Editor choice

Intel core i7-8700K review: The most powerful CPU south of Skylake-X and Threadripper

 

Intel core i7-8700K review – While Intel’s Core i7-7800X offers an overdockable and affordable way to get six cores and 12 threads, all eyes have been on the mainstream Core i7-8700K instead, and for several reasons. Firstly, the 7800X’s quad-channel memory support isn’t a feature that will benefit gaming-focused enthusiasts, or even most content creators, and X299 chipset motherboards are also much more expensive than their Z370 counterparts. The Core i7-7800X itself might be a little cheaper than its Coffee Lake sibling, but the total system cost will end up being much higher

PROS:

  • Huge six-core power
  • Highly overclockable
  • Stable and easy-to-use platform
  • Mighty single-core speeds and gaming performance
  • Cheaper than Ryzen 7 1800X

CONS:

  • Doesn’t compete with Ryzen 1700 or 1700X on price
  • Cheaper 8-core Ryzens offer similar multi-core performance
  • Not compatible with older motherboards

The six-core Intel Core i7-8700K processor proves the company can do more with fewer cores than AMD Ryzen – bonus: this chip overclocks like a champ.
Kevin Lee
The ultimate gaming processor.
Michael Passingham

Also, while the Skylake-X Core i7-7800X was a much better overclocker than its Broadwell-E predecessor, managing to hit 4.8GHz relatively easily, the Core i7-8700K managed to get to the magic 5GHz figure with the same effort. Ultimately, the poor old Core i7-7800X has been trounced in more than one area, and even AMD’s Ryzen 7 CPUs are having a tough time usurping Intel’s new flagship mainstream CPU.

The fact that the Core i7-8700K can reach such high frequencies, and also sports HyperThreading, means it’s a match for AMD’s 8-core CPUs. In fact, by offering faster frequencies across the board at stock speed and when overclocked – it has a maximum turbo frequency of 4.7GHz – the Core i7-8700K is one of the best CPUs for lightly threaded applications and games as well.

It also has 12MB of L3 cache – 50 per cent more than the Core i7-7800X, although the latter has four times as much L2 cache. Even so, the Core i7-8700K is a beast of a CPU, and the only saving grace for AMD is that, despite it receiving a price cut since we first reviewed it a few months ago, AMD has been even more aggressive with its pricing, with the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 1800X now retailing for just over inc VAT.

The Core i7-8700K justifies its price with its super-fast performance, though. Its RealBench system score of 182, 794 was the fastest on test, and it also topped the table once overclocked, with a massive lead over every other CPU once we’d hit 5GHz using a vcore of 1.28V. The Ryzen 7 1800X and Ryzen 7 1700 were quicker at stock speed in our heavily-multithreaded Handbrake video encoding test and Cinebench, but the Core i7-8700K wasn’t far behind.

Also, once we’d overclocked the Intel CPU, it turned the tables in the former and was

It had a massive lead over every other CPU once we’d hit 5GHz using a vcore of 1.28V

barely 100 points behind in the latter. Once overclocked, it was also much faster than the overclocked AM D chips in our heavily multithreaded Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation game test, as well as the image editing and multitasking tests.

Intel core i7-8700K review: Conclusion

Ultimately, if you want the best overall performance and don’t want to invest in a high-end desktop system, the Core i7-8700K is the fastest CPU around, and is supremely lust worthy as a result. However, it doesn’t have everything its own way AMD’s Ryzen 7 CPUs offer much better value for money if your top priority is heavily multithreaded workloads, where they were faster at stock speed and when overclocked in several tests. Also, if you just want a gaming CPU, the Core i3-8350K costs half the price but performs similarly in lightly threaded tasks.

The asking price of inc VAT is certainly lofty for a mainstream desktop CPU, but if you’ll be throwing a range of tasks at your PC, and want a large range of motherboard options, as well as cheaper system costs compared with AMD’s X399 or lntel’sX299 chipset motherboards, the Core i7-8700K is worth the extra cash.

Intel core i7-8700K review: averall score

Speed
48

Value
23

Overall score
85

Intel core i7-8700K review: Verdict

The most powerful CPU south of Skylake-X and Threadripper, but it demands a premium.

Intel core i7-8700K review: Specifications

  • Base frequency 3.7GHz
  • Turbo frequency 4.7GHz
  • Core Coffee Lake
  • Manufacturing process 14nm
  • Number of cores 6 x physical
  • Hyper-Threading Yes
  • Cache 12MB L3 cache, 1.5MB L2 cache
  • Memory controller Dual-channel DDR4, up to 2666MHz
  • Packaging Intel LGA1151-V2
  • Thermal design power (TDP) 95W
  • Features FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI/BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMX
8.5 Total Score
Editor choice Intel Core i7-8700K Review

PROS
  • Huge six-core power
  • Highly overclockable
  • Stable and easy-to-use platform
  • Mighty single-core speeds and gaming performance
  • Cheaper than Ryzen 7 1800X
CONS
  • Doesn’t compete with Ryzen 1700 or 1700X on price
  • Cheaper 8-core Ryzens offer similar multi-core performance
  • Not compatible with older motherboards
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