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Intel 80386
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The Intel 80386 is a 32-bit microprocessor containing over 275,000 transistors on a single chip. The 80386 (commonly known as the "386 chip") could handle four million operations per second and handle memory up to four gigabytes (4,294,967,296). The 386 was ... compatible with Intel's earlier processor line for the IBM PC and compatibles and could run software designed for those processors as well. The 386 chip brought desktop personal computing power to a new level. John Crawford was the architecture manager for the Intel 386 and the Intel 486 microprocessors, and co-manager of Pentium microprocessor development.
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The Intel 80386SX is to the 80386 as the original 8088 is to the 8086. Internally the 80386SX is a full 32 bit 80386 processor with the same instruction set as the real 80386. But as far as the outside world is concerned, it's a 16 bit 80286 like chip.
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Intel 80386, a microprocessor used as the CPU of many personal computers from 1986 til 1994. During its design the processor was code-named simply "P3" -- the third-generation processor in the x86 line, but was and is frequently abbreviated i386. Designed and manufactured by Intel, the i386 processor was first taped-out in October of 1985. Intel decided against producing the chip before then, as the cost of production would have been prohibitively expensive. Fully functional chips were first delivered to customers in 1986. Motherboards for 386-based computer systems were highly elaborate and expensive to produce, but were rationalised upon the 386's mainstream adoption.
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The Intel 80386 has a segmented architecture similar to the 80286. But 80286 segments are limited to 64 KBytes while on the 80386 segments can be as large as 4 gigabytes. Writing programs that use large arrays and other data structures is easier using large segments, and because compilers have a hard time generating optimal segmented code, converting large 8086/80286 programs to the 80386 can produce dramatic increases in performance.
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FreeBSD 6.0 and newer no longer supports the original Intel 80386 CPU; these computers are over seven years old and are only supported by FreeBSD 5.X and earlier. Note that the GENERIC kernel only supports 80386 CPUs in FreeBSD 4.X and earlier.
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Later in the 80386's production run, Intel introduced the 80386SX, which was meant to be a low cost version of the 386 line. The SX series of chips was 32-bit internally, but had a 16-bit external data bus (in much the same way that the 8088 in the original IBM PC was a lower cost version of the 8086) and a 24 bit address bus, so could only address 16MB. The original 80386 was subsequently renamed the 80386DX to avoid confusion. Neither CPU included a math coprocessor (most motherboards included a socket for an 80387), though the naming would cause some head-scratching later when the 80486 came in a DX variant that did include floating-point capability (which was physically present but disabled in early 486SXs).
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Intel 80386