pctechguide.com

  • Home
  • Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • Glossary
  • Contact

Pentium P5 microarchitecture – superscalar and 64 bit data

First introduced in 1993, the Pentium was the successor to Intel’s 486 line of CPUs and the defining processor of the fifth generation.

The original Pentium microprocessor had the internal code name P5, and was a pipelined in-order superscalar microprocessor, produced using a 0.8 µm process. It was followed by the P54, a shrink of the P5 to a 0.6 µm process, which was dual-processor ready and had an internal clock speed different from the front side bus (it’s much more difficult to increase the bus speed than to increase the internal clock). In turn, the P54 was followed by the P54C, which used a 0.35µm process – a pure CMOS process, as opposed to the Bipolar CMOS process that was used for the earlier Pentiums.

The principal architectural changes that explained the Pentium’s greatly increased performance over the 486 chips that preceded it were its:

  • Superscalar architecture: The Pentium has two datapaths (pipelines) that allow it to complete more than one instruction per clock cycle. One pipe (called U) can handle any instruction, while the other (called V) can handle the simplest, most common instructions. The use of more than one pipeline is characteristic of RISC processor designs, and signalled the start of what was to become Intel’s increasing use of RISC techniques on its Pentium family of processors.
  • 64-bit data path: This doubling of the data bus width meant that twice the amount of information previous chips could manage was read with each memory fetch.

The subsequent P55C Pentium MMX processor was based on the P5 core and used the 0.35µm fabrication process. It offered further significant improvements by doubling the size of the on-board primary cache to 32KB and by an extension to the instruction set to optimise the handling of multimedia functions.

  • Principles of CPU architecture – logic gates, MOSFETS and voltage
  • Basic structure of a Pentium microprocessor
  • Microprocessor Evolution
  • IA-32 (Intel Architecture 32 ) – base instruction set for 32 bit processors
  • Pentium P5 microarchitecture – superscalar and 64 bit data
  • Pentium Pro (P6) 6th generation x86 microarchitecture
  • Dual Independent Bus (DIB) – frontside and backside data bus CPU architecture
  • NetBurst – Pentium 4 7th generation x86 CPU microarchitecture
  • Intel Core – 8th generation CPU architecture
  • Moore’s Law in IT Architecture
  • Architecture Manufacturing Process
  • Copper Interconnect Architecture
  • TeraHertz Technology
  • Software Compatibility
  • IA-64 Architecture
  • Illustrated guide to high-k dielectrics and metal gate electrodes

Filed Under: CPU Architecture Tagged With: 64 bit data path, Pentium CPU architecture, superscalar architecture

Latest Articles

SLI Technology

Unveiled in the summer of 2004, SLI (Scaleable Link Interface) is Nvidia's revolutionary approach to 3D graphics scalability which exploits the additional bandwidth and features of the PCI Express bus architecture to allow two graphics … [Read More...]

FusionPlayer

The whole premise of FusionPlayer is that it will let you create media play lists using videos on the computer and videos from the Internet. That is its hook and the incentive to install the program. The truth is, however, this is a PUP (potentially unwanted program)that is nothing more than a … [Read More...]

New Software and GPS Tools Help Parents Monitor their Children

More parents are using technology to keep their children safe. One survey from Pew Research in 2016 showed that 30% of parents use technology to block access to harmful online sites or monitor their online activities. That figure has risen significantly in recent years. Currently, 50% of parents … [Read More...]

Revolutionize Your Internet Experience with Orbi 960 – The Ultimate WiFi System

In a world where seamless connectivity is essential, slow and unreliable internet connections are a major problem. Whether you are running a business, … [Read More...]

Do You Need a VPN When Trading Cryptocurrency?

There’s no doubt that the biggest global industries in 2023 are tech-driven, while there remains a significant crossover between many of these … [Read More...]

Goodbye Bitcoin: the 3 alternative cryptocurrencies that have great upside potential, according to experts

Bitcoin has been a very lucrative investment for people that got into it early. One report from The Motley Fool pointed out that $10 of bitcoin … [Read More...]

Self-driving cars face their Achilles’ heel and may be targets of hackers

The market for self-driving cars is booming. Customers spent $22.22 billion on these autonomous vehicles in 2021 and they will likely spend more in … [Read More...]

How to avoid scams with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies got a bad reputation when scams multiplied like ants on a piece of cake. Even today many people associate bitcoin and other … [Read More...]

WHAT IS CLOUD COMPUTING AND WHAT ARE ITS MAIN BENEFITS?

Users are Increasingly using cloud computing to store their information, which is replacing local storage. The business digitization process goes … [Read More...]

Guides

  • Computer Communications
  • Mobile Computing
  • PC Components
  • PC Data Storage
  • PC Input-Output
  • PC Multimedia
  • Processors (CPUs)

Recent Posts

What to do if Your Social Media Data is Leaked

Social media data breaches are escalating. Last month, a company called Risk Based Security discovered a breach that exposed 350,000 social media … [Read More...]

AMD Mobile K6 CPU Technology Guide

Just as the desktop version of its K6-2 processor with 3DNow! technology stole a march on Intel by reaching the market … [Read More...]

Creating, Moving, Renaming and Copying Files and Directories in Linux

Most basic Linux file and directory management - creating, renaming, moving and copying - can be achieved with the use of just three Linux … [Read More...]

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2023 About | Privacy | Contact Information | Wrtie For Us | Disclaimer | Copyright License | Authors