NexGen

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NexGen Incorporated

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1986
resolution 1996 (acquired by AMD )
Seat Milpitas , California , USAUnited StatesUnited States 
Branch microelectronics
Website www.nexgen.com ( Memento from November 12, 1996 in the Internet Archive )

NexGen was an American company that manufactured microprocessors . It was founded in 1986 by a consortium of Compaq , Olivetti , the ASCII Corporation and Harvard University and was a fabless company , so it did not have its own production facilities. IBM took over the production of the CPUs. On January 16, 1996, NexGen was acquired by AMD .

history

Nx586

The NexGen Nx586 was a very advanced processor at that time: RISC core (RISC86), its own 64-bit bus and the integrated controller for the L2 cache ensured high performance, and this CPU was the first competition for Intel Pentium . The Nx586 also had a few disadvantages: Because of the proprietary system bus and socket, you had to rely on special motherboards . These were available with the NxVL chipset for the VLB bus or, more rarely, with the NxPCI chipset for the PCI bus. The manufacturing and availability of these motherboards was very poor. The lack of an FPU in the first models also had a negative effect.

Nx686

The NexGen Nx686 was the successor to the Nx586 and had some architectural improvements such as speculative execution and out-of-order execution , a technology that Intel only introduced with the Pentium Pro . The CPU has also been made fully binary compatible with the Intel Pentium Pro. It never appeared as the Nx686, but later as the AMD K6 after a redesign .

Model data

NexGen Nx586

A NexGen Nx586 processor.
Nx586 socket

Code name: F86

  • CPUID: Family 5, Model 0
  • Vendor ID string: NexGenDriven
  • Data bus: 64 bit
  • Address bus: 32 bit
  • L1 cache: 16 + 16 KB (data + instructions)
  • L2 cache controller in the CPU
  • Particularities:
    • first x86 CPU with RISC core
    • first models without FPU
    • the first CPUs with the planned clock rates of 60 and 66 MHz never went on sale
  • Release DATE: March 1994
  • Manufacturing technology: 0.50 µm (later 0.44 µm) at IBM
  • The size: 165 mm² (0.50 µm) or 118 mm² (0.44 µm) with 3.5 million transistors
  • Operating voltage: 4.0V
  • Clock rates: 70 MHz to 111 MHz
    • P75: 70 MHz, FSB: 35 MHz
    • P80: 75 MHz, FSB: 37.5 MHz
    • P90: 84 MHz, FSB: 42 MHz
    • P100: 93 MHz, FSB: 46.5 MHz
    • P110: 102 MHz, FSB: 51 MHz
    • P120: 111 MHz, FSB: 55.5 MHz
    • P133: 120 (?) MHz, FSB: 60 (?) MHz
  • Housing: PGA-463, ceramic

NexGen Nx586-PF

A NexGen Nx586PF-100.

Multi-chip module with CPU Nx586 and FPU Nx587 in a ceramic PGA housing (IBM Multi Chip Module, MCM).

  • Introduction: 11.1995
  • Die size: 118 mm² (0.44 µm, CPU), 36 mm² (0.44 µm, FPU)
  • Number of transistors: 4.2 million including FPU
  • Clock rates:
    • PF100, 93 MHz, FSB: 46.5 MHz
    • PF110, 102 MHz, FSB: 51 MHz
  • Housing: PGA-463, ceramic

NexGen Nx587

FPU Nx587 for Nx586.

This FPU for the Nx586 was never officially introduced as a single component due to problems. VLB mainboards with an Nx587 socket were only available as prototypes.

  • Manufacturing technology: 0.5 µm
  • Number of transistors: 0.7 million
  • The size: ?? mm²
  • Operating voltage: 4.0V
  • Clock rate: ?? MHz
  • Housing: ceramic PGA -143

NexGen Nx686

Code name: HA

  • Data bus: 64 bit
  • Address bus: 32 bit
  • L1 cache: 32 + 16 KB (data + instructions)
  • L2 cache controller in the CPU
  • FPU: yes
  • Particularities:
  • Release date: as a sample only on October 10, 1995, later as AMD K6
  • Manufacturing technology: 0.44 µm (later 0.35 µm was planned) at IBM
  • The size: approx. 180 mm² (0.44 µm) with 6.0 million transistors
  • Operating voltages: Vcore: 2.5 V, I / O: 3.3 V
  • FSB : 60 MHz
  • Clock rates: 180 MHz
  • Housing: PGA-463, ceramic

Software and the Nx586

Microsoft Windows 98 , which requires at least an 80486 CPU, cannot be installed on the Nx586 ; it reports "no 486-compatible processor". Linux only works if the kernel (prior to version 3.8) and software are compiled for an 80386 CPU. In the documentation for the Linux kernel, the Nx586 is listed under the CPUs for which the CPU type '386' is to be selected (CONFIG_M386 = y). With kernel version 3.8 the 386 support in the kernel - and thus also the support for the Nx586 - has been removed.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Nx586 Processor World: NexGen merged with AMD on January 16, 1996. . Nexgen. June 14, 1996. Archived from the original on November 12, 1996. Retrieved November 12, 1996.
  2. ↑ AMD Nx586 information ( Memento from March 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

See also

Web links

Commons : NexGen  - collection of images, videos and audio files