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CPU: Intel
i5-8600

Description: 3.1/4.3GHz i5 Coffee Lake LGA 1151
Standards: Coffee Lake, LGA 1151, 14nm

Intel launched the Coffee Lake platform as a save-face maneuver, in response to the success of AMD's Ryzen. Coffee Lake adds 50% to the cores, hyperthreads and cache from their 7th generation platform, and significantly lowers the price. This is their biggest most sudden jump into the highest-value zone ever.

The Coffee Lake i5-8600 includes a whopping 6 cores, 6 hyperthreads, and turbo to 4.3GHz. The big plus here is that this boost in performance is balanced. You have a boost in threaded speed, raw single-core speed, and memory access speed (faster DDR4's). However, just to clarify, the i3 actually has slightly better sustained raw single-core speed, while the i5 has turbo, which gives it better short-term raw single core speed. However, in combination with significant memory speed improvements the i5 is faster in almost every real-life scenario.

The i5 sits squarely in the middle of a number of competitive issues. Let's take Intel versus AMD.

Here's a great comparison from 2017.

And here's one from 2018.

Another issue is the generation. Kaby Lake (7th gen) is completely behind us now as Coffee Lake (8th gen) soars way ahead in power. And it sells for less. Coffee Lake is Intel's response to AMD's Ryzen.

Then there's the add-on technologies. Each of the Coffee Lake CPU's come with on-chip 4K graphics and surround sound by Intel. This can be used in place of a video card. The graphics are not high speed, nor are they compatible with some of the better games, but they are sufficient for many slower paced games, or to watch a 4K movie on Netflix. And since no additional video card is necessary it helps to drive down the price of The Standard.

Then there's overclocking potential. Even though all Ryzen chips may allow overclocking, it doesn't add that much more to its speed. Whereas a type-K Intel Coffee Lake CPU could gain an entire 1GHz. And that directly translates into vastly superior instructions per second (IPS).

There are several model numbers, which at one time segregated large differences in price, yet now come very close together due to Coffee Lake falling into the highest-value zone. But since we are not overclocking, we will stick with something below the type-K. And since the prices are so close together, we'll go with the very best CPU that is not a type-K. And in the case of the i5, that's an 8600. This is why the i5-8600 is the absolute highest-value CPU for a PC designed for advanced gaming, video editing, and cryptomining.

Intel's i5-8600 Internal GPU Specifications

Intel® UHD Graphics 630

Graphics Base Frequency
350 MHz

Graphics Max Dynamic Frequency
1.15 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory
64 GB

4K Support
Yes, at 60Hz

Max Resolution (HDMI 1.4)
4096x2304@24Hz

Max Resolution (DP)
4096x2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)
4096x2304@60Hz

DirectX* Support
12

OpenGL* Support
4.5

Intel® Quick Sync Video
Yes

Intel® InTru™ 3D Technology
Yes

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology
Yes

Intel® Clear Video Technology
Yes

# of Displays Supported
3

Device ID
0x3E92