# i386 i486 i586 i686 etc

## fghellar

When reading this thread, I went to http://www.sandpile.org/ looking for some info. Under the "impl" section there is some good info about many processors.

But I got confused. The AMD K6 is listed as Family 80586, 6th Generation. And the NexGen Nx686 is even "worse": Family 80386, 6th Generation!

What makes a given processor be classified as e.g. i686? Family? Generation? Both? None?

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## lx

80686 is The machine instructions it supports.  A generation is a set of chips based on the same techniques from a certain manufacture.

 *Quote:*   

> Fifth Generation (Pentium Class) Intel Chipsets

 

athlon is amd's 7th generation of AMD chips, (both athlon / duron), they support 686 instruction set and more.

Well I forgot my point, Cya lX.

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## Forge

Nexgens weren't even actually 386 chips, they were just 386 compatible (thus Sandpile's listing). They were RISC CPUs with an x86<->RISC translator on another chip. The later Nexgens were called K6s, after AMD bought Nexgen.

The K6s were not fully i686, either. There are a few differences that make them ineligable.

Athlons are full i786 chips, though, while Pentium 4's are not.  :Smile: 

According to Intel, the P4 is i1586, though they clam up if you ask what happened to i886 through i1486. 

In other words, don't worry about it too much, just remember:

i486 = 486 and below

i586 = Pentium/Pentium MMX and K6-*

i686 = Pentium Pro through Pentium II and Classic/Tbird Athlons, sub-1GHz Durons

i786 = Athlon XP/MP/4, Durons at 1GHz+ and Pentium III

i1586 = Pentium 4

i886 would probably be AMD's upcoming Hammer series, but since Intel defines the i*86 specs, there won't be one.

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## id10t

 *Quote:*   

> i486 = 486 and below

 

Wrong. i486 is 486.  You forgot about i386 (386 and up), which is the "core" instruction set that all 386+ chips support.

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## Forge

Doh. I shouldn't be allowed to post last thing in my day.

Should have been more like:

i286 and below = here be demons

i386 = 386 and up, all modern CPUs

i486 == 486

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## new2lin

So let me get this straight...I have a computer with a K6-2 366mhz CPU so I need to use the stage1 tarball, but if I swap it out with an older Pentium 2 MMX 200MHZ I can use the stage3 tarball? Is this right??

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## Forge

Yep! You got it on the first try.

....

Wow. You strap up a stage one on a K6-2 366? How long does that take?

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## carpman

 *Forge wrote:*   

> Yep! You got it on the first try.
> 
> ....
> 
> Wow. You strap up a stage one on a K6-2 366? How long does that take?

 

i did it on a cyrix gxm 266 and it took 9hrs  :Smile: 

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## Lovechild

I bootstrapped on a 100MHz pentium - took ~20 hours.

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## CoronaLover

 *Forge wrote:*   

> 
> 
> i886 would probably be AMD's upcoming Hammer series, but since Intel defines the i*86 specs, there won't be one.

 

well actualy the hammer is i886-64   :Very Happy: 

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## Forge

You guys are masochists.  :Smile:  I like my 2 and 3 hour bootstraps, don't think I could tolerate much more.

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## TripKnot

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> So let me get this straight...I have a computer with a K6-2 366mhz CPU so I need to use the stage1 tarball, but if I swap it out with an older Pentium 2 MMX 200MHZ I can use the stage3 tarball? Is this right??

 

I think your a bit screwed up here.  There was never a PII in a Socket7 or super socket7 format.  Nor were they ever realeased at 200MHz.  I believe you have a P1 200 which is 586 so no you can't use the stage3 tarball.

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## Forge

A theoretical P2/233 Socket 7, though, would be fine.  :Smile: 

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