Pentium MMX
Intel
Specifications
- CPU
- Pentium MMX @ 166 / 200 / 233 MHz (Socket 7)
- Memory
- 16 to 64 MB
- Storage
- 1 – 4 GB IDE; 24× CD-ROM
- Display
- AGP starting in 1997, 3D accelerators (Voodoo, ATI Rage)
- OS
- Windows 95 / 98
- Intro price
- Systems from ~$1,500
The machine
The same Pentium core with 57 new SIMD instructions for multimedia workloads (audio, video, image processing) and an enlarged L1 cache. Sold by the millions through the late '90s. The corresponding AMD K6 made Socket 7 a competitive race for the first time in years.
Why it matters
Brought SIMD into the consumer mainstream — the ancestor of SSE, AVX, NEON, and every other vector ISA you've heard of since.