Minimum mode is one of two different hardware modes of the Intel 8086

Intel 8086

The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel between early 1976 and mid-1978, when it was released. The 8086 gave rise to the x86 architecture of Intel's future processors...

 and 8088

Intel 8088

The Intel 8088 microprocessor was a variant of the Intel 8086 and was introduced on July 1, 1979. It had an 8-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range were unchanged, however...

 processors (CPU

Central processing unit

The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

). The other is maximum mode

Maximum mode

Maximum mode is one of the two hardware modes available to the Intel 8086 and 8088 processors . The other is minimum mode.Maximum mode is for large applications such as multiprocessing. The mode is hard-wired into the circuit and cannot be changed by software. Specifically, pin #33 is either...

. Mode selection is accomplished by how the chip is hard-wired in the circuit. Specifically, pin #33 (MN/MX) is used to select the mode, depending on whether it is wired to voltage or to ground. Changing the state of pin #33 changes the function of certain other pins. Mode cannot be changed by software. When MN/MX is high CPU operates in the minimum mode.