In 2000, Intel's Netburst architecture was finally ready, and it was pushed into production as the Pentium 4. The combination would carry Intel's top-end CPUs for the next six years. More than 30 years later, or roughly 3,000 calendar years in computer time, x86 continues to evolve (see how easy it is for creationism and evolution to co-exist?) from its modest start in 1978.
The 4004 CPU was the forerunner of all of today’s Intel offerings and, to date, all PC processors have been based on the original Intel designs. The first chip used in an IBM PC was Intel’s 8088. This was not, at the time it was chosen, the best available CPU, in fact Intel’s own 8086 was more powerful and had been released earlier. The 8088 was chosen for reasons of economics: its 8-bit data bus required less costly motherboards than the 16-bit 8086.
Also, at the time that the original PC was designed, most of the interface chips available were intended for use in 8-bit designs. These early processors would have nowhere near sufficient power to run today’s software.
The table below shows the generations of processors from Intel’s first generation 8088/86 in the late 1970s to the eighth-generation AMD Athlon 64, launched in the autumn of 2003:
Chronological Evolution of CPUs
| Type/ Generation | Year | Data/ Address bus width | Level 1 Cache (KB) | Memory bus speed (MHz) | Internal clock speed (MHz) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8088/ First | 1979 | 8/20 bit | None | 4.77-8 | 4.77-8 |
| 8086/ First | 1978 | 16/20 bit | None | 4.77-8 | 4.77-8 |
| 80286/ Second | 1982 | 16/24 bit | None | 6-20 | 6-20 |
| 80386DX/ Third | 1985 | 32/32 bit | None | 16-33 | 16-33 |
| 80386SX/ Third | 1988 | 16/32 bit | 8 | 16-33 | 16-33 |
| 80486DX/ Fourth | 1989 | 32/32 bit | 8 | 25-50 | 25-50 |
| 80486SX/ Fourth | 1989 | 32/32 bit | 8 | 25-50 | 25-50 |
| 80486DX2/ Fourth | 1992 | 32/32 bit | 8 | 25-40 | 50-80 |
| 80486DX4/ Fourth | 1994 | 32/32 bit | 8+8 | 25-40 | 75-120 |
| Pentium/ Fifth | 1993 | 64/32 bit | 8+8 | 60-66 | 60-200 |
| MMX/ Fifth | 1997 | 64/32 bit | 16+16 | 66 | 166-233 |
| Pentium Pro/ Sixth | 1995 | 64/32 bit | 8+8 | 66 | 150-200 |
| Pentium II/ Sixth | 1997 | 64/32 bit | 16+16 | 66 | 233-300 |
| Pentium II/ Sixth | 1998 | 64/32 bit | 16+16 | 66/100 | 300-450 |
| Pentium III/ Sixth | 1999 | 64/32 bit | 16+16 | 100 | 450-1.2GHz |
| AMD Athlon/ Seventh | 1999 | 64/32 bit | 64+64 | 266 | 500-2.2GHz |
| Pentium 4/ Seventh | 2000 | 64/32 bit | 12+8 | 400 | 1.4GHz-3.6GHz |
| AMD Athlon 64/ Eighth | 2003 | 64/64 bit | 64+64 | 400 | 2GHz-2.4GHz |
Evolution Of Intel Processors Family
Evolution Of Intel Cpu
Listed below are the important events in history relating to computer processors, including release dates for many of the popular and widely-used computer processors. Not all computer processors are listed, as there are too many to list.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1823 | Baron Jons Jackob Berzelius discovered silicon (Si), which today is the basic component of processors. |
| 1903 | Nikola Tesla patented electrical logic circuits called 'gates' or 'switches' in 1903. |
| 1947 | John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley invented the first transistor at the Bell Laboratories on December 23, 1947. |
| 1948 | John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley patented the first transistor in 1948. |
| 1956 | John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for their work on the transistor. |
| 1958 | The first working integrated circuit was developed by Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. The first IC was demonstrated on September 12, 1958. (Geoffrey Dummer is credited as being the first person to conceptualize and build a prototype of the integrated circuit.) |
| 1960 | IBM developed the first automatic mass-production facility for transistors in New York in 1960. |
| 1965 | On April 19, 1965, Gordon Moore made an observation about integrated circuits that became known as Moore's Law. |
| 1968 | Intel Corporation was founded by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore in 1968. |
| 1969 | AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) was founded on May 1, 1969. |
| 1971 | Intel with the help of Ted Hoff introduced the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 on November 15, 1971. The 4004 had 2,300 transistors, performed 60,000 OPS (operations per second), addressed 640 bytes of memory, and cost $200.00. |
| 1972 | Intel introduced the 8008 processor on April 1, 1972. |
| 1974 | Intel's improved microprocessor chip was introduced on April 1, 1974; the 8080 became a standard in the computer industry. |
| 1976 | Intel introduced the 8085 processor in March 1976. |
| 1978 | The Intel8086 was introduced on June 8, 1978. |
| 1979 | The Intel8088 was released on June 1, 1979. |
| 1979 | The Motorola 68000, a 16/32-bit processor, was released and later chosen as the processor for the Apple Macintosh and Amiga computers. |
| 1982 | The Intel 80286 was introduced on February 1, 1982. |
| 1985 | Intel introduced the first 80386 in October 1985. |
| 1987 | The SPARC processor was first introduced by Sun. |
| 1988 | Intel80386SX was introduced in 1988. |
| 1989 | Cyrix released their first coprocessors, the FasMath 83D87 and 83S87, in 1989. These were x87 compatible and designed for 386 computers. The FasMath coprocessors were up to 50% faster than the Intel 80387 processor. |
| 1991 | AMD introduced the AM386 microprocessor family in March 1991. |
| 1991 | Intel introduced the Intel 486SX chip in April in efforts to help bring a lower-cost processor to the PC market selling for $258.00. |
| 1992 | Intel released the 486DX2 chip on March 2, 1992, with a clock doubling ability that generates higher operating speeds. |
| 1993 | Intel released the Pentium processor on March 22, 1993. The processor was a 60 MHz processor, incorporates 3.1 million transistors and sells for $878.00. |
| 1994 | Intel released the second generation of Intel Pentium processors on March 7, 1994. |
| 1995 | Cyrix released the Cx5x86 processor in 1995, in an attempt to compete with the Intel Pentium processors. |
| 1995 | Intel introduced the Intel Pentium Pro in November 1995. |
| 1996 | Cyrix released their MediaGX processor in 1996. It combined a processor with sound and video processing on one chip. |
| 1996 | Intel announced the availability of the Pentium 150 MHz with 60 MHz bus and 166 MHz with 66 MHz bus on January 4, 1996. |
| 1996 | AMD introduced the K5 processor on March 27, 1996, with speeds of 75 MHz to 133 MHz and bus speeds of 50 MHz, 60 MHz, or 66 MHz. The K5 was the first processor developed completely in-house by AMD. |
| 1997 | AMD released their K6 processor line in April 1997, with speeds of 166 MHz to 300 MHz and a 66 MHz bus speed. |
| 1997 | Intel Pentium II was introduced on May 7, 1997. |
| 1998 | AMD introduced their new K6-2 processor line on May 28, 1998, with speeds of 266 MHz to 550 MHz and bus speeds of 66 MHz to 100 MHz. The K6-2 processor was an enhanced version of AMD's K6 processor. |
| 1998 | Intel released the first Xeon processor, the Pentium II Xeon 400 (512 K or 1 M cache, 400 MHz, 100 MHz FSB) in June 1998. |
| 1999 | Intel released the Celeron 366 MHz and 400 MHz processors on January 4, 1999. |
| 1999 | AMD released its K6-III processors on February 22, 1999, with speeds of 400 MHz or 450 MHz and bus speeds of 66 MHz to 100 MHz. It also featured an on-die L2 cache. |
| 1999 | The IntelPentium III 500 MHz was released on February 26, 1999. |
| 1999 | The IntelPentium III 550 MHz was released on May 17, 1999. |
| 1999 | AMD introduced the Athlon processor series on June 23, 1999. The Athlon would be produced for the next six years in speeds ranging from 500 MHz up to 2.33 GHz. |
| 1999 | The IntelPentium III 600 MHz was released on August 2, 1999. |
| 1999 | The IntelPentium III 533B and 600B MHz was released on September 27, 1999. |
| 1999 | The IntelPentium III Coppermine series was first introduced on October 25, 1999. |
| 2000 | On January 5, 2000, AMD released the 800 MHz Athlon processor. |
| 2000 | Intel released the Celeron 533 MHz with a 66 MHz bus processor on January 4, 2000. |
| 2000 | AMD first released the Duron processor on June 19, 2000, with speeds of 600 MHz to 1.8 GHz and bus speeds of 200 MHz to 266 MHz. The Duron was built on the same K7 architecture as the Athlon processor. |
| 2000 | Intel announced on August 28th that it would recall its 1.3 GHz Pentium III processors due to a glitch. Users with these processors should contact their vendors for additional information about the recall. |
| 2001 | On January 3, 2001, Intel released the 800 MHz Celeron processor with a 100 MHz bus. |
| 2001 | On January 3, 2001, Intel released the 1.3 GHz Pentium 4 processor. |
| 2001 | AMD announced a new branding scheme on October 9, 2001. Instead of identifying processors by their clock speed, the AMD Athlon XP processors would bear monikers of 1500+, 1600+, 1700+, 1800+, 1900+, 2000+, etc. Each higher model number represented a higher clock speed. |
| 2002 | Intel released the Celeron 1.3 GHz with a 100 MHz bus and 256 kB of level 2 cache. |
| 2003 | IntelPentium M was introduced in March 2003. |
| 2003 | AMD released the first single-core Opteron processors, with speeds of 1.4 GHz to 2.4 GHz and 1024 KB L2 cache, on April 22, 2003. |
| 2003 | AMD released the first Athlon 64 processor, the 3200+ model, and the first Athlon 64 FX processor, the FX-51 model, on September 23, 2003. |
| 2004 | AMD released the first Sempron processor on July 28, 2004, with a 1.5 GHz to 2.0 GHz clock speed and 166 MHz bus speed. |
| 2005 | AMD released their first dual-core processor, the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.0 GHz, 512 KB L2 cache per core), on April 21, 2005. |
| 2006 | AMD released their new Athlon 64 FX-60 processor, featuring 2x 1024 KB L2 cache, on January 9, 2006. |
| 2006 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E6320 (4 M cache, 1.86 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on April 22, 2006. |
| 2006 | Intel introduced the Intel Core 2 Duo processors with the Core 2 Duo processor E6300 (2 M cache, 1.86 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on July 27, 2006. |
| 2006 | Intel introduced the Intel Core 2 Duo processor for the laptop computer with the Core 2 Duo processor T5500, and other Core 2 Duo T series processors, in August 2006. |
| 2007 | Intel released the Core 2 Quad processor Q6600 (8 M cache, 2.40 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) in January 2007. |
| 2007 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E4300 (2 M cache, 1.80 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) on January 21, 2007. |
| 2007 | Intel released the Core 2 Quad processor Q6700 (8 M cache, 2.67 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) in April 2007. |
| 2007 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E4400 (2 M cache, 2.00 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) on April 22, 2007. |
| 2007 | AMD renamed the Athlon 64 X2 processor line to Athlon X2 and released the first in that line, the Brisbane series (1.9 to 2.6 GHz, 512 KB L2 cache) on June 1, 2007. |
| 2007 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E4500 (2 M cache, 2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) on July 22, 2007. |
| 2007 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E4600 (2 M cache, 2.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) on October 21, 2007. |
| 2007 | AMD released the first Phenom X4 processors (2 M cache, 1.8 GHz to 2.6 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on November 19, 2007. |
| 2008 | Intel released the Core 2 Quad processor Q9300 and the Core 2 Quad processor Q9450 in March 2008. |
| 2008 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E4700 (2 M cache, 2.60 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) on March 2, 2008. |
| 2008 | AMD released the first Phenom X3 processors (2 M cache, 2.1 GHz to 2.5 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on March 27, 2008. |
| 2008 | Intel released the first of the Intel Atom series of processors, the Z5xx series, in April 2008. They are single core processors with a 200 MHz GPU. |
| 2008 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E7200 (3 M cache, 2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on April 20, 2008. |
| 2008 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E7300 (3 M cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on August 10, 2008. |
| 2008 | Intel released several Core 2 Quad processors in August 2008: the Q8200, the Q9400, and the Q9650. |
| 2008 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E7400 (3 M cache, 2.80 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on October 19, 2008. |
| 2008 | Intel released the first Core i7 desktop processors in November 2008: the i7-920, the i7-940, and the i7-965 Extreme Edition. |
| 2009 | AMD released the first Phenom II X4 (quad-core) processors (6 M cache, 2.5 to 3.7 GHz, 1066 MHz or 1333 MHz FSB) on January 8, 2009. |
| 2009 | AMD released the first Athlon Neo processor, the MV-40 model, (1.6 GHz and 512 KB L2 cache) on January 8, 2009. |
| 2009 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E7500 (3 M cache, 2.93 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on January 18, 2009. |
| 2009 | AMD released the first Phenom II X3 (triple core) processors (6 M cache, 2.5 to 3.0 GHz, 1066 MHz or 1333 MHz FSB) on February 9, 2009. |
| 2009 | Intel released the Core 2 Quad processor Q8400 (4 M cache, 2.67 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB) in April 2009. |
| 2009 | Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E7600 (3 M cache, 3.06 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on May 31, 2009. |
| 2009 | AMD released the first Athlon II X2 (dual-core) processors (1024 KB L2 cache, 1.6 to 3.5 GHz, 1066 MHz or 1333 MHz FSB) in June 2009. |
| 2009 | AMD released the first Phenom II X2 (dual-core) processors (6 M cache, 3.0 to 3.5 GHz, 1066 MHz or 1333 MHz FSB) on June 1, 2009. |
| 2009 | AMD released the first Athlon II X4 (quad-core) processors (512 KB L2 cache, 2.2 to 3.1 GHz, 1066 MHz or 1333 MHz FSB) in September 2009. |
| 2009 | Intel released the first Core i7 mobile processor, the i7-720QM, in September 2009. It uses the Socket G1 socket type, runs at 1.6 GHz, and features 6 MB L3 cache. |
| 2009 | Intel released the first Core i5 desktop processor with four cores, the i5-750 (8 M cache, 2.67 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB), on September 8, 2009. |
| 2009 | AMD released the first Athlon II X3 (triple core) processors in October 2009. |
| 2010 | Intel released the Core 2 Quad processor Q9500 (6 M cache, 2.83 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB) in January 2010. |
| 2010 | Intel released the first Core i5 mobile processors, the i5-430M and the i5-520E in January 2010. |
| 2010 | Intel released the first Core i5 desktop processor over 3.0 GHz, the i5-650 in January 2010. |
| 2010 | Intel released the first Core i3 desktop processors, the i3-530, and i3-540 on January 7, 2010. |
| 2010 | Intel released the first Core i3 mobile processors, the i3-330M (3 M cache, 2.13 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) and the i3-350M, on January 7, 2010. |
| 2010 | AMD released the first Phenom II X6 (hex/six core) processors on April 27, 2010. |
| 2010 | Intel released the first Core i7 desktop processor with six cores, the i3-970, in July 2010. It runs at 3.2 GHz and features 12 MB L3 cache. |
| 2011 | Intel released seven new Core i5 processors with four cores, the i5-2xxx series in January 2011. |
| 2011 | AMD released the first mobile processors in their A4 line, the A4-3300M and the A4-3310MX on June 14, 2011. |
| 2011 | AMD released the first mobile processors in their A6 line, the A6-3400M and the A6-3410MX on June 14, 2011. |
| 2011 | AMD released the first mobile processors in their A8 line, the A8-3500M, the A8-3510MX, and the A8-3530MX on June 14, 2011. |
| 2011 | AMD released the first desktop processor in their A6 line, the A6-3650 (4 M L2 cache, 2.6 GHz, 1866 MHz FSB) on June 30, 2011. |
| 2011 | AMD released the first desktop processor in their A8 line, the A8-3850 (4 M L2 cache, 2.9 GHz, 1866 MHz FSB) on June 30, 2011. |
| 2011 | AMD released the first desktop processors in their A4 line, the A4-3300 and the A4-3400 on September 7, 2011. |
| 2012 | AMD released the first desktop processors in their A10 line, the A10-5700 and the A10-5800K on October 1, 2012. |
| 2013 | AMD released the Athlon II X2 280, on January 28, 2013. It has two cores and runs at 3.6 GHz. |
| 2013 | Intel released their first processor to utilize the BGA-1364 socket and feature an Iris Pro Graphics 5200 GPU. Released in June 2013, it runs at 3.2 GHz and has 6 MB of L3 cache. |
| 2014 | AMD introduced the socket AM1 architecture and compatible processors, like the Sempron 2650, in April 2014. |
| 2014 | AMD released their first Pro A series APU processors, the A6 Pro-7050B, A8 Pro-7150B, and A10 Pro-7350B, in June 2014. They feature on or two cores and run at 1.9 GHz to 2.2 GHz. |
| 2017 | AMD released their first Ryzen 7 processors, the 1700, 1700X, and 1800X models, on March 2, 2017. They have eight cores, run at 3.0 to 3.6 GHz, and feature 16 MB L3 cache. |
| 2017 | AMD released their first Ryzen 5 processors, the 1400, 1500X, 1600, and 1600X models, on April 11, 2017. They have four to six cores, run at 3.2 to 3.6 GHz, and feature 8 to 16 MB L3 cache. |
| 2017 | Intel released the first Core i9 desktop processor, the i9-7900X, in June 2017. It uses the LGA 2066 socket, runs at 3.3 GHz, has 10 cores, and features 13.75 MB L3 cache. |
| 2017 | AMD released their first Ryzen 3 processors, the Pro 1200 and Pro 1300 models, on June 29, 2017. They have four cores, run at 3.1 to 3.5 GHz, and feature 8 MB L3 cache. |
| 2017 | Intel released the first desktop processor with 12 cores, the Core i9-7920X, in August 2017. It runs at 2.9 GHz and features 16.50 MB L3 cache. |
| 2017 | AMD released their first processor with 16 cores, the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X, on Augus 10, 2017. It runs at 3.4 GHz and features 32 MB L3 cache. |
| 2017 | Intel released the first desktop processor with 14 cores, the Core i9-7940X, in September 2017. It runs at 3.1 GHz and features 19.25 MB L3 cache. |
| 2017 | Intel released the first desktop processor with 16 cores, the Core i9-7960X, in September 2017. It runs at 2.8 GHz and features 22 MB L3 cache. |
| 2017 | Intel released the first desktop processor with 18 cores, the Core i9-7980X, in September 2017. It runs at 2.6 GHz and features 24.75 MB L3 cache. |
| 2018 | Intel released the first Core i9 mobile processor, the i9-8950HK, in April 2018. It used the BGA 1440 socket, runs at 2.9 GHz, has six cores, and features 12 MB L3 cache. |
| 2020 | NVIDIA announced it was acquiring Arm for $40 billion on September 13, 2020. |
| 2020 | AMD announced it was buying Xilinx for $35 billion on October 27, 2020. |