Headroom and legroom in the 80960 architecture

Designing with a 32-bit processor requires a major investment of both hardware and software resources. Companies today rarely introduce successful ´one size fits all´ products, but rather must design several products with varying degrees of features, performance and cost, to satisfy the marketplace. Once a decision is made on a 32-bit processor, it is highly desirable that this processor fit the needs of these end products across the price/feature/cost range. The Intel 80960 architecture satisfies this need by providing products which are code compatible and span a wide range of performance needs.<>