Это зависит от вашего сопоставления, например:
mysql> SELECT 'é'= 'e' COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
+-----------------------------------+
| 'é'= 'e' COLLATE utf8_general_ci |
+-----------------------------------+
| 1 |
+-----------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
mysql> SELECT 'é'= 'e' COLLATE utf8_bin;;
+----------------------------+
| 'é'= 'e' COLLATE utf8_bin |
+----------------------------+
| 0 |
+----------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Вы можете установить его для каждого соединения, если хотите:
mysql> SET collation_connection=utf8_bin;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)
mysql> SELECT 'é'= 'e';
+-----------+
| 'é'= 'e' |
+-----------+
| 0 |
+-----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
mysql> SET collation_connection=utf8_general_ci;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> SELECT 'é'= 'e';
+-----------+
| 'é'= 'e' |
+-----------+
| 1 |
+-----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)