Intel announced that it is releasing the Core i7-8086K, a special edition processor that commemorates the 40th anniversary of the 8086, which debuted as the first x86 processor on June 8, 1978. Intel confirmed rumors that the processor will feature a 5.0 GHz turbo frequency, which is a record frequency for Intel's modern processors.
In addition, the company also announced that it will give away 8,086 of the processors in a sweepstakes, which you can enter at www.intel.com/8086sweepstakes.
Word of the 40th-anniversary processor leaked last week due to listings at several retailers, and follow-up reports speculated that Intel would only produce 50,000 units.
Sources have confirmed that this is a limited-edition chip, so Intel isn't positioning it against AMD's competing Ryzen processors.
The Core i7-8086K is widely thought to be a binned Core i7-8700K, and like all K-series processors, it will have an unlocked multiplier to facilitate overclocking and will not come with a bundled heatsink. The processor does leverage Intel's UHD Graphics 630 integrated graphics.
The processor would feature Indium solder to facilitate much higher overclocking headroom, but we're told the processor features Intel's standard thermal transfer material.
That means the Core i7-8086K features many of the same characteristics, such as cache allocations and memory support, as the Core i7-8700K.
Due to its higher bin, we expect the Core i7-8600K to easily hit 5.1 to 5.2 GHz when overclocked, but this falls within the range of some existing upper-tier Core i7-8700K SKUs.
