March 23rd, 2007
First Pentium CPUs shipped 14 years ago yesterday
Note: For some reason, this post didn't go up yesterday … so it's happy belated birthday!
Happy birthday to the Intel Pentium CPU.
The first Pentium CPUs were shipped on March 22 1993 These were 60 and 66 MHz CPUs that had a bus speed of 60 and 66 MHz respectively. These first CPUs were manufacturing using a 0.8 µm process.
By January 1999 the CPU speeds were up to 300 MHz and the process had shrunk to 0.25 µm.
I remember making the leap from 486 to a 66 MHz "coffee pot warmer," so called because the 5V CPU generated a LOT of heat. I don't remember the performance improvement being all that impressive but it made a huge difference nonetheless. A year later I'd moved on to a 90 MHz Pentium which ran on 3.3V and was therefore a lot cooler (I've still got both systems packed away somewhere … last time I ran the P90 it had NT4 on it).
Anyone else remember making the leap from the 486 to a Pentium?
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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