Intel Plans to Sell Unlocked Socket 1156 Core i7 Chip
In recent years, both major chip makers have taken to locking down all but just a select few processors. For Intel, only pricey Extreme Edition processors come multiplier unlocked, none of which appear on the LGA1156 platform. That's going to change.
Sometime in early June, Intel will release its first unlocked socket 1156 processor, the Core i7 875K. The "K' apparently stands for unlocked, and the chip will work on all P55-based boards, though a BIOS update will be necessary.
There's also no word on the frequency. As a point of comparison, the Core i7 870 runs at 2.93GHz, and we wouldn't expect the 875K to come clocked any lower. What we do know is that the quad-core part will come with a 95W TDP, Turbo Boost, and dual-channel DDR3-1333 support.
Price? Not a clue.

Image Credit: Intel
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AmTGMan
March 22, 2010 at 6:02pm
The Clock multiplier is upwardly unlocked, meaning you can set it as high as you want, or as high as you can stably go. Normally, the clock multiplier is locked at a certain point. (eg: 20x) An unlocked multiplier is a massive bonus for overclockers, as it makes it relatively easy to overclock the processor, with only voltage increases required beyond a certain point. Overclocking via the base clock/FSB generally requires tweaking various other settings to get a meaningful stable overclock.
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KyleG
March 22, 2010 at 11:03am
No word of the frequency huh?
A quick google search led me here.
It is the exact same as the i7 870 only with an unlocked multiplier so overclockers won't have to clock down ram and other things as they overclock their cpu.
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Trooper_One
March 22, 2010 at 10:45am
"Price? Not a clue."
You need a plan to infiltrate the sales & marketing department of Intel.
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keyzer2011
March 22, 2010 at 1:04pm
I saw a guy do that once. He used an empty 2 liter bottle, a rubber band, a 5/18 wrench, and a hot dog. Most elaborate plan I've ever seen...















