Technical Details

Q. Does the Winchip require a split voltage plane?

A. The Winchip is the only x86 processor with MMX instructions that doesn’t require a split voltage plane. It’ll run with a single supply setting from 3.3V (3.135V-3.465V) to 3.52 VRE (3.45V – 3.465V) settings.

This makes the chip ideal for upgrading an older Pentium board that lacks the dual voltage support required by the latest socket 7 offerings from Cyrix, AMD and Intel.

Q. Does the Winchip support MMX?

A. The Winchip C6 fully supports the 57 industry standard MMX instructions and is software compatible with Intel’s MMX technology.

Q. Why does the Winchip run so cool even though it’s a 0.35 micron part?

A. One of Centaur’s main goals was to make the die size of the chip as small as possible. The smaller die size, the less heat that will typically be produced. The .35micron parts use a die size of only 88mm2. This is roughly 50% smaller than the equivalent Intel Pentium with MMX (which is 128mm2). The AMD K6 is twice the size at 162mm2 and the Cyrix 6x86MX is the largest at 197mm2. This low heat coefficient makes the Winchip ideal for overclocking and notebook applications.