The processor was based on a scaled-down version of the "M1" core used in the Cyrix 6x86, which provided 80% of the performance for a 50% decrease in transistors over the 6x86 design. It had the 32-bit memory bus of an ordinary 486 processor, but internally had much more in common with fifth-generation processors such as the 6x86, the K5, and the Intel Pentium, and even the sixth-generation Intel Pentium Pro. The chip featured near-complete support for i486 instructions, but very limited support for Pentium instructions. Interestingly, some performance-enhancing features of the cpu were intentionally disabled due to potentionally stability-threatening bugs which were not fixed before release time (these features can be enabled with freely-downloadable software utilities; see below).
The similarly-named SGS-Thomson ST5x86 and IBM IBM5x86C were licenced rebrandings of the Cyrix design (IBM and ST physically produced Cyrix's CPUs for them), marketed separately but identical for practical purposes, apart from the availability of a 75mhz edition which Cyrix did not bring to market, and slight differences in voltage requirements. The Cyrix 5x86 design, however, should not be confused with the similarly-named AMD Am5x86 which was essentially a fast 486 (not an all-new design like the Cyrix part) but which had broadly similar performance, used the same Socket 3, and was introduced at the end of the same year.
Specifications:
100mhz capable edition for 25MHz (25x4), 33MHz (33x3), and 50MHz (50x2) front side bus
120/133mhz capable edition for 40mhz (40x3) and 33mhz (33x4) front side bus. The 133 MHz version is very rare, however, and producers of upgrade kits were given preferential access to it.
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