Windsock,
Chapman is one of the con artists that talked Landmark into rewriting their baby benchmark to fit into the 1K L1 cache of the Cyrix 486 clone that actually ran with 386 performance. The Intel 486 had an 8K L1 cache that gave a real-world performance boost. Voila, Cyrix had a benchmark number to show 486 performance.
This is an interesting story, but does not appear to be accurate. The Cyrix 486 is still being sold by ST Microelectronics, and contains an 8K cache.
The SGS-THOMSON ST486DX2V 3.45 volt CPUs
are advanced 486DX/DX2/DX4 compatible proc-
essors. These CPUs incorporate an on-chip
8KByte write-back cache
us.st.com
In May 1994, SGS-THOMSON decided to enter the market for x86 microprocessors, whose main application is the main processor for all IBM-compatible PCs. A new organization, called the PC Micro Division, has been formed to manage this product range. Our entry into this market, follows an agreement between SGS-THOMSON and Cyrix Inc., based in Richardson, Texas. Under this agreement, SGS-THOMSON manufactures processors developed by Cyrix for its own use and is able to sell STx86 products under its own name.
Scumbria |
