CYRIX, TEXAS UNVEIL NEW iAPX-86-COMPATIBLE PROCESSORS

(June 5th 1995) Cyrix Corp and Texas Instruments Inc each joined
Advanced Micro Devices Inc in making Intel Corp's life a little
harder, with Texas introducing a low-cost version of its
80486DX2-class microprocessor. The TI486DX2 costs $80, enabling
personal computer manufacturers to make high-performance personal
computers for less than $1,000, Texas says, noting that chips in this
class normally sell for more than $100. Samples are out now with
volume in September. Cyrix Corp, Richardson, Texas announced the
technology behind its 5x86 processor family, which was previously
code-named the M1sc architecture.

The new 5x86 architectural core is claimed to rival Pentium-class
performance and has been designed to drive performance up and power
consumption down, achieved by implementing only the most
performance-critical features of Pentium-class chips. The 5x86 core
has 64-bit internal architecture, branch prediction, multiple
operations per clock via a decoupled load-store unit and data
forwarding combined with an 80-bit floating point unit and 16Kb
unified write-back cache. The 5x86 processor family roadmap includes
a full 64-bit version in future. Initial production of the Cyrix 5x86
at 100MHz is expected next quarter at $147 for 1,000-up.