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Coffee or Kaby Lake

Associate
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3 May 2011
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Leicester
Morning Gents, I'm at a point where I'm about to place an order for my next build and genuinely I'm torn between Coffee Lake or Kaby Lake. I'm finding better deals on Kaby Lake i7 7700k but is the difference vast between this and the 8700k?
 
Associate
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17 Feb 2018
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39
I suppose it would depend on what you’re using it for? Both aren’t going to have any problems with gaming but when it comes to productivity type work, you might benefit from the extra cores and threads that the 8700k has. Bigger cache too
 
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17 Feb 2018
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For only gaming I don’t think you’d see much difference, or at least not for a long time. In the future the 2 extra cores of the 8700k might make a difference but right now 4 cores is enough.

For me it’d come down to money, it’d certainly be nice to have arguably the best cpu on the market right now but you don’t need it
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2009
Posts
6,847
This shouldn't even be a choice. The i5-8600K will be better than the i7-7700K at everything and is cheaper, so the choice should really be between Coffee Lake i5 and Coffee Lake i7 in this case.
 
Soldato
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26 Jan 2007
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If I was buying right now, I'd stump up for the 8700k. The only thing I regretted about my 2500k was that I didn't pay for the i7...

Buying a 4c/8t Kabylake today would feel like buying an i3... its days are numbered.
 
Soldato
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Well some people are still doing fine with a Sandybridge ;) Had mine been a 2600k, I'd probably still have it, but I was getting desperate for threads and had to swap. From that perspective I personally would not purchase a 4c/8t gaming system today, knowing that the future enthusiast grade target is at least 6 cores.
 
Soldato
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13 Aug 2012
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4,277
Definitely go for coffeelake.

When it comes to gaming even the bottom end coffeelake i5 8400 is as fast as the old top end i7 7700k and is only £170 and doesn't need cooler or decent board.

If your after something cheap go i5 8400 rather than i7 7700k.

If you want something that will last a lot of years 8600k or 8700k.
 
Soldato
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19 Feb 2009
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3,371
Definitely go for coffeelake.

When it comes to gaming even the bottom end coffeelake i5 8400 is as fast as the old top end i7 7700k and is only £170 and doesn't need cooler or decent board.

If your after something cheap go i5 8400 rather than i7 7700k.

If you want something that will last a lot of years 8600k or 8700k.

Well if you use the stock cooler with it, you can kiss those boost clocks goodbye. :p
 
Soldato
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Permabanned
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If I was buying right now, I'd stump up for the 8700k. The only thing I regretted about my 2500k was that I didn't pay for the i7...

Buying a 4c/8t Kabylake today would feel like buying an i3... its days are numbered.

Days are numbered my ass, how long you intend to keep it, 10 years lol.

I give it one year max and it will be severe obsolete.
Come Ryzen 3000 with 24-thread becomes mainstream and the new pentiums will be with 12 threads :D
 
Associate
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And where will all the new software come from to use those threads? Yes, more threads are gradually coming, but it takes a long time even if the hardware was common which it's not nor will be soon (takes years to change the installed base significantly)

Edit: to the op though... The 8600k is an easy pick over the 7700k as others have said. Hope you enjoy your new rig whatever you go for :)
 
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And where will all the new software come from to use those threads?

When you use many applications at the same time, they always need threads.
I remember times when I needed to turn all background processes and threads off, in order to get a not annoying gaming experience.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Feb 2003
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29,640
Location
Chelmsford
I would personally go for the latest (8700k) as a worthy investment with the piece of mind that you can skip a few generations before even thinking of upgrading.. I skip 2 or 3 on CPUs and 1 on GPUs.

I'm still on Skylake 6700k.. I've got no intention of upgrading until at least next year. .. or when Icy Lake is available. I bought at the time with this purely in mind.
 
Last edited:
Caporegime
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1 Jun 2006
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33,508
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Notts
nothing wrong with i5s. you will generally keep up with the i7 for most of its life.the thing is though you tend to not need to upgrade as soon with the i7.so if you plan on keeping your system past 3 years id go with the i7.it may seem more but you will get better value out of the i7 in the longer run even though the innitial cost is more than the i5.
 
Associate
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6 Feb 2011
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374
Location
n ireland
After skipping so many generations with my 2500k I decided to go all out on the 8700k. I hope to skip many more generations with this beast. If money was a bit tighter I'd have went for the i5 as every one has mentioned its the best bang for buck
 
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