
Intel microprocessors are among the most commonly used processors worldwide. They are well-known for their advanced chip design and cutting-edge manufacturing. Even though Intel processors were originally known only to engineers and technologists, Intel’s advertising strategy and intelligent outreach towards the masses made it a household name in the ’90s. This is the time Pentium processors were developed. Let’s go down the memory lane and look at the different Intel processors that were developed in this era.
1993: Pentium P5, i586
In 1993, Intel introduced the original Pentium processor. The Pentium brand marks an important part of Intel’s history and a deviation from the processors of old, namely the 286, 386 and 486. The Pentium P5 was launched with 60 MHz of juice in 1993, while it was available with a maximum of 200 MHz (P54CS) in 1996. In 1997, Intel launched the P55C with multimedia extensions (MMX) and expanded the processor design to 4.5 million transistors and 233 MHz clock speed.
1995: Pentium Pro P6, i686
At its released, the Pentium Pro was believed to be a replacement for the P5. However, it was actually a precursor to the Pentium II Xeon. This Pentium processor was designed to deal with the workloads, standards for servers and workstations. The Pentium Pro had a different architecture when compared with other Pentium processors. It featured a 36-bit address bus and supported up to 64 GB memory.
1997: Pentium II, Pentium II Xeon
Developed on top of the sixth generation P6 architecture, the Pentium II was considered as a consumer-focused processor. It was the first Intel CPU that was delivered with the cartridge-like slot module. This processor was introduced with the 350 nm Klamath core (233 and 266 MHz).
1998: Celeron
In 1998, Intel introduced the low-end consumer processor Celeron as a variant of the Pentium II processor. The first Celeron series was based on the 250 nm Covington core for desktop computers. Similarly, the 250 nmMendocino core was created for notebooks. These processors were available from 266 to 300 MHz for desktop computers while they were available up to 500 MHz for the mobile variant.
1999: Pentium III, Pentium Xeon
In 1999, Intel launched the Pentium III that became its contender in the Gigahertz race with AMD. Initially, thechip was equipped with the 250 nm Katmai core and was scaled down to 180 nm with Coppermine, Coppermine T and 130 nm with the Tualatin core.
2000: Pentium 4
The Pentium 4, undoubtedly led to the most dramatic transformation of Intel processors. It was launched in 2000 with 180 nm Willamette core 42 million transistors. This chip used Netburst architecture that was designed to scale with clock speed.
2001: Itanium
The Itanium followed the idea of i860 and iAPX432 and survived over a longer period of time. It was Intel’s first 64-bit processor and was launched with the 180 nm Merced core in 2001. Itanium was considered as a mainframe processor with 733 MHz and 800 MHz clock speed and 320 million transistors.
2003: Pentium M
The Pentium M 700 series targeted mobile computers. It was launched with a 130 nm Banias core in 2003. The Banias core dropped its clock speed from 900 MHz to 1.7 GHz which is comparatively lower than the Pentium 4 Mobile processor.
2005: Pentium D
The Pentium D was Intel’s first dual core processor. It is based on Netburst and comes with 90 nm Smithfield core. This processor was launched as the Pentium D 800 series
2006: Core 2 Duo
Intel’s Core 2 Duo was its strike back against its competitors, AMD’s Athlon X2 and Opteron processors. Intel launched the Core micro architecture with the 65 nm Conroe on the desktop computers, Merom on the mobile side and Woodcrest for the servers.
2008: Core i-series
Intel’s Core i3, i5 and i7 processors were introduced with the Nehalem micro architecture in 2008. Its architecture was scaled to 32 nm in 2010. This provided the foundation for Intel processors like Celeron, Pentium Core and Xeon.
2008: Atom
Another processor was launched in 2008 in the form of Atom. This processor was designed to power mobile Internet devices and nettops. The current Atom generation for desktop and netbook applications is the 32nm Cedarview generation.
Even with its rivalry with another big name, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel has managed to become the biggest chip manufacturer in the world. Since the 1990s, Intel has launched technological innovations in processors that have changed the face of the semiconductor industry.
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