Pentium II
The Pentium II brand refers to Intel's sixth-generation microarchitecture ("P6") and x86-compatible microprocessors introduced on May 7, 1997. Containing 7.5 million transistors (27.4 million in the case of the mobile Dixon with 256 KB on-die L2 cache), the Pentium II featured an improved version of the first P6-generation core of the Pentium Pro, which contained 5.5 million transistors. However, its L2 cache subsystem was a downgrade when compared to the Pentium Pros. It is a single-core microprocessor.
Original Pentium II MMX Case Badge | |
| General information | |
|---|---|
| Launched | May 7 1997 |
| Discontinued | December 26 2003 |
| Marketed by | Intel |
| Designed by | Intel |
| Common manufacturer(s) |
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| CPUID code | Klamath: 80522 Deschutes and Tonga: 80523 Dixon: 80524 |
| Performance | |
| Max. CPU clock rate | 233 MHz to 450 MHz |
| FSB speeds | 66 MT/s to 100 MT/s |
| Cache | |
| L1 cache | 32 KB (16 KB data + 16 KB instructions) |
| L2 cache | 256 KB - 512 KB |
| Architecture and classification | |
| Technology node | 350 nm to 180 nm |
| Microarchitecture | P6 |
| Instruction set | IA-32 |
| Extensions | |
| Physical specifications | |
| Transistors |
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| Cores |
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| Socket(s) |
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| Products, models, variants | |
| Core name(s) |
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| History | |
| Predecessor(s) | Pentium, Pentium Pro |
| Successor(s) | Pentium III, Celeron |
| Support status | |
| Unsupported | |
In 1998, Intel stratified the Pentium II family by releasing the Pentium II-based Celeron line of processors for low-end computers and the Pentium II Xeon line for servers and workstations. The Celeron was characterized by a reduced or omitted (in some cases present but disabled) on-die full-speed L2 cache and a 66 MT/s FSB. The Xeon was characterized by a range of full-speed L2 cache (from 512 KB to 2048 KB), a 100 MT/s FSB, a different physical interface (Slot 2), and support for symmetric multiprocessing.
In February 1999, the Pentium II was replaced by the nearly identical Pentium III, which only added the then-new SSE instruction set. However, the older family would continue to be produced until June 2001 for desktop units, September 2001 for mobile units, and the end of 2003 for embedded devices.