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Intel i860
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The Intel i860 Processor
The i860 processor, modestly described by Intel as "a Cray on a Chip", achieved high levels of integer, floating point, and 3D graphics performance. The graphics unit was unique for its time. It was essentially a 64-bit integer unit using the FPU registers. It supported a number of commands for SIMD-like instructions in addition to basic 64-bit integer math. Experience with the i860 influenced the MMX functionality later added to Intel's Pentium processors. As a result of its architecture, the i860 could run certain graphics and floating point algorithms with exceptionally high speed, but its performance in general-purpose applications suffered and it was difficult to program efficiently.
 
At first the i860 was only used in a small number of Supercomputers like the iPSC/860 at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It also did see some use in the workstation world as a graphics accelerator. It was used, for instance, in the NeXT Dimension and some SGI graphics workstations.
 
The chip was released in two versions, the basic XR, and the XP. The XP added larger on-chip caches, support for external second level cache, faster buses, and hardware support for bus snooping, for cache consistency in multi-processor parallel computing systems. The XR ran at 25 or 40MHz, and a process shrink for the XP (from 1 micrometer to 0.8) bumped the XR to 40 and 50MHz. Both ran the same instruction set.
Intel A80860XR-33
Intel A80860XR-33 Top Side
A80860XR-33
SX352
I1312511
INTEL(M)(C)'88'89
Intel A80860XR-33 Back Side
90414171CD
USA
K 50
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Core Frequency:33 MHz
Board Frequency:33 MHz
Data bus (ext.):64 Bit
Address bus:64 Bit
Transistors:2,500,000
Circuit Size:0.80 µ
Introduced:1988
Manufactured:week 31/1991
L1 Cache:4+8 KB
CPU Code:N10
Intel S-Spec: SX352
Package Type:Ceramic
PGA-168
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Intel A80860XR-40
Intel A80860XR-40 Top Side
A80860XR-40
I0282108 SX373
INTEL(M)(C)'88'89
Intel A80860XR-40 Back Side
90174281CQ
USA
I 26
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Core Frequency:40 MHz
Board Frequency:40 MHz
Data bus (ext.):64 Bit
Address bus:64 Bit
Transistors:2,500,000
Circuit Size:0.80 µ
Introduced:1988
Manufactured:week 28/1990
L1 Cache:4+8 KB
CPU Code:N10
Intel S-Spec: SX373
Package Type:Ceramic
PGA-168
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Intel A80860XP-50
Intel A80860XP-50 Top Side
i860 XP
A80860XP-50
L4190197
SX657
(M)(C)1988 1990
Intel A80860XP-50 Back Side
94075906AC
MALAY
A 419
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Core Frequency:50 MHz
Board Frequency:50 MHz
Data bus (ext.):64 Bit
Address bus:64 Bit
Transistors:2,500,000
Circuit Size:0.80 µ
Introduced:1988
Manufactured:week 19/1994
L1 Cache:16+16 KB
CPU Code:N11
Intel S-Spec: SX657
Package Type:Ceramic
PGA-262
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