"A Brief History of CPUs

[AVP]

http://www.maximumpc.com/artic...the_life_and_times_x86

Pretty cool article, especially for us young folk who don't remember all of the developments.

 

[Idontcare]

Wow that was an enjoyable read, thanks for sharing the link!

Did you know?

Through some sneaky industrial espionage, the Soviet Union was able to reverse engineer and replicate the 8086 into their own pin-compatible K1810BM86.

After the cold war ended I happened to be at a workshop/conference in which my (previously isolated and unknown in western world) russian colleagues attended and we got to discuss the differences we each experienced in the evolution of computing resources available to us in our field (computational chemistry) during the 80's and very early 90's before the iron curtain collapsed.

At the time I was using Pentium-classed machines (albeit dozens of them ganged together for multi-processor performance advantages) they were attempting to accomplish the same task as myself but with 386-class machines and compute power.

Imagine if you were tasked to do your job today with a computer from 10yrs ago but you were expected to be just as capable and productive as your counterpart in those businesses that compete with your employer albeit with the use of today's fastest computers.

It really gave me a new appreciation for how much people can get done despite the technological deficits they may have to their competition. My (then) soviet colleagues were at worst one-step behind us in our R&D timelines despite the technological advantage we had over them. If you abandon aspirations of being a for-profit entity then you can persist and exist on breadcrumbs for decades. (AMD)

 

[chizow]

Yep awesome read and link. Much more enjoyable than past GPU round-ups, although it made me realize I upgrade my CPU far too often lol. Some of my favorite CPUs in there from both a performance and design standpoint. 386/486s with Turbo buttons, Slot 1 Pentium II/IIIs, Socket A Athlons (I had 4-5 of em, all great OC'ers).....fond memories for sure.

 

[AVP]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
After the cold war ended I happened to be at a workshop/conference in which my (previously isolated and unknown in western world) russian colleagues attended and we got to discuss the differences we each experienced in the evolution of computing resources available to us in our field (computational chemistry) during the 80's and very early 90's before the iron curtain collapsed.

The record of your conversation probably still exists on one of those 386s in some warehouse in Russia.

 

[Rifter]

Good read, thanks!

 

[Farmer]

Brings back great memories. I still remember building a PIII system on the eve of the Athlon launch. Thanks for posting.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

This made me miss my first PC a whole lot.. A Pentium 90mhz, 16mb ram, floppy, no CD or sound. Just those and a dinky 13" monitor..

 

[OCGuy]

Our first PC Jr. brings many memories of a Mickey Mouse game, Ghostbusters, and Flight Sim.


Our Packard Bell in the early 90s brings memories of Prodigy, Liesure Suit Larry, AOL chat rooms, and Doom.



Jesus Christ im getting old. Ill be taking another shot now.

 

[palladium]

Awesome read! I wasn't interested in computer hardware until 2006, and so this article is more of a teaching one rather than a refresher for me.

 

[F1shF4t]

Good read :thumbsup:

I've started to get interested in comps during the start of the P4 age, so most of it is a history lesson for me. Got an old k6-2 500 back then for free to try and fix, but first real comp was a p4c 2.8ghz. Quite funny I still have a sort of fear of stuffing up when working on anything older than p4s. With new stuff I assemble it on carpet without really any grounding, and touch wood (or case ) haven't fried anything.

 

[Modular]

Very cool read, thanks! I too began getting interested in computers around the time of Netburst. My first CPU was a p4 2.8 w/ no HT. This was a very cool history lesson for me.

 

[wwswimming]

Originally posted by: IdontcareIt really gave me a new appreciation for how much people can get done despite the technological deficits they may have to their competition. My (then) soviet colleagues were at worst one-step behind us in our R&D timelines despite the technological advantage we had over them. If you abandon aspirations of being a for-profit entity then you can persist and exist on breadcrumbs for decades. (AMD)

i worked at an HP competitor in the 1980's when they were developing their vector network analyzer, and at a large defense contractor when they were developing radios for the JSF & other avionics in the 1990's & OO's.

we had no CAD workstations to help us with the network analyzers. that team of engineers ran rings around the engineers at the defense contractor.

the managers at the defense contractor were terrified of "hands-on" engineering & intuition - they made money billing the government for simulations, etc. so, we did LOTS of simulations - finite element analysis, etc.

the only area where the defense contractor was ahead technologically was circuit board layout.

 

[dmens]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Did you know?

Through some sneaky industrial espionage, the Soviet Union was able to reverse engineer and replicate the 8086 into their own pin-compatible K1810BM86.

speaking of reverse engineering, rumor has it the microcode on the pentium pro was extracted visually (!!!) and copied by various people.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Originally posted by: Modular
Very cool read, thanks! I too began getting interested in computers around the time of Netburst. My first CPU was a p4 2.8 w/ no HT. This was a very cool history lesson for me.

Same here my first home build was P4c 2.4-later 3.2c with HT. This is still my browser machine . I just can't give it up . She has a few world records to her name.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Originally posted by: dmens

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Did you know?

Through some sneaky industrial espionage, the Soviet Union was able to reverse engineer and replicate the 8086 into their own pin-compatible K1810BM86.

speaking of reverse engineering, rumor has it the microcode on the pentium pro was extracted visually (!!!) and copied by various people.

WHO ! WHO! WHO! said the wise old owl. WHO? LOL WE know.

 

[judasmachine]

awesome read.

 

[zebrax2]

probably the best history lesson i ever had

 

[nyker96]

i love this article and the pictures they have, brings back memories 1st oc of the celeron chip.

 

[aigomorla]

there missing the abacus..

first real computer in the world.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
there missing the abacus..

first real computer in the world.

Pretty sure the fine skill of counting fingers pre-dates the creation of the abacus.

I'm also pretty sure Intel owns the patent on both, and AMD reverse engineered them as well much to the dismay of turtle1.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
there missing the abacus..

first real computer in the world.

Abacus wasn't "x86"

 

[Golgatha]

Great read. Here's my personal history just for fun.

AMD K6 233Mhz, Pentium II 400Mhz, Pentium III 550Mhz Katmai, Pentium III 700Mhz Coppermine, AMD Athlon 1600+, Pentium 4 1.8a (Northwood with 512k cache), Pentium 4 2.4Ghz Northwood with 533Mhz FSB, Pentium 4 3.2Ghz EE, Pentium D 920, Core 2 Duo E6600, Core 2 Quad Q6600, Core 2 Quad Q9550, and Core i7 920.

I've also owned a mobile Intel Celeron, mobile AMD Sempron, and currently have an Intel Pentium M 1.7Ghz from past and present laptop purchases.

The last 4-5 desktop upgrades have been more frequent since that was about the time I was done with college, and now I have a full-time income to feed my gaming habit. I still don't waste money buying the absolute top of the line, but my overclocked "2nd or 3rd best" CPUs keep me in line with the latest and greatest available for about 1/3 of the cost.

My favorite chips were the Pentium III 700@933Mhz with no voltage changes, my Pentium D 920 running at 4.0Ghz, the E6600@3.0Ghz (stock was a huge performance advantage even over my 4.0Ghz Pentium D 920 though), and the Core i7 920 I'm running at EE speeds of 3.2Ghz with ease (1.225V on the CPU and 1.6V on the RAM at 8-8-8-20 timings). Although the Core i7 is a fire breather compared to the Q9550 it replaced, the extra cooling required is worth it to me for the "needz more faster" aspect of it.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

1st computer was a Tandy 286. Next was a Compaq 486-25Mhz. Played some of my favorite all time games on that computer (I actually still have it and it works). After that was a Pentium 166, then pentium 233, When the P2's hit it gets kind of fuzzy from there on. I used to build a new computer every few months for years.

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: Nemesis 1

Originally posted by: dmens

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Did you know?

Through some sneaky industrial espionage, the Soviet Union was able to reverse engineer and replicate the 8086 into their own pin-compatible K1810BM86.

speaking of reverse engineering, rumor has it the microcode on the pentium pro was extracted visually (!!!) and copied by various people.

WHO ! WHO! WHO! said the wise old owl. WHO? LOL WE know.

Who? I always find those kinds of stories interesting. The only microcode story I know about was back in the 486 days and resulted in Intel losing a major lawsuit.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: CTho9305

Originally posted by: Nemesis 1

Originally posted by: dmens

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Did you know?

Through some sneaky industrial espionage, the Soviet Union was able to reverse engineer and replicate the 8086 into their own pin-compatible K1810BM86.

speaking of reverse engineering, rumor has it the microcode on the pentium pro was extracted visually (!!!) and copied by various people.

WHO ! WHO! WHO! said the wise old owl. WHO? LOL WE know.

Who? I always find those kinds of stories interesting. The only microcode story I know about was back in the 486 days and resulted in Intel losing a major lawsuit.

Dmens speaks of Transmeta, does he not?