UMC Green CPU

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The UMC Green CPU was an x86-compatible microprocessor produced by UMC, a

Taiwanese semiconductor company, in the early- to mid-1990s. It was oered as an
alternative to the Intel 80486 with which it was pin compatible, enabling it to be
installed in most 80486 motherboards. All models had power management features
intended to reduce electricity consumption.

Contents
1 Models Produced
1.1 Available models
1.2 Production and fabrication A UMC U5SD microprocessor
2 Performance rated for 40MHz
3 Clock doubling version motherboards.
4 Legal dispute
5 References

Models Produced
The UMC Green CPU was available with dierent features, physical characteristics and clock speeds. [1] Some of which
were only sold in limited quantities.

Available models

All models feature an 8KB level 1 cache and operate at clock speeds of 25MHz, 33MHz, or 40MHz.
Model FPU Package Voltage Notes
U5S No CPGA 5V Compatible with the 486SX.
U5D Yes CPGA 5V Compatible with the 486DX, very few were produced.
CPGA, PPGA, Identical to the U5S, the QFP version was available as an embedded solution or
U5SX No 5V
PQFP attached to a PGA adapter.
Few were produced. Functionally identical to U5S and U5SX but with 486DX
U5SD No CPGA 5V
pinout.
U5SF No PQFP 5V Plastic Package, an embedded solution for smaller computers.
U5SLV No PQFP 3.3V Low-voltage version
U5FLV No PQFP 3.3V Low-voltage version, often embedded on the motherboard.

Functionally all models except U5D are identical and only diered in their intended application, voltage rating or
physical packaging. The U5SD does not contain a oating point unit and is indistinguishable from other U5S chips in
operation, though it is unusual because it features a 486DX pinout[2] as opposed to the more common 486SX pinout
versions. This would allow installation into certain older motherboards which may have had upgrade sockets hardwired
to t only 486DX chips.

Production and fabrication

As one of the largest chip foundry owners in Taiwan, UMC owns several fabrication plants which allowed them to
fabricate their own designs, whereas some other manufacturers, notably Cyrix, had to contract this process out to third
parties such as IBM and Texas Instruments. All available models of Green CPU were produced on a 0.6m CMOS
process.[3] The chips were available in both plastic and ceramic packages for dierent applications. The majority of
PQFP variants were sold to motherboard manufacturers as a low-cost embedded solution.

Performance
The UMC U5 Series design was focused on microcode optimizations. An equivalently clocked Intel or AMD processor
required 40 cycles to perform an integer division whereas the UMC processors required
only 7, allowing the instruction to complete signicantly faster. Performance is generally
observed to be higher than competing processors on a clock-for-clock basis; The 40MHz
U5S model being comparable to an AMD Am486SX2 at 66MHz with correctly congured
motherboards.[4]

Due to an error in the microcode, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition identies some
processors as an Intel Pentium MMX which could cause the operating system and
software running within it to crash or exhibit undened behavior.

Clock doubling version Die shot of a UMC U5S

microprocessor.
UMC produced a small quantity of clock doubling processors labeled as the U486DX2.
These processors were designed to compete with other clock doubling solutions such as the Intel 80486DX2, AMD
Am486DX2 and Cyrix Cx486DX2, but due to ongoing legal troubles UMC withdrew the U486DX2 from production. The
processor was only ever produced as an engineering sample and never made it to market, [5] it was manufactured with a
0.35m CMOS process and is contained within a ceramic package.[6]

Legal dispute
In 1994, Intel alleged that UMC had infringed upon its patent for the 80486 microprocessor and led complaints
against UMC and it's distributors.[7] UMC countered the claims with an anti-trust suit and the case was eventually
settled out of court with UMC withdrawing their product and ceasing production of 80486-compatible microprocessors.

As a result of the dispute, all processors were prohibited from sale within the United States and were visibly labeled as
such. Placement of this label varies, the ceramic U5S and U5D models typically display "Not for U.S. sale or import" as
part of the silkscreen on the top of the chip where the U5SX and U5SD models usually had "NOT FOR U.S. SALE"
printed onto the golden die cover on the underside of the package. This labeling is often absent from plastic packages.

References
 1. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/80486/MANUF-UMC.html A page which documents several
versions of the UMC Green CPU.
2. Text le with information from the 1994-1995 UMC Data Book (http://datasheets.chipdb.org
/UMC/U5S.txt)
3. http://www.opennet.ru/docs/FAQ/hardware/chiplist-part3.html Web page documenting several
processors and their fabrication.
4. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aigi3Xn2U-
_vdGtKeFpIU2pKWTl2N0J6UFh6Z0E2TWc&usp=sharing#gid=0 Benchmark showing various
processors, including the U5S and U5SX.
5. http://www.cpu-museo.it/486umc.html Web page documenting the U486DX2 version of this
CPU.
6. https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.phantom.sannata.ru
/forum/index.php%3Ft%3D13090%26a%3Ddo_print&
prev=/search%3Fq%3DUMC%2BU5S%2B0.6%2Bmicron%26client%3Drefox- A UMC U5S rated for 33MHz
a%26hs%3DVei%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:ocial%26channel%3Dsb Page talking about displays "Not for U.S. sale or
various UMC Green CPU models which notes the Micron process of the U486DX2. import" on its silkscreen.
7. http://www.cpushack.com/2012/09/06/intel-vs-the-world-the-338-patent/ An article which
talks about the Intel VS. UMC case.

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Categories: Microprocessors

This page was last edited on 24 April 2017, at 16:54.

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