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 | |
| General information | |
|---|---|
| Launched | April 2, 1997 |
| Discontinued | May 28, 1998 |
| Common manufacturer | |
| Performance | |
| Max.CPUclock rate | 166 MHz to 300 MHz |
| FSB speeds | 66 MHz |
| Physical specifications | |
| Cores |
|
| Socket | |
| Cache | |
| L1cache | 64 KiB |
| Architecture and classification | |
| Technology node | 350 nm to 250 nm |
| Microarchitecture | x86 |
| Instruction set | MMX |
| Products, models, variants | |
| Core names |
|
| History | |
| Predecessor | K5 |
| Successor | K6-2 |
TheK6 microprocessor was launched byAMD in 1997. The main advantage of this particular microprocessor is that it was designed to fit into existing desktop designs forPentium-brandedCPUs. It was marketed as a product that could perform as well as itsIntelPentium II equivalent but at a significantly lower price. The K6 had a considerable impact on the PC market and presented Intel with serious competition.
The AMD K6 is asuperscalarP5Pentium-classmicroprocessor, manufactured byAMD, which superseded theK5.
The AMD K6 is based on the Nx686 microprocessor thatNexGen was designing when it was acquired by AMD. Despite the name implying a design evolving from theK5, it is in fact a totally different design that was created by the NexGen team, including chief processor architect Greg Favor,[1][2] and adapted after the AMD purchase. The K6 processor included a feedback dynamic instruction reordering mechanism,MMX instructions, and a floating-point unit (FPU). It was also madepin-compatible with Intel's Pentium, enabling it to be used in the widely available "Socket 7"-based motherboards. Like theAMD K5, Nx586, and Nx686 before it, the K6 translated x86 instructions on the fly into dynamic buffered sequences ofmicro-operations. A later variation of the K6 CPU,K6-2, addedfloating-point-based SIMD instructions, called3DNow!.
The K6 was originally launched in April 1997, running at speeds of 166 and 200 MHz. It was followed by a 233 MHz version later in 1997. Initially, the AMD K6 processors used a Pentium II-basedperformance rating (PR2) to designate their speed.[3] The PR2 rating was dropped because the rated frequency of the processor was the same as the real frequency. The release of the 266 MHz version of this chip was not until the second quarter of 1998, when AMD was able to move to the 0.25-micrometre manufacturing process. The lower voltage and higher multiplier of the K6-266 meant that it was not fully compatible with some Socket 7 motherboards, similar to the laterK6-2 processors. The final iteration of the K6 design was released in May 1998, running at 300 MHz.
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The K6 line was updated withSIMD instructions (Branded asAMD 3DNow!) to create theK6-2 line of microprocessors.
