Colorful’s GTX 1080 Ti ‘Kudan’ Limited Edition GPU: 50 Units Made in 2017
by Anton Shilov on June 15, 2018 2:00 PM EST
If you are on the market for a collectible, do not bother with Intel’s Core i7-8086K, try to find Colorful’s iGame GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Kudan if you can.
Just days ago, Intel released its limited edition Core i7-8086K processor to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the x86 ISA. 50,000 of such CPUs will be produced with many going to Intel’s partners, sweepstake winners, and various VIPs, which will make the chip a collectable item a decade from now. Meanwhile, there are up-to-date products that are collectables even today. Meet Colorful’s iGame GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Kudan. Only 50 of these were produced last year and while theoretically they remain in production, do not expect them to become a mass product.
The Colorful iGame GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Kudan is not a new graphics card. It was introduced sometime in Q4 2017 and hit the market in December, an event we covered back then. The graphics card has a special “Turbo” BIOS mode and sets GPU frequencies to 1657 MHz/1784 MHz (base/boost), which is among the highest factory-overclock settings for NVIDIA’s GP102 in the industry. In fact, at nearly 1.8 GHz, the GPU on the GTX 1080 Ti Kudan card produces more TFLOPS than the GPU on NVIDIA’s Titan Xp. Higher compute performance does not mean that Colorful’s card is faster than the Titan Xp in all cases though, but this definitely sets the Kudan apart from other custom GeForce GTX 1080 Ti boards. Naturally, Colorful’s cards has a powerful VRM with iGame Pure-Power Inductance feature and silver-plated elements to reduce electric resistance. Obviously, it has a very sophisticated hybrid cooling system as well to guarantee stable operation. The graphics card was available in select stores in Japan for ¥158,890 (or $1399) late last year.
As reported, Kudan is the ninth-degree black belt in Japanese martial arts, the second highest rank after Judan (tenth-degree dan, the absolute top in modern martial arts). Kudan represents a rare top-grade master in martial arts that stands well above 99% of black belt holders. Only fifteen people in the worlds were ever promoted to Judan in Japan and there are only three living 10th dan holders, so even at 50 units made, the Kudan is not as rare as Judan. Nonetheless, Colorful’s card is more exotic than almost any graphics card that has ever reached the market.
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31 Comments
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Spunjji - Monday, June 18, 2018 - link
I just zoomed into the photo and noticed the fake gears between the fans, too. I rest my case.jordanclock - Friday, June 15, 2018 - link
And I bet the miners already picked them up.GreenReaper - Friday, June 15, 2018 - link
"...will make the chip a collectable item a decade from now" - can that claim truly be substantiated, especially given the flaws it has with regards to speculative execution? How many chips from a decade ago are collectible today?It's more likely that Intel wants to give people an extra reason to buy what they have now at an inflated price, rather than let it go to waste once it becomes obsolete - which will be very soon.
CaedenV - Friday, June 15, 2018 - link
Oh man... there are a few chips I would consider 'collectible'The old VooDoo cards, maybe the 8800/9800 GTX, a few specialty cards like the Matrox RT series.
But ya... the idea of anything this generation being collectible... nothing stands out as being particularly 'special'. Better than last gen, worse than next gen, but not exactly the 'first' at much
AsParallel - Friday, June 15, 2018 - link
It's not collectible by itself, but couple it in a set with an Intel 8086 from 78 and an 8077 coprocessor + spec sheets and you'll net a few grand on the 50th anniversary of the 8086Lord of the Bored - Saturday, June 16, 2018 - link
What if I've got an 8088 from AMD soldered into a board?close - Saturday, June 16, 2018 - link
"Collectible" is synonymous with "rare". That's it. Performance or looks aren't important if everybody's got one. But when only 50K CPUs are made and they are a "one of a kind Anniversary Edition" then you can call the collectible even if the performance is disappointing, they suffer from bugs, they are expensive, etc.Some of the best collectibles are items that are uniquely flawed.
mode_13h - Monday, June 18, 2018 - link
There are plenty of rare things nobody wants, because they were bad or have outlived their usefulness.I honestly don't see how an i7-8086K can ever be an object of exceptional desire, when it's a chip that's identical to tens or hundreds of millions. That's just stupid.
At least this thing has a fancy box, accessories, and a unique shroud. Not that I'm saying it's worth it, but at least they went to some trouble to make it "feel" special, and the box will look nice on your shelf.
close - Monday, June 18, 2018 - link
Well they're worth a lot to anybody collecting that particular type of thing. Plenty of things bankrupted the company making them due to being such failures in every regard, and now fetch huge prices to go into one collection or another.And a good example are Engineering Samples, especially ones that display weird "preproduction" models, not just the ES moniker. They usually command a small premium over the regular model and not because they're faster or better, or because that particular model is still in demand.
close - Monday, June 18, 2018 - link
BTW, I'm not saying "go ahead and buy the 8086K". It's definitely not worth it regardless of box, stuff in the box, etc. But given the low numbers and the less than ordinary branding it will most likely be a collector item in some years.What I'm saying is that in a decade or 5 this CPU will be worth slightly more than the millions of 8700Ks.