Hardware components of the PC
The CPU
The Intel Processors

Intel was the first company to produce a fully integrated microprocessor, the 4004, which was a processor that operated on 4 bits of data at a time. Other companies have produced different types of processor which are compatible with Intel’s but Intel seems to be leader in the PC world. The processor tree below shows the history of the Intel x86 family of processors, and how the AMD and Cyrix compatible processors fitted in with them.

• The 8086/88
• The 80186
• The 80286
• The 80386
• The 80486
• The Pentium
• The Pentium Pro
• MMX
• The Pentium II
• Celeron
• The Xeon Processor
• The Itanium Processor
• Pentium III
• Pentium 4
• Notebook Pentium processors

 For more information on the Intel range of processors visit Intel’s web site at www.Intel.com