LESSON 46

PENTIUM I PENTIUM II PENTIUM III [4]

Task 1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

The Pentium I is a fifth-generation x86 architecture microprocessor by Intel which first shipped on March 22, 1993. It is the successor to the 486 line. The Pentium was originally to be named 80586 or i586, but the name was changed to Pentium presumably because «pent-» means «five» because numbers could not be trademarked. So, the original Pentium microprocessor had the internal code name P5 and has two datapaths (pipelines) that allow it to complete more than one instruction per clock cycle.

The earliest Pentiums were released at the clock speeds of 66 MHz and 60 MHz. The early versions of 60-100 MHz Pentiums had a problem in the floating point unit that, in rare cases, resulted in reduced precision of division operations. Later on 75, 90, 100, 120, 133, 150, 166, 200, and 233 MHz versions gradually became available. 266 and 300 MHz versions were later released for mobile computing.

Intel has retained the Pentium trademark for naming later generations of processor architectures, which are internally quite different from the Pentium itself: Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium IV, Pentium M, and Pentium D.

The Pentium brand is now used for desktop parts, the Celeron brand is used for the parts typically of lower performance and price, and the Xeon brand is used for high-performance parts suitable for servers and workstations.

The Pentium II is an x 86 architecture microprocessor produced Intel and introduced on May 7, 1997. It was based on a modified version of the P6 core first used for the Pentium Pro, but with improved 16-bit performance.

The original Klamath Pentium IIs ran at 233 and 266 MHz, were produced in a 0.35 um fabrication process and produced for that time an incredible amount of heat.

A 300 MHz version was released later in 1997. The Deschutes core Pentium IIs which debuted at 333 MHz in January 1998 were produced in a more suitable 0.25 um fabrication process and ran significantly cooler. During 1998, Pentium IIs running at 266, 300, 350,400, and 450 MHz were also released. Pentium II-based systems also saw the introduction of the new generation RAM-standard, SDRAM which replaced EDO RAM, and the introduction of the AGP graphics bus.

Unlike previous Intel processors such as the Pentium and Pentium Pro, the Pentium II was packaged in a slot-based form-factor rather than a socket one. This larger package was a compromise allowing Intel to separate the secondary cache from the processor while still keeping it on a closely coupled bus.

A low-end version of the Pentium II — essentially a Pentium II with less or no level 2 cache — was marketed under the name «Celeron». The Pentium II Xeon was a high-end version intended for use on servers.

By early 1999, the Pentium III superseded the Pentium II.

The Pentium III is the sixth generation of x86 architecture microprocessor by Intel, introduced on February 26, 1999. Initial versions were very similar to the earlier Pentium II, the most notable difference being the addition of SSE instructions and the introduction of a controversial serial number which was embedded in the chip during the manufacturing process. As with the Pentium II, there was also a low-end Celeron version and a high-end Xeon version. The Pentium HI was eventually superseded by the Pentium 4. An improvement on the Pentium HI design is the Pentium M.

The original version of Pentium III was Katmai. It was pretty much the same as the Pentium II using a 0.25pm fabrication process, the only differences being the introduction of SSE, and an improved LI cache controller which was the cause of the minor performance improvements over the latter PIIs. It was first released at speeds of 450 and 500 MHz. Two more versions of 550 MHz and 600 MHz were released in 1999. The Katmai used the same slot based design as the Pentium II.

The second version of Pentium III was Coppermine. It had an integrated full-speed 256 KB L2 cache with lower latency, which improved performance over Katmai. It was built on a 0.18 pm process. Pentium III Coppermines running at 500, 533, 550, 600, 650, 667, 700, and 733 MHz were first released on October 25, 1999. From December 1999 to May 2000, Intel released Pentium IIIs running at speeds of 750, 800, 850, 866, 900, 933 and 1000 MHz(l GHz).

A 1.13 GHz version was released in mid-2000, but famously recalled because it was not stable enough to compile the Linux kernel. Intel needed at least six months to resolve this problem and released 1.1 GHz and 1.13 GHz versions in 2001.

The third version, Tualatin, was really just a trial for Intel's new 0.13 pm process. Tualatin performed quite well, especially in variations which had 512 KB L2 cache. This version was called the Pentium III-S.

Pentium III Tualatins were released during 2001 and early 2002 at speeds of 1.0, 1.13, 1.2, 1.26, 1.33 and 1.4 GHz. Intel didn't want a repeat of the situation where the performance of a lower priced Celeron rivaled that of the more expensive Pentium III, so Tualatin never ran faster than 1.4 GHz, the introductory clock rate of the Pentium 4. Later on, it was proved that the design was good for at least 1.7 GHz.

Task 2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. What is the Pentium I?

2. What company created the Pentium I?

3. When was the Pentium I introduced?

4. What model of computer was the predecessor of the Pentium I?

5. What were the clock speeds of the earliest Pentiums?

6. What problem did the early versions of 60-100 MHz Pentiums have?

7. What brand is used for the parts typically of lower performance and price?

8. What brand is used for desktop parts?

9. What brand is used for high-performance parts suitable for servers and workstations?

10. What is the Pentium II?

11. When did the Pentium II appear?

12. What was the first version of Pentium II?

13. What was the original clock rate of the Klamath?

14. When was a 300 MHz version of Pentium II released?

15. What was the distinctive feature of Pentium II comparing with the Pentium and Pentium Pro computers?

16. What is the brand name for a low - end version of the Pentium II?

17. What is the brand name for a high-end version of the Pentium II?

18. When was the Pentium II superseded by the Pentium III?

19. What is the Pentium III?

20. When did the Pentium III appear?

21. What are the most notable differences in the Pentium III?

22. What was the original version of Pentium III?

23. What was the second version of Pentium Ш? What were the main features of the second version of Pentium Ш?

24. Why was a 1.13 GHz version recalled?

25. What was the third version of Pentium III?

26. When was the third version of Pentium III released?

27. Why did Tualatin never run faster than 1.1 GHz?

28. What was the introductory clock rate of the Pentium IV?

Task 3. Find the English equivalents for the words and word — combinations given below in the text:

Задание 3. Найдите эквиваленты следующих слов в тексте:

преемник, предположительно, внутренний, цикл, постепенно, торговая марка, удерживать, подходящий, предыдущий, незначительный, начальный, собирать материал, принимать решение, превосходно.

Task 4. Translate the following words and word — combinations into Russian:

Задание 4. Прочтите следующие слова и словосочетания и переведите их на русский язык:

shipped on, to complete, to release, to reduce, precision of division operations, available, workstations, fabrication process, incredible amount of heat, core, to separate, rival, the introductory clock rate.

Task 5. Make the sentences interrogative:

Задание 5. Поставьте следующие предложения в вопросительную форму:

1. Pentium III Tualatins were released during 2001.

2. The second version of Pentium III was Coppermine.

3. This larger package was a compromise allowing Intel to separate the secondary cache from the processor while still keeping it on a closely coupled bus.

4. The Pentium II is an x 86 architecture microprocessor produced Intel and introduced on May 7, 1997.

5. It was based on a modified version of the P6 core first used for the Pentium Pro, but with improved 16-bit performance.