What is Cyrix 6x86?
| PROCESSOR SPECIFICATIONS | ||
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| Manufacturer: | Cyrix | |
| Model: | 6x86 | |
| Year: | 1995 | |
| Transistors: | 3,000,000 | |
| Microns: | 0.6µ | |
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Cyrix, by this time, was a major player in the alternative processor market. They had been around since 1992, with their release of the 486SLC. By 1995, they had their own 5x86 processor and it was considered the only real competition to the AMD counterpart. But, they released their 6x86 in 1995. It was designed to go head to head with Intel's Pentium processor. Dubbed "M1", the chip contained two super-pipelined integer units, an on-die FPU, and 16 KB of write-back cache. It used many of the same techniques internally as the Intel and AMD chips to increase performance. Like AMD beginning with their K5 (see below), Cyrix used the P-rating system. It came in PR-120, 133, 150, 166 and 200 versions. Each rating had a "+" after it, indicating that it performed better than the corresponding Pentium. But, did it? Cyrix had had a reputation for lagging in the area of performance, and the M1 was not an exception. The chip used a weaker FPU than both AMD and Intel, meaning it could not keep up with the competition in areas such as 3D gaming or other math-intensive software. On top of that, the chip had a reputation for running hot. Users had to get CPU fans that could keep these hot processors cool enough to run stably. Cyrix tried to combat this issue with the 6x86L processor. This "low power" processor made use of a split voltage (3.3 volts for I/O and 2.8 volts internally). |
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