Whats the difference between i386,i686 etc processors?

Question

Which one is latest or normally used in computers today ? What is the type of pentium 4 and Core 2 duo?

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 01 '10 at 05:58

11

i386 is for extremely old CPU generation dating before Pentium.

i686 is post Pentium generation.

No one today have i386, they are at least 15 years old.

That being said, i386 marks a 'compatibility' build and should work on ANY 32bit x86 CPU. i686 may or may not use MMX, SSE and more extensions.

answered Feb 01 '10 at 05:58

LiraNuna

Are applications written for i386 compatible with i686? – pineapple Feb 01 '10 at 05:59
1

i686 can always run i386. the reverse is not always true. – LiraNuna Feb 01 '10 at 06:00
2

"No one today have i386, they are at least 15 years old." ... khm, khm ... well, wouldn't you believe it but ... :-))) – Rook Feb 01 '10 at 06:52
@Rook you have it, right? – Jan 20 '17 at 11:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 16 '20 at 08:10

The processors have different instruction extensions. But, the core instructions are the same - 386.

Extensions - as the SSE3 - Streaming SIMD Extensions 3, are explained in Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE3

And, capabilities differ as different version of the chips anre manufactured. See the Intel site:

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark.html#@Processors

2 Answers2