Intel Unlocked Anniversary Pentium CPU Available Soon

It's not the first time we've seen information about the Intel Pentium Anniversary Edition processor, but now Intel is revealing a number of the missing details, namely the official technical specifications for the unlocked Pentium processor. And yes, by unlocked we mean that the multiplier is unlocked.

The chip is clocked in at a base frequency of about 3.2 GHz and comes packed with two cores. It drops into the LGA1150 socket, so it should work in almost all 8-series and 9-series motherboards, and because it has an unlocked multiplier, it can be overclocked when dropped into Z87 or Z97 motherboards. The chip also has 3 MB of cache, dual-channel DDR3-1333 memory support, and comes with Intel Quick Sync Video enabled, which is a nice surprise.

Why is Intel building this processor? Quite simply, the Pentium brand has been around for 20 years now, and Intel wants to celebrate, but the company probably also sees an opportunity to explore a segment of the market that might be interested in an unlocked $80 CPU. We're curious, too.

All in all, this chip should be a nifty little overclocker. Its exact purpose in the market remains questionable, though it will be a nice learning platform for overclocking. It probably won't be too expensive, and it looks like certain manufacturers are building budget-oriented Z97-based motherboards to accompany the launch.

Pricing is expected to sit around $80 per chip. They are set to hit shelves this month for those of you who are aching to learn to overclock an Intel chip without dropping hundreds on an unlocked Core i5 or Core i7 processor, nor want to use a possibly faulty secondhand chip.

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