Intel Core i7-8700 8th Gen Processor
Overview
The Intel Core i7-8700 8th Gen Processor is Intel's Coffee Lake answer to users who outgrew their quad-core systems and wanted something with real headroom. Launched in late 2017, it landed in the upper mid-range — not a flagship, but priced close enough to punch above its weight. Before buying, know that this chip requires an Intel 300 Series motherboard on the LGA1151 socket; older boards are a hard no. For those who can pair it correctly, the i7-8700 still holds up well given what it costs today. The onboard Intel UHD Graphics 630 also gives you display output without a discrete GPU, which is useful during builds.
Features & Benefits
Six cores and 12 threads might sound like a spec-sheet line item, but in practice it means this Coffee Lake i7 can handle a gaming session, a live stream, and background tasks simultaneously without the CPU becoming the bottleneck. The base clock is 3.2 GHz, though what most users actually notice is the 4.6 GHz Turbo Boost ceiling — single-core tasks feel genuinely snappy. The 12 MB Smart Cache helps in data-heavy scenarios like video scrubbing or large code compilations. DDR4 memory support up to 3200 MHz is well-suited to dual-channel configurations, and AVX2 instruction support means demanding media tools can extract real performance from this chip rather than leaving muscle on the table.
Best For
This 8th Gen six-core chip makes the most sense for a specific kind of buyer. If you already own or can source a Z370 or B360 motherboard, building around the i7-8700 is a cost-effective route to a genuinely capable desktop. Gamers running CPU-sensitive titles — open-world games, strategy titles, or anything with complex AI simulation — will find it holds up without strangling a mid-range GPU. Light video editors and streamers will appreciate the multi-threaded breathing room during exports and live encodes. It's also a dependable pick for system integrators and refurbishers who want a well-supported platform with years of community documentation behind it.
User Feedback
Buyers who've put this Coffee Lake i7 through its paces generally come away satisfied. The chip earns high marks for performance consistency, and thermal management gets specific praise — most users report stable temperatures under typical workloads. Installation is another recurring positive, with broad aftermarket cooler compatibility making the setup process straightforward. The most common gripe isn't about performance at all: there's no bundled cooler in the box, so factor that into your build budget. Some longer-term owners also flag the platform's age as a consideration before committing to a new motherboard purchase. That said, buyers who made the jump from older quad-core Intel chips consistently describe the real-world difference as immediately felt.
Pros
- Six cores and twelve threads handle gaming, streaming, and multitasking simultaneously without noticeable slowdown.
- Turbo Boost up to 4.6 GHz keeps single-core tasks feeling sharp and responsive under real-world conditions.
- The 12 MB Smart Cache reduces latency noticeably in video editing, code compilation, and large file processing.
- DDR4 memory support up to 3200 MHz pairs cleanly with fast dual-channel kits for a well-balanced system.
- A 65W TDP keeps power draw modest and makes it compatible with a wide range of aftermarket coolers.
- Integrated UHD Graphics 630 provides a reliable display fallback when no dedicated GPU is installed.
- AVX2 and SSE4.2 instruction support helps professional media and productivity software extract more from the chip.
- Buyers upgrading from older quad-core Intel systems consistently report an immediately noticeable day-to-day improvement.
- Strong community documentation and broad cooler compatibility make the build and troubleshooting process straightforward.
Cons
- No cooler is included in the box, so you will need to budget separately for a thermal solution.
- Requires an Intel 300 Series chipset motherboard specifically — Z270 and all older boards are fully incompatible.
- The LGA1151 platform is at end of life, leaving no viable in-socket CPU upgrade path for the future.
- Demanding workloads like 3D rendering, broadcast encoding, or machine learning can push the i7-8700 close to its limits.
- Fresh platform builders must account for a compatible motherboard purchase on top of the CPU cost itself.
- Newer-generation processors offer meaningfully better multi-core throughput and efficiency for a comparable total spend.
- Intel Optane Memory support is largely obsolete today, as NVMe SSDs have made it a rarely relevant feature.
- Platform age is a genuine concern for anyone planning to use this chip as the anchor of a long-term workstation build.
Ratings
Our AI rating engine processed thousands of verified global reviews for the Intel Core i7-8700 8th Gen Processor, actively removing bot-generated and incentivized submissions to reflect only what real buyers consistently reported. The scores below cover both where this 8th Gen six-core chip genuinely earns its praise and where it falls short — no trade-offs are obscured. Each category is evaluated independently to give you a transparent, complete picture before making a purchase decision.
Multi-Core Performance
The six-core, twelve-thread setup makes a real difference for users running concurrent workloads — gamers who stream their sessions, editors who export while continuing to work, and multitaskers juggling multiple demanding applications all report noticeably smoother experiences compared to their previous quad-core systems. The performance headroom is genuine and consistent under typical sustained loads.
Against current six-core and eight-core alternatives built on newer architectures, the i7-8700 begins to show its age under sustained heavy multi-threaded workloads like 3D rendering or large-scale code compilation. Users doing professional-grade throughput-intensive work frequently noted the performance gap compared to processors with meaningfully higher IPC ratings.
Single-Core Performance
The Turbo Boost ceiling of 4.6 GHz translates into genuinely snappy behavior for everyday tasks — launching applications, web browsing, and gaming all benefit from how quickly the chip ramps up on lightly threaded work. Users upgrading from older quad-core Intel systems consistently describe a noticeable improvement in application responsiveness almost immediately.
Single-core performance, while solid for its launch era, lags behind what Intel's 12th Gen and AMD's Ryzen 5000 chips deliver due to substantial IPC improvements in those newer architectures. Users particularly sensitive to application load times or competitive gaming responsiveness will feel that gap in real-world daily use.
Gaming Performance
In CPU-sensitive genres — strategy titles, open-world games with complex AI, and simulation-heavy environments — the i7-8700 handles itself well, keeping frame rates consistent when paired with a mid-range GPU. Most users report no obvious CPU bottleneck at 1080p or 1440p under typical gaming conditions.
At very high frame rates, or in newer titles designed to leverage eight or more cores, the processor starts to become a limiting factor, particularly alongside high-end GPUs. Users chasing competitive performance in esports titles at high refresh rates reported the CPU becoming a bottleneck more often than they anticipated.
Thermal Management
Running at just 65W TDP, the i7-8700 stays cool and maintains its Turbo Boost frequencies reliably — most users equipped with a quality 120mm air cooler reported comfortable temperatures even during extended gaming sessions or back-to-back export jobs. The chip's thermal behavior earned consistent praise for being predictable and easy to manage.
In compact cases or systems with restricted airflow, temperatures under all-core sustained loads can climb higher than comfortable, and a small number of users with low-end or improperly mounted coolers reported occasional thermal throttling. No bundled cooler is included, meaning thermal outcomes depend entirely on the buyer's own component decisions.
Value for Money
For buyers who already own a compatible Z370 or B360 board, the i7-8700 makes a compelling case — solid six-core performance, a high Turbo Boost ceiling, and a well-proven platform at a CPU-only price point that is difficult to argue against for gaming and everyday productivity use.
The value proposition frays quickly for buyers starting from scratch, since a compatible Intel 300 Series motherboard adds meaningful cost to the build total, and at that combined price point, newer-generation platforms start offering better performance and genuine upgrade paths for a comparable overall investment.
Platform Compatibility
Within the Intel 300 Series ecosystem, the i7-8700 drops cleanly into any Z370, B360, H370, or H310 LGA1151 board — users found the installation process smooth, and the chip is supported by a wide range of BIOSes and aftermarket cooler mounting systems from this generation.
The strict Intel 300 Series chipset requirement is a genuine frustration for buyers who assumed their existing Z270 or Z170 LGA1151 board would be compatible — it is not. Multiple reviewers flagged this as a costly and avoidable surprise, and the shrinking pool of new compatible boards is becoming an increasing concern.
Memory Performance
Running DDR4 in a fast dual-channel configuration meaningfully improves bandwidth, and users pairing this chip with 3200 MHz kits on Z370 boards reported tangible gains in memory-sensitive tasks like video scrubbing and large dataset handling. The memory controller handles high-frequency kits reliably when XMP profiles are properly enabled.
The officially supported native memory speed tops out at 2666 MHz, so pushing beyond that requires relying on XMP profiles, which can introduce instability with budget kits or on entry-level B360 boards with limited XMP flexibility. Users on locked H310 chipsets are capped at lower speeds with no practical workaround.
Integrated Graphics
Intel UHD Graphics 630 is capable enough to post a system, output to a display, and handle basic media playback — builders and refurbishers found it a genuinely useful fallback for diagnostics or lightweight office machines that will never require a discrete GPU.
As a gaming or creative-workload tool, UHD 630 is essentially non-functional — users who attempted to run even mildly demanding games found the experience unacceptably poor. It should be treated strictly as a temporary display fallback, and any buyer expecting usable GPU performance from it will be consistently disappointed.
Power Efficiency
A 65W TDP makes this Coffee Lake i7 surprisingly manageable from an energy standpoint — users building compact or semi-passive systems appreciated that it does not demand aggressive cooling or a heavy-duty power supply, and idle power draw remains low in typical desktop configurations.
Compared to recent architectures built on smaller process nodes, the 14nm++ process shows its limits under all-core sustained loads, where real draw can creep above the rated TDP. Users focused on performance-per-watt efficiency noted a meaningful gap versus what AMD Ryzen 5000 or Intel 12th Gen deliver in the same workloads.
Content Creation Performance
For streaming, photo editing, and short-to-medium video projects in Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, the six cores handle typical sessions without becoming the bottleneck. Users who run a live stream alongside a game found the twelve threads provided enough breathing room to avoid dropped frames or encode stutters.
Longer and more complex creative workloads — 4K footage with heavy effects, multi-layer compositions, or large batch exports — expose the ceiling of this chip faster than many users expected. Professionals who regularly push those limits consistently noted that a higher core-count processor would meaningfully improve their day-to-day throughput.
Installation & Setup
The installation process is standard LGA1151 territory — most users with basic PC building experience reported their system posting within minutes, with no firmware issues on properly matched 300 Series boards. Broad aftermarket cooler compatibility also makes the thermal setup portion refreshingly straightforward.
The one consistent frustration at setup is the complete absence of a bundled cooler — users who did not budget for one separately faced delays or last-minute purchases, and it is a particularly unwelcome surprise for those assembling their first full system from scratch.
Long-Term Reliability
Users who have run the i7-8700 for three or more years are a vocal and consistent presence in the review pool, reporting stable day-to-day operation with no degradation or unexpected failures under normal workloads. The chip has built a clear reputation for dependability across a wide variety of system configurations.
A small subset of users reported instability when pushing memory speeds aggressively without proper voltage tuning, or when running the chip in thermally constrained environments over extended periods. While not a widespread issue, sustained heavy-load use with inadequate cooling carries a real, if modest, long-term risk.
Overclocking Potential
Even without multiplier overclocking, users on Z370 boards can enable XMP memory profiles and benefit from Intel's Turbo Boost behavior, which automatically pushes frequencies toward 4.6 GHz when thermal headroom allows — providing some performance uplift without any manual tuning required.
As a fully locked processor, the i7-8700 offers no CPU multiplier overclocking, which is a real letdown for enthusiast builders who expected headroom at this tier. Users who purchased it specifically to push clocks were uniformly redirected toward the i7-8700K, often after an unnecessary return and repurchase.
Software & Driver Support
As a widely deployed Intel platform with years of production history, the i7-8700 benefits from thorough documentation, broad OS compatibility, and a mature driver ecosystem — users reported virtually no software issues across Windows 10, Windows 11, and major Linux distributions in reviews spanning multiple years of use.
Intel's Spectre and Meltdown security mitigations applied to this generation introduced measurable performance reductions in workloads involving frequent context switching. A noticeable share of users flagged a small but real regression in certain scenarios after applying mandatory microcode and firmware updates they had no choice but to install.
Future-Proofing
For buyers who need a capable desktop CPU right now and plan to replace the full platform within two to three years regardless, the i7-8700 delivers solid current performance without requiring a long-term commitment to an ecosystem that has already reached its ceiling.
The LGA1151 platform has no remaining viable in-socket upgrade path, making this chip the practical ceiling for any board it occupies. Users who expected to upgrade their CPU later without swapping motherboards found no meaningful options available, making the full platform investment increasingly hard to justify for anyone building new.
Suitable for:
The Intel Core i7-8700 8th Gen Processor is a strong fit for PC builders who already have access to a compatible Z370, B360, or H370 motherboard and want a capable desktop CPU without committing to a newer, more expensive platform. Gamers who spend most of their time in CPU-sensitive titles — strategy games, open-world sandboxes, or anything with complex AI simulation — will find the i7-8700's six-core, twelve-thread setup more than adequate for smooth frame rates alongside a mid-range GPU. Content creators handling light-to-moderate workloads like streaming, photo editing, or short-form video work will get real value from the multi-threaded headroom this Coffee Lake i7 offers. Home office power users who routinely juggle multiple demanding applications simultaneously will notice a meaningful improvement over older dual- or quad-core chips. System integrators and refurbishers rebuilding Coffee Lake-era machines will also appreciate the well-documented compatibility and depth of community support behind this platform.
Not suitable for:
The Intel Core i7-8700 8th Gen Processor is not the right pick for anyone building a new system from scratch without an existing compatible board, since the mandatory Intel 300 Series chipset requirement adds meaningful cost before the CPU itself is even factored in. Buyers chasing top-tier performance in heavily threaded professional workloads — 3D rendering, large-scale video production, or machine learning pipelines — will hit the ceiling of this 8th Gen chip faster than they would on a current-generation platform. Anyone who prioritizes long-term upgradeability should weigh this carefully, as the LGA1151 socket has no remaining in-socket upgrade path worth pursuing. For those comparing total build costs from the ground up, newer platforms increasingly deliver comparable or better performance per dollar across the full system. If you need a CPU that will anchor a primary workstation for the next five or more years, the platform's age is a real constraint rather than a minor footnote.
Specifications
- Architecture: Built on Intel's Coffee Lake microarchitecture using a 14nm++ process, delivering improved clock speed headroom and power efficiency compared to prior Intel desktop generations.
- Core Count: Equipped with 6 physical cores, doubling the core count of the quad-core processors that dominated the mid-range desktop segment at the time of its release.
- Thread Count: Intel Hyper-Threading Technology enables 12 simultaneous logical threads, allowing more parallel workloads to be handled without requiring additional physical cores.
- Base Clock: Operates at a sustained base frequency of 3.2 GHz across all cores, providing a consistent performance floor for multi-threaded tasks under continuous load.
- Turbo Boost: Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 allows single-core frequency to climb up to 4.6 GHz when thermal and power headroom permits, improving responsiveness in lightly threaded applications.
- L3 Cache: Includes 12 MB of Intel Smart Cache shared across all six cores, reducing memory access latency in data-intensive scenarios such as video encoding and large file compilation.
- CPU Socket: Designed for the LGA1151 socket and requires an Intel 300 Series chipset motherboard such as Z370, B360, H370, or H310 — earlier 200 Series boards are electrically incompatible despite sharing the same socket form factor.
- Chipset Support: Exclusively compatible with Intel 300 Series chipsets; Z270, Z170, and other earlier LGA1151 motherboards will not recognize or boot this processor.
- Memory Type: Supports DDR4 SDRAM in dual-channel configuration, with memory speeds up to 3200 MHz depending on the motherboard and memory kit specifications.
- Integrated Graphics: Includes Intel UHD Graphics 630, which supports basic display output, hardware video decode, and light desktop tasks when no discrete GPU is installed.
- Instruction Set: Implements the 64-bit x86-64 instruction set, ensuring full compatibility with modern 64-bit operating systems and software.
- ISA Extensions: Supports SSE4.1, SSE4.2, and AVX2 instruction set extensions, which improve performance in applications optimized for vectorized and parallel data processing.
- Optane Support: Compatible with Intel Optane Memory modules for storage acceleration on supported 300 Series platforms, typically paired with a traditional hard drive to reduce access latency.
- TDP: Rated at 65W thermal design power, making it manageable for most mid-tower and some compact builds, with broad compatibility across third-party CPU cooler options.
- Item Weight: The processor package weighs 0.811 oz (approximately 23 g), consistent with standard LGA1151 desktop CPU dimensions and mounting requirements.
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FAQ
You need a motherboard with an Intel 300 Series chipset — Z370, B360, H370, and H310 are the main options, all using the LGA1151 socket. A very common source of confusion is that Z270 and Z170 boards also use the LGA1151 socket physically, but they are electrically incompatible with 8th Gen Coffee Lake processors and simply will not boot. If you are buying a new board specifically for this chip, Z370 and B360 tend to be the most popular and well-supported pairings.
No, it does not — and this catches a lot of first-time builders off guard. Intel does not bundle a cooler with this processor, so you will need to budget for one separately. The good news is that its 65W TDP is not particularly demanding, and almost any decent 120mm tower air cooler will handle it comfortably without causing thermal throttling.
The Intel Core i7-8700 8th Gen Processor can still make sense in the right situation, but context matters a great deal. If you already own a compatible Z370 or B360 motherboard, it represents a genuinely cost-effective way to get a capable six-core chip into your system. If you are building from scratch, however, you need to factor in the cost of a compatible motherboard and compare that total platform investment against what a newer-generation build would run — because current-gen CPUs from both Intel and AMD have moved ahead in performance, efficiency, and long-term upgrade viability.
For most gaming scenarios it performs solidly, particularly in CPU-sensitive genres like strategy games, open-world titles, and simulation games where multi-threaded performance counts. Paired with a mid-range GPU, it generally avoids being a meaningful bottleneck at 1080p and 1440p. That said, if you are running a high-end GPU at very high frame rates in newer titles that scale well with core count, you may start to see the i7-8700 limiting things compared to what a current-generation processor would deliver.
Yes, for light to moderate content creation workloads it handles things well. The six cores and twelve threads make a noticeable difference when encoding video, running a stream alongside a game, or working in tools like Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve on shorter projects. AVX2 instruction support also helps in media applications that can take advantage of it. Where it begins to feel the strain is in longer 4K timelines or complex effects stacks — those workloads genuinely benefit from more cores than this Coffee Lake chip provides.
You will need DDR4 memory, and running it in dual-channel mode — two matched sticks rather than a single module — is important for getting the best out of the memory controller. Speeds up to 3200 MHz are supported depending on your board and kit, with XMP profiles handling the higher frequencies on Z370 boards. For most users, 16 GB in a 2x8 GB configuration is the practical sweet spot, though 32 GB makes sense if you are doing content creation or running memory-hungry applications regularly.
Not on the CPU multiplier — this is a locked processor. To overclock the core frequency directly, you would need the i7-8700K variant instead. That said, on a Z370 motherboard you can still enable memory overclocking through XMP profiles, which provides some additional system performance without touching the CPU itself. For most users, the stock Turbo Boost behavior reaching up to 4.6 GHz on a single core covers real-world peak performance needs well enough anyway.
It does include Intel UHD Graphics 630, so you can get a system running and outputting to a display without a discrete GPU. It is not intended for gaming or GPU-accelerated workloads, but it is genuinely useful for troubleshooting a new build before your graphics card arrives, or for a lightweight office machine that only requires basic display output and media playback. For gaming or creative work, a dedicated GPU is still necessary.
Honestly, current-generation processors from both Intel and AMD have moved ahead in core counts, instructions-per-clock performance, power efficiency, and platform features. This 8th Gen six-core chip is still competitive for everyday productivity and gaming at moderate settings, but chips like Intel's 12th and 13th Gen or AMD's Ryzen 5000 and 7000 series offer meaningfully better multi-core throughput and longer platform viability. The key question is always total build cost — if you already have a compatible board, the value case can still hold up, but anyone starting from scratch should do a full platform cost comparison before committing.
Given the 65W TDP, you do not need anything elaborate or expensive. A quality 120mm or 140mm tower air cooler from brands like Noctua, be quiet!, or Cooler Master will keep this 8th Gen six-core chip well within safe temperature ranges even under sustained load. If you are building in a compact case with limited airflow, check the cooler's maximum height clearance before purchasing, and confirm the mounting hardware supports LGA1151.