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pentium |
2 definitions found From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: Pentium n. The name given to Intel's P5 chip, the successor to the 80486. The name was chosen because of difficulties Intel had in trademarking a number. It suggests the number five (implying 586) while (according to Intel) conveying a meaning of strength "like titanium". Among hackers, the plural is frequently `pentia'. See also {Pentagram Pro}. Intel did not stick to this convention when naming its P6 processor the Pentium Pro; many believe this is due to difficulties in selling a chip with sex" in its name Successor chips have been called `Pentium II' and `Pentium III'. From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: Pentium{Intel}'s {superscalar} successor to the {486}. It has two 32-bit 486-type integer {pipelines} with dependency checking. It can execute a maximum of two instructions per cycle. It does pipelined {floating-point} and performs {branch prediction}. It has 16 {kilobytes} of on-chip {cache}, a 64-bit memory interface, 8 32-bit general-purpose {registers} and 8 80-bit {floating-point} registers. It is built from 3.1 million transistors on a 262.4 mm^2 die with ~2.3 million transistors in the core logic. Its {clock rate} is 66MHz, heat dissipation is 16W, integer performance is 64.5 {SPECint92}, {floating-point} performance 56.9 {SPECfp92}. It is called Pentium" because it is the fifth in the 80x86 line It would have been called the 80586 had a US court not ruled that you can't trademark a number. The successors are the {Pentium Pro} and {Pentium II}. A {floating-point division bug (ftp://ftp.isi.edu/pub/carlton/pentium/FAQ)} was discovered in October 1994. [Internal implementation, "Microprocessor Report" newsletter, 1993-03-29, volume 7, number 4]. [Pentium based computers, PC Magazine, 1994-01-25]. (1997-11-21)
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