Pentium

This article is about the brand. For the original Pentium processor, see P5 (microarchitecture).

File:Pentium d lg.png

Pentium logo, 1993–2005

Pentium logo, 2005–2009

Pentium is a brand used for a series of x86-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel since 1993. In its current form, Pentium processors are considered entry-level products that Intel rates as "two stars", meaning that they are above the low-end Atom and Celeron series but below the faster Core i3, i5 and i7 lines as well as the high-end Xeon processors.

The current Pentium processors have only the name in common with the early ones, and are in fact based on the Intel Core architecture, typically implemented by lowering the clock frequency and disabling some features, such as hyper-threading, virtualization and, partly, L3 cache.

The name Pentium is originally derived from the Greek word pente (πέντε), meaning "five" (a reference to Intel's fifth-generation microarchitecture employed on the first Pentium processors), with the Latin ending -ium.

Overview

See also: List of Intel Pentium microprocessors

During development Intel generally identifies processors with codenames, such as Prescott, Willamette, Coppermine, Katmai, Klamath or Deschutes. These usually become widely known, even after the processors are given official names on launch.

Brand	Microarchitecture	Desktop	Laptop	Server
Pentium Pentium OverDrive	P5	P5 (0.8 µm) P54C (0.6 µm) P54CS (0.35 µm)
Pentium MMX Pentium OverDrive MMX		P55C (0.35 µm) Tillamook (0.25 µm)
Pentium Pro	P6			P6 (0.5 µm) P6 (0.35 µm)
Pentium II Pentium II Xeon Pentium II OverDrive Mobile Pentium II		Klamath (0.35 µm) Deschutes (0.25 µm)	Tonga (0.25 µm) Dixon (0.25 µm) Dixon (0.18 µm)	Drake (0.25 µm)
Pentium III Pentium III Xeon Mobile Pentium III Pentium III M		Katmai (0.25 µm) Coppermine (180 nm) Tualatin (130 nm)	Coppermine (180 nm) Tualatin(130 nm)	Tanner (0.25 µm) Cascades (180 nm)
Pentium 4 Pentium 4 Extreme Edition	NetBurst	Willamette (180 nm) Northwood (130 nm) Gallatin (130 nm) Prescott-2M (90 nm) Prescott (90 nm) Cedar Mill (65 nm)	Northwood (130 nm) Prescott (90 nm)	Rebranded as Xeon
Pentium D Pentium Extreme Edition		Smithfield (90 nm) Presler (65 nm)
Pentium M	P6 based		Banias (130 nm) Dothan (90 nm)
Pentium Dual-Core			Yonah (65 nm)
	Core	Allendale (65 nm) Wolfdale-3M (45 nm)	Merom-2M (65 nm)
Pentium		Wolfdale-3M (45 nm)	Penryn-3M (45 nm)
	Nehalem	Clarkdale (32 nm)	Arrandale (32 nm)
	Sandy Bridge	Sandy Bridge (32 nm)
	Ivy Bridge	Ivy Bridge (22 nm)
	Haswell	Haswell (22 nm)
	Broadwell	Broadwell (14 nm)
	Skylake	Skylake (14 nm)

History

The original Pentium branded CPUs were expected to be named 586 or i586, to follow the naming convention of previous generations (286, i386, i486). However, as the company wanted to prevent their competitors from branding their processors with similar names (as AMD had done with their Am486), Intel attempted to file a trademark on the name in the United States, only to be denied because a series of numbers was not considered distinct.

Following Intel's previous series of 8086, 80186, 80286, 80386, and 80486 microprocessors, the company's first P5-based microprocessor was released as the original Intel Pentium on March 22, 1993. Marketing firm Lexicon Branding was hired to coin a name for the new processor. The suffix -ium was chosen as it could connote a fundamental ingredient of a computer, like a chemical element, while the prefix pent- could refer to the fifth generation of x86.

Due to its success, the Pentium brand would continue through several generations of high-end processors. In 2006, the name briefly disappeared from Intel's roadmaps, only to re-emerge in 2007.

In 1998, Intel introduced the Celeron brand for low-priced microprocessors. With the 2006 introduction of the Intel Core brand as the company's new flagship line of processors, the Pentium series was to be discontinued. However, due to a demand for mid-range dual-core processors, the Pentium brand was re-purposed to be Intel's mid-range processor series, in between the Celeron and Core series, continuing with the Pentium Dual-Core line.

In 2009, the "Dual-Core" suffix was dropped, and new x86 microprocessors started carrying the plain Pentium name again.

In 2014, Intel released the Pentium 20th Anniversary Edition, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Pentium brand. The processors are unlocked and highly overclockable.

Pentium-branded processors

P5 microarchitecture based

The original Pentium and Pentium MMX processors were the superscalar follow-on to the 80486 processor and were marketed from 1993 to 1999. Some versions of these were available as Pentium OverDrive that would fit into older CPU sockets.

Pentium

Main article: List of Intel Pentium microprocessors

Core p	Process	Frequency	L1 Cache	FSB	Socket	Release date
P5	0.8 µm	60–66 MHz	16 KB	60–66 MHz	Socket 4	March 1993
P54C	0.6 µm	75–120 MHz	16 KB	50–66 MHz	Socket 5	October 1994
P54CS	0.35 µm	133–200 MHz	16 KB	60–66 MHz	Socket 7	June 1995
P55C	0.35 µm	120–233 MHz	32 KB	60–66 MHz	Socket 7	January 1997
Tillamook	0.25 µm	166–300 MHz	32 KB	66 MHz	Socket 7	August 1997

P6 microarchitecture based

In parallel with the P5 microarchitecture, Intel developed the P6 microarchitecture and started marketing it as the Pentium Pro for the high-end market in 1995. It introduced out-of-order execution and an integrated second level cache on dual-chip processor package. The second P6 generation replaced the original P5 with the Pentium II and rebranded the high-end version as Pentium II Xeon. It was followed by a third version called the Pentium III and Pentium III Xeon, respectively. The Pentium II line added the MMX instructions that were also present in the Pentium MMX.

Versions of these processors for the Laptop market were initially called Mobile Pentium II and Mobile Pentium III, later versions were called Pentium III-M. Starting with the Pentium II, the Celeron brand was used for low-end versions of most Pentium processors with a reduced feature set such as a smaller cache or missing power management features.

Pentium Pro

Main article: List of Intel Pentium Pro microprocessors

Core	Process	Frequency	L2 Cache	FSB	Socket	Release date
P6	0.5 µm	150 MHz	256 KB	60–66 MHz	Socket 8	November 1995
P6	0.35 µm	166–200 MHz	256–1024 KB	60–66 MHz	Socket 8

Pentium II

Main article: List of Intel Pentium II microprocessors

Core	Process	Frequency	L2 Cache	FSB	Socket	Release date
Klamath	0.35 µm	233–300 MHz	512 KB	66 MHz	Slot 1	May 1996
Deschutes	0.25 µm	266–450 MHz	512 KB	66–100 MHz	Slot 1	January 1998
Tonga	0.25 µm	233–300 MHz	513 KB	66 MHz	MMC-2	April 1998
Dixon	0.25 µm	266–366 MHz	256 KB	66 MHz	MMC-2

Pentium III

Main article: List of Intel Pentium III microprocessors

Core	Process	Frequency	L2 Cache	FSB	Socket	Release date
Katmai	0.25 µm	450–600 MHz	512 KB	100–133 MHz	Slot 1	February 1999
Coppermine	0.18 µm	400–1130 MHz	256 KB	100–133 MHz	Slot 1, Socket 370, BGA2, µPGA2	October 1999
Tualatin	0.13 µm	700–1400 MHz	512 KB	100–133 MHz	Socket 370, BGA2, µPGA2

Netburst microarchitecture based

In 2000, Intel introduced a new microarchitecture called NetBurst, with a much longer pipeline enabling higher clock frequencies than the P6 based processors. Initially, these were called Pentium 4 and the high-end versions have since been called just Xeon. As with Pentium III, there are both Mobile Pentium 4 and Pentium 4 M processors for the laptop market, with Pentium 4 M denoting the more power-efficient versions. Enthusiasts version of the Pentium 4 with the highest clock frequency were called Pentium 4 Extreme Edition.

The Pentium D was the first multi-core Pentium, integrating two Pentium 4 chips in one package and was also available as the enthusiast Pentium Extreme Edition.

Pentium 4

Main article: List of Intel Pentium 4 microprocessors

Core	Process	Clock Speeds	L2 Cache	FSB Speeds	Socket	Release Date
Willamette	180 nm	1.3–2.0 GHz	256 KB	400 MT/s	Socket 423, Socket 478	November 2000
Northwood	130 nm	1.6–3.4 GHz	512 KB	400–800 MT/s	Socket 478	January 2002
Gallatin	130 nm	3.2–3.46 GHz	512 KB + 2 MB L3	800–1066 MT/s	Socket 478, LGA 775	November 2003
Prescott	90 nm	2.4–3.8 GHz	1 MB	533–800 MT/s	Socket 478, LGA 775	February 2004
Prescott-2M	90 nm	2.8–3.8 GHz	2 MB	800–1066 MT/s	LGA 775	February 2005
Cedar Mill	65 nm	3.0–3.6 GHz	2 MB	800 MT/s	LGA 775	January 2006

Pentium D

Main article: List of Intel Pentium D microprocessors

Core	Process	Clock Speeds	L2 Cache	FSB Speeds	Socket	Release Date
Smithfield	90 nm	2.66–3.2 GHz	2 MB	533–800 MT/s	Socket T	May, 2005
Smithfield XE	90 nm	3.2 GHz	2 MB	800 MT/s	Socket T	May, 2005
Presler	65 nm	2.8–3.6 GHz	4 MB	800 MT/s	Socket T	January, 2006
Presler XE	65 nm	3.46–3.73 GHz	4 MB	1066 MT/s	Socket T	January, 2006

Pentium M microarchitecture based

In 2003, Intel introduced a new processor based on the P6 microarchitecture called Pentium M, which was much more power efficient than the Mobile Pentium 4, Pentium 4 M and Pentium III M. Dual-core version of the Pentium M was developed under the code name Yonah and sold under the marketing names Core Duo and Pentium Dual-Core. Unlike Pentium D, it integrated both cores on a single chip. From this point, the Intel Core brand name was used for the mainstream Intel processors and the Pentium brand became a low-end version between Celeron and Core. All Pentium M based designs including Yonah are for the mobile market.

Pentium M

Main article: List of Intel Pentium M microprocessors

Core	Process	Frequency	L1 Cache	L2 Cache	FSB	Socket	Release date
Banias	130 nm	900–1700 MHz	64 KB	1 MB	400 MT/s	Socket 479	March 2003
Dothan	90 nm	1.00–2.26 GHz	64 KB	2 MB	400–533 MT/s	FC-uBGA	June 2004

Pentium Dual-Core

Main article: List of Intel Pentium Dual-Core microprocessors

Core	Process	Clock Speeds	L1 Cache	L2 Cache	FSB Speeds	Socket	Release date
Yonah	65 nm	1.6–1.86 GHz	64 KB	1 MB	533 MT/s	Socket M	January 2007

Core microarchitecture based

The Pentium Dual-Core name continued to be used when the Yonah design was extended with 64 bit support, now called the Core microarchitecture. This microarchitecture eventually replaced all NetBurst based processors across the four brands, Celeron, Pentium, Core and Xeon. Pentium Dual-Core processors based on the Core microarchitecture use the Allendale and Wolfdale-3M designs for desktop processors and Merom-2M for mobile processors.

Pentium Dual-Core

Main article: List of Intel Pentium Dual-Core microprocessors

Core	Process	Clock Speeds	L1 Cache	L2 Cache	FSB Speeds	Socket	Release date
Merom-2M	65 nm	1.46–2.16 GHz	64 KB	1 MB	533–667 MT/s	Socket P	Q4 2007
Allendale	65 nm	1.6–2.4 GHz	64 KB	1 MB	800 MT/s	Socket 775	June 2007
Wolfdale-3M	45 nm	2.2–2.7 GHz	64 KB	2 MB	800 MT/s	Socket 775	August 2008

Pentium (2009)

Main article: List of Intel Pentium microprocessors

Core	Process	Clock Speeds	L1 Cache	L2 Cache	FSB Speeds	Socket	Release date
Wolfdale-3M	45 nm	2.8–3.2 GHz	64 KB	2 MB	1066 MT/s	Socket 775	May 2009
Penryn-3M	45 nm	2.0–2.3 GHz	64 KB	1 MB	800 MT/s	Socket P	January 2009
Penryn-3M ULV	45 nm	1.3–1.5 GHz	64 KB	2 MB	800 MT/s	BGA 956	September 2009
Penryn-L ULV 1	45 nm	1.3–1.4 GHz	64 KB	2 MB	800 MT/s	BGA 956	May 2009

Codename	Brand Name	Model (list)	Cores	L2 Cache	Socket	TDP
Allendale	Pentium Dual-Core	E2xxx	2	1 MB	LGA 775	65 W
Merom-2M	Mobile Pentium Dual-Core	T2xxx T3xxx	2	1 MB	Socket P	35 W
Wolfdale-3M	Pentium Dual-Core	E2xxx	2	1 MB	LGA 775	65 W
		E5xxx		2 MB
	Pentium	E6xxx
Penryn-3M	Mobile Pentium	T4xxx	2	1 MB	Socket P	35 W
		SU4xxx		2 MB	µFC-BGA 956	10 W
Penryn-L		SU2xxx	1			5.5 W

In 2009, Intel changed the naming system for Pentium processors, renaming the Wolfdale-3M based processors to Pentium, without the Dual-Core name and introduced new single- and dual-core processors based on Penryn under the Pentium name.

The Penryn core is the successor to the Merom core and Intel's 45 nm version of their mobile series of Pentium microprocessors. The FSB is increased from 667 MHz to 800 MHz and the voltage is lowered. Intel released the first Penryn Core, the Pentium T4200, in December, 2008. In June 2009, Intel released the first single-core processor to use the Pentium name, a Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage (CULV) Penryn core called the Pentium SU2700.

In September 2009, Intel introduced the Pentium SU4000 series together with the Celeron SU2000 and Core 2 Duo SU7000 series, which are dual-core CULV processors based on Penryn-3M and using 800 MHz FSB. The Pentium SU4000 series has 2 MB L2 cache but is otherwise basically identical to the other two lines.

Nehalem microarchitecture based

The Nehalem microarchitecture was introduced in late 2008 as a successor to the Core microarchitecture, and in early 2010, a new Pentium G6950 processor based on the Clarkdale design was introduced based on the Westmere refresh of Nehalem, which were followed by the mobile P6xxx based on Arrandale a few months later.

Main article: List of Intel Pentium microprocessors

Core	Process	Clock Speeds	L2 Cache	L3 Cache	I/O Bus	Socket	Release date
Clarkdale	32 nm	2.8 GHz	512 KB	3 MB	DMI	Socket 1156	January 2010
Arrandale	32 nm	1.2–1.86 GHz	512 KB	3 MB	DMI	Socket 988 BGA	Q2 2010

Codename	Brand name	L3 Cache	Socket	TDP	Features
Clarkdale	Pentium G6xxx	3 MB	LGA 1156	73 W	Integrated GPU
Arrandale	Pentium P6xxx	3 MB	LGA 1156	35 W	Integrated GPU
	Pentium U5xxx		BGA	18 W

On January 7, 2010, Intel launched a new Pentium model using the Clarkdale chip in parallel with other desktop and mobile CPUs based on their new Westmere microarchitecture. The first model in this series is the Pentium G6950. The Clarkdale chip is also used in the Core i3-5xx and Core i5-6xx series and features a 32 nm process (as it is based on the Westmere microarchitecture), integrated memory controller and 45 nm graphics controller and a third-level cache. In the Pentium series, some features of Clarkdale are disabled. Compared to Core i3, it lacks Hyper-Threading and the graphics controller in the Pentium runs at 533 MHz, while in the Core i3 i3-5xx series they run at 733 MHz. Dual Video Decode that enables Blu-ray picture-in picture hardware acceleration is disabled as well as Deep Color and xvYCC support. The memory controller in the Pentium supports DDR3-1066 max, the same as the Core i3 i3-5xx series. The L3 cache is also 1 MB less than in the Core i3-5xx series.

Sandy Bridge microarchitecture based

The Sandy Bridge microarchitecture was released in the Pentium line on May 22, 2011.

• ^aAll models share the following details: 2 cores, 2 logical processors (4 on Pentium 3xx with Hyper-threading), CPUID signature 206A7, family 6 (06h), model 42 (02Ah), stepping 7 (07h)
• ^bTLB / cache 64-byte Prefetching; Data TLB0 2-MB or 4-MB pages, 4-way associative, 32 entries; Data TLB 4-KB Pages, 4-way set associative, 64 entries; Instruction TLB 4-KB Pages, 4-way set associative, 128 entries, L2 TLB 1-MB, 4-way set associative, 64-byte line size; Shared 2nd-level TLB 4 KB pages, 4-way set associative, 512 entries.
• ^cAll models feature: On-chip Floating Point Unit, Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST), Intel 64, XD bit (an NX bit implementation), Intel VT-x, Smart Cache.
• ^dAll models support: MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2
• ^eHD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) contain 6 EUs as well as HD Graphics 2000, but does not support the following technologies: Intel Quick Sync Video, InTru 3D, Clear Video HD, Wireless Display, and it doesn't support 3D Video or 3D graphics acceleration.

Codename	Brand namea	L3 Cacheb	Socket	TDP	Featuresc,d
Sandy Bridge	Pentium 3xx	3 MB	LGA 1155	15 W	Hyper-threading, ECC
	Pentium 9x7	2 MB	BGA1023	17 W	Integrated GPU
	Pentium B9x0	2 MB	rPGA988B	35 W	Integrated GPU
	Pentium G6xxT	3 MB 8-way set associative Line size 64 bytes	LGA 1155	35 W	Integrated GPUe
	Pentium G6xx			65 W
	Pentium G8xx	3 MB 12-way set associative Line size 64 bytes
Sandy Bridge-EN	Pentium 140x	5 MB	LGA 1356	40-80 W	ECC, AVX, TXT, Intel VT-d, AES-NI

Ivy Bridge microarchitecture based

Currently, there exist models G2010, G2020, G2120, G2030 and G2130. All are dual core and have neither Hyper-Threading nor Turbo Boost.

Codename	Brand name	L3 cache	Socket	TDP	Notes
Ivy Bridge	G2010, G2020, G2030, G2120 and G2130	3 MB	LGA 1155	55 W	w/o Hyper Threading

Haswell microarchitecture based

Main article: Haswell (microarchitecture)

A number of Haswell-based Pentium processors were released in 2013, among them the G3258 "Anniversary Edition", first released in 2014 by Intel to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the line. As with previous-generation Pentium processors, Haswell and Haswell Refresh-based parts only have two cores, lack support for hyper-threading, and use the LGA1150 socket form factor.

Pentium compatible Intel processors

Due to its prominence, the term "Pentium compatible" is often used to describe any x86 processor that supports the IA-32 instruction set and architecture. Even though they do not use the Pentium name, Intel also manufactures other processors based on the Pentium series for other markets. Most of these processors share the core design with one of the Pentium processor lines, usually differing in the amount of CPU cache, power efficiency or other features. The notable exception is the Atom line, which is an independent design.

• Celeron, a low-end version
• Core, the mainstream version including Core 2 and Core i7, now placed above Pentium
• Xeon, a high-end version used in servers and workstations
• A100 (discontinued), an ultra-mobile version of Pentium M
• EP80579, A system-on-a-chip based on Pentium M
• Atom, current ultra-mobile processors
• Xeon Phi, a high-end version used in servers and workstations (Processor|Profile|Coprocessor)

See also

• List of Intel Pentium microprocessors
• List of Intel Pentium Dual-Core microprocessors
• Pentium Bug, a well-publicized flaw in the original processor
• Performance Rating, informally referred to as Pentium Rating
• "It's All About the Pentiums", a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic