Four Paths to a Less Expensive Pentium Pro

June 1996 / Bits / Pentium Pro Moves to the Desktop / Four Paths to a Less Expensive Pentium Pro

The Pentium Pro is an expensive desktop processor. For example, as of April 15, a 200-MHz Pentium Pro with a 256-KB cache costs $1018. Here are several ways in which Intel might make the Pentium Pro a better desktop processor.
Burn the Cache: A Pentium Pro processor (code-named Klamath) due in late 1996 or early 1997 reportedly eliminates the integrated secondary cache. Intel mig ht compensate for the missing secondary cache by increasing the size of the L1 cache.
Shrink the Die: The Deschutes (due in mid-1997 or later), a Pentium Pro successor to the Klamath, could be built on a 0.25-micron (instea d of 0.35-micron) process, which would result in a smaller die size. Smaller die sizes allow Intel to harvest more chips per wafer.
Cut System Prices: New PCI chip sets, such as Intel's 440-FX, allow less-expensive PC designs.
Improve 16-bit Performance: As long as the Pentium delivers a better 16-bit or mixed 6-/32-bit price/performance ratio, most Windows users will choose it over the Pentium Pro. Intel could tweak the Pentium Pro to improve 16-bit performance, or the Pentium Pro might run fast enough to render this issue moot.

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Matthew Wilson
My approach to software engineering is far more pragmatic than it is theoretical--and no language better exemplifies this than C++.

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