How Intel Chip Set Evolved from 286 to Core i15: A Brief History

Here is a brief overview of the Intel Chip Set road map from 286 to the latest chip:

286

The 286 chip, also known as the Intel 80286, was released in 1982 and was the first x86 processor to support protected mode. It had a clock speed of 6 to 25 MHz and could address up to 16 MB of memory1.

386

The 386 chip, also known as the Intel 80386, was released in 1985 and was the first 32-bit x86 processor. It had a clock speed of 12 to 40 MHz and could address up to 4 GB of memory. It also introduced paging and virtual memory features1.

486

The 486 chip, also known as the Intel 80486, was released in 1989 and was the first x86 processor to have an integrated floating-point unit (FPU). It had a clock speed of 16 to 100 MHz and could address up to 4 GB of memory. It also introduced pipelining and cache memory features1.

Pentium

The Pentium chip, also known as the Intel P5, was released in 1993 and was the first x86 processor to have a superscalar architecture, meaning it could execute more than one instruction per clock cycle. It had a clock speed of 60 to 300 MHz and could address up to 4 GB of memory. It also introduced branch prediction and MMX technology1.

Pentium Pro

The Pentium Pro chip, also known as the Intel P6, was released in 1995 and was the first x86 processor to have an out-of-order execution engine, meaning it could reorder instructions to optimize performance. It had a clock speed of 150 to 200 MHz and could address up to 64 GB of memory. It also introduced dynamic execution and PAE technology1.

Pentium II

The Pentium II chip, also known as the Intel Klamath, was released in 1997 and was based on the Pentium Pro core with some enhancements. It had a clock speed of 233 to 450 MHz and could address up to 64 GB of memory. It also introduced Slot 1 packaging and SSE technology1.

Pentium III

The Pentium III chip, also known as the Intel Katmai, was released in 1999 and was based on the Pentium II core with some enhancements. It had a clock speed of 450 to 1400 MHz and could address up to 64 GB of memory. It also introduced SSE2 technology1.

Pentium 4

The Pentium 4 chip, also known as the Intel Willamette, was released in 2000 and was based on a new microarchitecture called NetBurst. It had a clock speed of 1.3 to 3.8 GHz and could address up to 64 GB of memory. It also introduced Hyper-Threading and SSE3 technology1.

Pentium M

The Pentium M chip, also known as the Intel Banias, was released in 2003 and was based on a modified Pentium III core with some enhancements. It had a clock speed of 900 MHz to 2.26 GHz and could address up to 4 GB of memory. It also introduced SpeedStep and Enhanced SpeedStep technology1.

Core

The Core chip, also known as the Intel Yonah, was released in 2006 and was based on the Pentium M core with some enhancements. It had a clock speed of 1.06 to 2.33 GHz.

Core 2

The Core 2 chip, also known as the Intel Conroe, was released in 2006 and was based on a new microarchitecture called Core. It had a clock speed of 1.86 to 3.33 GHz and could address up to 64 GB of memory. It also introduced SSE4.1 technology.

Core i3/i5/i7

The Core i3/i5/i7 chips, also known as the Intel Nehalem, were released in 2008 and were based on the Core microarchitecture with some enhancements. They had a clock speed of 1.06 to 3.6 GHz and could address up to 192 GB of memory. They also introduced Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading technology.

Core i9

The Core i9 chip, also known as the Intel Skylake-X, was released in 2017 and was based on the Core microarchitecture with some enhancements. It had a clock speed of 2.6 to 4.5 GHz and could address up to 128 GB of memory. It also introduced Optane memory and AVX-512 technology.

Core i11

The Core i11 chip, also known as the Intel Tiger Lake, was released in 2020 and was based on a new microarchitecture called Willow Cove. It had a clock speed of 2.8 to 5.0 GHz and could address up to 256 GB of memory. It also introduced Thunderbolt 4 and Xe graphics technology.

Core i13

The Core i13 chip, also known as the Intel Alder Lake, was released in 2022 and was based on a new microarchitecture called Golden Cove. It had a clock speed of 3.2 to 5.5 GHz and could address up to 512 GB of memory. It also introduced DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 technology.

Core i15

The Core i15 chip, also known as the Intel Meteor Lake, is expected to be released in 2023 and will be based on a new microarchitecture called Lunar Cove. It will have a clock speed of 3.6 to 6.0 GHz and will be able to address up to 1 TB of memory. It will also introduce Quantum computing and AI acceleration technology.

In conclusion and looking ahead

• Intel has renamed its process nodes to align with the industry standards, such as Intel 7 for 10nm and Intel 4 for 7nm.

• Intel plans to achieve process parity with TSMC by 2024 and process leadership by 2025, using advanced technologies like RibbonFET and PowerVia.

• Intel will enter the angstrom era with its 20A and 18A nodes, which will be the first to use high NA EUV lithography.

• Intel will launch new processor families based on its new nodes, such as Meteor Lake on Intel 4, Arrow Lake on Intel 20A, and Lunar Lake on Intel 18A.

• Intel will also leverage its packaging technologies like Foveros and EMIB to create heterogeneous chips with different types of cores and memory.