Cyrix Announces 120 MHz Version
of 5x86™ Processor

Richardson, Texas -- October 30, 1995 -- Continuing its penetration of the mainstream performance PC market, Cyrix Corporation (NASDAQ: CYRX) today announced the second member of its 5x86 processor family - a 120 MHz version. At 120 MHz, the 5x86 processor offers performance exceeding that of a 90 MHz Pentium processor, according to industry-standard benchmarks. Cyrix revealed a Winstone 95 performance rating of 150.4 on a 120 MHz 5x86 processor-based system.

"The 120 MHz addition gives the 5x86 processor line long legs in providing higher performance and value for Pentium processor-class desktops and notebooks," said Steve Tobak, vice president of corporate marketing at Cyrix. "Our new 6x86 and 5x86 processor families enable Cyrix to address a broader range of system price and performance points for our customer base."

Acer, AST Computer, CompuTrend Systems, CTX, EPSON, FutureTech, MicroExpress, Sharp and Peacock in Germany are among the first PC manufacturers to design the 5x86 processor into notebook and desktop systems.

The design goal for the 5x86 architectural core was to drive performance up and power consumption down. Fifth-generation features were evaluated and selected for their contribution to maximum efficiency, performance and simplicity of design. The processor features a 64-bit internal datapath, branch prediction, a decoupled load/store unit that allows multiple operations per clock, data forwarding, an 80-bit floating point unit and a 16K unified write-back cache.

Aggressive power management features enable lower power consumption than competitors' processors, resulting in longer battery life in portables. The 5x86 processor also offers system manufacturers cost-effective integration into their existing 32-bit platforms, improving time to market while also maintaining a price/performance advantage over Pentium processor-based solutions.

Price and Availability

Cyrix also announced a price reduction on its 100 MHz 5x86 processor from $147 to $130 in 1,000-piece quantities. The 100 MHz version is currently shipping in volume production.