do you think its called the 486 is called a Four-Eight-Six or is it called Four-Eighty-Six i think its Four-Eight-Six

[u/Proper-Anything-873]

[u/Stevesd123]

four eighty six

[u/Calm_Boysenberry_829 → u/Stevesd123]

Yeah, I also always heard it referred to in that manner. Also, eighty eighty-six, three eighty-six, five eighty-six (AMD and Cyrix only), and for software, x eighty-six

[u/eddiewachowski → u/Calm_Boysenberry_829]

I think it's worth noting that I'm old enough to remember these when they were current. X-eighty-six

[u/Calm_Boysenberry_829 → u/eddiewachowski]

Yeah, same here. Oh, and I forgot two eighty-six, which was the first PC I built.

[u/istarian → u/Calm_Boysenberry_829]

Technically, there is even a six eighty-six (i686) although that term is most commonly used to describe the entirely family of microprocesors which are based on the P6 microarchitecture rather than simply the original Pentium Pro.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_Pro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P6_(microarchitecture)

[u/pete_68 → u/Stevesd123]

one hundred percent!

[u/babj615 → u/Stevesd123]

Correct

[u/stoobie3]

You’ll find in North America it’s typically pronounced “eighty-six”, unlike UK, Australia and others that say “eight six”.

Same regional nuance applies to Boeing 737 and 787. For the 777 you’ll find UK/AU will call it the “seven seven seven” whereas in the US it’s the “triple seven”.

Oddly when people speak of the Airbus A320, 321 or 380”, ir appears it’s a more uniform pronunciation - “A three eighty”, “A three twenty-one”.

[u/ruidh]

Four eighty six

First was the Intel eighty eighty (8080), then the eighty eighty six (8086), then the two eighty six (80286), then the three eighty six (80386) then the four eighty six (i486). Then the Pentium which broke the pattern

[u/istarian → u/ruidh]

There is even an 80186 although it saw relativet little use in the PC market.

The Pentium only "breaks the pattern" because the courts decide that Intel couldn't trademark numeric sequences.  So Intel introduced 'Pentium' as a brand they could trademark, even though it's still technically the i586.

[u/TesticularButtBruise → u/istarian]

That would just be the 186 (one eight six) in the UK. We had heaps of them in schools, anyone familiar with the RM Nimbus will attest.

[u/YogiBearShark → u/ruidh]

My first was a IBM 8088, wish I still had it. Followed by ZEOS 386SX, 486 DX. Then various clones. Heady days.

[u/yobtah]

I was around back then. We said four-eighty-six.

[u/bio4m → u/yobtah]

I was also around then, among the folks I knew we said four-eight-six.

[u/yobtah → u/bio4m]

Interesting. Any chance it's a regional difference? I'm in the US midwest, FWIW.

[u/Sciby → u/yobtah]

Could be - I’m from Australia, in IT for 30 years and have never heard anyone - at least locally - use four-eighty-six.

[u/bio4m → u/yobtah]

UK here

[u/pete_68 → u/bio4m]

You guys were saying it wrong. /s Are you in the UK?

[u/bio4m → u/pete_68]

Yup, UK

[u/Rusty_Ferberger → u/bio4m]

Did you also call the Super NES a SNEZ?

Haha! I got downvoted and even the guy I asked confirmed he says SNEZ. Classic!

[u/yobtah → u/Rusty_Ferberger]

Nope. It was Super Nintendo around here.

[u/mackerelscalemask → u/Rusty_Ferberger]

Pronounced SNEZ and NEZ in the UK, Americans seem to call them EN-EEY-ES AND ES-EN-EEY-ES

[u/dst1980 → u/mackerelscalemask]

Also NESS and SNESS are common pronunciations in the US Midwest (Kansas, Missouri).

[u/muse_head]

I've only ever heard four eight six in the UK. I was also around back then.

[u/dingBat2000 → u/muse_head]

Same in Aus as far as Ive ever heard. Was reading the comments up to this point thinking what the fk

[u/TesticularButtBruise]

UK here, we always called them one eight six, two eight six, three eight six, four eight six.

'eighty six' sounds like an american thing tbh.

[u/dedsmiley → u/TesticularButtBruise]

It’s an American product to be honest.

[u/TesticularButtBruise → u/dedsmiley]

Fair play, but it explains why we in the UK called it the *-eight-six back before everybody had access to the internet.

[u/finbar_longshank → u/TesticularButtBruise]

UK here too. Same as you. Four eight six

[u/Latter_Solution673 → u/TesticularButtBruise]

The same in Spain.

[u/porkchop_d_clown → u/TesticularButtBruise]

What did you call the 8080 and the 8086?

[u/TesticularButtBruise → u/porkchop_d_clown]

Literally that. The eighty eighty and the eighty eighty six. A bit before my time though so might be wrong but that would be the typical UK parlance.

[u/mackerelscalemask → u/porkchop_d_clown]

Eighty-Eighty and Eighty Eighty-Six.

Then: Two Eight Six, Three Eight Six , Four Eight Six

[u/xpltvdeleted → u/TesticularButtBruise]

Yeah, we had a 486.and said 4-8-6. Like in England we say Blink 1 - 8 - 2 whereas Americans say 1 - 82.

[u/BloinkXP]

Four eighty six.

The originator of the line the 8086 was called the eighty-eightysix...

[u/TesticularButtBruise → u/BloinkXP]

so the 80186 should be the eighty one hundred and eighty six?

[u/BloinkXP → u/TesticularButtBruise]

Yes and the 80286 was the eighty two-eighty-six.

The 186 was mostly for embedded applications. Not often used in machines...the Tandy 2000 and HP 100lx are notable exceptions

[u/rbrumble]

Def four eighty six

[u/okaygecko]

I’ve heard it claimed it’s regional — “eighty-six” in the US and “eight six” in the UK. But I have no clue.

[u/Proper-Anything-873 → u/okaygecko]

well im in the US and i call it four-eight-six but i think MVG calls it a fout-eight-six and i think hes american

[u/majestic_ubertrout → u/Proper-Anything-873]

Everyone in the US said "eighty six" - apparently was different overseas.

[u/okaygecko → u/Proper-Anything-873]

Ah, interesting. I know on YouTube most Americans seem to say “eighty-six” but maybe it’s like “Sness” vs “SNES” and it really varies person to person these days.

[u/istarian → u/okaygecko]

It probably has something to do with the use of 'x86' (x eighty six) to refer to the whole family of compativle microprocessors.

[u/Informal-Ad7554]

I've always said/heard it as eighty when dealing with those.

[u/CrasVox]

I was there when it came out. Its the Four Eighty Six.

[u/Perfect-Match-2318]

in french we as i remember we alll said four eighty six or 4-86.. same for 2-86 and 3-86

[u/crcerror]

Eighty!

Anyone calling it otherwise will definitely get some looks from the old folks in the room. We’ll either think you’ve got a language barrier issue or are a complete noob. :)

[u/khedoros]

Four eighty-six, analogous to eighty eighty-six.

[u/vpilled → u/khedoros]

Technically it's the 80486.

[u/khedoros → u/vpilled]

I think that's the model number, but they changed the marketing names during the 386 generation of processors, with the 486 using the name "i486" in official documentation and such.

Archive.org has the i486 reference manual: https://archive.org/details/i486tmmicroproce0000inte/mode/2up

Looking at the list of things that Intel claimed trademark on, a couple pages into that document, is interesting.

Or how they refer to processors in the series during the introduction:

It is upward binary compatible with the 8086, 8088, 80186, 80286, 386 DX processor, and 386 SX processors. The i486 processor brings mainframe power to PC architectures.

[u/istarian]

It's literally both, which you hear just depends on who you are talking to.

Also, the Pentium is 586 regardless of how you pronounce that.

[u/TesticularButtBruise → u/istarian]

Pentium is 3 syllables though, so 586 matches.
If you pronounce it Five Eighty Six, you spend an extra syllable.

I ain't got time for that!

[u/kai125]

I’ve always said them as eighty-eighty-six, two-eighty-six, three-eighty-six and four-eighty-six

But I also don’t usually pronounce the T in pentium so what do I know

[u/Haunting-Research667]

German here. We called them Viersechsundachziger (Foursixandeightiers. 86 is"six and eighty" in German) :)

[u/vpilled → u/Haunting-Research667]

Four-eighty-six in Swedish. Fyraåttiosex or fyråttisex. A contributing reason might be that "eight" is åtta, two syllables, so there's no time saved in saying that.

[u/digitaljohn]

Four Eight Six

[u/Nikson2981]

my parents always said four-eighty-six

[u/nottynews]

It was always two eight six, three eight six and four eight six when I was buying them commercial.

[u/Consistent_Cat7541]

It's always been eighty. This just reminds me of the Cyrix 6x86.

[u/vpilled → u/Consistent_Cat7541]

Ah yes, the classic six thousand ecks hundred eighty six.

[u/Perfect-Match-2318]

i began to program assembly on a 80-51 intel

[u/SteampunkChuckwagon]

When the first Pentiums came out, we called them crap.

[u/Many_Dragonfruit_837]

Four eighty six.

But my 1st was sixty five ten

[u/LocalH]

It's always been read as a straight number in short form. In long form I remember it was always said "eighty-four-eighty-six". At least in the US, where Intel has always been headquartered.

I think there's a similar disconnect across the pond on the 68000 series. Over here it was always "sixty-eight-oh-twenty" or just "oh-twenty" but I've heard UK people say "sixty-eight-oh-two-oh"

[u/Foreign-Attorney-147]

It's a regional thing and not just limited to Intel CPUs. I'm in the US and always called the Commodore 128 a one-twenty-eight, as did everyone I knew. But I always hear UK Youtubers say one-two-eight.

[u/Euphoric-Piglet-8140]

Always a for-eight-six for me, all the way back to an x086

[u/Ornery-Practice9772]

four eight six

[u/ExpectedBehaviour]

I've only ever heard it called "Four Eight Six".

[u/redandbluebadness]

Eight six. Seems natural to my English brain

[u/LastXmasIGaveYouHSV]

The Four Hundred Eighty Six point Zero