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Evolution of Intel Processors: 4-bit to 64-bit

The document traces the evolution of Intel microprocessors from the 4004 in 1971 with 2,300 transistors to modern processors like the Core i7. Early processors like the 4004 and 8008 had transistors visible and masks hand cut, while later processors integrated billions of transistors, on-die caches and memory controllers. Across generations, transistor counts increased exponentially from thousands to billions, clock speeds increased from kilohertz to gigahertz, and word sizes progressed from 4-bit to 32-bit and 64-bit. Modern multi-core processors like the Core i7 provide significant performance gains over early microprocessors through parallelism and architectural advances.

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427 views17 pages

Evolution of Intel Processors: 4-bit to 64-bit

The document traces the evolution of Intel microprocessors from the 4004 in 1971 with 2,300 transistors to modern processors like the Core i7. Early processors like the 4004 and 8008 had transistors visible and masks hand cut, while later processors integrated billions of transistors, on-die caches and memory controllers. Across generations, transistor counts increased exponentially from thousands to billions, clock speeds increased from kilohertz to gigahertz, and word sizes progressed from 4-bit to 32-bit and 64-bit. Modern multi-core processors like the Core i7 provide significant performance gains over early microprocessors through parallelism and architectural advances.

Uploaded by

Lazy Bkk
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Lecture 24:

Case Study:
Intel
Processors

Outline
Evolution of Intel Microprocessors
Scaling from 4004 to Core i7
Courtesy of Intel Museum

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

4004
First microprocessor (1971)
For Busicom calculator
Characteristics
10 m process
2300 transistors
400 800 kHz
4-bit word size
16-pin DIP package
Masks hand cut from Rubylith
Drawn with color pencils
1 metal, 1 poly (jumpers)
Diagonal lines (!)
24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

8008
8-bit follow-on (1972)
Dumb terminals
Characteristics
10 m process
3500 transistors
500 800 kHz
8-bit word size
18-pin DIP package
Note 8-bit datapaths
Individual transistors visible

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

8080
16-bit address bus (1974)
Used in Altair computer
(early hobbyist PC)
Characteristics
6 m process
4500 transistors
2 MHz
8-bit word size
40-pin DIP package

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

8086 / 8088
16-bit processor (1978-9)
IBM PC and PC XT
Revolutionary products
Introduced x86 ISA
Characteristics
3 m process
29k transistors
5-10 MHz
16-bit word size
40-pin DIP package
Microcode ROM

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

80286
Virtual memory (1982)
IBM PC AT
Characteristics
1.5 m process
134k transistors
6-12 MHz
16-bit word size
68-pin PGA
Regular datapaths and
ROMs
Bitslices clearly visible

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

80386
32-bit processor (1985)
Modern x86 ISA
Characteristics
1.5-1 m process
275k transistors
16-33 MHz
32-bit word size
100-pin PGA
32-bit datapath,
microcode ROM,
synthesized control

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

80486
Pipelining (1989)
Floating point unit
8 KB cache
Characteristics
1-0.6 m process
1.2M transistors
25-100 MHz
32-bit word size
168-pin PGA
Cache, Integer datapath,
FPU, microcode,
synthesized control
24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

Pentium

Superscalar (1993)
2 instructions per cycle
Separate 8KB I$ & D$
Characteristics
0.8-0.35 m process
3.2M transistors
60-300 MHz
32-bit word size
296-pin PGA
Caches, datapath,
FPU, control

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

10

Pentium Pro / II / III

Dynamic execution (1995-9)


3 micro-ops / cycle
Out of order execution
16-32 KB I$ & D$
Multimedia instructions
PIII adds 256+ KB L2$
Characteristics
0.6-0.18 m process
5.5M-28M transistors
166-1000 MHz
32-bit word size
MCM / SECC

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

11

Pentium 4

Deep pipeline (2001)


Very fast clock
256-1024 KB L2$
Characteristics
180 65 nm process
42-125M transistors
1.4-3.4 GHz
Up to 160 W
32/64-bit word size
478-pin PGA
Units start to become
invisible on this scale

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

12

Pentium M

Pentium III derivative


Better power efficiency
1-2 MB L2$
Characteristics
130 90 nm process
140M transistors
0.9-2.3 GHz
6-25 W
32-bit word size
478-pin PGA
Cache dominates chip area

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

13

Core2 Duo

Dual core (2006)


1-2 MB L2$ / core
Characteristics
65-45 nm process
291M transistors
1.6-3+ GHz
65 W
32/64 bit word size
775 pin LGA
Much better
performance/power efficiency

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

14

Core i7
Quad core (& more)
Pentium-style architecture
2 MB L3$ / core
Characteristics
45-32 nm process
731M transistors
2.66-3.33+ GHz
Up to 130 W
32/64 bit word size
1366-pin LGA
Multithreading
On-die memory controller

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

15

Atom
Low power CPU for netbooks
Pentium-style architecture
512KB+ L2$
Characteristics
45-32 nm process
47M transistors
0.8-1.8+ GHz
1.4-13 W
32/64-bit word size
441-pin FCBGA
Low voltage (0.7 1.1 V) operation
Excellent performance/power

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

16

Summary

104 increase in transistor count, clock frequency over 3 decades!

24: Processor Case Study

CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

17

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