Pentium Pro

Pentium Pro
General information
Launched	November 1, 1995
Discontinued	1998
Marketed by	Intel
Designed by	Intel
Common manufacturer	Intel;
CPUID code	0F619h
Product code	80521
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate	150 MHz to 200 MHz
FSB speeds	60 MT/s to 66 MT/s
Data width	64 bits
Address width	36 bits
Virtual address width	32 bits
Physical specifications
Transistors	5.5 million;
Cores	1;
Socket	Socket 8;
Cache
L1 cache	16 KB (8 KB instructions + 8 KB data)
L2 cache	256 KB – 1 MB
Architecture and classification
Application	Server; Workstation
Technology node	500 nm to 350 nm
Microarchitecture	P6
Instruction set	x86
History
Predecessor	Pentium
Successors	Pentium II, Pentium II Xeon
Support status
	Unsupported

The Pentium Pro is the first sixth-generation x86-based microprocessor developed and manufactured by Intel and introduced on November 1, 1995. It was the first x86-based Intel processor to implement the P6 microarchitecture (sometimes termed i686), itself being the successor to the P5 of the original Pentium.

While the Pentium and Pentium MMX had 3.1 and 4.5 million transistors, respectively, the Pentium Pro contained 5.5 million transistors. It was capable of both dual- and quad-processor configurations and only came in one form factor, the relatively large rectangular Socket 8.

The Pentium Pro was originally intended to replace the original Pentium (P5) in a full range of applications. Later, it was reduced to a more narrow role as a server and high-end desktop processor. Its role was later expanded to include supercomputers powered by the processors; the most notable being ASCI Red in 1996, which was the first computer to reach over one teraFLOPS and held the number one spot in the TOP500 list from 1997 to 2000. ASCI Red used a dual-processor configuration with two Pentium Pro CPUs on each computing node.

The Pentium Pro was succeeded by the Pentium II Xeon in 1998.