Intel Core i5-8600K Review: Coffee Lake's Jolting Value

[mlee 2500]

It's getting harder to go smaller, is the problem.

Everything he said

I think a lot of people have felt like Intel has really stagnated in the last 5 years. In 2012, Ivy Bridge was a huge disappointment (I have one at home). I think the title that Tomshardware used for their Haswell review was "...Enthusiasts Yawn". Broadwell was only interesting because of it's greatly improved graphics system. Skylake was a disappointment. The changes made by Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake should have been what Skylake was in the first place.

What happened to those leaps and bounds in performance from the late 90's and mid 2000's? In 1997 we had 233MHz and by 1998 the speed had nearly doubled. The Pentium 4 NetBurst architecture was mostly inferior to AMD's, but it still saw big improvements every year. Remember the transition to the Core architecture in 2006? HUGE improvement in a short time.

I've been saying this a lot in the last few months, but I'm really glad we have some competition back. I want to see those exciting jumps in technology like we used to get.

 

[Tanyac]

Software Guard Extensions. It's an Intel only thing at present, and only on Skylake and later CPUs. It is not supported on HEDT systems nor on AMD. It's required (Along with HDCP2.2 and other criteria), for 4K blu-ray playback and content creation. It you don't care about 4K, and never will, then it won't bother you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_Guard_Extensions

 

[samer.forums]

Software Guard Extensions. It's an Intel only thing at present, and only on Skylake and later CPUs. It is not supported on HEDT systems nor on AMD. It's required (Along with HDCP2.2 and other criteria), for 4K blu-ray playback and content creation. It you don't care about 4K, and never will, then it won't bother you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_Guard_Extensions

4K Blu-Ray existed before Skylake ... how is intel SGX required for playback ?

 

[cryoburner]

It sounds like both 4K blu-Ray playback and 4K streaming through Netflix currently have a requirement for SGX...

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/243463-new-pioneer-ultra-blu-ray-burners-pack-4k-playback-16x-burn-speeds

Apparently, the instructions are only required as a means of encrypting the memory to enable harder to break DRM. AMD's processors have similar memory encryption features already, but it sounds like the content providers don't support them, at least not yet. Of course, for 4K Netflix, in addition to a Kaby Lake or newer Intel processor with integrated graphics, you also currently need to play the video on Windows 10 in Microsoft's Edge browser. And for 4K Blu-ray discs, you'll need a 4K compatible Blu-ray drive, which currently cost upward of $150. And of course, a capable GPU and monitor, both of which need to support HDCP 2.2 and HDMI 2.0a, along with video playback software that supports these things as well. >_>

So, this isn't so much an issue of AMD not supporting a feature, it's that the content providers want to use strict DRM, and are not bothering to support it on certain hardware, at least for the time being. Of course, it's apparently still possible for dedicated pirates to rip copy-protected 4K content using modified hardware, and once the content has been ripped it doesn't require SGX or any of the other copy-protection for playback, so this strict DRM will do little more than get in the way of people wanting to legitimately view 4K content on their PCs.

 

[nikoli707]

i currently the best i see the 8600k with a basic z370 is about $340. i see the r5 1600 with basic b350 for about $260. tell me exactly how you guys are getting from a 1060 to a 1070 with $80? the best i see a 6gb 1060 is about $230 and the best i see a 1070 is about $370.

 

[TJ Hooker]

i currently the best i see the 8600k with a basic z370 is about $340. i see the r5 1600 with basic b350 for about $260. tell me exactly how you guys are getting from a 1060 to a 1070 with $80? the best i see a 6gb 1060 is about $230 and the best i see a 1070 is about $370.

Where do you see an 8600k+z370 for $340? On PCpartpicker right now an 8600K with the cheapest Z370 mobo is $400. You can get an R5 1600 + B350 mobo for around $250-260, like you said. You also need to buy an aftermarket cooler for the 8600K, so let's say that's at least $25. Price difference between the two platforms is now ~$165, in other words more than enough to go from a 1060 to 1070.

 

[cryoburner]

Where do you see an 8600k+z370 for $340? On PCpartpicker right now an 8600K with the cheapest Z370 mobo is $400. You can get an R5 1600 + B350 mobo for around $250-260, like you said. You also need to buy an aftermarket cooler for the 8600K, so let's say that's at least $25. Price difference between the two platforms is now ~$165, in other words more than enough to go from a 1060 to 1070.

That's not entirely accurate either. : D

While PCpartpicker might claim that the i5-8600K is "in stock" for $280 at B&H, if you click through to the site, you'll find that it's listed as a "New Item - Coming Soon" and you have the option to "Pre-order", with no estimate of when it might actually be available. So, they'll take your money, but don't actually have any stock to ship you, and might not for quite some time. It's been that way for a while, so I'm not sure why it's listed as "In stock". And the only other place listing the processor there is Newegg, where it is also out of stock, but $301 shipped. So you can't actually buy the processor from any major online retailer now, even if you wanted.

There is eBay though. There, the lowest "buy-it-now" price for a "pre-owned" i5-8600K is $380+shipping, and for "new", the lowest price is $400. So, the only way you're likely to get the processor in a timely manner right now is to buy it marked up from a third-party seller, where combined with a motherboard you may end up paying over $500. For that kind of price difference you might even be able to move up to a GTX 1080. : P

 

[YoAndy]

i currently the best i see the 8600k with a basic z370 is about $340. i see the r5 1600 with basic b350 for about $260. tell me exactly how you guys are getting from a 1060 to a 1070 with $80? the best i see a 6gb 1060 is about $230 and the best i see a 1070 is about $370.

Where do you see an 8600k+z370 for $340? On PCpartpicker right now an 8600K with the cheapest Z370 mobo is $400. You can get an R5 1600 + B350 mobo for around $250-260, like you said. You also need to buy an aftermarket cooler for the 8600K, so let's say that's at least $25. Price difference between the two platforms is now ~$165, in other words more than enough to go from a 1060 to 1070.

First of all not everyone buys the cheap stuff, but Lets be fair, Why are you choosing the R5 1600 instead the 1600X but picking the 8600K instead of the i5 8400?. You can get the 6 core i5 8400 @4.0GHz and a Z370 motherboard for around $300:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tbP3LD

 

[TJ Hooker]

Spoiler

i currently the best i see the 8600k with a basic z370 is about $340. i see the r5 1600 with basic b350 for about $260. tell me exactly how you guys are getting from a 1060 to a 1070 with $80? the best i see a 6gb 1060 is about $230 and the best i see a 1070 is about $370.

Where do you see an 8600k+z370 for $340? On PCpartpicker right now an 8600K with the cheapest Z370 mobo is $400. You can get an R5 1600 + B350 mobo for around $250-260, like you said. You also need to buy an aftermarket cooler for the 8600K, so let's say that's at least $25. Price difference between the two platforms is now ~$165, in other words more than enough to go from a 1060 to 1070.

First of all not everyone buys the cheap stuff, but Lets be fair, Why are you choosing the R5 1600 instead the 1600X but picking the 8600K instead of the i5 8400?. You can get the 6 core i5 8400 @4.0GHz and a Z370 motherboard for around $300:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tbP3LD

I wasn't the one who originally decided to compare those two CPUs, just replying to someone who did. However, the reason to compare the 1600 rather than 1600X is because you can OC the former to pretty much the same performance as the latter. The fact that all Ryzen CPUs are unlocked is one of their advantages over Intel.

But you're right, comparing against an 8400 may be more fair. But the $200 price tag you found for an 8400 is actually for a pre-order, with no info on when it will be available. On Newegg they're $260 (sold out), and they're $250 at Micro centre (in store pickup only). That + even the cheapest Z370 mobo ($120) means the price tag is probably going to be closer to $400 than $300.