Upgrade to Coffee Lake Now or wait for 9th Gen?

[LB3]

Hello,
I'm looking for suggestions regarding upgrading my CPU/Motherboard. I'm currently running an i5-6600k @ 4.5GHz with an ASUS Z170 board. I'd like to not overclock so I'm considering an i7-8700k since the boost clocks are good on this CPU.

I'm mostly playing esports titles (CS: GO, Heroes of the Storm, PUBG) but venture into AAA titles (Hitman, Tomb Raider, Shadow of Mordor). I can see my 4 core/4 thread CPU falling behind.

My budget is around $500 - $550 USD. Should I upgrade to an i7-8700k/Z370 now or continue saving and wait for 9th Gen Intel? Understandably, the 9th Gen Intel chips/motherboards will be very expensive at launch.
Thanks for the feedback, Lewis.

 

[WildCard999]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

 

[volkgren]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

I thought they were supposed to be out this week or next?

 

[WildCard999]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

I thought they were supposed to be out this week?

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-9th-generation-coffee-lake-refresh,37898.html
"The processors are available for pre-order today, with broad availability on November 19."

I'm kind of disappointed, wanted to get my 9600K soon to replace my G5400.

 

[geofelt]

9th gen is being announced today.
Your games depend on fast single core performance for the most part.
If your price point includes a i7-8700k, I think the i7-9700K will be the one you want. list price is $374
8 cores which can oc past 5.0.
Actually, I think the 6 core i5-9600K 6 core @$262 would be a very good upgrade.
If price is not that important, the i9-9900K 8 core, 16 threads will be $488

 

[larrycumming]

$488 for i9-9900k...

I believe intel will sell a boat load of these new i9's if they could have enough cpu's to sell....

sayonara to amd ryzen

 

[LB3]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

My local Micro Center store currently has i7-8600k for $329.99 and an additional $30 off when purchased with a motherboard. Estimating $180 on a motherboard gets me around $480 + Tax for the CPU/motherboard combo.

 

[WildCard999]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

My local Micro Center store currently has i7-8600k for $329.99 and an additional $30 off when purchased with a motherboard. Estimating $180 on a motherboard gets me around $480 + Tax for the CPU/motherboard combo.

Too high, you can get the 8600K & a good Z370 board for cheaper.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($279.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Asus - Prime Z370-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($158.90 @ OutletPC)
Total: $438.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-08 11:11 EDT-0400

 

[LB3]

9th gen is being announced today.
Your games depend on fast single core performance for the most part.
If your price point includes a i7-8700k, I think the i7-9700K will be the one you want. list price is $374
8 cores which can oc past 5.0.
Actually, I think the 6 core i5-9600K 6 core @$262 would be a very good upgrade.
If price is not that important, the i9-9900K 8 core, 16 threads will be $488

My whole budget would be around $500. The i9's are overkill for my situation. I like the 8700k because of the 6 core/12 threads @ 4.7GHz whereas the new 9700k is rumored to be 8 core/8 threads @ 4.9GHz... So for gaming I'd like top single core performance that's within my budget.

 

[LB3]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

My local Micro Center store currently has i7-8600k for $329.99 and an additional $30 off when purchased with a motherboard. Estimating $180 on a motherboard gets me around $480 + Tax for the CPU/motherboard combo.

Too high, you can get the 8600K & a good Z370 board for cheaper.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($279.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Asus - Prime Z370-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($158.90 @ OutletPC)
Total: $438.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-08 11:11 EDT-0400

Okay... that's an i5-8600k. I'm looking at the i7-8700k. There would be no point in "upgrading" from a 6600k to a 8600k. And max turbo on the 8600k is only 4.3GHz. Max turbo on 8700k is 4.7GHz and max turbo on 9700k is 4.9GHz but with 2 more cores and 4 fewer threads than the 8700k.

 

[geofelt]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

My local Micro Center store currently has i7-8600k for $329.99 and an additional $30 off when purchased with a motherboard. Estimating $180 on a motherboard gets me around $480 + Tax for the CPU/motherboard combo.

There is a big point in upgrading from a 4 core 6600K@4.5 to a 6 core 8600K @5.0
8700K will oc to the same 5.0 level but with 6 more threads that few games can effectively use.
An exception is multiplayer games which can use many threads.
The K processors are built to be overclocked.
Your are looking at the 5.0 level from any of them. Likely more from the 9th gen units.

Micro center does have good prices for walk in's.
But, you can order a i5-8600K from newegg for $279,
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117825

You can buy a z370 based motherboard for about $120.
Here is a asrock Z370M pro4 which I use:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157793

The current z370 motherboards will support 9th gen with a bios update.
It remains to be seen what benefit there will be for the z390 boards.

No telling if there will be a price premium for the 9th gen processors.
No doubt there will be for the i9-9900K.
But, I think the lesser i7-9700k and i5-9600k may well sell closer to list.

 

[volkgren]

All this jazz and I can't find a pre-order link. :/

*Edit: Found them on B&H Photo, but they're over MSRP.

I'm now wishing I would have bought the i7-8086K 2 weeks ago when it was on sale for $389-$399. 🙁

It's also not clear whether or not solder TIM comes on the i5-9600K or not; it just says it comes with the 9900K and 9700K.

 

[WildCard999]

All this jazz and I can't find a pre-order link. :/

*Edit: Found them on B&H Photo, but they're over MSRP.

I'm now wishing I would have bought the i7-8086K 2 weeks ago when it was on sale for $389-$399. 🙁

It's also not clear whether or not solder TIM comes on the i5-9600K or not; it just says it comes with the 9900K and 9700K.

I heard the solder TIM is on all 3, 9900K, 9700K & 9600K between TH & wccftech. That was one of the reasons why I was waiting as I heard it's better for overclocking.

 

[LB3]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

My local Micro Center store currently has i7-8600k for $329.99 and an additional $30 off when purchased with a motherboard. Estimating $180 on a motherboard gets me around $480 + Tax for the CPU/motherboard combo.

There is a big point in upgrading from a 4 core 6600K@4.5 to a 6 core 8600K @5.0
8700K will oc to the same 5.0 level but with 6 more threads that few games can effectively use.
An exception is multiplayer games which can use many threads.
The K processors are built to be overclocked.
Your are looking at the 5.0 level from any of them. Likely more from the 9th gen units.

Micro center does have good prices for walk in's.
But, you can order a i5-8600K from newegg for $279,
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117825

You can buy a z370 based motherboard for about $120.
Here is a asrock Z370M pro4 which I use:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157793

The current z370 motherboards will support 9th gen with a bios update.
It remains to be seen what benefit there will be for the z390 boards.

No telling if there will be a price premium for the 9th gen processors.
No doubt there will be for the i9-9900K.
But, I think the lesser i7-9700k and i5-9600k may well sell closer to list.

I agree, but it is a marginal upgrade, and you're correct about core usage versus thread usage. Disregarding threads, it sounds like I may postpone any upgrading and go for the i7-9700k @ $374 MSRP (at launch). With 8 core/8 thread and near 5GHz with turbo I'll be set for the next 4-5 years. Thanks everyone!

 

[steelzoid]

Just wait for the new generation. Consensus is to usually buy your upgrade right away since we don't usually have an ETA for the new generations but its already been announced and wont take much longer so why not save yourself some longevity for your build and wait until the new generation is released?

For a budget build recommend you to get the I5 8600K or for high end the I7 9700K or I7 9900K (But really, the I5 8600K is more than enough for gaming for quite a few years anyways, especially since it now has 4 cores)


Also suggest you to get a good z390 motherboard to overclock it and it'll add some extra performance to your build which you'll value in a few years.

Some good choices:
https://innoreviews.com/whats-the-best-motherboard-for-i7-9700k/

 

[mdd1963]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

My local Micro Center store currently has i7-8600k for $329.99 and an additional $30 off when purchased with a motherboard. Estimating $180 on a motherboard gets me around $480 + Tax for the CPU/motherboard combo.

That's a darn good deal, and, regardless of if a 9700K and 9900K might be 2 -10% faster in 1080P frame rates, or whatever, that will not suddenly make the 8700K seem 'slow' by comparison.

 

[LB3]

Just wait for the new generation. Consensus is to usually buy your upgrade right away since we don't usually have an ETA for the new generations but its already been announced and wont take much longer so why not save yourself some longevity for your build and wait until the new generation is released?

For a budget build recommend you to get the I5 8600K or for high end the I7 9700K or I7 9900K (But really, the I5 8600K is more than enough for gaming for quite a few years anyways, especially since it now has 4 cores)


Also suggest you to get a good z390 motherboard to overclock it and it'll add some extra performance to your build which you'll value in a few years.

Some good choices:
https://innoreviews.com/whats-the-best-motherboard-for-i7-9700k/

Yes, thank you. I'm only doing a core upgrade (CPU/Motherboard). So I will be waiting until late Winter/early Spring and go with the i7-9700k. I'll probably drop around $200 on the motherboard and hopefully the CPU will drop in price by then to around $350 since MSRP at launch is $375.

And my Micro Center usually has $20 - $30 discounts for buying the 2 together.

 

[LB3]

Pricing right now of Coffeelake CPU's is quite high, I would wait and see how much the preorders are for the 9th gen (hopefully MSRP). They should be out mid November if you can wait.

My local Micro Center store currently has i7-8600k for $329.99 and an additional $30 off when purchased with a motherboard. Estimating $180 on a motherboard gets me around $480 + Tax for the CPU/motherboard combo.

That's a darn good deal, and, regardless of if a 9700K and 9900K might be 2 -10% faster in 1080P frame rates, or whatever, that will not suddenly make the 8700K seem 'slow' by comparison.

Yes, I was VERY tempted to do this but in light of recent news I'll be waiting and saving until Winter and go for the i7-9700k (make the upgrade worth it right?). I'm only doing a core upgrade (CPU/Motherboard) so this CPU will be the sweet spot in my budget of around $500-550.

 

[volkgren]

Why would waiting months for the same CPU you can buy now make it worth it? Because of the expected discounts?

 

[LB3]

Why would waiting months for the same CPU you can buy now make it worth it? Because of the expected discounts?

It's not available until 10/19 and right now the pre-order price is way above MSRP. Prices for components usually drop within 3-4 months after launch.