From 1993 To 1997: Sockets 4, 5 And 7 Platforms For AMD And Intel

1993: Socket 4 For The First Pentium

During 1993 and 1994, not only were the first 486 PC systems sold (AMD/Intel), but also the first Pentium computers. Frequently, buyers would stand in line before the shops opened in order to grab one of the top offers from advertising flyers, and sometimes goods were sold out within just a few minutes. The market grew in double-digit percentages every year. Many small firms sprang up like mushrooms and began to assemble PCs and sell them under various imaginative labels. 486DX 100 systems were offered at the same price as Pentium 60 PCs. The magic price point was between about $1,000 and $1,500.

From the very beginning, the new Intel Pentium 60 prompted negative headlines: Under certain circumstances, an FDIV division error occurred; it caused Intel a lot of problems.

Socket 4, presented in 1993, was finally developed for two processors: the Intel Pentium 60 and the Pentium 66. The lower-speed version worked at a 30 MHz system speed, and compared with the fast 486 CPUs, was considerably slower. On the other hand, the Pentium 66 was rather functional; still, many users decided to pass on these early Pentiums, buying more clock speed for the same money with the 486DX 100.