i7 8700K

Overview

The Intel Core i7-8700K is a Coffee Lake desktop CPU with 6 cores and 12 threads, a 3.7 GHz base clock and up to 4.7 GHz Turbo Boost. Built on Intel's 14nm Coffee Lake process, the 8700K ships with an unlocked multiplier for overclocking and includes Intel UHD Graphics 630 for basic display and Quick Sync video acceleration.

Performance & technical details

The i7-8700K features 6 physical cores / 12 logical threads, 12 MB of Intel Smart Cache and a 95W TDP. It excels at single-threaded workloads thanks to high turbo clocks (4.7 GHz on a single core) which translates to strong gaming performance and fast application responsiveness. Official memory support is DDR4-2666, and the chip fits LGA1151 motherboards from the 300-series (Z370/Z390 for overclocking). While it’s now a few generations old, its IPC and turbo behaviour keep it competitive for high-FPS 1080p gaming and general productivity.

Practical use cases

Gaming: the i7-8700K remains a great choice for 1080p high-refresh gaming when paired with a capable GPU — it will commonly be the CPU bottleneck only in extremely high-FPS or poorly optimised titles. At 1440p the GPU usually becomes the limiting factor, so the 8700K still performs well. Content creation: 6 cores/12 threads provide solid performance for photo editing, Premiere timelines and moderate 4K video edits; hardware Quick Sync accelerates H.264/H.265 encoding which is useful for streaming and quick exports. Overclocking: because the 8700K is unlocked, you can push higher clocks on a Z370/Z390 board, but expect higher power draw and thermals — a quality cooler is recommended for stable sustained boosts.

Specs summary

• Model: Intel Core i7-8700K (Coffee Lake)
• Cores / Threads: 6 / 12
• Base / Turbo: 3.7 GHz base, up to 4.7 GHz Turbo Boost
• Cache: 12 MB Intel Smart Cache
• Process: 14nm (Coffee Lake)
• TDP: 95W (stock)
• Integrated GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Quick Sync support)
• Socket / Chipset: LGA1151 (300-series motherboards; Z370/Z390 for overclocking)
• Memory: DDR4-2666 official support
• Multiplier: Unlocked for overclocking

Who this processor is ideal for

The i7-8700K is ideal for gamers who want high single-core performance and overclocking headroom for 1080p high-FPS builds, streamers who benefit from Quick Sync accelerated encoding, and content creators who need strong day-to-day editing performance without moving to pricier 8+ core CPUs. It’s a solid choice for mid-to-high-end systems where price-to-performance and single-thread speed matter.