AMD K5
K5-200
Developer	AMD
Manufacturer	AMD
Type	Microprocessors
Introduction	October 24, 1994 (announced) March 27, 1996 (launch)
Production	1996
Architecture	Pentium-compatible superscalar microprocessors
ISA	IA-32
µarch	K5
Word size	32 bit 4 octets 8 nibbles
Process	500 nm 0.5 μm 5.0e-4 mm , 350 nm 0.35 μm 3.5e-4 mm
Technology	CMOS
Clock	75 MHz-133 MHz
Package	SPGA-296
Socket	Socket 5, Socket 7
Succession
←	→
Am5x86	K6

K5 was a family of microprocessors designed by AMD and introduced in 1996. K5 models directly rivaled Intel's Pentium processors. These processors were based on AMD's K5 Microarchitecture which was their first x86 microarchitecture to be designed in-house from the ground up without licensing or reverse-engineering Intel's architectures.

Overview

K5 was a result of desperation and frustration with cloning and second-sourcing Intel-based x86 microprocessors. Rumors for the development of K5 dates back to mid-1993, however it was only officially announced in late 1994 with the goal of releasing the first batch of chips in in 1995. K5, which stands for Kryptonite 5, which as its name implied was an ambitious attempt by AMD to take on Intel (being Superman, metaphorically). The design suffered significant delays first due to early design problems and later due to problems with various x86 incompatibilities. The first few models were finally released in March of 1996.

The first version of K5 Microarchitecture introduced, SSA/5, had many technical improvements over Intel's Pentium, making it well ahead of its time. It had an instruction translator that converted CISC instructions into simpler RISC instructions. Due to numerous manufacturing issues and design choices, K5 failed to deliver the expected performance it should have.

AMD went back and readdressed some of the deficiencies the SSA/5 design had. AMD introduced the new version of K5, named 5k86, in October of 1996. AMD had reworked the way memory gets accessed and flows through, from L1$ to L2$ and main. The results is upward of 35% performance improvements across the board. 5k86's performance outmatched Pentium's with lower clock speed.

Architecture

Main article: K5 Microarchitecture

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Members

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