We have already talked about the most disastrous processors in history, so now it is the turn, of course, the best processors ever created. In this article we are going to look back to history to know the most successful processors , both at architecture level and worldwide sales level.
In the list that we are going to put below you will find not the processors that we consider to be the best in history, but those that by empirical figures it is unquestionable that they are. In other words, this is not a subjective list, but rather based on sales data and the success and impact they had, making them the best processors in history. With that said, let’s go there.
The best processors in history
As we have explained, to be part of this “hall of fame” the processor must have more than just provide better features than previous versions. He must be a pioneer, a legendary processor that everyone remembers, or he must have had such a resounding success that this list would be unimaginable without him.
Intel Celeron 300A
This processor is considered one of the best in history because at the time it was the crown jewel of enthusiasts. Overclockers quickly realized that this chip, priced at $ 180, was capable of being overclocked at 450 Mhz, easily outperforming the 450 Mhz Pentium IIs that were selling at $ 655 back then. .
What is more, with Abit BP6 motherboards you could install two of these processors in a single PC, making a team have an unprecedented performance for those times.
MOS 6502
This processor surely that nobody or almost nobody knows by name, and yet it could not be missing from the list of the best processors ever created because it was responsible for promoting mythical consoles such as the original Nintendo NES , the Commodore VIC-20 or the Atari 400, 800 and 2600 , as well as Apple I and Apple II computers. Almost nothing, huh? Well, the famous Commodore 64 also equipped the evolution of this chip, the 6510.
AMD Duron 600
The AMD K7 architecture put the company on the map to compete with Intel, but it wasn’t until the Duron 600, released in 2000, that AMD really began to squeeze Intel. This processor already had a complicated cache memory system, with 128K of L1 vs. 64K of L2, and it was also highly appreciated by overclockers since it easily increased in speed, even above 1 GHz (and note that we are talking about the year 2000), leaving behind the performance of the Intel Celeron and even the Pentium III, which were much more expensive.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
The golden age of Intel was undoubtedly that of the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad families, but if we must highlight a processor from all that time it is undoubtedly the Quad Q6600, and not only for its performance or characteristics, but in this case because it surpassed in sales and by far any other processor on the market. Rare was it to see an OEM desktop computer in those days that did not have this processor in its guts.
But that’s not all, overclockers also highly appreciated this processor because it easily went above 3 GHz, making it the processor with the best balance of performance, features, overclocking capacity and price for several years.
Intel Core i7-2600K
If we should highlight a second golden age -before the collapse- of Intel, without a doubt that was Sandy Bridge. This second generation of Intel Core processors continues to be used in many computers even today, because it provided an excellent ratio of features, performance and price, with incredible overclocking capabilities. All this, and a volume of sales that made Intel dominate the market at that time, make the Core i7-2600K have to be considered by force one of the greatest successes in the history of the brand and, therefore, one of the best processors ever created.
AMD Opteron 275
The AMD Opteron 275 and Athlon 64 X2 4800+ were basically the same chip (Opteron was a bit slower, at 2.2Ghz, but they were the same chip). We highlight the server variant in this list, because it was one of the best processors of the moment in terms of performance, completely outperforming Intel, and also its motherboards were the first to incorporate AGP sockets, thus increasing the graphic performance of the system. A jewel in terms of innovation for those times.
ARM Cortex-A9
The Cortex-A9 was the second ARM processor belonging to the high-end, and it was a turning point for the smartphone market. The combination of a large IPC, two cores and very high operating frequencies quickly made it one of the favorites of most mobile manufacturers, including Apple’s famous iPhone 4S.
They are not the best processors, but they must be mentioned
Next we are going to mention so many other processors that, although it cannot be considered that they have been the best processors in history, they do deserve at least a special mention.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 800: It was the dominant processor in the mid-range of smartphones for a long time.
- Intel Pentium M – Fixed Intel’s architectural issues with previous Pentium 4s, and was the forerunner of later Core 2 Duo.
- Intel 8086 and 486DX2: these processors powered the famous 086 and 486 of the 90s, and each home that had a PC had one of these (of course also the 286 and 386, but these two specifically were the most widespread).