Intel Core i7 Coffee Lake i7-8700 BOX (BX80684I78700)

Twelve Friends of Intel

The Core i7-8700 is the new leader in Intel's consumer processor lineup. Possessing twelve high-frequency (auto-overclocking up to 4.6 GHz) virtual threads of the latest Coffee Lake architecture, it was able to outperform not only the sixteen-thread AMD Ryzen 7, but also the expensive Core i7-7800X Skylake-X for the LGA2066 socket. Moreover, unlike the above-mentioned processors, the 8700 has integrated graphics (maybe it will come in handy).

Serious Appetite

If the power consumption of Coffee Lake up to the Core i5 roughly corresponds to that of Kaby Lake, then the twelve-thread Core i7-8700 consumes clearly more electricity than the eight-thread 7700. In this case, Intel's switch to the updated LGA1151-v2 socket, which has more active power contacts, seems quite justified. And in general, it’s better not to save money on the motherboard for the Core i7-8700: it’s better to make a choice in favor of, if not a top-end, then at least a mid-price model with mosfet heatsinks.

Not a toy at all

The Core i7-8700 is the only 8th generation processor that costs slightly more (15 percent) than its 7th generation predecessor. But even at the same time, it turned out to be one and a half times more powerful in multithreading and 10 percent in single-threading. For building a gaming PC, even with a performance margin for many years to come, the i7-8700 is perhaps redundant. His destiny is professional workstations for video editing or three-dimensional modeling, which sooner or later will recoup the money invested in them.