Pentium II Processor

1. SIZE: It is approximately 5.5 inches long x 2.5 inches wide x .6 inches thick. Some other criteria are:

   1. The Intel Pentium II Processor Fact Sheet says that there are 3 speeds - a 233, a 266, and a 300 MHz clock speed.
   2. The "system bus" speed is 66 mhz for all three clocks speeds.
   3. It is a .35 micron processor.
   4. L1 cache operates at the system clock speed - 233, 266, or 300 mhz.
   5. L2 cache operates at the these speeds 117, 133, and 150 for the above clock speeds.
   6. The CPU voltage is 2.8V for all speeds - should be low heat.
   7. Approximately 7.5 million transistors!
   8. I think the L2 Cache is "Burst Synchronous SRAM".

2. Single Edge Contact (SEC) Cartridge (242 pins). This is unique because it provides an interface to the motherboard without the myraids of pins normally associated with a "socket 7" type CPU. This is important, but it will probably preclude upgrading any previous CPU's to a Pentium II.

3. Dual Independent Bus (DIB) technology was actually introduced with the Pentium Pro.
   Intel says it works like this:
   1. There are two buses called the "L2 Cache bus" and "system bus" which is the processor-to-main memory bus.
   2. Both buses can be used by the processor at the same time.
   3. The DIB architecture enables the L2 cache of the Pentium II processor to run twice as fast as older Pentium processors.
   4. The system bus is "pipelined" so multiple simultaneous transactions which accelerates the flow of information.
   5. Intel states in its web page, that the DIB architecture improvements offer up to three times the bandwidth performance over a single bus architecture processor.
   6. The DIB architecture will support the evolution of 66MHz system memory bus to higher speeds in the future.

4. INTEL claims that the future versions of the Pentium II will be "slot 1" compatible.
5. The Pentium II uses the same Dual Independent Bus (DIB) architecture as used with the Pentium Pro Processor.
6. INTEL says that the core and L2 cache are endlosed in a plastic and metal cartridge.

   However, I read in a magazine (don't want to say which, they were were probably trying to sell their Pentium Pro based PCs quickly) that the L2 cache was external to the CPU and the following was supposed to be true at the time of the article:

   Some of the systems specifications are slightly misleading. For instance, a Pentium Pro with 256MB of L2 Cache which runs at the 200MHz speed of the processor since it is on chip; while the Pentium II at 233MHZ had a separate L2 cache chip running at 116.5MHz which effectively slows it below the total performance of the Pentium Pro 200. This will have been rectified you can be sure, and the 266 and 300 MHz Pentium II will also have improved performance. And you can be sure that Pentium II processor will rapidly make the other Pentium Processors obsolete. However, other upgrades to 1998-2000 processors will make the Pentium II rather blaise.

   Remember this: The speed of the CPU is not always the only factor in the efficiency of your PC. The buses and their speeds, the cache (L1 and L2), BIOS, memory speed, chip sets, etc. are factors that allow the CPU to reach its potential. The Pentium II has them!

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