How bad was the Intel iAPX 432 - let's find out in practice
2026-05-28
Back in the 80s there was such a processor - the Intel iAPX 432: a completely new architecture, with even some OS concepts baked right into silicon.
Back in the 80s there was such a processor - the Intel iAPX 432: a completely new architecture, with even some OS concepts baked right into silicon.
In the previous year I wrote a program, running on Intel's first microprocessor - 4004, that computes the first 255 digits of π. So let's continue our journey with the successor - the Intel 4040.
One day I thought about the performance gap between the first Intel processor and modern machines, and decided to research the subject in practice.