Pentium
Pentium was the first X86 microprocessor which could dispatch multiple instructions in the same clock cycle (superscalar.) Microsoft introduced this microprocessor on March 22, 1993 as the fifth generation x86 architecture, which they also called P5. The Pentium had a number of design advantages over earlier microprocessors:
- Dual integer pipeline – accommodated superscalar functions. Pentium's superscalar architecture used 2 datapaths (called pipes) to achieve multiple instructions per clock cycle. Pipe U handles all types of instructions, while Pipe V handles only simple instructions. Many engineers and scientists claimed the dual pipe architecture couldn't handle complex instructions needed for modern computer microprocessors, but Pentium proved them wrong.
- Faster FPU (Floating Point Unit, meaning it could carry out floating point operations more quickly
- Wider data bus – accommodated faster data transfer. Pentium's data bus was 64-bit, twice as large as i486's data bus.
- Additional reduced address calculation latency – contributed to faster data transfer by finding data more quickly
In 1996 Intel introduced the Pentium MMX which had advantages over the original Pentium:
- MMX Instructions – sped up various multimedia functions
- Larger cache – gave the CPU access to lower latency data transfers (faster)
The name “Pentium” comes from the Greek pente (five) and the Latin ium, a suffix Latin scholars originally added to elements. Intel selected the name because the courts ruled that people and companies could not trademark number names such as i486 and i586, the original naming convention Intel used for its processors.
Intel Pentium's “father” is a scientist named Vinod Dham, who also invented non volatile flash memory. He worked with semiconductor startup NexGen. AMD later purchased NexGen.
The original Pentium was twice as fast as the i486 processor.
Intel later trademarked Pentium, using the name for an entire line of processors released between 1993 and 2007, when Intel released the Pentium Dual Core for notebook computers. After courts ruled Intel could not trademark number names, Intel turned to a branding company. Lexicon Branding derived the name from the Greek and Latin roots. Internally, Intel used numbers as part of the names for every Pentium processor they released, but Intel never mentioned these numbers in marketing materials.
The Pentium Line includes:
- Pentium – the original
- Pentium Pro – released in 1995, Intel and others called it the i686, the first P6 architecture, it contained 5.5 million transistors.
- Pentium II – the second generation i686 microchip, released in 1997, contained 7.5 million transistors. Intel released a version for high end servers and workstations, called Pentium II Xeon.
- Pentium III – released in 1999, it was the first microprocessor that exceeded 1 GFLOP (1 billion floating point operations per second.) It became the basis for the Pentium-M notebook processor.
- Pentium 4 – introduced in 2000, achieved higher clock speeds through NetBurst. Intel created a number of variations including the Pentium 4M mobile processor, for laptops. Intel first introduced hyper-threading, one CPU working as two independent, virtual CPUs. Pentium 4 later became Intel's first 64-bit microprocessor.
- Pentium M – Intel introduced these in 2003, creating them based on the Pentium III architecture. Intel optimized them for use in laptops – they consumed less power than Pentium III or Pentium 4.
- Pentium D – Intel developed this chip as its first dual core 64-bit microprocessor. Pentium D had two cores, next to each other on the CPU.
- Pentium Dual Core – require less power than the Pentium D. These are mid-range dual core processors designed for use in laptops.
World Data Products can save you money on used or refurbished computer equipment such as servers. Visit http://wdpi.com/ for details.

Pentium











