versions of the Athlon XP) but most observers agreed that the fastest Northwood P4 was usually a fraction ahead of its rival. This was particularly so in the northern summer of 2002, when AMD's changeover to a 0.13 micrometre (130 nm) production process was delayed and the P4s in the 2.4 to 2.8 GHz range were clearly the fastest chips on the market.
A 2.4 GHz P4 was released in April 2002, a 2.53 GHz part in May (at which point the bus speed was increased from the original 400MHz to 533MHz), 2.6 and 2.8 GHz parts in August, and a 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 arrived in November. The 3.06 GHz processor supported Hyper-threading (first appeared in Xeon), enabling multiple threads to be run together by duplicating some parts of the processor in order to let the operating system believe that there are two logical processors. In April 2003, Intel launched new variants, ranging from 2.4 to 3.0 GHz. The key difference on these new versions was that they all supported Hyper-Threading, and ran their system buses at 800 MHz. This was supposedly to compete better with AMD's Hammer line of processors. However, only Opteron was launched, and AMD initially refused to provide an AGP controller, thus preventing the Opteron from encroaching on the Pentium 4's territory.
AMD did boost the Athlon XP's bus speed from 333 MHz to 400 MHz, but it wasn't enough to hold off the new 3.0 GHz P4. A 3.2 GHz variant was launched in June and a final 3.4GHz version was launched in early 2004. Overclocking Northwood cores yielded a startling phenomenon. When VCore was pumped past 1.7v, the processor literally died. This occurance has since been called "NDS," or Northwood Death Syndrome.
Extreme Edition
The design was mostly identical to Pentium 4 (to the extent that it would run in the same motherboards), but differed by an added 2 MB of Level 3 cache. It shared the same Gallatin core as the Xeon MP, though in a Socket 478 form factor (as opposed to Socket 603 for the Xeon MP) and with an 800MHz bus, twice as fast as that of the Xeon MP. An LGA775 version is also available. The effect of the added cache was somewhat variable. In office applications, the Extreme Edition was generally a bit slower than the Northwood, owing to higher latency added by the L3 cache. Some games benefited from the added cache, particularly those based on the Quake III and Unreal engines. However, the area which improved the most was multimedia encoding, which was not only faster than the Pentium 4, but also both Athlon 64s.
Prescott
Upon release, the Prescott turned out to generate approximately 60% more heat clock-for-clock than the Northwood, and almost every review of it was negative. A shift in socket type (from Socket 478 to LGA775) was expected to reduce the heat to more acceptable levels, but in fact proved to have the opposite effect, with power requirements increasing by a further 10%. However, the LGA775 reference cooler and mounting system were somewhat better designs, so average temperatures were slightly lowered. LGA775 Prescotts use a rating system, labelling them as the 5xx series (Celerons are the 3xx series, while Pentium Ms and Extreme Editions are the 7xx series). The fastest, the 570J is clocked at 3.8GHz. Plans for 4GHz proccessors were recently axed by Intel in favor of dual core processors. [3] (http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2004Oct/gee20041015027427.htm)
The 570J processor also introduced the XD Bit (eXecute Disable) or Execute Disabled Bit [4] (http://www.intel.com/business/bss/infrastructure/security/xdbit.htm) to Intel's line of processors. This technology, first introduced to the x86 line by AMD and called NX (No eXecute), can help prevent certain types of malicious code from exploiting a buffer overflow to get executed.
Intel recently (Q'1 05) released a new Prescott core with 6xx numbering. It features new 64-bit technology, execution disable, speed step technology, and 2 MB of L2 cache. However, any advantage introduced by the added cache is mostly negated due to higher cache latency.
Dual Core
Intel have planned three mainstream dual-core variants of the Pentium 4. Reputed to have a 60-80% increase in performance per clock-speed, this would be marketed as the Pentium D. An extreme edition is also planned. These chips have already started production and would be launched by 2Q 2005.
Dubbed the Smithfield core, the first Pentium-D processors will basically be two connected Prescott cores. Power consumption is estimated to be 130 watts. Intel developes have managed to keep power consumtion of the processor incrementally larger than the Prescott's power useage (115w) due to the fact that the cores will execute independently. Futhermore, the cores will be rated at lower frequencies, with the EE edition at 3.2 Ghz and the mainstream models clocked at 3.2, 3.0, and 2.8, respectfully. The major difference betweent he EE edition of P-D and the mainstream models is the 1066 Mhz bus (the mainstream models will have a P4 standard 800 Mhz FSB) and the retention of HyperThreading Technology for each core.
This will be followed in Q1'06 by the Presler, which has a dedicated bus interface bridging the two cores together. Presler will also be a 65nm architecture.
* 850 (Tehama)
- Used RDRAM, feature set identical to 815EP.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 850E - Supports 533MHz bus, otherwise identical.
* 860 (Colusa)
- Xeon version of 850. Supports dual-processors and 66Mhz PCI.
* 845 (Brookdale)
- Same feature set as 850, but supports SDRAM (natively, not through an MTH).
+ Sub-versions:
+ 845D - Supports DDR SDRAM up to 266MHz.
+ 845E - As 845D, but with support for 533MHz bus and USB 2.0.
* 845G (Brookdale-G)
- Integrated graphics core, USB 2.0 and 533MHz bus. Officially runs DDR memory at up to 266MHz, but design error allowed stable operation at 333MHz.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 845GE - Official support for 333MHz DDR memory, and slightly faster graphics core. Fixed Hyper-Threading support, which was unstable in early versions of 845G.
+ 845PE - Officially an 845E with support for 333MHz DDR memory. In reality an 845GE with the graphics core removed.
* E7500 (Plumas)
- Similar feature set to 860, but uses dual-channel SDRAM, and has support for PCI-X, but no AGP.
+ Sub-versions:
+ E7501 - Mostly the same as E7500, but with support for 533MHz bus and USB 2.0.
+ E7505 (Placer) - E7501 with AGP 8x.
* E7205 (Granite Bay)
- Workstation chipset, supports AGP 8x and dual-channel DDR. Other features are the same as 845PE.
* 875P (Canterwood)
- Similar to E7205, but adds support for 800MHz bus, DDR at 400MHz, Communications Streaming Architecture (CSA), Serial ATA (with RAID in certain configurations) and Performance Acceleration Technology (PAT), a mode deigned to cut down memory latency.
* 865PE (Springdale)
- 875P without PAT, though it was possible to enable PAT in some early revisions. Also lacks ECC Memory support.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 865P - 865PE, but only supports 533MHz bus and 333MHz memory.
+ 848P - Single memory channel version of 865PE.
* 865G (Springdale-G)
- 865PE with integrated graphics. PAT never supported in any revisions.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 865GL - 865G without external AGP slot.
* E7525 (Tumwater)
- Dual Xeon, supports an 800MHz bus, PCI Express and DDR-II. Other features are the same as 875/865.
+ Sub-versions:
+ E7520/E7320 (Lindenhurst) - Same feature-set as E7525, but has the PCI Express links set out in a way better suited to servers than workstations. In spite of the different names, there is no difference between the E7520 and E7320.
Pentium M Chipsets
The Pentium M couples the execution core of the Pentium III with a Pentium 4 compatible bus interface, an improved instruction decoding/issuing front end, improved branch prediction, SSE/SSE2 support, and a larger cache. The usually power-hungry secondary cache uses an innovative access method to avoid switching on any parts of it not being accessed. Other power saving methods include dynamically variable clock frequency and core voltage, allowing the Pentium M to run slowly (typically 600 MHz) when the system is idle in order to conserve energy. The processor forms part of the Intel Centrino platform.
Although this CPU was intended strictly as a mobile processor at first, desktop motherboards were manufactured for it in limited quantities beginning in late 2004, and Intel began tweaking the core for the possible release of a desktop version around the same time. The Pentium M processor shall be avilable in 4 different flavours-Banias, Dothan, Yonah and Merom.
Banias
The first Pentium M was identified by the codename Banias. It was manufactured on a 0.13 micrometre process, was released at frequencies from 1.3-1.7 GHz, and had 1 MB L2 cache (compared to 256 KB or 512 KB in the contemporary P4 and Athlon processors). It did not support the Hyperthreading enhancement that was just becoming available on the Pentium 4.
Dothan
These 700 series Pentium M processors retain the same basic design as the original Pentium M, but are manufactured on a 90 nm process. Die size, at 84 mm2, remains in the same neighborhood as the original Pentium M, even though the 700 series contains ~140 million transistors, most of which make up the massive 2 MB cache. TDP is also down to 21 Watts (from 24.5 Watts in Banias), though power use at lower clockspeeds has increased slightly. However, tests conducted by third party hardware review sites show that Banias and Dothan equipped notebooks have roughly equivalent battery life.
Yonah
Yonah is a dual-core design targeted for manufacturing on a 65 nm process, and it will be Intel's first dual-core processor designed from scratch (as opposed to just duplicating existing processor cores onto a single die). Yonah is expected to include 2MB of L2 (possibly 4MB) and to target 2.5GHz at launch (possibly 2.67GHz), with a front side bus of 667MHz. The cores are believed to be based on the Banias microarchitecture, extended with SSE3, EM64T, the Vanderpool (VT) virtualization technology, but most likely without Hyper Threading (HT). The processor is also expected to have the capability to disable one core to conserve power. There will also be a single core version.
Merom
Intel expects to launch the Merom core in late 2006. Merom will support the EM64T instruction set, and Intel plans to use the Merom core as a basis for a new desktop core, Conroe.
* 855PM (Odem)
- Similar feature-set to desktop 845E chipset, but optimised for low-power usage, in combination with the Pentium-M. Also has a CSA bus for the wireless chipset component.
* 855GM (Montara-GM)
- 855PM with added graphics core (same design as 865G). Also has the capability to use an external AGP card.
+ Sub-versions:
+ 855GME - Supports 333MHz memory.
9xx Chipsets
Pentium 4 Chipsets
* 915P (Grantsdale)
- Supports Pentium 4 on a 800MHz bus. Uses DDR memory up to 400MHz, or DDR-II at 533MHz. Replaces AGP and CSA with PCI Express, and also supports "Matrix RAID", a RAID mode designed to allow the usage of RAID levels 0 and 1 with two hard drives.
+ Sub-versions
+ 915PL - Cut-down version of 915P with no support for DDR-II and only supporting 2GB of memory.
* 915G (Grantsdale-G)
- 915P with an integrated graphics core. The core is compliant with Vertex and Pixel shader versions 2.0, and has similar specifications and functionality to a GeForce FX 5200 or a Radeon 9600.
+ Sub-versions
+ 915GL - Same feature reductions as 915PL.
+ 915GV - Same as 915G, but has no way of adding an external graphics card.
+ 910GL - No support for external graphics cards or 800MHz bus.
* 925X (Alderwood)
- Higher end version of 915. Supports another PAT-like mode and ECC memory, and exclusively uses DDR-II RAM.
+ Sub-versions
+ 925XE - Supports a 1066MHz bus and Intel EM64T technology
* 945P (Lakeport)
- Update on 915P, with support for Serial ATA II, additional RAID modes, an improved memory controller with support for DDR-II at 667MHz and additional PCI-Express slots. Support for DDR-I may be dropped.
* 945G (Lakeport-G)
- A version of the 945P with an integrated graphics core. Whether or not the core will be changed from 915G is still unknown.
* 955X (Glenwood)
- Update for 925X, with additonal features of "Lakeport".
Pentium M Chipsets
* 915PM (Alviso)
- Mobile equivalent to 915P chipset.
* 915GM (Alviso-GM)
- Mobile equivalent to 915G chipset
#Images and additional info courtesy of Wikipedia
PV
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