Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Sunnyvale has adopted a standardized microprocessor performance rating specification for iAPX-86 microprocessors jointly developed with Cyrix Corp, IBM Microelectronics Corp and SGS-Thomson Microelectronics NV, all of whom are working to ensure that the new specification is widely available to the personal computer industry. The P-rating expresses performance relative to comparably performing Pentium chips with Advanced Micro is using it to measure performance of its current and future iAPX-86 microprocessor products. The P- rating is based on Ziff-Davis’s Winstone 96 benchmark, which employs 13 actual Microsoft Corp Windows applications; a processor performing equivalent to a 75MHz Pentium gets a P- rating of P75, regardless of its clock speed. Advanced Micro used P-rating in October 1995 to introduce its Am5x86-P75 microprocessor. Based on a 133MHz fourth-generation core architecture, the Am5x86 device has a P-rating of P75, meaning it delivers the fifth-generation performance of a 75MHz Pentium.
