Fifth generation of x86 family, Intel Pentium microprocessor was the first x86 superscalar CPU. The processor included two pipelined integer units which could execute up to two integer instructions per CPU cycle. Redesigned Floating Point Unit considerably improved performance of floating-point operations and could execute up to 1 FP instruction per CPU cycle. Other enhancements to Pentium core included:
To improve data transfer rates the size of data bus was increased to 64 bits.
At first Pentium processors featured separate 8 KB code and 8 KB data caches. The size of both data and code L1 caches was doubled in Pentium processors with MMX technology.
Intel Pentium CPU used branch prediction to improve effectiveness of pipeline architecture. Branch prediction was enhanced in Pentium MMX processors.
Many desktop Pentiums could work in dual-processor systems.
To reduce CPU power consumption the core voltage was reduced on all Pentium MMX, and many mobile and embedded Pentium processors.
Intel manufactured desktop, mobile and embedded versions of Pentium microprocessors. Distinguishing between different versions of Pentiums is not always easy because desktop, mobile and/or embedded Pentiums often used the same part numbers. In some cases Pentium processors with the same part and S-spec numbers were offered as desktop and embedded, or mobile and embedded microprocessors.
Later versions of Pentium processors - Pentium MMX - included 57 new instructions. These instructions could be used to speed up processing of multimedia and communication applications. Like the Pentium processors, the Penium MMX CPUs were also produced in three different versions - desktop, mobile and embedded processors.