Am486DX

The Am486DX was a microprocessor manufactured by AMD, released in 1993. It was part of the Am486 processor family, designed to be compatible with Intel's popular 80486 line. The Am486DX was AMD's response to Intel's 486DX, offering competitive performance at a potentially lower cost.

Key features of the Am486DX included a clock speed of 40 MHz, an integrated floating-point unit (FPU), and an 8 KB on-chip cache. Like its Intel counterpart, it featured a 32-bit internal architecture and a 32-bit external data bus. The processor was designed for socketed installations, typically in PGA (Pin Grid Array) packaging.

The Am486DX played a significant role in AMD's strategy to gain market share in the x86 processor space. It was known for its strong performance, often matching or exceeding Intel's own 486DX chips in benchmarks. This competition helped to drive down prices for processors, benefiting consumers. The Am486DX was widely used in desktop computers during the early to mid-1990s, contributing to the widespread adoption of more powerful personal computing. AMD's success with the Am486DX series laid important groundwork for its later development of processors like the K5 and Athlon.