The original x86 CPU was the Intel 8086. This was followed by the
80186 and the 80286. All three were actually
16-bit. They were followed by the Intel 486,
the Pentium, the Pentium 2, etc. These days, x86 usually refers to the 32 bit
version of the hardware architecture, although
it occasionally is used in reference to the x86
processors, regardless of their “bit size”. The
64 bit version is most often referred to by
x86-64 or AMD64, the latter due to AMD
beating Intel to market with 64-bit x86 based
hardware.And not all 32-bit processors are
x86.
There are some non x86 32-bit processors. The
term x86 actually signifies backward
compatibility with the original 8086 instruction
set. The 32 bit x86,actually x86-32 became so
popular that they were referenced as x86. The
exact names would be x86-16 , x86-32 and
x86-64(or x64) for the x86 chips.
80186 and the 80286. All three were actually
16-bit. They were followed by the Intel 486,
the Pentium, the Pentium 2, etc. These days, x86 usually refers to the 32 bit
version of the hardware architecture, although
it occasionally is used in reference to the x86
processors, regardless of their “bit size”. The
64 bit version is most often referred to by
x86-64 or AMD64, the latter due to AMD
beating Intel to market with 64-bit x86 based
hardware.And not all 32-bit processors are
x86.
There are some non x86 32-bit processors. The
term x86 actually signifies backward
compatibility with the original 8086 instruction
set. The 32 bit x86,actually x86-32 became so
popular that they were referenced as x86. The
exact names would be x86-16 , x86-32 and
x86-64(or x64) for the x86 chips.