Intel Core i7-8700, 6 Cores & 12 Threads Desktop Processor with Intel UHD Graphics 630

I will go into in-depth detail on any item since other popular reviews have given excellent information, so in quick summary:My Build (all components work flawlessly):1. Zalman ATX Mid Tower Case R1 (Nice looking case, provides room for everything, adequate cooling and allows good cable management).2. ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-H GAMING LGA1151 DDR4 HDMI DVI M.2 Z370 ATX Motherboard with Gigabit LAN and USB 3.1 for 8th Generation Intel Core Processors (Great expandability and room for future upgrades, enough USB ports for most applications).3. EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti GAMING, 8GB GDDR5, EVGA OCX Scanner OC, White LED, DX12OSD Support (PXOC) Graphics Card 08G-P4-5670-KR (Great balance of price and performance).4. Intel Core i7-8700 Desktop Processor 6 Cores up to 4.6GHz Turbo LGA1151 300 Series 65W BX80684i78700 (Came with a thermal solution (fan) but I used the Cooler Master - see below).5. 2 of Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD - CT500MX500SSD1(Z) (Man this is fast, Win10 boots in about 5/6 secs. and programs open fast as well).6. Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA M.2 Type 2280SS Internal SSD - CT500MX500SSD47. CORSAIR TX Series TX850M 850W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply (Adequate power supply for into the future and has ample connectors).8. Corsair LPX 32GB DRAM 3000MHz C15 Memory Kit for DDR4 Systems (Adequate for my application for work and gaming)9. Cooler Master Hyper RR-212E-20PK-R2 LED CPU Cooler with PWM Fan, Four Direct Contact Heat Pipes (Instructions are poor, system builders with experience will have no problem, first timers will eventually figure it out. Comes with all you need including thermal paste).10. ASUS MX239H 23-Inch, Full HD 1920x1080 IPS, Audio by Bang & Olufsen ICEpower HDMI VGA Frameless Monitor (Really nice monitor for the price though those heavy gamers will want something far superior. Built in Audio is good enough for You Tube and regular use, but I personally find its not so good for Netflix, look at some decent speakers based on your needs).11. Sabrent 74-In-1 3.5" Internal Flash Media Card Reader/writer with USB Port , Black (CR-USNT) (For the cost and convince you can’t go wrong).12. Asus DRW-24B1ST-KIT 24x Internal DVD Burner + Nero 12 Essentials Burning Software + Sata Cable Kit (Obsolete in some ways but good to have at times as some persons still give work items on CD).13. Backlit Gaming Mouse, Gaming Keyboard, Large Gaming Mouse Pad, PC Computer Gaming Headset with Microphone Combo, S101-BA Redragon RGB LED Backlit 104 Key Gaming Keyboard with Wrist Rest (No issues at all, good feel and responsiveness and mouse drivers are available on the website. The headset sounds good).

I got an Alienware Aurora R4 years ago with an i7-4820k. I now refuse to settle for anything less than an i7, even though I'd really like an i9 (although I think an i10 is coming). The "k" in my old CPU pretty much means it's one you can overclock, but I'm "old school." I'm not used to over clocking and I remember when it was risky and perhaps not worth it. Overclocking may still reduce the life of your CPU and I want my CPU to last as long as it possibly can. However, it seems easier now, less risky, and can unlock your CPU to give you it's peak performance. However, I decided I didn't really want to spend more than $300 on any component for my new PC that I built, so I went with this CPU. Maybe I don't need an i7, but I like plenty of power so that I can play whatever video game I want (especially new ones). Since I'm still not interested in over clocking, I decided to get the non-"k" version of this one and I don't regret it. Higher end Intel CPUs are more (too) expensive and this one felt like a good fit for the budget I gave myself. I currently have no regrets buying this CPU. Although it's a 3.2GHz CPU, CPUID's HWMonitor is telling me that it's running at almost 4.3Ghz. Windows Task Manager tells me it's running at or around 4GHz. I still think that's impressive! I have monitored it while gaming and it doesn't even seem to get overloaded (nor hot), which surprises me, too. Maybe I haven't monitored it enough or looked at it while playing something that is definitely extremely CPU intensive, but I'm still impressed. When I built this new PC, I used a Corsair AIO water cooler for the CPU in my old PC and moved it to this new one. Unfortunately that AIO failed too suddenly and my CPU reached 100c! Luckily, I still had the stock air fan that came with the CPU, which I used while my new water cooler arrived. I was actually impressed that the stock air fan kept the CPU at reasonable temperatures even while gaming. Actually, I think the CPU is idling at the same temp w/ the water cooler as it did the stock air fan. I strongly recommend this CPU, unless you have more money for a later model (including an i9) and must overclock your CPU. I play video games all the time, watch YouTube and listen to music. I may not be using my CPU to it's fullest potential, but I love it, it works great and I cannot see any reason why a different (newer) CPU would be necessary (for my use case anyway).

Was getting into more VM work and needed more cores than my 6th gen i5 had to support them all. This did the trick. This is lightning fast on multi-core intensive processes. Never even breaks a sweat when gaming. Annihilates video processing. Does everything I need it to do and does it well. I don't both with overclocking components anymore since most processors can 10-20% overclock stock as long as they are cool enough. This one is pinned at a 20% overclock when under load since I have a lot of cooling for my case. Never been let down with my Intel CPU and this one is no exception. Always recommend this as a solid CPU buy.

Thank God for AMD getting themselves back in the game.The i7 lineup has been somewhat "meh" for years, and in my opinion the i5, overclocked, has been the best option for gaming.But AMD putting pressure on Intel has now given us two more physical cores on the i7, and this is an excellent device. I'm not an overclocker, so I didn't get the K version, but the 8700 is a great device. It runs noticeably cooler than the 7700 in a friends PC (the transistor pitch is bigger on the 8700, making it's thermal characteristics better, but it's on a bigger die).I play a lot of simulations, where the processor is generally the bottleneck (it doesn't matter how fast your graphics board is, if the processor can't calculate the physics fast enough, you're frame rate will drop), but this brute forces it's way through.I'm extremely impressed with this.