B07598VZR8

Having the i7-4790k I waited for a few generations before upgrading my CPU. I was waiting for the right time to upgrade and I bought the i7-8700k w/ Aorus Gaming 7 Combo after waiting for years.

It took a while to get the CPU after I bought it but it finally arrived. Patience paid off, I am one very happy customer.

i7-8700k @ 5.0GHz – 4133 DDR4 RAM RGB TridentZ Ram w/ Aorus Gaming 7

Overclocking:
All I had to do was go into BIOS and enable 5.0GHz mode and enable Memory XMP and I was setup within minutes, I couldn’t believe it.

Performance in games:
Don’t expect to get 20-30+ FPS increases in all games
Overwatch I bumped up 25-35FPS I run 1440p 150% Render Resolution at Max at a constant 144fps

Destiny 2 bumped up 5-10 frames in some areas and 20 fps other areas, definitely could notice and tell the difference between CPUs

Another important thing, I can finally watch things on my 2nd monitor (netflix, cabletv, etc.) without visible gaming performance impact. I can have something in the background playing while gaming that alone was well worth it for me.

I highly suggest making the jump if you dont have the 7700k

Bought this on Oct 6., was finally delivered on Nov. 5. I had been buying parts since July and really was excited once I knew it had shipped so I was ready to do the mods I wanted to before turning on the first time. With the CPU out of its box and ready for action, I immediately delidded with Rock-It kit. Cleaned off Intel’s TIM and replaced with Phobya liquid metal. Resealed with Rock-It kit and black RTV leaving the extra spot for heat expansion that you’ll see once you delid. Let dry overnight and NOW came the time to build exactly just one month after ordering.

Placed an ASRock Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming K6 into a very nice Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass (I have bought Phanteks for my last two builds and this case has impressed me beyond what I could have expected). Next, I placed the CPU into the board and installed a Kraken x62 (with replaced fans using 4, Corsair ML140 in push/pull) for cooling. I decided to go with Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut between the 8700K and the x62 . Of course, at this point I wanted to boot to see how things looked temp wise but the rest of the build remained and at least we all know some fun was still to be had. So, off to installing a Samsung 960 M.2 for Windows and two Crucial BX300 – 480GB in RAID 0 for games along with a Seagate 4TB for bulk storage. An EVGA 1000 SuperNOVA G3 80Plus Gold went in for power as it would need to help deliver power to all these goodies along with an ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1080Ti 11GB Gaming for Battlefield1 … CoD4, DiRT 4, GTAV, and some of my other recent favorites.

My RAM choice was the G.Skill Trident RGB 32GB 3600.G.Skill 3600 and they slid in without issue.

First boot finally!!!! Into the BIOS I dived to check temps and set up the RAID and memory XMP. With the Kraken I was idling at 26, so I set up the RAID and went on to install windows/drivers/updates along with all the CAM software for the Kraken and NZXT Fans.

A quick reboot just to make sure everything was nice and smooth, which it was (phew), so one more reboot into BIOS to try for a pretty aggressive first OC. I pushed the 8700K to 5.1 GHz and pushed the G.Skill to 4133. Save changes, reboot, palms sweaty hoping I had maybe got a little lucky in the silicon lottery and would end up with a nice fast and quiet machine.

SUCCESS, as I easily went Into windows. Launched Prime95, full Torture Test with MAX LOAD… temperatures of… 62C!!!!! Same temperatures were seen in Heaven as I played with the OC on the 1080 and even saw a 1 degree drop with some linpack testing.

Looking at other reviews, it looks like delidding worked for me in this setup and I am glad I did it. Because of the temps, the fans on the Kraken are barely audible along with the other case fans.

Needless to say, this thing hums along nicely at 5.1 GHz with the RAM at 4133. Gaming is an absolute joy and day-to-day operations move with ease and fluidity. I am very happy with this CPU among all the other goodies and highly recommend it. If you decide to delid it, I wish you luck (just take your time) and great temp reduction.

Insanely fast. Coming from a 2600k OC 4.4ghz 1.2v. Much less stuttering and frame drops in games. Overall faster and smoother experience. Main question for me was NVME vs SSD. The answer is, there isn’t much noticeable difference when loading games and windows. I’m about to have gigabit internet and I know NVME will definitely be useful. Started with the Hyper 212 Turbo and had decent temps. @4.7ghz synced. Little toasty under P95 and avx. Got up to 80C but that’s not bad considering. I put it under water on my old EK block and temps are nice and cool. 68C max on P95. Running my 8700k @ 4.9 GHZ on 2 cores near stock vcore now. Temps stay a bit under 50C during most games. Very smooth experience. I did not buy it from amazon.

Pros:

-Outstanding gaming performance.
-Just about the fastest single threaded performance you can get.
-Over-clocks fairly well w/o deliding. (A good quality cooler is a must).
-6 cores/12 threads is no slouch for content creators & productivity either.
-Will be a viable CPU for many years to come.

Cons:

-Difficult to acquire.
-A little pricey due to scarcity. (I paid $419 which I think is reasonable).
-Non-soldered integrated heat-sink…they used thermal paste instead so depending on your situation it can run warm.
-To really push the limits of over-clocking, deliding is recommended, along with water cooling.

Other Thoughts:

I bought this CPU in order to finally make a leap up from my trusty i5 2500k Sandybridge that I’d been using since 2011. I have zero regrets. This thing is super fast. DO NOT buy from greedy scalpers. Just be patient and diligent and you can snag one for a reasonable price.

***My build:***

i7 8700k (Mild OC @ 4.8Ghz w/ 1.24 Vcore)
Arctic Freezer 240 AIO water cooler
MSI Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon
16Gb DDR4 3200 Corsair Vengeance RGB
Samsung 960 Evo M.2 250gb
Powercolor Vega 56 (Do not overpay for these either. At $450 or less, there is no better value, especially for free-sync).
EVGA SuperNOVA 750 Gold 80+
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower (Fantastic, roomy case)
“New Pixio” 27″ 1440p 144Hz Free-sync IPS panel monitor (Sexy monitor and perfect companion for Vega 56/64).