4 ms·

Intel's golden eras were the 8086, 2/3/486, Pentium I/Pro/II era (1978-1998) and the Core era (aka son of Pentium M) before they ran into process issues (2006-2

by ethbr1 2y ago

Intel's golden eras were the 8086, 2/3/486, Pentium I/Pro/II era (1978-1998) and the Core era (aka son of Pentium M) before they ran into process issues (2006-2015). Current execution stumbles do not diminish historical triumphs -- Pentium II and Nehalem were and are amazing.

nubinetwork 2y ago
The Pentium Pro was a turd if you weren't executing purely 32bit code.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  They fixed that in the II though. Crazy remembering a time when there was that much 16-bit code in the wild.
segasaturn 2y ago
I remember back when the choice was between Athlon 64 X2 and Core 2 Duo and it felt like with either choice you couldn't go wrong.
FMecha 2y ago
>Current execution stumbles do not diminish historical triumphs Not for those who have "$THING was never good" mindset after repeated, multiple stumbles in a row. You see this with anything that closed/died in disgrace. I imagine there are people out there who think that Intel might file for bankruptcy/insolvency if they can't right themselves from this issue.
- Alupis 2y ago
  Frankly - every comment in this thread that touts Intel's technical achievements in the CPU space are citing things that happened nearly 30 years ago, or longer. Intel, in the past 20 years, has floundered and misfired constantly. It's not a stretch to assert the only reason Intel is still around is due to their illegal business practices in the early and mid 2000's. Intel became synonymous with CPU's because they were literally (and illegally) the only option for 99% of the computer buying market.
  - achierius 2y ago
    Fin-Fet was intel, and that was just 12 years ago. Sure they dropped the ball after that but it was a rather quick fall from grace.
    - Alupis 2y ago
      But it wasn't though...[1] Intel didn't invent/discover FinFET, nor were they the first to commercialize it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fin_field-effect_transistor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fin_field-effect_transistor
      - ethbr1 2y ago
        I think you might be looking for facts that fit your ideas. >> Commercially produced chips at 22 nm and below have generally utilised FinFET gate designs (but planar processes do exist down to 18 nm, with 12 nm in development). Intel's tri-gate variant were announced at 22 nm in 2011 for its Ivy Bridge microarchitecture.[30] These devices shipped from 2012 onwards. From 2014 onwards, at 14 nm (or 16 nm) major foundries (TSMC, Samsung, GlobalFoundries) utilised FinFET designs.
        Alupis 2y ago
        Do I need to copy/paste the entire wikipedia section? Intel didn't invent/discover FinFET nor where they first to use it commercially. Even if we examine Intel's Tri-gate Transistor contribution to existing FinFET technology, we can see even there it was not an Intel invention/discovery.

by ethbr1 2y ago

nubinetwork 2y ago

The Pentium Pro was a turd if you weren't executing purely 32bit code.

ethbr1 2y ago
They fixed that in the II though. Crazy remembering a time when there was that much 16-bit code in the wild.

segasaturn 2y ago

I remember back when the choice was between Athlon 64 X2 and Core 2 Duo and it felt like with either choice you couldn't go wrong.

FMecha 2y ago

>Current execution stumbles do not diminish historical triumphs Not for those who have "$THING was never good" mindset after repeated, multiple stumbles in a row. You see this with anything that closed/died in disgrace. I imagine there are people out there who think that Intel might file for bankruptcy/insolvency if they can't right themselves from this issue.

Alupis 2y ago
Frankly - every comment in this thread that touts Intel's technical achievements in the CPU space are citing things that happened nearly 30 years ago, or longer. Intel, in the past 20 years, has floundered and misfired constantly. It's not a stretch to assert the only reason Intel is still around is due to their illegal business practices in the early and mid 2000's. Intel became synonymous with CPU's because they were literally (and illegally) the only option for 99% of the computer buying market.
- achierius 2y ago
  Fin-Fet was intel, and that was just 12 years ago. Sure they dropped the ball after that but it was a rather quick fall from grace.
  - Alupis 2y ago
    But it wasn't though...[1] Intel didn't invent/discover FinFET, nor were they the first to commercialize it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fin_field-effect_transistor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fin_field-effect_transistor
    - ethbr1 2y ago
      I think you might be looking for facts that fit your ideas. >> Commercially produced chips at 22 nm and below have generally utilised FinFET gate designs (but planar processes do exist down to 18 nm, with 12 nm in development). Intel's tri-gate variant were announced at 22 nm in 2011 for its Ivy Bridge microarchitecture.[30] These devices shipped from 2012 onwards. From 2014 onwards, at 14 nm (or 16 nm) major foundries (TSMC, Samsung, GlobalFoundries) utilised FinFET designs.
      - Alupis 2y ago
        Do I need to copy/paste the entire wikipedia section? Intel didn't invent/discover FinFET nor where they first to use it commercially. Even if we examine Intel's Tri-gate Transistor contribution to existing FinFET technology, we can see even there it was not an Intel invention/discovery.