Category Archives: Intel

Top of the Class 478

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Michal Necasek

So I have that old Intel D865PERL board, which is a Socket 478/AGP board. There’s a 3.2 GHz Northwood in it but of course I was wondering, what’s the fastest CPU this board supports? And it turns out to be a … Continue reading →

Posted in Intel, PC hardware, PC history, Pentium 4 | 5 Comments

Mystery NetBurst

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Michal Necasek

Some time ago, a mysterious CPU showed up at the OS/2 Museum: It is a Socket 775 CPU with a Pentium 4 label and the following markings: 3.73 GHZ/1M/1066/A4. In other words, 3.73 GHz clock speed, 1 MB L2 cache, … Continue reading →

Posted in Intel, Pentium 4 | 20 Comments

Intel OverDrive Part III: Pentium II OverDrive

Posted on October 16, 2016 by Michal Necasek

Pentium II OverDrive The Pentium II OverDrive, released in August 1998, was the swan song of the OverDrive product line. It is suitable for Socket 8 systems as an upgrade of 150-200 MHz Pentium Pro processors. Only one model was sold with … Continue reading →

Posted in Intel, Pentium II, Pentium Pro | 19 Comments

Intel OverDrive Part II: Pentium OverDrive

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Michal Necasek

The Pentium OverDrive is notable for supporting three physically different sockets (that’s not counting the Pentium II OverDrive). The Pentium OverDrive product was sold in variants suitable for Socket 2/3 (486 systems), Socket 4 (early Pentium systems), and Socket 5/7 … Continue reading →

Posted in 486, Intel, PC history, Pentium | 21 Comments

Better Late Than Never

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Michal Necasek

Better late than never, although in this instance, it’s really really late—about thirty years late. In the world of computing, that is eternity. The talk is about the new CR4.UMIP control bit documented in the latest (revision 58) Intel SDM, … Continue reading →

Posted in 286, Intel, x86 | 11 Comments

NT 3.1 SMP

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Michal Necasek

Generic x86 multiprocessing, Summer 1994 edition. There’s not much to say: Yep, that’s NT 3.1 running in a VM, and it sees two processors. Remember, you saw it here first!

Posted in Intel, NT, SMP | 61 Comments

Missing Intel SDM Documents

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Michal Necasek

I’ve been trying to complete my archive of Intel SDM documents circa 2000 and later. I have most of the editions archived but a few are missing. Readers of this blog could have something stashed away too, so perhaps someone … Continue reading →

Posted in Documentation, Intel | 11 Comments

Lies, Damn Lies, and Wikipedia

Posted on December 26, 2015 by Michal Necasek

While researching the history of 486s for a previous article, I came across a fascinating Wikipedia entry and its associated talk page. It’s a nice showcase of inmates running the asylum, and a reminder that Wikipedia can’t be considered an authoritative … Continue reading →

Posted in 486, Intel, PC history | 33 Comments

Intel OverDrive Part I: 486 OverDrive

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Michal Necasek

Intel had a long history of offering retail processor upgrades for PCs. The last and by far the best known of those were the Intel OverDrive processors. But let’s start with the earlier history. In 1987, Intel released the Inboard 386/AT, … Continue reading →

Posted in 486, Intel, PC history | 3 Comments

Intel 486 Errata?

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Michal Necasek

There don’t seem to be any specification updates or errata lists for any Intel 486 CPU anywhere. It’s odd because there are specification updates for 386s (and of course Pentiums) from Intel, and because the embedded 486s continued to be … Continue reading →

Posted in 486, Intel, PC history | 18 Comments