Various Processors History

80286
Developed by Intel in 1982 and commonly called the 286, the 80286 ran at clock speeds from 8MHz to 12MHz.
In addition to the 286 is the 287, or 80287, a 286 with a math coprocessor on the chip.

80386
Developed by Intel as an upgrade to the 286 processor and commonly referred to as the 386 or the i386.

80386DX, more commonly known as the 386DX processor, was developed by Intel Corp. beginning in 1985 featuring 32-bit architecture including built in multitasking and was available in clock speeds of 16MHz, 20MHz, 25MHz, and 33MHz.

80386SL, more commonly known as the 386SL, was a version of Intel Corp.'s 386DX microprocessor first manufactured in 1990 featuring low power consumption and was used mainly in portable computers.

The 80387 processor is a 80386 upgraded with a floating-point coprocessor.

3DNow!
Technology that was first introduced by AMD in 1998 with the AMD K6-2 that helps open major processing bottlenecks in 3D graphics and other multimedia.

* This technology is explained in greater depth in the 3DNow! AMD document.

4004
Developed by Intel in 1971, the 4004 was the first processor with a 4-bit register and a clock speed of 1MHz.

80486
A computer processor developed by Intel as an upgrade to the 386 processor series and commonly referred to as the 486 or i486. The 80486 has 8k of memory cache built into the processor with 32-bit architecture and was available in clock rates ranging from 20MHz to 33MHz. The 486 was available as either a DX or SX, the DX features a built in coprocessor, the SX does not. In addition to the 486SX, a 486SX2 was also available and was capable of doubling the speed.

* In 1990 the 486SL was introduced and utilized less power than the 486 and is mainly used in portable computers.
* In 1992 the 486DX2 was introduced and ran at double the clock rate of a 486.
* In 1994 the 486DX4 was introduced, it tripled the clock rate of the 486 and has doubled the cache (16k). If you had a 33MHz it would make it a 100MHz. Note: there is no 486SX4.

Pentium 586
Codenamed P5, the Pentium was released by Intel in 1993 as a replacement to the 80486 processor. 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 cannot trademark a number. Below is a graphic illustration of the Pentium processor.

The Pentium processor is faster and more powerful than Intel's earlier chips, with about 3.1 million transistors, compared to 1.2 million on the 80486 and 275,000 on the 80386. The Pentium has a 32-bit access bus and a 64-bit data bus, and it can operate at speeds of 60MHz to 200MHz.

Since its initial release, all Intel processors released after the Pentium have been known as Intel Pentium processors, followed by a numerical number, such as Intel Pentium II, Intel Pentium III, etc...

68000
Series of CISC processor developed by Motorola that had a 16-bit bus and a clock speed of 8MHz. The 68000 was used in the Apple Macintosh computer.

8080
Processor developed by Intel in 1974 that utilized an 8-bit architecture and was capable of running at speeds of 2-MHz. This processor was first used in the Altair one of the world's first personal computers.

8086
Developed by Intel in 1978, the 8086 was codenamed P1, used a 16-bit architecture and ran at clock speeds of 5MHz to 10MHz.

Designed for the Intel 8080/8086, the 8087 was a math coprocessor that helped boost the speed of some applications.

80286
Developed by Intel in 1982 and commonly called the 286, the 80286 ran at clock speeds from 8MHz to 12MHz.

In addition to the 286 is the 287, or 80287, a 286 with a math coprocessor on the chip.

80386
Developed by Intel as an upgrade to the 286 processor and commonly referred to as the 386 or the i386.

80386DX, more commonly known as the 386DX processor, was developed by Intel Corp. beginning in 1985 featuring 32-bit architecture including built in multitasking and was available in clock speeds of 16MHz, 20MHz, 25MHz, and 33MHz.

80386SL, more commonly known as the 386SL, was a version of Intel Corp.'s 386DX microprocessor first manufactured in 1990 featuring low power consumption and was used mainly in portable computers.

The 80387 processor is a 80386 upgraded with a floating-point coprocessor.

80486
A computer processor developed by Intel as an upgrade to the 386 processor series and commonly referred to as the 486 or i486. The 80486 has 8k of memory cache built into the processor with 32-bit architecture and was available in clock rates ranging from 20MHz to 33MHz. The 486 was available as either a DX or SX, the DX features a built in coprocessor, the SX does not. In addition to the 486SX, a 486SX2 was also available and was capable of doubling the speed.

* In 1990 the 486SL was introduced and utilized less power than the 486 and is mainly used in portable computers.
* In 1992 the 486DX2 was introduced and ran at double the clock rate of a 486.
* In 1994 the 486DX4 was introduced, it tripled the clock rate of the 486 and has doubled the cache (16k). If you had a 33MHz it would make it a 100MHz. Note: there is no 486SX4.

88000
A series of 32-bit RISC processors developed by Motorola and released in 1988. The 88000 series were most notably used in the Apple Power PC computers.