What does Pentium mean?

[Viper96720]

Linky

 

[Mark R]

I have an alternative theory - can't vouch for its veracity though.

Russia had it's own Microprocessor manufacturer, Elbrus. Elbrus had a number of visionary chip architects, and produced some extraordinary designs, though unfortunately lacked the manufacturing capability and marketing to make them a commercial success.

One of the major developments by Elbrus was development of super-scalar processors, and the development of multiple execution units, etc. Techniques that had not gained popularity in the West.

One of the lead chip architects left Elbrus to join Intel, and a few years later Intel released their first super-scalar processor.

What was this man's name? Vladimir Pentikovski

 

[imgod2u]

Originally posted by: thorin

Originally posted by: Lynx516
Fraid Intanium is not an x86 architecture so it cannor be 886 or octium

1) It is a 8th generation Processor therefore Oct definately applies.
2) Nobody has suggested that ium represents x86.

Thorin

The 1, 2, 3, etc. all apply to generations of x86 architectures. Intel has had many other architectures (including its own embedded architectures) but it doesn't pool them together.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: thorin

Originally posted by: Lynx516
Fraid Intanium is not an x86 architecture so it cannor be 886 or octium

1) It is a 8th generation Processor therefore Oct definately applies.
2) Nobody has suggested that ium represents x86.

Thorin

like i said, the original goal of the merced project was to make the processor to replace the P6 core. calling it "8th generation" would be completely arbitrary, as intel had a few processors before the 8086, most notably the 4004.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: DannyBoy

Originally posted by: jbond04
I think the "Pent" part of "Pentium" denotes that it was the 5th generation x86 processor (286, 386, 486, 586). This is only a guess, but it seems logical enough to me.

Thats an interesting response to the question.

I must say im interested.

Could well be? Anyone fancy e-mailing Intel

I just e-mailed them

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

There are a few people working for Intel here, hopefully they can help us answer that question.

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
yup, it was trademarks. see, back in the days of the 486, there were quite a few companies making 486s. intel, amd, cyrix, ibm, etc. (the origins of them making x86 processors stemmed from intel not having enough fab capacity). intel couldn't really say that their 486 was superior to anyone elses (it really wasn't, as they were all exactly the same except for cyrix's SLC). so intel prematurely killed the 486 and came out with the 586, which they trademarked as the "pentium." now they had a brand, and its one of the more successful and recognized brands in north america. in addition, they won sole rights to manufacture the new processor in various court procedures (though other companies were allowed to make x86 processors in other court procedures). so now they had a brand and a processor which did perform a bit better than the previous one on a mhz to mhz basis. anyway, they've just continued to use the strength of the brand for its later processors. intel doesn't really keep it a secret as to when it makes a wholly new architecture, so thats how we know that the pentium iv is, essentially, the 786, and even that we're on the second version of that processor, which went under the code-name "northwood"

There it is. (You can drop the conspiracy theories now.)

 

[BFG10K]

Baisically it's because Intel could trademark "Pentium" but they couldn't trademark "586". Also the prefix "pent" simply means five, which made it a natural choice.

Who knows, maybe we'll see a Hexium soon.

 

[Odoacer]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
i'd have rather it been sexium. like sextuplets?

anyway, yup, it was trademarks. see, back in the days of the 486, there were quite a few companies making 486s. intel, amd, cyrix, ibm, etc. (the origins of them making x86 processors stemmed from intel not having enough fab capacity). intel couldn't really say that their 486 was superior to anyone elses (it really wasn't, as they were all exactly the same except for cyrix's SLC). so intel prematurely killed the 486 and came out with the 586, which they trademarked as the "pentium." now they had a brand, and its one of the more successful and recognized brands in north america. in addition, they won sole rights to manufacture the new processor in various court procedures (though other companies were allowed to make x86 processors in other court procedures). so now they had a brand and a processor which did perform a bit better than the previous one on a mhz to mhz basis. anyway, they've just continued to use the strength of the brand for its later processors. intel doesn't really keep it a secret as to when it makes a wholly new architecture, so thats how we know that the pentium iv is, essentially, the 786, and even that we're on the second version of that processor, which went under the code-name "northwood"

interesting to note is that the engineering group that made the pentium pro (the 686) also made the pentium iv (the 786), while the group that made the pentium (the 586) went on to design the first IA-64 processor, the itanium (which was originally the 786 until intel realized it would be horribly late and also unmarketable to the vast majority of computer consumers)

As for the "ium", it's my understanding that was derived from the elements - sodIUM, lithIUM, uranIUM, etc. Those in turn are from the original Latin - "um" is a common suffix.

Your daily dose of etymology, folks.

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: thorin

Originally posted by: Lynx516
Fraid Intanium is not an x86 architecture so it cannor be 886 or octium

1) It is a 8th generation Processor therefore Oct definately applies.
2) Nobody has suggested that ium represents x86.

Thorin

like i said, the original goal of the merced project was to make the processor to replace the P6 core. calling it "8th generation" would be completely arbitrary, as intel had a few processors before the 8086, most notably the 4004.

? 6th Generation CPU Comparisons.
? 7th Generation CPU Comparisons.
? CPUs 1st through 7th Generation
? Red Hill CPU Guide ( 5th Generation, 6th Generation, 7th Generation )

Thorin

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: jbond04
I think the "Pent" part of "Pentium" denotes that it was the 5th generation x86 processor (286, 386, 486, 586). This is only a guess, but it seems logical enough to me.

He hit it right on the head. "Penta" = five. 586. Simple.

WHY? Because AMD won the rights to use the numbers... 386, 486, 586... because you can't copyright a number.
You CAN copyright a name!

 

[HumbleFish]

I heard Pent aslo means top level as in PentHouse?

 

[sciencewhiz]

Originally posted by: bluemax

WHY? Because AMD won the rights to use the numbers... 386, 486, 586... because you can't copyright a number.
You CAN copyright a name!

Still wrong. You can't copyright a name, you CAN trademark a name.

 

[AlDee]

It's true that Pentium was the next family of processors after the 486 line, however, I believe Intel chose the name Pentium as opposed to 586 so they could copyright it. (You can't copyright a number.)

 

[AlDee]

Actually, I should have read your post before entering mine. Correct, the name can be registered as a TradeMark, not copyrighted. (I guess my coffee hasn't kicked in yet.)

 

[Vadatajs]

Originally posted by: DannyBoy

Originally posted by: Vadatajs

Originally posted by: jbond04
I think the "Pent" part of "Pentium" denotes that it was the 5th generation x86 processor (286, 386, 486, 586). This is only a guess, but it seems logical enough to me.

That's exactly what it means. The name just stuck. Pentium Pro would have been sextium, as would pentium 2 & 3. Pentium 4 would be septium.

Really?

Out of interest how did you find that out?

I cant imagine what it would be like having a Septium 2.0Bghz Northwood lol

pentium pro, II & III are i686, and pentium 4 is i786. Otherwise, I'm just making up the names based on the number.

 

[squidman]

Goodness, you guys fascinate me! 40 posts on basically repeating what the other member said! Quite hilarious

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: squidman
Goodness, you guys fascinate me! 40 posts on basically repeating what the other member said! Quite hilarious

I was gunna say, could we let this thread drop now I think everyone has the general idea of what it means and why its called what its called now

 

[lobadobadingdong]

What I got directly from Intel today. It seems someone at intel just thought it sounded cool, go figure.

Hello Doug,

Thank you for contacting Intel(R) Technical Support.

The name Pentium was devised by an engineer and was not from any specific place nor does it have any specific meaning.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance

Sincerely,

Naomi R.
Intel Technical Support
http://support.intel.com

 

[Clauzii]

Originally posted by: ndee
It means: Athlonisfaster.

And if you gonna start a flame-war now, you're utterly stupid.

No War - but your comment is Xtremely stupid.........

BTW: ´PENTA´ is the greek word for five - but I don´t think ´Pentaum´ would sound as nice...

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: thorin

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: thorin

Originally posted by: Lynx516
Fraid Intanium is not an x86 architecture so it cannor be 886 or octium

1) It is a 8th generation Processor therefore Oct definately applies.
2) Nobody has suggested that ium represents x86.

Thorin

like i said, the original goal of the merced project was to make the processor to replace the P6 core. calling it "8th generation" would be completely arbitrary, as intel had a few processors before the 8086, most notably the 4004.

? 6th Generation CPU Comparisons.
? 7th Generation CPU Comparisons.
? CPUs 1st through 7th Generation
? Red Hill CPU Guide ( 5th Generation, 6th Generation, 7th Generation )

Thorin

those are just completely arbitrary groupings. if i were doing it i definitely wouldn't stick the k6s and 6x86s as 6th generation because they had tons to do with intels 5th gen processors. and i'd put the athlon as an improved 6th gen, not a 7th gen, because thats just listening to what AMD's marketing is saying. again, its because it has tons to do with intel's 6th gen. heck, if you wanted to be accurate, it would only be AMD's 3rd generation processor because, you know what, its really only their 3rd x86 design.

and everyone forgets the 80186...

 

[eklass]

Originally posted by: Vadatajs
The name just stuck.

you mean joe average user is too retared to know anything besides pentium. i love when retards try to tell me how they're gonna build thier own compouter and get an "intel". i just shake my head like what they're saying actually makes sense

course, it's jsut brand recognition. it's the reason amd pushed the name Athlon so hard... they're still using it years later despite several core revisions.

whatever, i'm too tired of explaining to people that it's not important how many cycles are done (MHz) but how much work is done each cycle that makes a processor "better"

i thought this analogy up last night lying in bed... correct me if i'm wrong

it's not important how many hours a week you work, but it's how much work you actually get done in those 40 hours that makes you a "better" employee

am i wrong in that (overly-simplistic) analogoy?

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: eklass
am i wrong in that (overly-simplistic) analogoy?

Your analogy would be correct if both people worked 40 hours. But the blue guy is working more hours. And at the end of the week, he is getting more accomplished.

(This is assuming that we are comparing both top end workers.)

 

[eklass]

yes blue is working more hours, but in the assumption that the hours worked are the same (which we are demonstrating that MHz doesn't matter), then someone else like green might happen to get more work done, despite working same hours and having th same "quality of work" (we assume that 1 unit is 1 unit and there is no quality issue)

somehow i feel like a physics teach right now teaching mechanical physics 1. don't ask why

 

[JCK86]

BTW... I'm not so sure that the P4 is a 786. I heard once that Intel wanted the P54C chip to sound "strong", like Titanium (kinda funny in light of the FDIV bug).