Core i7-7820X Extreme Edition Vs. Core i7-8086K Limited Edition

[hazeyez]

I am building a new BEAST gaming pc - going all out - no holds barred. It will have TWO 1080ti GPU's bridged with SLI, 64GB RAM, water cooled and a bunch more goodies. I have narrowed by cpu options down to these two cpu's -

 

Intel Core i7-7820X Extreme Edition Skylake 3.6 GHz LGA 2066 Boxed Processor  *OR*  Intel Core i7-8086K Coffee Lake 5.0 GHz LGA 1151 Limited Edition Boxed Processor

 

Now, I've been researching this for a few weeks now. I am fighting with myself over if the i7x / x299 chipset is actually worth the extra money. What are the advantages to it over i7 / z370?

 

As far as I can tell, by comparing these two processors - both are going for $399. 

 

The i7-7820x has 8-core & 16-threads and runs at 3.6GHz / 4.3GHZ turbo while the i7-8086k has 6-core & 12-threads and runs at 4.0GHz / 5.0GHz turbo (ALLEGEDLY!)

 

Now, the only substantial difference I can see aside from the cores/threads is that the i7x supports up to 128gb RAM, while the i7 only supports 64gb. - This is not an immediate concern as I don't plan on having more then 32gb-64gb anyway.

 

Userbenchmark[dot]com shows that the i7-8086k is the 4th fastest cpu out of the box - only behind the i9x series. And the i7-7820x is actually 9th. But - is the i7-8086k really as fast as advertised?

 

I NEED to know what you all think? I'm not looking to edit video or anything crazy besides game in 4k. I hear that cores/threads aren't really important for that.

 

PLEASE tell me which setup you guys prefer, and why? And tell me which do you think is superior to the other, and why?

 

THANKS!

 

[Princess Luna]

The i7 7820X is not an Extreme Edition CPU, the only Extreme Edition CPU in the Skylake-X line up is the i9 7980XE, the E actually stands for Extreme.

 

Either ways the answer is none, just buy an i7 8700K

 

The i7 7820X is worse at gaming since it uses Mesh instead of Ring Bus which increases latency and is damageable to gaming loads.

 

i7 8086K is just an i7 8700K with a fancy name so Intel can win free 75$ extra.

[nick name]

I haven't looked at the specs for the 7820X, but I am assuming it also has a greater number of PCIe lanes and quad-channel memory support on that chipset. If you want more cores I would recommend just going with a Ryzen 2700X instead of the 7820X and if you want the best speeds sticking with that 8086K or crossing your fingers with an 8700K.

[hazeyez]

2 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

The i7 7820X is not an Extreme Edition CPU, the only Extreme Edition CPU in the Skylake-X line up is the i9 7980XE, the E actually stands for Extreme.

 

Either ways the answer is none, just buy an i7 8700K

 

The i7 7820X is worse at gaming since it uses Mesh instead of Ring Bus which increases latency and is damageable to gaming loads.

 

i7 8086K is just an i7 8700K with a fancy name so Intel can win free 75$ extra.

@Princess Cadence

Looking at gaming benchmarks, the 8086k actually does show a slight increase in FPS over the 8700k. NOT by much, but - 

 

@nick name

I'm not concerned with cores, as much as I am with speed & gaming performance (as stated) - I will not go with Ryzen 2700x over the i7-8700k if I'm at that price point. 

 

But, why do you say "cross your fingers" with an 8700k? 

[nick name]

I say cross your fingers because the 8086K is basically an 8700K that is cherry picked for best performance. So you could end up getting an 8700K that performs exactly the same as an 8086K. And I don't recommend a 2700X if you want gaming performance. I would only recommend you consider it if you were looking at the 7820X as your first choice.

 

Edit:

I re-read your original post and you should go with the 8086K. You're paying a premium to make certain you get the best silicon and that's what you want for high frame rate 4k gaming right now. It's essentially guaranteed to get all 6 cores to run at 5.0GHz. Probably more since you will be water cooling. 

[hazeyez]

15 minutes ago, nick name said:

I say cross your fingers because the 8086K is basically an 8700K that is cherry picked for best performance. So you could end up getting an 8700K that performs exactly the same as an 8086K. And I don't recommend a 2700X if you want gaming performance. I would only recommend you consider it if you were looking at the 7820X as your first choice.

 

Edit:

I re-read your original post and you should go with the 8086K. You're paying a premium to make certain you get the best silicon and that's what you want for high frame rate 4k gaming right now. It's essentially guaranteed to get all 6 cores to run at 5.0GHz. Probably more since you will be water cooling. 

Where do you see a guarantee that all 6 cores will run close to 5GHz? Because a lot of critics say you're lucky if one ever reaches 5GHz.

 

 

[nick name]

Oh no it isn't a real guarantee. What I mean by saying guarantee is that the nature of the sku is that it is a binned 8700K and the best 8700K silicon hits 5GHz+ on all cores. And I don't know that I have read or seen anyone say you're lucky to get all 6 cores on an 8086K to hit 5GHz. Who said that? Because if it's true then get the 8700K because paying the premium for the 8086K isn't worth it.

[Lathlaer]

The only worthy CPU's from x299 are the i9's, if you are not getting one of them, skip that chipset and go with 8700k. 

[hazeyez]

8 minutes ago, nick name said:

Oh no it isn't a real guarantee. What I mean by saying guarantee is that the nature of the sku is that it is a binned 8700K and the best 8700K silicon hits 5GHz+ on all cores. And I don't know that I have read or seen anyone say you're lucky to get all 6 cores on an 8086K to hit 5GHz. Who said that? Because if it's true then get the 8700K because paying the premium for the 8086K isn't worth it.

@nick name they didn't say you're lucky to get all cores at 5GHz, rather they said you're lucky if you get more than one to hit those numbers.

 

@Lathlaer sounds good - I can put the money elsewhere anyway!

 

thanks!

[nick name]

3 minutes ago, hazeyez said:

@nick name they didn't say you're lucky to get all cores at 5GHz, rather they said you're lucky if you get more than one to hit those numbers.

 

@Lathlaer sounds good - I can put the money elsewhere anyway!

 

thanks!

You got some bad information then. All reviews I have seen and read about the 8086K say they all had no problems running all cores at 5GHz, but again there are many people with 8700K that can accomplish the same thing. So it's up to you on if you want to spend more on the 8086K.

 

Edit:

 

I just built my current machine and if it weren't for some mild content creation, Handbrake use and Twitch streaming then I would have gone with the 8700K. Also, I only have the 1070 ti and I game at 1440 or 4k.

[DogKnight]

For gaming purposes, an 8700k or 8086k would be the best. The higher clock speeds benefit games more than multiple cores the majority of the time. If thats the primary purpose of the PC, then that should be your answer. 

I have a 7820x. Using a H115i AIO cooler, I have it running all cores at 4.6ghz easily. And this is just using the motherboards free tuning software. With proper tweaking and higher grade RAM (i'm using 32gb of Corsair LXP 2666), it should be able to reach higher. 

I didn't build my PC for gaming. I use mine more for virtualisation which is where the additional cores and threads were beneficial. 

Hope this helps.