Intel's True 5GHz Core i7-8086K Limited Edition Processor Now On Sale
While that whole Computex debacle might have been a black eye for Intel, the company does have a "5GHz" processor that you can buy right now. That's right, we're talking about the Coffee Lake-based Core i7-8086K Limited Edition, which was also announced this week at Computex. The Core i7-8086K Limited Edition was developed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Intel's legendary 8086 processor, and there will only be 50,000 of these processors produced for global consumption.
The Core i7-8086K Limited Edition is unlocked, has six physical cores (12 threads) and has a base clock of 4GHz with a single-core turbo frequency of 5GHz. That puts its comfortably ahead of Intel's previous top-dog mainstream processor, the Core i7-8700K which clocks in at 3.7GHz and 4.7GHz respectively.
Amazon is currently selling the Core i7-8086K Limited Edition for $425 with free one-day shipping (for Amazon Prime subscribers), which compares to $349.89 for the Core i7-8700K.
While the 4GHz base clock and 5GHz turbo clocks are no doubt impressive, we can't help but mention that AMD's hexa-core/12-thread Ryzen 5 2600X is priced much more reasonably at just $209.99. It has a base clock of 3.2GHz and a max boost clock of 4.1GHz, but it also comes unlocked and costs half the price of the Core i7-8086K Limited Edition. The AMD chip even includes a cooler in the box and still comes in well below the price of the Core i7-8700K.
With that being said, even though Intel "forgot" to tell us all that it was playing some tricks to hit 5GHz with its 28-core processor, rest assured that 5GHz chips from the factory are a reality, and you can even enter for your chance to win one for free direct from Intel right here.
