Coffee Lake Builders Thread - Embracing 8th Gen Core

Which Coffee Lake CPU are you buying?

  • Core i7-8700K - 6C/12 @ 4.3/4.4/4.6/4.7 GHz (95W)

    Votes: 109 78.4%

  • Core i7-8700 - 6C/12T @ 4.3/4.3/4.5/4.6 GHz (65W)

    Votes: 10 7.2%

  • Core i5-8600K - 6C/6T @ 4.1/4.2/4.2/4.3 GHz (95W)

    Votes: 12 8.6%

  • Core i5-8400 - 6C/6T @ 3.8/3./3.9/4.0 GHz (65W)

    Votes: 4 2.9%

  • Core i3-8350K - 4C/4C @ 4.0 GHz (91W)

    Votes: 2 1.4%

  • Core i3-8100 - 4C/4T @ 3.6 GHz (65W)

    Votes: 2 1.4%
  • Total voters
    139
Pretty set on an 8700k as long as the ~10% increased performance is an IPC gain and not because of it's increased turbo clock over the 7700k... Actually, I'll probably pick one up even if the gains ARE from the increased clocks. I'm running a 4770k @4.5Ghz and I've had the itch to upgrade for quite some time. I'm hoping to pick up the 8700k, clock it at ~5ghz and just forget about the CPU market for the next five or six years.
 
Fixall said:
Pretty set on an 8700k as long as the ~10% increased performance is an IPC gain and not because of it's increased turbo clock over the 7700k... Actually, I'll probably pick one up even if the gains ARE from the increased clocks. I'm running a 4770k @4.5Ghz and I've had the itch to upgrade for quite some time. I'm hoping to pick up the 8700k, clock it at ~5ghz and just forget about the CPU market for the next five or six years.
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There are no core IPC changes. Any changes is due to cache, clocks and memory bandwidth.
 
I'm thinking of going from an 5820K/X99 to the 8700K/Z370...just waiting to see some benchmarks first, and maybe wait a month to let all the bugs out of the new chipset.
 
Shintai said:
There are no core IPC changes. Any changes is due to cache, clocks and memory bandwidth.
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Yea, that's what I've been reading. Not that big of a deal though. The 20% increase from going from 4.5Ghz to 5Ghz(ish) as well as the two added cores should be more than enough to keep me satisfied even with the measly IPC gains over Haswell.
 
This is my Destiny 2 build platform, 8th gen 6c/12t mitx in an ncase with whatever highest end gpu is at the time (1080ti most likely), hoping for a z370i rog strix with 2x m.2 nvme slots.
 
0ptional said:
This is my Destiny 2 build platform, 8th gen 6c/12t mitx in an ncase with whatever highest end gpu is at the time (1080ti most likely), hoping for a z370i rog strix with 2x m.2 nvme slots.
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TaintedSquirrel said:
How do you build around a game that hasn't been benchmarked? :p
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Seeing as how his build details outline a top end (consumer) CPU & top end (consumer) GPU, and he also wants a top end ITX motherboard with dual M.2 SSDs; I am pretty sure (as long as the RAM is a decent spec as well) that Destiny 2 should run alright.

Now, if he were coming in with an i3 & GTX 1060 3GB & the such, there might be some question as to the effectiveness of the build to run a (possibly) resource demanding game...
 
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I've had an NH-D15 collecting dust since Dec 2016 waiting for this build lol.

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At this point, I'm just going to ride out Coffee Lake with my 7700. Intel could have had a new CPU sale, but decided to lock out the Z270 boards.
 
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I'm still waiting for someone to show me some CPU use when running Plex decoding some HEVC stuffs. My Sandy is getting crushed lately when I get two/three people decoding the 265 stuff, and it really impacts what I'm gaming at the time.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
How do you build around a game that hasn't been benchmarked? :p
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The specs for their demo machines has been shared, 4k/60 on 7700k, 16gb RAM, nvme SSD and 1080Ti... I happen to have a 4k/60 display so... start there, add a bit for comfort, I use this machine for more than just a single game..

Boil said:
Seeing as how his build details outline a top end (consumer) CPU & top end (consumer) GPU, and he also wants a top end ITX motherboard with dual M.2 SSDs; I am pretty sure (as long as the RAM is a decent spec as well) that Destiny 2 should run alright.

Now, if he were coming in with an i3 & GTX 1060 3GB & the such, there might be some question as to the effectiveness of the build to run a (possibly) resource demanding game...
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Yeah, I'm probably a better candidate for HEDT platforms based on my profession/usage but when I go that route I seem to start blurring the lines between what my server does and is and what this new machine would be.
 
Definitely the 8700K for me.

I'll either play dice or just goto Silicon Lotto and get at least a 5.2 part. It'll get de-lidded sooner rather than later, thrown under water, HT disabled, 1.5v thrown at it from the start and then see where it tops out...:cool:

...and more likely on a Asus Hero X.

This shit's gotten so standardised on the Intel side of things, it's almost boring now is my only beef! :oldman:


I can't see the Z370 boards dropping any time soon though. I mean like, has Intel actually stated a desktop release for this year?
 
spine said:
I mean like, has Intel actually stated a desktop release for this year?
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Yes. OEMs also having SKUs ready.

spine said:
I can't see the Z370 boards dropping any time soon though. I mean like, has Intel actually stated a desktop release for this year?
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Almost all 300 series lineups are known as this point.
 
Shintai said:
Yes. OEMs also having SKUs ready.

Almost all 300 series lineups are known as this point.
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Good to know, I've seen at least Asus's lineup so far. It's gunna be pretty much an almost exact rehash of z270 equivalents though right? for basically all manufacturers I expect, so I'm thinking I might be better off saving a bit go with a more midrange Strix part this time rather than Hero. Intel have shown they'll obselete a chipset just like that, so seems hard to justify the frankly crazy prices the top end boards ask for these days.

I can see why Intel dropped z270 support though. I was recently-ish thinking I might just get a 7700K, but rather than go with say a Strix Z270, I would instead get a ROG Hero Z170 for less and it'd overclock everything better, possibly including the ram. Bet Intel wanna shoot that idea down via pressure from mobo makers for failing to make their chipsets worth upgrading for.
 
I saw a ROG STRIX Z370I GAMING, hoping that's the ITX variant, that's my plan.
 
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Still rocking my 3930k, but I think its finally time to upgrade. Going to see how the benchmarks look for CL then will decide between that, Ryzen or the X299 CPUs.
 
DDR4 ram prices are what's holding me back.

Currently it makes any upgrade over my 4790K a waste of money for the actual gain. Coffeelake might be the tipping point...
 
I'll say I'm going to upgrade, but then they'll start talking pcie 4.0 and usb 3.2 on ice lake "in six months", and it'll force me to acknowledge my min frames @1080p are still above 50 @ ultra settings, and I'll hold out...

.... sigh
 
I was going to wait for the 8700K but it has come to my attention that I can get a 7800X for $350 at MC. Makes me wonder how the two will compare. Do we have any details on Z370 yet? If the two end up comparable going 7800X for X299 may be the way to go.
 
Depends on your workloads, maybe? The 8700K is going to be better for gaming.
The 7800X is still a more expensive platform.
 
Going to skip coffeelake, not buying a z370 when the true 300 series is coming out with cannonlake. Icelake and 400 series since every step needs a new board, the new architecture looks interesting.
 
I want to see real performance, but I think I might be getting the 8700k depending on pricing. If its ~300 with better overall performance than an r7, ill buy. Also will probably be building a PC for a coworker too with the new coffeelake. Cant wait for release day!
 
I can see the i7 8700k going for $389 and a decent board like $200+. Make me wonder if i should wait or spend a few more and get the 7820x
 
I am planning an 8700k build for audio production and gaming. Want to do it as soon as hardware is available. I was hoping Asrock would come out with a Fatal1ty z370 m-itx board at launch time because one of my audio components needs Thunderbolt. The only z270 m-itx board I am aware that had Thunderbolt 3 was the Asrock Fatal1ty z270 m-itx. Does anyone know of another m-itx board that has Thunderbolt 3? Otherwise, I suppose I am waiting patiently for the Fatal1ty m-itx z370. Will there be one, you think?
 
m_isom said:
Going to skip coffeelake, not buying a z370 when the true 300 series is coming out with cannonlake. Icelake and 400 series since every step needs a new board, the new architecture looks interesting.
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I prefer to see Z370 simply as a highly refined Z170.

There'll be beefier power phases for all mobos due to the extra cores, so all these SKUs will be pretty damn nice.
 
toddw said:
I'll say I'm going to upgrade, but then they'll start talking pcie 4.0 and usb 3.2 on ice lake "in six months", and it'll force me to acknowledge my min frames @1080p are still above 50 @ ultra settings, and I'll hold out...

.... sigh
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PCIe 5.0 is right behind it. Literally.

If you wait for what's coming next, you'll never buy anything. Nothing is future proof, you buy when you need to upgrade and accept that you will have a snapshot in tech time that you can live with for as long as possible.

Hell you're on PCIe 2.0 right now, 3.0 is literally double the bandwidth. You don't need 4 (or 5) yet anyway.

Give it some time and your components will make the decision for you. My Z68 motherboard just bit the big one, so I'm even more motivated for a coffee lake upgrade.
 
chenw said:
call me skeptical, but I am in doubt (until actual benchmarks at least) that Intel isn't giving us something without taking something back.

EG Skylake-X, they gave us more cores per $ spent, but they also moved up their 44 lane CPU compared to Broadwell-E (lowest 40 lane CPU costed $600 from Broadwell, but Skylake it now costs $999 for 44 lanes), so I am not entirely convinced that Intel will give us more cores without taking something back.
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After Sandy Bridge Intel has always given something at the cost of something else. Often, each IPC increase came at the cost of reduced clock speeds and or overclock ceilings. As you said, we now have to pay $1,000 to get all the PCIe lanes on X299 which is bullshit. Part of me wants to go for Threadripper just to flip Intel the bird on their bullshit pricing and gimpy PCIe controllers.

That said, I don't know what we could possibly lose going to Coffee Lake.
 
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Dan_D said:
Part of me wants to go for Threadripper just to flip Intel the bird on their bullshit pricing and gimpy PCIe controllers.
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Me too.

The fact that the lowest TR has more PCI-E lanes than the best intel HEDT chips, and they STILL have the 'courage' to up the cost of their 40 lane CPU is really getting into me.

At this stage I am thinking even Ivy Bridge E is a better buy.
Dan_D said:
That said, I don't know what we could possibly lose going to Coffee Lake.
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The pessimist in me is saying clock limitations (so their single core isn't as good as 7700k) or even worse shenanigans.
 
chenw said:
Me too.

The fact that the lowest TR has more PCI-E lanes than the best intel HEDT chips, and they STILL have the 'courage' to up the cost of their 40 lane CPU is really getting into me.

At this stage I am thinking even Ivy Bridge E is a better buy.
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Total PCIe lane allocation for the platform is the same on either platform. You just get more for less money on Threadripper and X399 than you do on Intel as the buy in for the 44 lane CPU's is $1,000. That said, AMD allocates more lanes to the CPU than Intel does, where as Intel has more lanes on the PCH. Unfortunately, the lanes AMD has on the PCH on gen 2.0 lanes. All lanes on X299 are gen 3.0. X399 is functionally the same as Intel's last generation X99 platform.
 
Dan_D said:
Total PCIe lane allocation for the platform is the same on either platform. You just get more for less money on Threadripper and X399 than you do on Intel as the buy in for the 44 lane CPU's is $1,000. That said, AMD allocates more lanes to the CPU than Intel does, where as Intel has more lanes on the PCH. Unfortunately, the lanes AMD has on the PCH on gen 2.0 lanes. All lanes on X299 are gen 3.0. X399 is functionally the same as Intel's last generation X99 platform.
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Won't xeon-w get you 44 pci-e lanes for sub $300 ? I'm looking at that or TR...
 
Need to see some benches. Have a z270 itx board an 16gb of corsair LPX 3000 cl15. Fingers still crossed it will support it without the igp.

Also want to see if mobo's will support all core turbo then I may go for 8700 vanilla, otherwise 8600k/8700k
 
Dan_D said:
After Sandy Bridge Intel has always given something at the cost of something else. Often, each IPC increase came at the cost of reduced clock speeds and or overclock ceilings. As you said, we now have to pay $1,000 to get all the PCIe lanes on X299 which is bullshit. Part of me wants to go for Threadripper just to flip Intel the bird on their bullshit pricing and gimpy PCIe controllers.

That said, I don't know what we could possibly lose going to Coffee Lake.
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With Z370 we lose the concept of same platform CPU upgrades. 1 motherboard for 1 CPU from now on with Intel in the mainstream.
 
spine said:
With Z370 we lose the concept of same platform CPU upgrades. 1 motherboard for 1 CPU from now on with Intel in the mainstream.
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SKL/KBL is incompatible with Z370. So the assumption that 300 series is IMVP9 VRM spec seems right. Icelake and Tiger Lake will use IMVP9 VRM.
 
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