Intel Pentium II

• SEC Slot-1 Interface - Single Edge Connector Slot-1 Interface, this is the cartridge type interface the Pentium II uses, although a bulky design we'll begin to see much more of it in the future

• DIB - Dual Independent Bus, this feature, originally introduced with the Pentium Pro, allows the CPU and L2 cache to operate simultaneously at equal or near equivalent clock speeds.

• Immense heat dissipation requiring a special 1LB+ Heatsink or Heatsink/Fan combo

• Multiprocessor support for up to 2 Pentium IIs (say that one three times fast!) =)

Lets take a look at where the Pentium II is and where its going:

Look familiar? It should, Intel originally planned for the Pentium II, then known as the Klamath to be offered in 3 different flavors: a 200MHz, 233MHz, and 266MHz version. However early benchmarks indicated that a 200MHz Klamath would easily be overshadowed by a 200MHz Pentium Pro and even a 200MHz K6. By the time Intel realized this they had already sent the specifications for the Klamath to many motherboard manufacturers, which explains why on May 5th (the introduction of the Pentium II) we could already order chips and motherboards for our new high powered systems.

With a bit of tweaking, Intel managed to get their Klamath up to a whopping 300MHz without dropping the fabrication size, they dropped the Pentium II MMX name on it and introduced it on May 5, 33 days after the introduction of AMD's K6. Intel didn't feel like stopping there, lets take a look at some of their plans for the future:

The Pentium II will eventually die out at 450MHz, but it will not go out without a bang. The Pentium II 350, 400, and 450 will all run using the upcoming 100MHz bus speed present only on the 440BX chipset (nope, not the LX as originally expected) which, along with the 350MHz+ Pentium IIs, will be released in the first half of next year.

Also making its debut mid next year will be Intel's true successor to the Pentium Pro, a 450MHz chip, with 512KB, 1MB, or 2MB of L2 cache running AT CLOCK SPEED. This processor, when coupled with the upcoming 450NX chipset will be able to support four processors as well as the 100MHz bus speed. Along with that will be a mobile Pentium II boasting a fabrication size shrink as well as a physical shrink so it can be used in laptops. Here's a small preview of what's to come:

The Deschutes should eventually hit 900MHz with a 150MHz or 300MHz bus speed, however next year it will most likely max out at 550MHz. The 600MHz should experience a small fabrication shrink to about 0.18 micron, and it, like all of the other Deschutes processors, will use a new SEC known commonly as Slot-2. It will be longer, and have more connectors that Slot-1 so we can expect another massive heatsink design from Intel in the near future.