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VINTAGE_CPU_QUICK_REFERENCE.md

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Vintage CPU Quick Reference Chart

Multiplier Tiers (Highest to Lowest)

🏆 3.0x - Computing Pioneers (1979-1989)

CPU Year Detection Pattern Systems
Motorola 68000 1979 68000, MC68000, m68000 Original Mac, Amiga 500/1000, Atari ST
Intel 386 1985 i386, 80386, Intel.*386 First 32-bit x86
MIPS R2000 1985 R2000, MIPS R2000 First commercial RISC

🥈 2.8-2.9x - Early Innovations (1982-1992)

CPU Year Pattern Notes
Motorola 68010 1982 68010, MC68010 Enhanced 68000
Motorola 68020 1984 68020, MC68020 Mac II, 32-bit
PA-RISC 1.0 1986 PA-RISC 1\.0, PA7000 HP 9000
SPARC v7 1987 SPARC v7, MB86900 Original SPARC
MIPS R3000 1988 R3000, MIPS R3000 PlayStation 1 CPU
Intel 486 1989 i486, 80486, 486DX Pipelined x86
IBM POWER1 1990 POWER1, RIOS Original POWER

🥉 2.6-2.7x - Vintage Era (1987-1995)

CPU Year Pattern Market
Motorola 68030 1987 68030, MC68030 Mac SE/30, Amiga 3000
SPARC v8 1990 SPARC v8, microSPARC, SuperSPARC Sun workstations
PA-RISC 1.1 1990 PA-RISC 1\.1, PA7100 HP Series 700/800
MIPS R4000 1991 R4000, R4400, MIPS R4000 64-bit SGI
DEC Alpha 21064 1992 Alpha 21064, EV4 Fastest CPU of 1990s
Pentium P5 1993 Pentium\(R\)$, Pentium MMX Original Pentium
IBM POWER2 1993 POWER2, P2SC RS/6000
Cyrix 6x86 1995 Cyrix, 6x86, MediaGX Budget Pentium competitor
DEC Alpha 21164 1995 Alpha 21164, EV5 300-600 MHz

🎖️ 2.4-2.5x - Late Vintage (1990-2002)

CPU Year Pattern Description
Motorola 68040 1990 68040, MC68040 Quadra, Amiga 4000
Pentium Pro 1995 Pentium\(R\) Pro, PPro P6 architecture
AMD K5 1996 AMD-K5, K5-PR\d{2,3} First AMD x86
MIPS R10000 1996 R10000, R12000, R16000 SGI Origin/Octane
PA-RISC 2.0 1996 PA-RISC 2\.0, PA8000 64-bit HP
IBM POWER3 1998 POWER3 pSeries
AmigaOne G3 2002 AmigaOne.*G3 AmigaOS 4

🏅 2.2-2.3x - Retro Era (1994-2004)

CPU Year Pattern Market Position
Motorola 68060 1994 68060, MC68060 Final 68K
SPARC v9 1995 SPARC v9, UltraSPARC Sun workstation peak
MIPS R5000 1996 R5000, RM5200, RM7000 SGI O2, Nintendo 64
Pentium II 1997 Pentium\(R\) II, Celeron.*\d{3}MHz Slot 1 era
AMD K6 1997 AMD K6, K6-2, K6-III 3DNow!
IDT WinChip 1997 WinChip, IDT.*WinChip Budget x86
DEC Alpha 21264 1998 Alpha 21264, EV6 Final Alpha (500-1250 MHz)
IBM POWER4 2001 POWER4, POWER4\+ First dual-core (2001!)
Pegasos G3 2002 Pegasos.*G3, Pegasos I MorphOS
AmigaOne G4 2003 AmigaOne.*G4 PowerPC 7450/7447
Pegasos G4 2004 Pegasos.*G4, Pegasos II MorphOS flagship

🎗️ 2.0-2.1x - Early Modern (1999-2007)

CPU Year Pattern Notes
Pentium III 1999 Pentium\(R\) III, PIII Last pre-NetBurst Intel
Transmeta Crusoe 2000 Transmeta Crusoe, TM\d{4} Code morphing
IBM POWER5 2004 POWER5, POWER5\+ SMT, virtualization
Transmeta Efficeon 2004 Transmeta Efficeon, TM8\d{3} 2nd-gen morphing
Sam440 2007 Sam440, 440EP AmigaOS 4 embedded

🏵️ 1.8-1.9x - Late Retro (2001-2010)

CPU Year Pattern Last of Era
VIA C3 2001 VIA C3, Samuel, Ezra Low-power x86
UltraSPARC T1 2005 UltraSPARC T1, Niagara 8 cores, 32 threads
VIA C7 2005 VIA C7, Esther Enhanced efficiency
IBM POWER6 2007 POWER6 5 GHz record
UltraSPARC T2 2007 UltraSPARC T2, Niagara 2 8 cores, 64 threads
VIA Nano 2008 VIA Nano, Isaiah Final VIA mainstream
IBM POWER7 2010 POWER7, POWER7\+ TurboCore
Sam460 2010 Sam460, 460EX AmigaOS 4 modern

By Vendor

Intel x86 (Pre-Pentium 4)

3.0x  1985  i386      - 80386DX/SX
2.8x  1989  i486      - 486DX/DX2/DX4
2.6x  1993  Pentium   - P5/P54C/P55C MMX
2.4x  1995  P-Pro     - Pentium Pro
2.2x  1997  P-II      - Pentium II
2.0x  1999  P-III     - Pentium III

AMD (Pre-K7)

2.4x  1996  K5        - AMD-K5
2.2x  1997  K6        - K6/K6-2/K6-III

Motorola 68K

3.0x  1979  68000     - Mac, Amiga 500
2.9x  1982  68010     - Mac 512K
2.8x  1984  68020     - Mac II
2.6x  1987  68030     - Mac SE/30
2.4x  1990  68040     - Quadra
2.2x  1994  68060     - Accelerators

DEC Alpha

2.7x  1992  21064     - EV4 (150-200 MHz)
2.5x  1995  21164     - EV5 (300-600 MHz)
2.3x  1998  21264     - EV6 (500-1250 MHz)

Sun SPARC

2.9x  1987  v7        - SPARCstation 1
2.6x  1990  v8        - SuperSPARC
2.3x  1995  v9        - UltraSPARC I/II/III
1.9x  2005  T1        - Niagara
1.8x  2007  T2        - Niagara 2

MIPS

3.0x  1985  R2000     - First RISC
2.8x  1988  R3000     - PlayStation 1
2.6x  1991  R4000     - 64-bit
2.3x  1996  R5000     - SGI O2, N64
2.4x  1996  R10000    - Origin/Octane

IBM POWER (Pre-POWER8)

2.8x  1990  POWER1    - RIOS
2.6x  1993  POWER2    - RS/6000
2.4x  1998  POWER3    - pSeries
2.2x  2001  POWER4    - First dual-core
2.0x  2004  POWER5    - SMT
1.9x  2007  POWER6    - 5 GHz
1.8x  2010  POWER7    - TurboCore

HP PA-RISC

2.9x  1986  1.0       - PA7000
2.6x  1990  1.1       - PA7100/7200
2.3x  1996  2.0       - PA8000-PA8900

Oddball x86

2.5x  1995  Cyrix     - 6x86/MII/MediaGX
2.3x  1997  WinChip   - IDT/Centaur
2.1x  2000  Crusoe    - Transmeta
2.0x  2004  Efficeon  - Transmeta
1.9x  2001  VIA C3    - Samuel/Ezra
1.8x  2005  VIA C7    - Esther
1.7x  2008  VIA Nano  - Isaiah

PowerPC Amiga

2.4x  2002  AmigaOne G3   - 750/7457
2.3x  2003  AmigaOne G4   - 7450/7447
2.3x  2002  Pegasos I     - G3
2.2x  2004  Pegasos II    - G4
2.0x  2007  Sam440        - PPC440EP
1.9x  2010  Sam460        - PPC460EX

Detection Priority

Tier 1 - Most Likely Vintage Hardware (2025)

  1. Pentium III (1999-2003) - Legacy industrial systems
  2. PowerPC Amiga (2002-2012) - Active enthusiast community
  3. AMD K6 (1997-1999) - Retro gaming PCs
  4. SPARC (1995-2010) - Oracle/Sun legacy servers

Tier 2 - Rare but Possible

  1. Pentium II (1997-1999) - Old embedded systems
  2. 68K (1979-2000) - Emulators (UAE) or collectors
  3. Alpha (1992-2004) - OpenVMS enthusiasts
  4. MIPS (1985-2004) - SGI collectors, embedded

Tier 3 - Extremely Rare

  1. 386/486 (1985-1997) - Museums, extreme collectors
  2. Pentium/P-Pro (1993-1998) - Vintage PC enthusiasts
  3. Oddball x86 (Cyrix/VIA/Transmeta) - Rare niche
  4. PA-RISC (1986-2008) - HP-UX legacy
  5. POWER (1990-2013) - AIX/pSeries legacy

Testing Commands

Linux /proc/cpuinfo Examples

Pentium III:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "model name"
# Output: Intel(R) Pentium(R) III CPU 1000MHz

68K (Emulator):

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "cpu"
# Output: cpu : 68040

MIPS:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "cpu model"
# Output: cpu model : MIPS R5000 Revision 2.1

SPARC:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "cpu"
# Output: cpu : TI UltraSparc II (BlackBird)

Alpha:

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "cpu model"
# Output: cpu model : EV56

Test Script

from cpu_vintage_architectures import detect_vintage_architecture

test_cpus = [
    "Intel 80386DX @ 33MHz",
    "MC68040 @ 33MHz",
    "Alpha 21064 @ 150MHz",
    "AMD K6-2 350MHz",
    "Intel(R) Pentium(R) III CPU 1000MHz",
]

for cpu in test_cpus:
    result = detect_vintage_architecture(cpu)
    if result:
        vendor, arch, year, mult = result
        print(f"{cpu:40s} → {arch:20s} {mult}x ({year})")

Quick Lookup: Find a CPU? Use Ctrl+F to search this document for the model name or year.