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The K6-2 was an x86 microprocessor introduced by AMD on May 28, 1998, and available in speeds ranging from 266 to 550 MHz. See also X86 assembly language The generic term x86 refers to the most commercially successful Instruction set architecture in the history of Personal A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a Central processing unit (CPU on a single Integrated The hertz (symbol Hz) is a measure of Frequency, informally defined as the number of events occurring per Second. It had a 64 KiB Level 1 cache (32 KiB instruction and 32 KiB data), ran at 2. In computing binary prefixes are names or associated symbols that can precede a unit of measure (such as a Byte) to indicate multiplication by a power of two 2 volts, was manufactured using a 0. The volt (symbol V) is the SI derived unit of electric Potential difference or Electromotive force. 25 micrometre process, had 9. A micrometre ( American spelling: micrometer; symbol µm) is one millionth of a Metre, or equivalently one thousandth of a Millimetre 3 million transistors, and fit in a Socket 7 or Super Socket 7 motherboard. In Electronics, a transistor is a Semiconductor device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals Socket 7 is a physical and electrical specification for an X86 -style CPU socket on a personal computer Motherboard. The Super Socket 7, also referred to as Super 7, is an extension of the Socket 7 ZIF socket specification A motherboard is the central or primary Printed circuit board (PCB making up a complex electronic system such as a modern Computer or Laptop

Contents

History

The AMD K6-2 architecture.
The AMD K6-2 architecture.

The K6-2 was designed as a competitor to the slightly older and significantly more expensive Intel Pentium II. The Pentium II brand refers to Intel 's sixth-generation Microarchitecture (" Intel P6 " and x86 -compatible Microprocessors Performance of the two chips was broadly similar: the previous K6 tending to be faster for general-purpose computing, the Intel part clearly superior at floating-point tasks. 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 The K6-2 was a very successful chip and provided AMD with the marketing base and the financial stability it would need to introduce the Athlon. Athlon is the brand name applied to a series of different X86 processors designed and manufactured by AMD.

The K6-2 was the first CPU to introduce a floating point SIMD instruction set (dubbed 3DNow! by AMD), which could significantly boost the performance of 3D-enabled applications. In Computing, SIMD ( S ingle I nstruction M ultiple D ata is a technique employed to achieve data level parallelism as in a Vector 3DNow! is the Trade name of a multimedia extension created by AMD for its processors starting with the K6-2 in 1998 It beat to the market the similar but more complicated SSE instruction set from Intel by several months. S treaming '''S'''IMD E xtensions ( SSE) is a SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data Instruction set extension to the X86

Nearly all K6-2s were designed to use 100 MHz Super Socket 7 mainboards, and this provided a major boost to system performance. The Super Socket 7, also referred to as Super 7, is an extension of the Socket 7 ZIF socket specification Early in the K6-2's career, the K6-2 300 was by far the best-selling variant. It rapidly established an excellent reputation in the marketplace and competed fiercely with Intel's Celeron 300A for the non-exotic performance market. The Celeron brand is a range of X86 CPUs from Intel targeted at budget/value Personal computers €”with the motto "delivering great quality The Celeron offered a smaller but faster cache and an excellent floating-point unit; the K6-2 offered much faster RAM access (courtesy of the Super 7 mainboard) and 3DNow graphics extensions. Both parts sold well, and both attracted their share of loyalists. (At this time, the fastest available Pentium IIs were slightly more powerful than either of the cheaper chips, but vastly more expensive. )

As the market moved on, AMD released a long series of faster K6-2 parts, the best-selling ones being the 350, 400, 450, and 500. By the time the 450 and the 500 were mainstream parts, newer and faster chips had taken the high-performance market and K6-2s still competed with Celerons, but in the budget CPU category. The 100 MHz mainboard of the K6-2 allowed it to withstand the effects of ever-increasing CPU multipliers fairly gracefully and in later life it remained surprisingly competitive.

K6-2+

The little-known K6-2+ was an enhanced K6-2 with 128 KiB of integrated L2 cache and built on a 0. 18 micrometre process (essentially a K6-III+ with half the L2 cache). A micrometre ( American spelling: micrometer; symbol µm) is one millionth of a Metre, or equivalently one thousandth of a Millimetre The K6-III, code-named "Sharptooth" was an X86 Microprocessor manufactured by AMD, which was the last The K6-2+ was specifically designed as a low-power mobile CPU, and released at a time when mainstream desktop machines were fast moving on to newer platforms like the Athlon. It sold in modest numbers to its target market, and although AMD made no attempt to publicise this, it was also made available as an orthodox desktop CPU. The desktop-packaged K6-2+ was overshadowed in the market by the Athlon (a significantly faster part), the K6-III, and the original K6-2 which, although slower and only marginally cheaper, was better-known and easier to obtain. The K6-2+ topped out at 570MHz.

Models

K6-3D (Chomper, 250 nm)

AMD K6-2 Microprocessor
AMD K6-2 Microprocessor

K6-3D (Chomper Extended (CXT), 250 nm)

K6-2+ (180 nm, mobile)

External links

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