Chips

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History of chips

What is a chip?

A chip is a microprocessor and is sometimes referred to as the CPU (Central Processing Unit). The chip is the heart and soul of the machine and almost everything has to pass through it.

Chip Manufacturers

The two most popular chip manufactures are Intel & Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) . Other chip manufacturers are Cyrix, Chips and Technologies (C&T), IBM, NEC and Motorola.

Speed

There are three measurements used to determine how fast a chip will operate. Basically think of speed in terms of miles per hour when driving a car. In the similar manner where your car may be capable of going 80 mph, but traffic or road conditions may not allow you to do so, the same thing is true of processor operations. Thus the purpose of the three different measurements.

CPU Clock Speed

This represents a relative indicator of performance from one chip to another. The CPU Clock Speed is normally the advertised speed for a chip because it is the fastest of the three measurements.

Memory Bus Speed

In simplest terms, this is how fast the chip can talk to memory. Some times this is represented as a value expressed as part of the chip model number. For example in older models, the number two in the model number 486DX2/66 represents the memory bus speed. What it means is the memory bus speed is 33 (66/2) and the real speed is doubled to get to the clock speed of 66. With newer chip models there is no reference to this speed.

Expansion Bus Speed

This represents the speed at which your PCI or VESA bus can run. In simple terms, this represents how fast the components in your system can communicate with the chip. The majority of the time, the Expansion Bus Speed is the same as the Memory Bus Speed.

Voltage

It is obvious that chips require power in order to operate, but not all chips use the same amount of voltage. A lower voltage value is good for portables because it will consume less battery life. The voltage has no effect on the execution speed. Of special note is considering the capability of upgrading to a different chip in the future. You can not easily upgrade to a chip with a different voltage rating unless you replace the motherboard.

Data Bus Width

This represents how large a bite of cache memory can be accessed in a single read or write. The larger the number, the bigger the chunks, therefore the faster the performance.

Floating Point

This option speeds up numeric computations, only if the software application supports floating-point. Of note is that most applications do not use floating-point operations.

Super-scalar

This feature allows a chip to execute more than one instruction in a single clock cycle. Therefore Super-scalar chips are faster.

Cache Design

This specifies the size of the on-board cache and storage capabilities. A larger cache value minimizes the time consuming accesses to use off-chip or main memory. Write-back (wb) cache can store both read and write results, whereas write-through (wt) can only retain reads. Thus write-back translates into faster operations.

Upgrade Concerns

If you are thinking of upgrading to a newer chip, keep in mind that even though faster chips are available, if your other computer components are not updated to match the new speed, you may not gain much, if any improvement. Also, depending on the age and style of your motherboard, your machine may not be compatible with some of the newer chips.

Of course all of this new technology means that the other computer components and software applications will have to speed up in order to prevent a bottleneck. What does it mean? Don't expect to buy a computer today that will last for five years. It could easily be outdated within one year.

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Current Status

Last update 10/27/06

Performance Dual-Core

If you're editing movies and music, or simply using your system to watch a bunch of video streams, the Performance Dual-Core processors will enable your applications to avoid those annoying, unintentional pauses that are sometimes a prelude to a lock-up.

AMD Athlon 64 FX-62

Introduced in May 2006 with dual-core chips and integrated memory controller. Putting the controller alongside the two CPUs, rather than in a separate area of silicon, enables faster memory access since data doesn't have to traverse a traditional front-side bus. The FX-62 uses the AM2 socket, which upgrades the integrated memory controller to work with faster DDR2 RAM. The socket also brings support for AMD's virtualization technology to the desktop. All of AMD's dual-cores use HyperTransport interconnect to communicate between the processor cores and I/O subsystems. Thermal rating of 125w.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+

Introduced in May 2006, it also uses the AM2 socket. At peak operation HyperTransport can deliver up to 8GB/sec of total system bandwidth. On the downside, although it has a thermal rating of 89W, it seems to run hot. AMD's Cool'n'Quiet driver is available to downshift power usage when the extra juice isn't needed.

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Socket
Athlon 64 FX-62
2.8Ghz
2x1MB
2000MHz
Yes
AM2
Athlon 64 FX-60
2.8Ghz
2x1MB
2000MHz
Yes
939
Athlon 64 X2 5000+
2.6Ghz
2x512KB
2000MHz
Yes
AM2
Athlon 64 X2 5200+
2.6Ghz
2x1MB
2000MHz
Yes
AM2 Due in 4Q 2006

Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800

Introduced in July 2006. The X6800 appears to be more amenable than most CPUs to overclocking.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6700, E6600, E6400, E6300

Introduced in July 2006. The E models are slower than the Extreme X6800. The E6700 is only 9% slower than the X6800. The E6300 is 37% slower than the top of the line. All models have the same fast front-side bus and are amenable to overclocking.

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Intel VT Fab Proc
Core 2 Extreme X6800
2.93Ghz
4MB (shared)
1066MHz
Yes
Yes
 65nm
Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66Ghz 4MB (shared) 1066MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40Ghz 4MB (shared) 1066MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13Ghz 4MB (shared) 1066MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86Ghz 4MB (shared) 1066MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Mainstream Dual-Core

Mainstream Dual-Core perform sufficiently for the vast majority of users who run office productivity applications along with the heavy Web surfing. The mainstream dual-cores run more than sufficiently fast to run Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+, 4200+

In 2005, the 4600+ was listed as a high-end offering. As of October 2006, the 4600+ and 4200+ remain as solid as ever, but now they fall firmly in the middle of the dual-core pack. In 2006 the two chips are being made in versions for the newer AM2 socket, which supports DDR2 memory. Older versions for the 939 socket have been "end-of-lifed" by AMD.

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Socket
Athlon 64 X2 4600+
2.4Ghz
2x512KB
2000MHz
Yes
AM2
Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.6Ghz 2x1MB 2000MHz Yes AM2

Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965, 955

Introduced in January 2006 and based on the NetBurst architecture used in most Pentiums. Support has been added for Intel's Hyper-Threading which makes it easy to run multiple threads providing better multitasking performance. Also added is hardware-assisted Virtualization technologies which was largely unsupported in Intel's first dual-core chips. This lets users run whole operating systems and apps in separate partitions, turning one physical CPU into a couple of virtual processors. Uses Intel's advanced 65nm semiconductor fabrication process,which upgrades them from the 90nm used for the earlier 8XX line and putting them on par with the Core 2 Duos.

Intel Pentium D 960, 950, 945, 920, 915

Ranging in clock speed from 2.8GHz to 3.6GHz. Support HyperThreading and Intel's Virtualization technology. To pare down its huge array of dual-core SKUs, Intel in mid-August 2006 issued a notice that it would stop selling the 3GHz 930 and the 3.2GHz 940 by the end of 2006. While both the Core 2 Duo and the 9XX use the same Intel 775 socket, the Core 2 Duos require a motherboard equipped with the proper Intel core-logic chipset and updated firmwa

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Intel VT Fab Proc
Pentium Extreme Edition 965
3.73Ghz
2x2MB
1066MHz
Yes
Yes
 65nm
Pentium Extreme Edition 955 3.46Ghz 2x2MB 1066MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Pentium D 960 3.60Ghz 2x2MB 800MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Pentium D 950 3.40Ghz 2x2MB 800MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Pentium D 945 3.40Ghz 2x2MB 800MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Pentium D 920 2.80Ghz 2x2MB 800MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Pentium D 915 2.80Ghz 2x2MB 800MHz Yes Yes 65nm
Bargain Dual-Core

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+

The 3800+ has the same 2000MHz HyperTransport bus as its higher-end 5000+ sibling With a 2GHz clock and 2x512KB L2 cache. AMD's low-end dual-core isn't outmoded technologically, but it's positioned as an entry-level offering and priced accordingly. If you want to run Vista on a dual-core you can't get into the market any cheaper than with one of these CPUs.

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Socket
Athlon 64 X2 3800+
2.0Ghz
2x512KB
2000MHz
Yes
AM2 & 939

Intel Pentium D 805, 820

Both models are fabricated in Intel's older 90nm process technology and have smaller L2 caches than their 9XX cousins (2x1MB versus 2x2MB). Other than that there's no significant difference. Both are good on power consumption with a 95W thermal design power spec.

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Intel VT Fab Proc
Pentium D 820
2.80Ghz
2x1MB
800MHz
Yes
No
 90nm
Pentium D 805 2.66Ghz 2x1MB 533MHz Yes No 90nm
Faster Single-Core

AMD Athlon 64 3800+, 3500+, 3200+

Single-core Athlon 64 designs were among the first desktop processors to implement AMD's groundbreaking 64-bit architecture.

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Socket
Athlon 64 3800+
2.4Ghz
512KB
2000MHz
Yes
AM2 & 939
Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2Ghz 512KB 2000MHz Yes AM2 & 939
Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0Ghz 512KB 2000MHz Yes AM2

Intel Pentium 4 670, 661, 660, 651, 641, 631, 524, 521

This family still delivers solid performance, ranging from a 3.8GHz clock and 2MB L2 cache for the 670 down to a not-unimpressive 3.0GHz with the same cache for the 631. The 5XX series preceded the 6XX and is fabricated using older 90nm technology.

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Intel VT Fab Proc
Pentium 4 670
3.80Ghz
2MB
800MHz
Yes
No
 90nm
Pentium 4 661 3.60Ghz 2MB 800MHz Yes No 65nm
Pentium 4 660 3.60Ghz 2MB 800MHz Yes No 90nm
Pentium 4 651 3.40Ghz 2MB 800MHz Yes No 65nm
Pentium 4 641 3.20Ghz 2MB 800MHz Yes No 65nm
Pentium 4 631 3.00Ghz 2MB 800MHz Yes No 65nm
Pentium 4 524 3.06Ghz 1MB 800MHz Yes No 90nm
Pentium 4 521 2.80Ghz 1MB 800MHz Yes No 90nm
Low-End Single-Core

AMD Sempron 3600+, 3500+, 3400+, 3200+, 3000+

The Semprons come in two different sockets: older 754 or AM2 supporting DDR2. The Semprons also boast a faster system bus and uses less power than the Celerons. All of AMD's current processors are fabricated using 90nm process technology. A 65nm process is being readied at the company's new Dresden facility.

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Socket
Sempron 3600+
2.0Ghz
256KB
1600MHz
Yes
AM2
Sempron 3500+ 2.0Ghz 128KB 1600MHz Yes AM2
Sempron 3400+ 1.8Ghz 256KB 2000MHz Yes AM2
Sempron 3400+ 2.0Ghz 256KB 2000MHz Yes 754
Sempron 3200+ 1.8Ghz 128KB 1600MHz Yes AM2
Sempron 3000+ 1.6Ghz 256KB 800MHz Yes AM2
Sempron 3000+ 1.8Ghz 128KB 1600MHz Yes 754

Intel Celeron D 356, 355, 352, 351, 350, 346, 345, 341, 340, 331, 326

The "D" after Celeron does not put these parts in the same class as the Pentium D. These are low-end, single-core processors. This family is divided up between Intel's 775 and 478 socket. Both types use a 533MHz front-side bus. The Celeron D 340, 345, and 350 use the 478 socket. They don't support Intel's 64-bit EM64T instruction set extensions. The Celeron D 326, 331, 341, 346, 351, 352, 355, and 356 are socket 775 and do support EM64T.

Processor Clock Speed L2 Cache Bus Speed 64 bit Intel VT Fab Proc
Celeron D 356
3.33Ghz
512KB
533MHz
Yes
No
 65nm
Celeron D 355 3.33Ghz 256KB 533MHz Yes No 90nm
Celeron D 352 3.20Ghz 512KB 533MHz Yes No 65nm
Celeron D 351 3.20Ghz 256KB 533MHz Yes No 90nm
Celeron D 350 3.20Ghz 256KB 533MHz No No 90nm
Celeron D 346 3.06Ghz 256KB 533MHz Yes No 90nm
Celeron D 345 3.06Ghz 256KB 533MHz No No 90nm
Celeron D 341 2.93Ghz 256KB 533MHz Yes No 90nm
Celeron D 340 2.93Ghz 256KB 533MHz No No 90nm
Celeron D 331 2.66Ghz 256KB 533MHz Yes No 90nm
Celeron D 326 2.53Ghz 256KB 533MHz Yes No 90nm

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History

This article won't help you cure any problems or provide any solutions. It is for those of you who enjoy an occasional look at the past. I did not intend to slight other chip manufacturers, but instead tried to present those models that made a difference in the usage and popularity of computers. Hope you enjoy.

1968 - 1970 Datapoint 2200
In 1968 Phil Ray and Gus Roche founded a firm called Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC).

In 1969 CTC wanted to build a "smart" terminal which could mimic the terminals of all the major computer vendors. To do this it would have to have its own microprocessor. They hired Jack Frassanito to help them with the design. The original design was on printed circuit boards but size constraints created heating problems. CTC contacted both Intel and Texas Instruments about reducing the circuitry to a single chip but neither Intel or TI completed the chip before CTC unveiled its Datapoint 2200 terminal in June of 1970.

When CTC contacted their customers to find out how things were going, they discovered that a number of their customers were not using them as terminals but programming the microprocessor themselves in machine language! They were using them as PCs! (Jack Frassanito's name is on the patent which was issued on July 25, 1972.)

Thanks to Rick Gaffney for providing the above information.
1971 Intel 4004
The world's first general purpose microprocessor. If consisted of 2,300 transistors and supported only 45 instructions. It ran at an amazing speed of 1 MHz using 4 bit architecture. It was created by the team of Ted Hoff, Stan Mazor, Federico Faggin and Masatoshi Shima.
1972 Intel 8008
Intel finally came back to CTC with their design of the first 8 bit microprocessor but by then CTC was no longer interested. Intel designated their chip the 8008 and put it in their catalogue of chips. This is the first 8-bit model and it contained 3,500 transistors. The 8th bit provided the ability to manage alpha-numeric data. There were two clock speeds of 500 & 800Khz and supported up to 16KB of memory.
1974 Intel 8080
This chip allowed 16 bit addressing, 6,000 transistors and a whopping speed of 2 MHz. This is the chip that was used in the MITS Altair computer. The Altair was the third microcomputer. Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft and wrote their first BASIC interpreter for this chip and the Altair computer.

The following is a correction provided by Chris Titus of Milford, MA to my original statement that the Altair was the first  microcomputer.

The Altair computer actually appeared first on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. According to Les Solomon, of Popular Electronics, the cover photo taken in the Fall, was made using a nonworking mock up of the Altair. The Altair continued to experience difficulties right up through shipping the first systems.

In July 1974, Radio-Electronics magazine published a construction article (and offered a booklet of instructions, tutorial experiments,schematics and PCB diagrams) for the Mark-8 computer. A company in New Jersey sold circuit boards, and a mail-order company in Texas sold kits of parts. The Mark-8, not the Altair, is the second home computer. It beat the Altair by six months. And it worked. Larry Steckler, the editor of Radio-Electronics saw a working model--the one on the cover--in February or March of 1974. The original Mark-8 is now in the Smithsonian's permanent Information Age exhibit.
Motorola 6800
The 6800 contained 4,000 transistors and was designed by Chuck Peddle and Charlie Melear. It was mainly used for automotive controls and small business computers.
1975 Zilog Z80
The Z80 was mainly responsible for bringing PCs into business. It was designed by the Faggin and Shima team, contained 8,500 transistors and ran at 2.5 MHz. It hosted the CP/M operating system and was used by early pioneer computer makers such as Osborne and Kaypro. Names long forgotten.
1976 Intel 8085
This chip had a single 5V power supply, 8 bits and up to 8Mhz clock speed.
MOS 6502
Chuck Peddle left Motorola and under his new company, MOS Technologies, created the 6502. This is the first chip that Steve Wozniak used to create the Apple II design. It was also used in the Commodore and Atari machines. It was basically an enhanced version of the 6800 with 9,000 transistors, provided faster graphic operations and sold for about $25.
1978 Intel 8086
The 8086 was the start of the x86 family. It was a 16 bit chip with 29,000 transistors and up to 10Mhz clock speed.
1979 Intel 8088
Almost identical to the 8086 but had an external 8 bit data bus. This chip is based on the 8086 and was the model that IBM used in their first PCs. This chip helped launch DOS and Lotus 123.
Motorola 68000
The 68000 used 32 bits and 68,000 transistors. Apple's Lisa and Macintosh computers were based on this chip, which also introduced the first successful graphical user interface (GUI) systems. Many Unix based systems, such as NCR and Motorola, used this chip for their Unix servers.
1982 Intel 80286
This model introduced the concept of general protection and virtual memory. It supported up to 16MB of physical memory, 134,000 transistors and a 16 bit bus. A blazing speed of 8 to 25 MHz. IBM's AT bus was first used with this chip.
1985 Intel 80386
Third genereation chip that introduced linear addressing, used a 32 bit design and contained 275,000 transistors. It could address up to 4GB of memory and clock speeds of 33Mhz. The first versions of Windows and OS/2 were introduced with this chip. This model also made users more aware of the type of chip and operating system being used instead of the actual brand computer.
1986 MIPS R2000
The first RISC based chip was introduced containing 185,000 transistors.
1987 Sun SPARC
Sun introduces its first chip, with only 50,000 transistors, that spawned several generations of RISC based workstations. These workstations were geared for heavy graphic use.
1989 Intel 80486
It contained 1,200,000 transistors and introduced the ability to include a floating-point unit and 8K of internal RAM cache within the chip. This greatly improved the execute speed for GUI interfaces, such as Windows. Speed was increased to 66 MHz using internal clocking.
1993 Intel Pentium
After the longest gap in the development of new models, Intel created the Pentium that contains 3,100,000 transistors. It is capable of executing two instructions at the same time using a dual-pipeline design. Initially ran very hot. This chip became the defacto standard in it's time.
IBM/Motorola PowerPC 601
From the results of a joint effort, a new RISC chip was created using 2,800,000 transistors. This chip was used in IBM's RS/6000 and Apple's Power Macs computers.
1996 Intel Pentium Pro
The Pentium Pro increased the ability to execute three instructions at once and contains 5,500,000 transistors. It contains a second chip that provides Level 2 caching.
1997 Intel Pentium MMX
Introduced in the early part of 1997 and labeled as model MMX. It was designed to improve the performance for multimedia and communications. The estimates were a boost of performance of up to 60%. Speed increased to 200 MHz.
How did it work

To accomplish the speed improvements, Intel added 57 new instructions to the chip set. What used to require several dozen CPU steps was accomplished in a single step or operation.

  • 2Q 1997
    • Pentium II @233 and 266Mhz. Pentium II chips incorporate the MMX technology.
    • Pentium MMX @ 233Mhz.
  • 3Q 1997
    • Tillamook - code name for Pentium MMX designed for notebooks.
AMD K6
A 32-bit microprocessor that had RISC86 core that was used in the Nexgen Nx586 and Nx686 microprocessors. Special decoder units translated complex x86 instructions into short RISC-like instructions. This design allowed execution of up to 6 RISC-like instructions per cycle. It had the ability to run at frequences higher then processors with CISC-based cores. It supported the MMX instruction set. Models were produced for both desktop and laptops. There were 2 clock speeds available:166 and 266Mhz.
1998 Celeron
In 1998/99, 266 & 300MHz models were inroduced that used a 66MHz system bus. Newer models were the 366 & 400MHz that used a 100MHz system bus. All models had 128KB of integrated cache.

In a test run by PC Week labs, they discovered the 366 & 400 chips outperform older Pentium II chips running on a 66MHz bus. A bigger surprise was that they also outperformed the Pentium II 350 and 400MHz models. The Celeron chip is cheaper than the Pentium II.

On the drawing board it appeared that the Pentium II chips should perform better. The theory for the surprising results is the fact that the Celeron runs the L2 cache at full clock speed and that the Pentium II runs the L2 cache at half the clock speed.

The Celeron was a "dog" when first introduced. But with the added feature of L2 cache, this was the best bargain and performer for the typical user.
AMD K6-2
Provided faster execution of MMX instructions by adding an extra MMX unit to the processor code. Applications performance was boosted by using new 3DNow! instructions Clock speeds ranged from 200 to 570Mhz and bus speed was 66 or 100Mhz
1999 Pentium MMX 300Mhz
Introduced in early 1999, was the 300MHz model for notebooks only. By using Intel's 0.25 micron process, it further reduced power consumption.
Pentium II
The Pentium II models in 1999 are 450, 400, 350, 333, 300, 266 and 233MHz. The 350, 400 & 450 run with a 100MHz bus. All other models use a 66MHz bus. All models have 512KB of external L2 cache and include the MMX technology.
Pentium II XEON
Pentium II XEON 1999 processors were available at speeds of 400 and 450MHz with the option of 1MB or 2MB or L2 cache. The XEON models were intended to provide the best performance for applications running on operating systems such as Windows NT, NetWare and UNIX. This model is replaced the Pentium Pro line. XEON model was not recommend if you were running Windows 95 or 98.
Pentium III
In early March 99 the 32 bit 450 & 500MHz arrived and included 70 new instructions for enhanced 3-D graphics, audio and video. A 533MHz version arrived later in 1999.
Pentium III XEON
450MHz with options of 512KB, 1MB or 2MB of L2 cache. This chip was targeted for servers. A 500MHz, code named Tanner, arrived in the 3rd quarter of 99.
AMD K6-III
Enhanced version of the K6-2 with a bus width of 32.
AMD K7
x86 processors that featured multiple superscalar integer and floating point units, a bus speed of 400Mhz, L1 cache from 128 to 512KB, 32 bit and additional 3DNow! instructions. Clock speed ranged from 500 to 3200Mhz. There were several versions...
  • Athlon, XP & MP - high performance desktops - Used the Thunderbird code adding on-die 256KB L2 cache. Bus speeds up to 266Mhz and clock speeds up to 1.4Ghz. The XP version had bus speeds up to 333Mhz.
  • Athlon 4 & XP-M - high performance mobles
  • Duron - Budget desktop and mobile processors - Because of the cache size, bus speed and more powerful FPU unit, it out performed the Celeron chips.
  • Sempron - Budget desktop processors - Eventuall replaced the Duron models.
2000 Pentium IV
This chip is a 32-bit processor and has a family consisting of...
  • Pentium 4 - Desktop CPU
  • Mobile Pentium 4 & 4M - for notebooks
  • Celeron - low cost version
  • Xeon & Xeon MP - High performance versions

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