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The Forbidden and Forgotten UMC Green 486 CPU
UMC’s Green CPU was a unique and impressive feat of engineering. Although it was late to the party, it could run circles around other 486s when it came to clock-for-clock performance. Despite its very promising efficiency, it met an untimely demise due to legal troubles in 1994 and 1995. Join me today as I take an in-depth look at the UMC Green and compare it to a number of CPUs from Intel, AMD and Cyrix. I also push the green well beyond its rated frequency to get a glimpse of what “could have been”.
Big thanks to Andrew (BrassicGamer) from the UK for sending me this CPU. Be sure to check out his blog and YouTube channel:
https://x.com/brassicGamer
http://www.brassicgamer.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@BrassicGamer
Some interesting articles and posts about the UMC legal battle with Intel in the 90s:
https://www.cpushack.com/2012/09/06/intel-vs-the-world-the-338-patent/
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=78628
An article in InfoWorld from October of 1993 about UMC's plans for the CPU:
https://books.google.ca/books?id=-zoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=UMC+Intel+486+lawsuit&source=bl&ots=cMiF3INmdC&sig=XNukgBqjdl0WZ9pNIg1CTMwjOHU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aUosUM7dBMPUygHutoC4Ag&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
My repair and modification of the Pentium Overdrive:
https://youtu.be/EkAwTPSPhQs
A big comparison of late-model 486 and 486 “upgrade” chips:
https://youtu.be/dQOmSKERPd0
If you'd like to support the channel, you can check out my Patreon page. My Patreon supporters get early access to my videos, exclusive behind the scenes content, previews and more.
My Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/vswitchzero
My Blog: https://vswitchzero.com/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/vswitchzero.com
Mastodon: https://bitbang.social/@vswitchzero
00:00 Introduction
01:15 About the UMC Green
02:55 It’s All About Efficiency
03:29 Legal Troubles
04:37 Shout Out!
04:56 The Competition and Setup
06:17 Benchmark Results
10:01 Pentium Overdrive Comparison
12:07 Overclocking
13:35 Overclocking Benchmark Results
14:28 Conclusion
View all episodes
By UMC’s Green CPU was a unique and impressive feat of engineering. Although it was late to the party, it could run circles around other 486s when it came to clock-for-clock performance. Despite its very promising efficiency, it met an untimely demise due to legal troubles in 1994 and 1995. Join me today as I take an in-depth look at the UMC Green and compare it to a number of CPUs from Intel, AMD and Cyrix. I also push the green well beyond its rated frequency to get a glimpse of what “could have been”.
Big thanks to Andrew (BrassicGamer) from the UK for sending me this CPU. Be sure to check out his blog and YouTube channel:
https://x.com/brassicGamer
http://www.brassicgamer.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@BrassicGamer
Some interesting articles and posts about the UMC legal battle with Intel in the 90s:
https://www.cpushack.com/2012/09/06/intel-vs-the-world-the-338-patent/
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=78628
An article in InfoWorld from October of 1993 about UMC's plans for the CPU:
https://books.google.ca/books?id=-zoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=UMC+Intel+486+lawsuit&source=bl&ots=cMiF3INmdC&sig=XNukgBqjdl0WZ9pNIg1CTMwjOHU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aUosUM7dBMPUygHutoC4Ag&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
My repair and modification of the Pentium Overdrive:
https://youtu.be/EkAwTPSPhQs
A big comparison of late-model 486 and 486 “upgrade” chips:
https://youtu.be/dQOmSKERPd0
If you'd like to support the channel, you can check out my Patreon page. My Patreon supporters get early access to my videos, exclusive behind the scenes content, previews and more.
My Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/vswitchzero
My Blog: https://vswitchzero.com/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/vswitchzero.com
Mastodon: https://bitbang.social/@vswitchzero
00:00 Introduction
01:15 About the UMC Green
02:55 It’s All About Efficiency
03:29 Legal Troubles
04:37 Shout Out!
04:56 The Competition and Setup
06:17 Benchmark Results
10:01 Pentium Overdrive Comparison
12:07 Overclocking
13:35 Overclocking Benchmark Results
14:28 Conclusion