PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Pentium II Family

Intel’s first mainstream sixth-generation CPU, the Pentium II, shipped in May 1997. Intel subsequently shipped many variants of the Pentium II, which differ chiefly in packaging, the type and amount of L2 cache they include, the processor core they use, and the FSB speeds they support. All members of the Pentium II family use the Dynamic Execution Technology and DIB architecture introduced with the Pentium Pro. Intel reduced the core voltage from the 3.3 volts used by Pentium Pro to 2.8 volts or less in Pentium II processors, which allows them to run much faster while using less power and producing less heat. In effect, you’re not far wrong if you think of Pentium II, sixth-generation Celeron, and Pentium III processors as faster versions of the Pentium Pro with MMX (or the enhanced SSE version of MMX) added, and the following major changes:

L2 cache

The Pentium Pro taught Intel the folly of embedding the L2 cache onto the CPU substrate itself, at least for the then-current state of the technology. Early Pentium II family processors use discrete L2 cache Static RAM (SRAM) chips that reside within the CPU package but are not a part of the CPU substrate. Advances in fab technology have allowed Intel again to place L2 cache directly on the processor substrate on later Pentium II family processor models. Some Pentium II family processors run L2 cache at full processor speed, while others run it at half processor speed. The least-expensive Pentium II family processors ...