What is X86 family of processors?

Answer 1

x86 is a generic term referring to the "instruction set" of the most successful CPU "architecture". The architecture is defined as how the CPU arranges and uses resources such as RAM and I/O. Intel invented the x86 architecture, and AMD, VIA, Cyrix and others have manufactured chips compatible with x86.

CPU's read bytes from RAM as instructions and do stuff based on that data, this is how programming ultimately works. All computer languages eventually have to be translated into this data, called machine language. A byte is a number 0-255, and the set of byte values and their corresponding instructions forms the instruction set. There are many different types of CPUs that adhere to a specific philosophy, and therefore each major type of CPU has its own instruction set that is not compatible with a different CPU. Other types of instruction sets include MIPS, PPC, ARM, 6502, Z80, 68000, and others. The two main types of philosophies are CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) and RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing). CISC packs more "power" into each instruction but requires the CPU to be slower and more complicated, RISC makes each instruction do less but makes the CPU cheaper and faster. x86 is a CISC CPU (as were most in the late 70's/early 80's when x86 was born) with RISC extensions. x86 as a name comes from Intel's numerical designation various chips in the architecture. It begins with the 8086, and then 80286, 80386, 80486, and onward through the Pentium chips, Core line and beyond (often called "686" chips even though they no longer have numbers).

To summarize, x86 is a term referring to the way that the CPU in the common PC was built and how it functions.

Answer 2

Answer:It's basically indicates instructional code that can be ran on any X86 processor. and it's a set of instructions/code based on the original Intel 8086 designed in the late 70's.

The 32bit code is used by Microsoft Windows.

In later processors, Intel added the 386, 486...ext. The naming was done to show backward compatibility of the code. Since then, AMD, VIA, and other chip manufactures have implemented the code.

Answer 3

That refers to the Intel family of processors. The "X" could be any number, but technically it cannot be less than "3" because the modern day instruction set actually does not go back further. Some programs and operating systems that use the X86 or i386 labels are actually only compatible with even newer chips, referred to as i486, i586, etc.

Answer 4

Currently, based on the advantages of the performance, reliability and cost performance of the X86 cluster architecture, the traditional centralized architecture is becoming more and more clear to the X86 cluster architecture and the distributed architecture. By comparing and analyzing the performance and application of X86 server and minicomputer in X86 system, this paper illustrates the possibility of X86 server replacing minicomputer.