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AMD K6 logo
AMD K6 logo

The K6 microprocessor was launched by AMD in 1997. The main advantage of this particular microprocessor is that it was designed to fit into existing desktop designs for Pentium branded CPUs. The Pentium brand refers to Intel 's single-core x86 Microprocessor based on the P5 fifth-generation Microarchitecture. It was marketed as a product which could perform as well as its Intel Pentium II equivalent but at a significantly lower price. The K6 had a considerable impact on the PC market and presented Intel with a serious competition.

Contents

Background

The AMD K6 architecture.
The AMD K6 architecture.

The AMD K6 is a superscalar Pentium-class microprocessor, manufactured by AMD, which superseded the K5. A superscalar CPU architecture implements a form of parallelism called Instruction-level parallelism within a single processor The Pentium brand refers to Intel 's single-core x86 Microprocessor based on the P5 fifth-generation Microarchitecture. A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a Central processing unit (CPU on a single Integrated The K5 was AMD's first x86 processor developed entirely in-house introduced in March 1996 It was co-developed by Vinod Dham, designer of the Pentium processor. Vinod Dham (Hindi विनोद धाम) (born 1950 in Pune, India) is a Venture capitalist. The Pentium brand refers to Intel 's single-core x86 Microprocessor based on the P5 fifth-generation Microarchitecture. The AMD K6 is based on the Nx686 microprocessor that NexGen was designing when it was acquired by AMD. NexGen (Milpitas CA was a private Semiconductor company that designed X86 PC Central processing units until it was purchased Despite the name implying a design evolving from the K5, it is in fact a totally different design that was created by the NexGen team and adapted after the AMD purchase. The K5 was AMD's first x86 processor developed entirely in-house introduced in March 1996 The K6 processor included a feedback dynamic instruction reordering mechanism, MMX instructions, and a floating-point unit (FPU). MMX is a single instruction multiple data (SIMD Instruction set designed by Intel, introduced in 1997 in their Pentium line of It was also made pin-compatible with Intel's Pentium, enabling it to be used in the widely available "Socket 7"-based motherboards. In Electronics, a pin-compatible device such as a logic integrated circuit (IC memory module or Microprocessor, is one that has the same functions Socket 7 is a physical and electrical specification for an X86 -style CPU socket on a personal computer Motherboard. Like the Nx686 and Nx586 before it, the K6 translated the Pentium compatible x86 instruction set to RISC-like micro-instructions. The X86 Instruction set has undergone numerous changes over time A later variation of the K6 CPU, K6-2, added floating point-based SIMD instructions, called 3DNow!. The K6-2 was an X86 Microprocessor introduced by AMD on May 28 1998 and available in speeds ranging from 266 to 550 MHz. In Computing, floating point describes a system for numerical representation in which a string of digits (or Bits represents a Real number. 3DNow! is the Trade name of a multimedia extension created by AMD for its processors starting with the K6-2 in 1998

The K6 was originally launched in April 1997, running at speeds of 166 and 200 MHz. It was followed by a 233 MHz version later in 1997. Initially, the AMD K6 processors used a Pentium II-based performance rating (PR2) to designate their speed. The PR2 rating was dropped because the rated frequency of the processor was the same as the real frequency. The release of the 266 MHz version of this chip was not until the second quarter of 1998 when AMD was able to move to the 0. 25 micrometre manufacturing process. The lower voltage and higher multiplier of the K6-266 meant that it was not 100% compatible with some Socket 7 motherboards, similar to the later K6-2 processors. The final iteration of the K6 design was released in May 1998 running at 300 MHz.

Many viewed the K6 and the acquisition of NexGen as the moment that AMD was put back into the Intel compatible processor market. The actual K6 AMD had been designing was anemic compared to NexGen's design. With the buyout of NexGen, AMD was able to come back into the game with a processor that could perform competitively with Intel's Pentium II.

Models

Original K6 (Model 6)
Original K6 (Model 6)
K6 "Little Foot" (Model 7)
K6 "Little Foot" (Model 7)

K6 (Model 6)

K6 "Little Foot" (Model 7)

References

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL. The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing ( FOLDOC) is an online searchable encyclopedic Dictionary of Computing subjects The GNU Free Documentation License ( GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a Copyleft License for free documentation designed by the Free Software

External links

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