AMD’s K6-III ‘Sharptooth’ debuted this week in 1999 with on-die L2 cache to savage the Intel Pentium II — it also held the line against the Pentium III

Delidded K6-III.

AMD launched its first processors with on-die L2 cache this week in 1999, heralding the beginning of the Super Socket 7 era. With its new K6-III CPUs, AMD presented a major architectural leap above the popular K6-2 line, and knocked the Intel Pentium II 450 off its fastest processor perch. Intel would quickly follow up with its first Pentium III Katmai CPUs, but the K6-III could still outclass its pricier foe in cache latency-sensitive apps.

The Sharptooth scene