Pentium (original)
| General information | |
|---|---|
| Launched | March 22, 1993 |
| Discontinued | July 15, 1999 |
| Marketed by | Intel |
| Designed by | Intel |
| Common manufacturer |
|
| Product code | 80501 (P5) 80502 (P45C, P54CQS, P54CS) 80503 (P55C, Tillamook) |
| Performance | |
| Max. CPU clock rate | 60-300 MHz |
| FSB speeds | 50 MHz to 66 MHz |
| Cache | |
| L1 cache | 16–32 KiB |
| L2 cache | Up to 512 KiB(On Mainboard) |
| Architecture and classification | |
| Technology node | 800 nm to 250 nm |
| Microarchitecture | P5 |
| Instruction set | x86-16, IA-32 |
| Extensions | |
| Physical specifications | |
| Transistors | |
| Cores |
|
| Sockets | |
| Products, models, variants | |
| Core names |
|
| Models |
|
| History | |
| Predecessor | i486 |
| Successors | P6, Pentium II, Pentium III (SSE successor) |
| Support status | |
| Unsupported | |
The Pentium (also referred to as the i586 or P5 Pentium) is a microprocessor introduced by Intel on March 22, 1993. It is the first CPU using the Pentium brand. Considered the fifth generation in the x86 (8086) compatible line of processors, succeeding the i486, its implementation and microarchitecture was internally called P5.
Like the Intel i486, the Pentium is instruction set compatible with the 32-bit i386. It uses a very similar microarchitecture to the i486, but was extended enough to implement a dual integer pipeline design, as well as a more advanced floating-point unit (FPU) that was noted to be ten times faster than its predecessor.
The Pentium was succeeded by the Pentium Pro in November 1995. In October 1996, the Pentium MMX was introduced, complementing the same basic microarchitecture of the original Pentium with the MMX instruction set, larger caches, and some other enhancements. Intel discontinued the P5 Pentium processors (sold as a cheaper product since the release of the Pentium II in 1997) in early 2000 in favor of the Celeron processor, which had also replaced the 80486 brand.