Intel i860

The one Intel 80860XP

That of an Intel 80860XR

Graphics card with i860 processor

The Intel i860 or 80860 is a 64 bit - processor of Intel . The i860 was launched in 1989. Until March 1989, the i860 was codenamed N 10. Olivetti introduced the i860 at the end of 1989 as a co-processor of the Intel i486 . Various transputer systems supported by the i860 came on the market in the early 1990s .

Originally, it was supposed to form a new computer class , similar to the later Itanium . The architecture of the CPU was fundamentally different to the x86 processor architecture from Intel, and compatibility was not taken into account.

The CPU was operated with 33 and 40 MHz clock frequency and reached a speed of about 80  MFLOPS . Up to three commands could be executed simultaneously per cycle:

• an integer command
• two floating point commands

The RISC- designed processor was rarely used as a workstation processor, and only a few manufacturers installed it. The company NeXT brought out a circuit board extension based on the chip called NeXTdimension for their workstation NeXTcube . The i860 was used in some high-end graphics cards for a while.

Development for the Microsoft NT operating system (later Windows NT ) began on the i860 processor, but a final version was never delivered for this.

Variants and model data

i860 XR

Intel i860XR-33 SX352

Technical specifications

• Code name: N10
• L1 cache: 4 KiB instructions, 8 KiB data
• Design: 168-pin CPGA
• Operating voltage (VCore): 5 V
• Publication date: ?
• Manufacturing technology: 1000 nm CHMOS
• Clock rates: 25, 33 and 40 MHz

i860 XP

Intel i860XP-50 SX657

Improved version of the i860 XR with an enlarged L1 cache.

Technical specifications

• Code name: N11
• Multiprocessor capable
• L1 cache: 16 KiB instructions, 16 KiB data
• Design: 262-pin CPGA
• Operating voltage (VCore): 5 V
• Publication date: ?
• Manufacturing technology: 800 nm
• The size:? Mm² with 2.5 million transistors
• Clock rates: 40 and 50 MHz

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Chip Collection: i860 Microprocessor. Smithsonian Institution , accessed October 11, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Kai Hwang, Naresh Jotwani: Advanced Computer Architecture . 2nd Edition. McGraw Hill, New Delhi 2010, ISBN 978-0-07-070210-3 , RISC Scalar Processors, pp. 143 ff . ( Excerpt. Google Books ).
3. ↑ Despite the disputes between OSF and Unix Inc. at the Uniforum '89: The Unix similarities predominate . In: Computerwoche . March 24, 1989 ( online [accessed October 11, 2014]).
4. ^ First Look: Design Differences Affect 486 System Horsepower . In: InfoWorld . November 13, 1989, p. 8 ( Google Books ).
5. ↑ RS Stephens: Distributed Memory Multi-Processing with the Intel i860 . In: The Transputer Consortium (Ed.): Transputer Applications and Systems '93 . IOS Press, Amsterdam 1993, pp. 1196 ff . ( Excerpt. Google Books).
6. ↑ ^{a b} Discontinued Processors. Intel, July 18, 2013, accessed October 11, 2014 .  

Web links

Commons : Intel i860  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files