Origin of Microprocessors

Microprocessor evolution started with the earlier mechanical calculating devices, in the 1930s. These devices used mechanical relays, later on in the 1950s, these devices were replaced by vacuum tubes. The vacuum tubes were quickly replaced by transistors. The breakthrough in transistor technology led to the introduction of minicomputers in the 1960s and the personal computer revolution in the 1970s. The microprocessor, or Micro-Processing Unit (MPU), evolved into an integrated circuit and was designed to retrieve instructions and execute predefined arithmetic and logical operations. The evolution of microprocessors is categorized into eight (8) generations, and all the generations are briefly discussed below:

1. First Generation (1971-1978):

• Intel 4004: The first commercially available microprocessor.
• Intel 8008: An 8-bit microprocessor designed for early personal computers.
• Intel 8080: Widely used in early home computers and arcade games.

2. Second Generation (1978-1985):

• Intel 8086/8088: Introduced the x86 architecture, used in early IBM PCs.
• Intel 80286: Introduced protected mode and virtual memory support.
• Intel 80386: The first 32-bit microprocessor, offered improved performance and multitasking capabilities.

3. Third Generation (1985-1995):

• 2.Intel 80486: Integrated an on-chip Floating Point Unit (FPU) and introduced improved performance.
• Intel Pentium: Introduced superscalar architecture and achieved higher clock speeds.
• Intel Pentium Pro: Aimed at high-end workstations and servers, with enhanced architecture and larger caches.

4. Fourth Generation (1995-2005):

• Intel Pentium MMX: Introduced multimedia instructions for enhanced multimedia processing.
• Intel Pentium II/III: Improved performance and added support for multimedia extensions.
• AMD Athlon: Introduced higher clock speeds and competitive performance.

5. Fifth Generation (2000-2010):

• Intel Pentium 4: Emphasized high clock speeds but faced challenges in power consumption.
• AMD Athlon 64: Introduced a 64-bit instruction set and integrated memory controller.
• Intel Core 2 Duo: Enhanced performance and energy efficiency with the Core microarchitecture.

6. Sixth Generation (2011-2015):

• Intel Sandy Bridge: Significant improvements in performance, power efficiency, and integrated graphics.
• AMD Ryzen: Introduced a new microarchitecture with competitive performance and multithreading capabilities.
• Intel Haswell: Further improvements in performance and power efficiency, introduced AVX2 instruction set.

7. Seventh Generation (2015-2019):

• Intel Skylake: Improved power efficiency, integrated graphics, and introduced the Skylake microarchitecture.
• AMD Ryzen 3000 series: Enhanced performance and power efficiency with Zen 2 microarchitecture.

8. Eighth Generation (2019-present):

• Intel 10th Gen Core (Comet Lake): Higher core counts, improved clock speeds, and increased power efficiency.
• AMD Ryzen 5000 series: Further performance improvements and unified L3 cache design with Zen 3 microarchitecture.
• Apple M1: Apple’s first ARM-based chip for Macs, offering high performance and power efficiency.

Note: It’s important to note that the categorization into generations may vary depending on different perspectives and manufacturers. This overview provides a general sense of the evolution of microprocessors over time.

Timeline of Microprocessors

Timeline of significant milestones and advancements in the evolution of Microprocessor is discussed below.

• 1971: Intel 4004 – The Intel 4004, released by Intel Corporation, is considered the first commercially available microprocessor. It had 2,300 transistors and operated at a clock speed of 740 kHz.
• 1974: Intel 8080 – The Intel 8080, an 8-bit microprocessor, became widely used in early personal computers and home computers.
• 1978: Intel 8086 – The Intel 8086 marked the beginning of the x86 architecture, which is still widely used today. It had a 16-bit instruction set and 29,000 transistors.
• 1982: Intel 80286 – The Intel 80286, also known as the 286, introduced protected mode and virtual memory support, allowing for more advanced multitasking capabilities.
• 1985: Intel 386 – The Intel 386, or 80386, was the first 32-bit microprocessor in the x86 family. It offered significantly improved performance over its predecessors and became the foundation for many operating systems.
• 1989: Intel 486 – The Intel 486, or 80486, was the first microprocessor to integrate an on-chip floating-point unit (FPU). It also introduced improved performance and instruction pipelining.
• 1993: Intel Pentium – The Intel Pentium was a landmark microprocessor that introduced superscalar architecture, allowing for the execution of multiple instructions per clock cycle.
• 1995: Intel Pentium Pro – The Intel Pentium Pro was targeted at the high-end workstation and server markets. It featured a significantly improved architecture with deeper instruction pipelines and larger cache sizes.
• 1999: Intel Pentium III – The Intel Pentium III introduced the SSE (Streaming SIMD Extensions) instruction set, which enabled better multimedia processing capabilities.
• 2000: Intel Pentium 4 – The Intel Pentium 4 was a major departure from previous architectures, featuring a “NetBurst” microarchitecture that emphasized high clock speeds.
• 2003: AMD Athlon 64 – The AMD Athlon 64 was the first consumer microprocessor to introduce a 64-bit instruction set. It also featured an integrated memory controller.
• 2006: Intel Core – Intel introduced the Core microarchitecture with the release of the Intel Core 2 Duo processors. This architecture offered improved performance and energy efficiency.
• 2011: Intel Sandy Bridge – The Intel Sandy Bridge microarchitecture introduced significant improvements in performance, power efficiency, and integrated graphics capabilities.
• 2013: Intel Haswell – The Intel Haswell microarchitecture brought further enhancements to performance and power efficiency. It also introduced the AVX2 (Advanced Vector Extensions 2) instruction set.
• 2017: AMD Ryzen – AMD’s Ryzen processors introduced a new microarchitecture that offered competitive performance and multithreading capabilities at a more affordable price point.
• 2019: Intel 10th Gen Core – Intel’s 10th Generation Core processors (Comet Lake) featured higher core counts and improved clock speeds compared to previous generations.
• 2020: AMD Ryzen 5000 – AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series processors (Zen 3) brought further performance improvements and introduced a unified L3 cache design.
• 2021: Intel 11th Gen Core – Intel’s 11th Generation Core processors (“Tiger Lake” for Mobile processor, “Rocket Lake” for Desktop processor & “Alder Lake” for Mobile and Desktop processor) featured improved integrated graphics performance and introduced the Willow Cove microarchitecture. Intel 11^th Gen includes processors like Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9.