i5 8600k or i7 8700k worth?

Cxrter

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Jun 1, 2016
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Sup, so im a person who doesn't stream but wants to play games at good settings, my current pc is outdated so im getting a new computer because of this, however for a guy who doesn't stream but wants to play games at high settings do i really need the 8700k or should i get the i5 8600k which is a lot cheaper?
 
Solution
Most games won't take advantage of more than 4 cores and the 6 of the i5-8600k will probably be fine for the next few years at least. What they will take advantage of though is clock speed. That's why Intel CPUs consistently out perform AMD chips because they have the extra speed and are not so reliant on the extra cores that say a Ryzen chip will offer. Taking a lower speed clocked locked I7-8700 over an overclockable i5-8600k would be a bad move if you just want a PC for mainly gaming. That k in the chips name means it will overclock easily through its clock multiplier. The i5 with just the 6 real cores you need will most likely take a higher overclock than an I7 with 6 real + 6 hyperthreaded cores.

TLDR : If money is a deciding...

XxDarkMarioxX

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Dec 25, 2016
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i7 8700k also have 6 cores with an Max Turbo Frequency 4.70 GHz this one will be better then the i5 8600k and yes the i5 8600k will be much cheaper but spending that bit off extra money will be good!. But both cpu are good with games and that!


or you could go with the Intel Core i7 8700 Socket 1151 3.2GHz Processor that is the same cores but Max Turbo Frequency to 4.60ghx

https://www.ebuyer.com/805382-intel-core-i7-8700-3-20ghz-processor-bx80684i78700?mkwid=s_dc&pcrid=51482416739&pkw=&pmt=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu_jYBRD8ARIsAC3EGCLKmFUQJjsDtSet7L7meVjP1WkaLW1A2oybfyCZl9gPV0TVJtsPeOQaAm7hEALw_wcB
 

Cxrter

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You do have a point here getting the i7 8700 could be a good idea and worth the money,
 

Major_Trouble

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Jun 25, 2007
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Most games won't take advantage of more than 4 cores and the 6 of the i5-8600k will probably be fine for the next few years at least. What they will take advantage of though is clock speed. That's why Intel CPUs consistently out perform AMD chips because they have the extra speed and are not so reliant on the extra cores that say a Ryzen chip will offer. Taking a lower speed clocked locked I7-8700 over an overclockable i5-8600k would be a bad move if you just want a PC for mainly gaming. That k in the chips name means it will overclock easily through its clock multiplier. The i5 with just the 6 real cores you need will most likely take a higher overclock than an I7 with 6 real + 6 hyperthreaded cores.

TLDR : If money is a deciding factor take the i5-8600k as it's the best value gaming chip right now.
 
Solution

Barty1884

Retired Moderator


Agree with most of what you said.... but this aspect is not strictly true.

It's more IPC (which, in & of itself is an average of 1000's of instructions) and single thread performance than it is clock speed. With a normalized clock speed, Intel chips will still outperform their Ryzen counterparts in gaming* but Ryzen 2nd Gen seriously reduced the gap.

It's minimal, and personalyl I would opt for Ryzen if I were building today, simply down to the value proposition. Typically well <5% performance difference in gaming -- and a heck of a lot cheaper!

*more often than not... of course it can vary title to title. ,
 
You might not have to rebuild the PC if your current PC is new enough. What are your current specs? Though if you have AMD or Core 2/1st gen Core i# you might want to go ahead with the more complete upgrade. Though if you have 2nd gen intel and up I'd strongly recommend you get just a CPU and use the rest of the money saved toward a graphics card. I recommend a 3770/k, 4770/k, 4790/k, or 7700/k. Depending on how old your system is. The Core i7 3770 can easily handle a GTX 1080 ti at 4K. Though at lower resolutions you'll probably be a little limited on the frame rate compared to an 8700K. At 1080p with a 3770 a GTX 1060 or RX 580 would be just right. Haswell can handle anything at 1440p on up. Even in a CPU intensive game like Assassin's Creed Origins a Core i7 4790K can keep up very well with an 8700K. In fact according to benchmark numbers that I've saw the 8700K performs exactly the same as the 4790K at 1440p in Assassin's Creed Origins. A gamer isn't going to buy an expensive graphics card like a GTX 1080 and up and play the games at 1080p. That makes no sense.
 

beinik6

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Nov 12, 2017
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I have the 8700k, but I'm also streaming sometimes and it works perfectly fine. So if you are just gaming, you may just go with the 8600k and buy something else for the saved money.