CPU Processor History
The history of computer processor units (CPUs) began in earnest with Intel in the early 1970s. The processor is the component of the computer with the most influence on a computer's speed.
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Beginnings
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In 1971, Intel built the first single-chip computer processor unit, the 4004. Texas Instruments emerged in 1972, with their 4-bit TMS 1000. Intel created the 8086 processor in 1978. This processor was passed over by IBM when building their original PC in 1979, although it was used in later designs. Next came the Intel 8088, which was essentially identical to its predecessor except in the way it handled address lines.
1980s
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Throughout the 1980s came a continuing line of processors in the Intel 80x86 family. The 80286 arrived in 1982 with a 16-bit, 134,000 transistor processor. The 80386 was released in 1985, equipped with a 32-bit processor, enabling it to work twice as fast as its 16-bit predecessor. In 1989 came the 80486. This processor had a 32-bit processor with 1.2 million transistors. It was the first Intel processor built to be upgradeable.
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Pentium
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In 1993 Intel released their next generation processor and gave it a new name: Pentium. The Pentium was equipped with a 32-bit address bus, a 64-bit external data bus and 3.21 million transistors, giving it twice the speed of the 486. The Pentium Pro followed in 1995. This design was optimized for 32-bit code; when running 16-bit code it worked no faster than the original Pentium system. The Pentium II arrived in 1997, with a 32 KB L1 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache. In 1999 the Pentium III was released, which operates at 450 MHz with a 100MHz bus, and SSE. In 2000, the Pentium IV made its debut.
Celeron
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Intel introduced the Celeron processor in 1998. The Celeron was a more basic and economical version of the Pentium II. However, in cutting back on cost, performance suffered. The Celeron II arrived in 2000 and was essentially the original Celeron with the addition of SSE, SSE2 and a few new features.
AMD
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In 1998, AMD joined the show with their K6-2 and K6-3 processors. The K6-2 was equipped with 3DNow technology and possessed L1, L2 and L3 caches. The K6-3 was much the same as the 2 but had 256k of L2 cache. In 1999, AMD released their Athlon processor. This processor was equipped with a new slot interface, 3DNow technology, a super-pipelined FPU and a new system bus. In 2000 AMD released their new technology, the Duron "Spitfire." This new technology was enabled with EV6 bus, 128 KB L1 cache and 64 KB on the L2 cache.
Multi-core Processors
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In 2005 Athlon released their Athlon X2, a dual-core processor. The Pentium Dual-Core chip came out in 2006. Quad-core and hexa-core chips are available, as of 2010. These multi-core processors allow different programs to use separate processing cores, offering better efficiency and faster clock speeds.
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