Intel recently launched a Core i7-8086K Limited Edition processor, based on the company’s Coffee Lake architecture, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the venerable 8086. Although it wasn’t the first microprocessor employed in personal computers, the Intel 8086 laid the foundation for the x86 architecture, which has been at the core of virtually all “IBM compatible” or “Win-Tel” PCs released since.

Before we talk about where Intel is going with Core i7-8086K, however, we need to discuss where it has been. Intel put together this infographic highlighting the major advancements made in processor design and manufacturing over the last 40 years. As you can see, the transistor count is simply incomparable. The massive increase in transistor count was enabled by huge leaps made in the manufacturing (and design) processes. Whereas the 8086 was manufactured using a 3 Micron process – equivalent to 3,000nm – the Core i7-8086K is manufactured using a 14nm process. Larger wafers are also in use today and the die used in the 8086K is about 3x larger. Clocks have obviously ramped-up significantly as well. The 8086 chugged along at roughly 5MHz; the Core i7-8086K’s peak turbo frequency is 1000x higher at 5GHz.