# Anyone running an 8700k?



## kunst91 (Jul 11, 2018)

Hey y'all

Building a new rig for a second studio space and am thinking about going with the i7 8700k. Wondering if anyone has had any positive/negative experience with it?

Current rig is an i9 7900x and I like it a lot, but I like the idea of a more cost-effective solution and the onboard graphics for latency purposes.

One concern is the number of PCIe lanes (16?! why!?) as well as the 6 core vs 10 core thing. Yes I'm aware of the core count/clock speed thing but still 

I have a big ole cubase template with deactivated tracks (~1600), no VEP. I like working with just one machine

Watcha think? Paging @EvilDragon ?


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## vintagevibe (Jul 12, 2018)

I’m in the process of getting a new PC and have done a lot of research. The 8700K is absolutely the best bang for buck out there. The “K” part basically gives you the ability to overclock plus a slight performance improvement. The 8700 (no K) should be fine but I’m getting the 8700K. 

The last time I got a new composing system was the 2600K and it’s been the best CPU I’ve ever owned by far. I could actually still use it (with compromises) but I need more RAM and won’t invest in DDR3 since it’s a dead end. Are you in an area that has a Micro Center. Check out thier Powerspec B741. Also check out the Dell XPS 8930 configured with an i7 8700K. More than the Powerspec but not much over $1000. Hope this helps. 


http://www.microcenter.com/product/504230/B741_Desktop_Computer;_Intel_Core_i7_8700K_Processor_37GHz;_Microsoft_Windows_10_Pro;_16GB_DDR4-3000_RAM;_480GB_Solid_State_Drive;_Intel_UHD_Graphics_


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## kunst91 (Jul 13, 2018)

vintagevibe said:


> I’m in the process of getting a new PC and have done a lot of research. The 8700K is absolutely the best bang for buck out there. The “K” part basically gives you the ability to overclock plus a slight performance improvement. The 8700 (no K) should be fine but I’m getting the 8700K.
> 
> The last time I got a new composing system was the 2600K and it’s been the best CPU I’ve ever owned by far. I could actually still use it (with compromises) but I need more RAM and won’t invest in DDR3 since it’s a dead end. Are you in an area that has a Micro Center. Check out thier Powerspec B741. Also check out the Dell XPS 8930 configured with an i7 8700K. More than the Powerspec but not much over $1000. Hope this helps.
> 
> ...



Ah cool! In this case i’ll be building my own


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## Karma (Jul 14, 2018)

I just last week upgraded to an i7 8700 from an i5 4690k. The difference was quite incredible. No more freezing tracks for me!


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## JimmyPoppa (Jul 19, 2018)

Hey All,

Just received my new build last week: PC i7 8700k, ASRock z370 Killer SLI/ac motherboard, 32gb DDR4 RAM, 256 gb SSD OS drive, 1TB SSD drive for samples, 2TB hybrid drive for more samples, 4TB HDD storage drive.

Still getting everything configured and loaded (in my 'free' time). Things look great so far. Haven't done any really demanding work yet. Considering going to 64gb RAM but not sure if it's needed with this configuration (any thoughts would be appreciated). Also have an M.2 nvme slot just begging to be filled (Samsung 970 Pro or EVO maybe? More thoughts from you folks?).

I do full orchestra music in traditional styles (think JW, et al), as well as orchestrated Jazz, and old school Jazzy cartoon styles (ala Hoyt Curtin, Carl Stalling, Scott Bradley, etc.) but not true modern Epic Trailer style.

Have a large set of older full orchestra libraries as well a few newer ones. Intend to add a couple high-end newer libraries. Still deciding which (Spitfire maybe?). Also just subscribed to the EW Composer Cloud. Haven't done any work with that yet either.

I run Sibelius 7.5, the new Cakewalk, Kontakt 5, ProTools 11. Considering switching to Dorico/Cubase but haven't had time try them. Also trying to decide whether to load my Altiverb 6 (again, is this needed now? Thoughts?).

Definitely looking forward to how this setup works and would love to hear from others. Thanks.

Be Well,

Jimmy


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## chimuelo (Jul 22, 2018)

My i7-8086k is just a higher binned i7-8700k.
Great CPU.
Mine was delidded to run a little cooler @ 4GHz stock speed.

Worth mentioning are these i3-8350k CPUs.
Only Quad, no hyper turboid anything.
Just stock on a Q370 Workstation Board.
Very fast, dropped down to 32 Samples for shits and grins, works beautifully.

Intel definitely hooked us up since AMD rose from the dead.
I won’t be needing anything for a while after these 2 recent builds.


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## Counterpointer (Jul 26, 2018)

chimuelo said:


> My i7-8086k is just a higher binned i7-8700k.
> Great CPU.
> Mine was delidded to run a little cooler @ 4GHz stock speed.
> 
> ...



That's very interesting! Im on the verge of buying a new computer and I assumed that I gotta have a i7 to make it work with all my heavy libraries. That i3 is 4Ghz though and do you really need more cores unless you work with video rendering?


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## fraz (Jul 26, 2018)

I've read online that VEP (vienna ensemble pro) can use all cores - If you have heavy libraries then surely the 8700 k will be better.

Also others have mentioned that 8700 K is not far behind the 7700 K on single threaded performance so if you don't mind paying extra over the 8350 K then when you get bigger projects the 8700 K will do you proud.

The 8600 K i5 will be strong too and £100 cheaper than 8700 K but 8700 K would get the vote until the 9700 K arrives later in the year.

What do you currently use? - or are you starting from scratch? - If you do have something already keep this for another slave computer for further processing because at some point you may need it - That is with all those heavy libraries !


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Jul 26, 2018)

kunst91 said:


> Hey y'all
> 
> Building a new rig for a second studio space and am thinking about going with the i7 8700k. Wondering if anyone has had any positive/negative experience with it?
> 
> ...


I have not overclocked a Windows system for years now and I have not needed to.
From a professional point of view, I would think it very unwise to overclock your work machine for composing also.

The one thing you want is a stable system, not a potentially unstable one.


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## fraz (Jul 26, 2018)

Yes OK that sounds wise not to over clock then from that point of view. Turbo mode could be disabled then?

btw some users who are not into music (on another forum) have over clocked 5960 X etc....quite high and with low voltage from 3 Ghz to 4.4 Ghz and have a stable system but it takes a lot of effort to know a BIOS to make the appropriate changes and to test afterwards on benchmark software whilst monitoring temperatures etc......

This isn't desirable to do when you want to make music - so I do get your point.


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## fraz (Jul 26, 2018)

I read the original post again, yes, you have a 7900 X (great chip)-As for PCI-e & 16 lanes - The 8700 K will have 16 PCI-e lanes to the CPU but also the Intel Z370 chipset also has 24 PCI-e lanes to the chipset.

Depending on which motherboard you get some of the PCI-e slots will go through the chipset with some of the lanes going through the CPU lanes.

M.2 etc....will go through the chipset - but you'll still get 40 PCI-e lanes!


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