Cyrix 5x86 and Cyrix 6x86: Gone But Not Forgotten

[Puiu]

If I remember correctly my first PC I got as a kid in the 90s had an 6x86 in it. The nostalgia is strong with this one.

 

[Lionvibez]

Damn memories one of the first computers I ever owned had a cyrix chip in it.

 

[bobalazs]

Yay! Good to see that marvel over here.
I happened to own a P166, and I loved it.

 

[Pop Mihai Ioan]

Very nice article!

 

[Endarial]

My family's first Windows PC was an Acer Aspire, powered by a Cyrix 100Mhz cpu. It had 8MB of RAM, a 1GB HDD and 1MB of onboard video memory.

We eventually upgraded it to 32MB of RAM and I put in a 4MB Diamond Monster Voodoo card. I still have many fond memories of that computer.

 

[Vanderlinde]

The company's marketing strategy was never great before the National Semiconductor merger, and AMD would repeat the same mistakes with Athlon and Sempron processors in the 2000s.

These were labeled as to indicate that they were faster than an Intel processor, while operating at a lower clock speed, but that didn't always translate well in benchmarks or real-world performance tests. AMD dropped that scheme, but suffice to say, things remain a bit confusing to this day.

Errrr.... AMD compared the whole PR rating against it's own CPU's. It was never aimed at Intel but coincidencely it did perform better as a Intel Pentium (4).. The PR rating was there because pure clockspeeds did'nt cut it. We had IPC and people where so small-minded thinking a 3Ghz Pentium 4 must have bin faster against a 2400 Athlon XP or so.

The Cyrix CPU's where good "business" or "office" type of CPU's and fared very well but lacked true FPU power compared to Intel or AMD, which lacked them of running games well such as quake that required good FPU.

I owned one too. PR200, internally running at 166Mhz. A simple OC to 183Mhz would yield a PR233, and even back then a simple increase of 13Mhz would mean the world in some apps or games. They where a great value, but coud'nt cut it against the ongoing rival of both AMD and Intel.

 

[usebettertek]

They were indeed incredible CPUs. I used them almost exclusively back in the day. AMD was my 2nd favorite to Cyrix. It was back during a time when you could think out of the box and come up with a lower cost alternative that didn't adhere to the "standard".

I miss those days.

 

[mosu]

I did have a Cyrix 6x86 PR166+ in my first personal computer back in 1997, then it was replaced by an AMD Athlon 1800+ a few years later.

 

[BrwPCnrd87]

I recently picked up an old Acer system with a Cyrix 6x86. System needs some work but it is still functional.

 

[Jeffs0418]

Had a PR200 in my first PC. Along with 16MB ram and a 3gb HDD running buggy Windows '95.
I absolutely don't miss it!

 

[PierreJG]

I actually still have a cyrix mobo and cpu. I really can't say if it still works as I do not have the parts to test it. The 90s and 2000s saw the evolution of computer gaming. I can remember, I had the Legendary Voodoo 2. Was a game changer as I came from a Riva Tnt 2. Problem back then was. With every new game Riva had to release new drivers where Voodoo worked on new games without a driver update.

I use to work directly with Intel. I even fixed one of their own servers in the 2000s. Back then I was already running AMD. The rep admitted that AMD gave them the blue print of x64. Back then it was descend rivalry but now it is all out war. Sadly AMD are fighting 2 companies that has far better R&D facilities. We will see how things play out. AMD never actually tried to beat Intel back then, they wanted to beat them in price.

It is still happening. AMD 4 is overpriced no questions asked cause of the compatibility (AM 4 System are the same price as Intel's 14th gen I3 and I5) Obviously the 4090 are the fastest but for us the problem is that the 4090 are sometimes twice the price of a 7900xt making it a horrible price to performance part but stuff like the 3060ti are dirt cheap on the used market and really worth it when you come from something like an Rx580 or a GTX 1060/1070 as they can sometimes be found for just a little more than a 1070TI.