Better CPU for Gaming? i7-7700 (3.6GHz) or i7-8700 (3.2GHz)

[rdn24]

Which cpu is better for gaming? i7-7700 (3.6GHz) or i7-8700 (3.2GHz)?

I dont plan on overclock (plz lets not go in to the benefits of OC'ing, I will not be doing it). This will be a PC for gaming (GTA, call of duty , etc).

From what I understand the 8700 is quad core but I dont think many games reap the benefit yet. Also, the 7700 is @ 3.6GHz which is higher, so am I better off with that?

Thank you

 

[rdn24]

or is a i5 better for gaming?

 

[UsandThem]

Easy, the i7-8700.

Even without it being the "k" variant, it is still the king of gaming right now.

And it is 6 core, + 6 threads. The 7700k is the "old" 4 core, + 4 threads.

 

[DaveSimmons]

All three of the 7700, 8700 and i5-8400 are good choices. Not many games use all 6 cores of the 8700 and 8400 yet, but that's changing so of the 3 the 7700 would be my last choice.

The 8400 is a good value and will get very close to the same FPS (often <1 frame difference at 1440p) so if you need to save a bit of money it's a great choice. Also, there's no point in paying more than $150 for a motherboard since you can't overclock.

 

[wilds]

the 8700 is 4.3 GHz all core.I would avoid the 8400 in favor of the 8500.

 

[happy medium]

Base Frequency (MHz)
7700 = 3600 , 4 core turbo at 4.0

8700 = 3200, 4 core turbo at 4.3

Turbo Frequency (MHz)
7700= 1 core 4200 / 2 core 4100 / 3 core 4100 / 4 core 4000

8700 = 1 core 4600 / 2 cores 4500 / 3 cores 4300 / 4 cores 4300 / 5 cores 4300 / 6 cores 4300

8700 has 2 extra cores, 4 extra threads and runs at a higher turbo frequency

I suggest waiting for the new Z390 motherboards releasing in a month or 2 ( unless you own a Z370) and grabbing a new i7 9900 8 core/16 thread cpu or i7 9700 8 core /8 thread cpu or a i5 9600 6 core 6 thread cpu.

 

[Organik]

Clearly the winner here is the 8700

 

[StinkyPinky]

As pointed out, the 8700 is actually faster at 4 cores than the 7700. You need to look at the turbo rates since unless you are sticking your cpu in the oven (or worse, the stock cooler) it will turbo to those levels

So 8700 over the 7700 any day of the week.

 

[epsilon84]

As everyone else said, the 8700 easily. Higher clocks, more cores.

In current games the difference actually wont be that great, but as game engines evolve and start to take advantage of more threads the 8700 will start distancing itself from the 7700

 

[frozentundra123456]

Yea, the final kicker is that the 7700 is about the same price as the 8700 and more expensive than the 8400/8500. The only intel quad core that is a reasonable purchase now is the i3 models because they are cheap. Unfortunately they dont have hyperthreading, so would be fine for general use, but I would not get one for gaming.

 

[wilds]

Being stuck on older generation motherboards really drives the prices up on old i7s. 🙁