Identifying your Processor

H size="3">ow do you identify the rating of the CPU that you just bought? Is it a 300 MHz

chip or a 350? What is its bus speed? What is its voltage? Here’s how to use the

markings on your CPU to correctly identify its specs. SIZE="1">

alt="intel-2.jpg (9770 bytes)" align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5">T size="3">he PII for the desktop is now into its second generation. The first generation

had processor speeds of 233, 266, and 300 MHz, and bus speeds of 66 MHz. The second

generation takes the bus speed to 100 MHz. Processor speeds have gone up from 350 to 450

Mhz.

alt="processor.jpg (38304 bytes)">The

Cyrix MII

alt="cyrix.jpg (11746 bytes)" align="right">The Cyrix MII

is more clearly labeled than the PII. The MIIs are Socket 7 processors. The MII 300 PR

uses a 66 Mhz bus, while the MII 333 PR uses an 83 Mhz bus.

Note that the 300 or the 333 does not refer to the

actual clock speed of the chip, but to the "Performance Rating". That is, the

MII 300 is rated equal to a 300 Mhz chip (read from Intel) in performance. Similarly, the

MII 333 has a performance equal to a 333 Mhz chip. So what is the actual clock speed?

Simple. Multiply the bus speed by the multiplier. So, the MII 300 Pr has an actual clock

speed of 66 x 3.5 = 231 Mhz, and the 333 PR has an actual clock speed of 83 x 3 = 249 Mhz.

size="3">The AMD K6 uses a 66 MHz bus while the K6-2 uses a 100 MHz bus. We were not able

to source an AMD K6-2 chip at the time of writing this. Information sourced from the AMD size="3">website mentions that AMD processors use the following convention. COLOR="#000000">

AMD-K6-2/XXX A F Q size="3">

Here XXX stands for the clock speed. The available speeds are 233, 266,

300, 333, 350, 366, 380, and 400 Mhz. A is the pin configuration–all of them have the

same pin configuration. F indicates the operating voltage, and Q the temperature range (0

to 600 C if it is Q, and 0 to 70 if it is R).

alt="celeron.jpg (62343 bytes)">