Intel are celebrating the 40th anniversary of their x86 architecture and 8086 processor with the launch of their high-end i7-8086K. Just 50,000 units of this hex core, twelve threaded Coffee Lake processor have been made available globally. Exactly like the i7-8700K, the 8086K features 12MB of smart (L3) cache, 2 channels of DDR4 RAM and has a TDP of 95W. Essentially, the 8086K is Intel’s current Coffee Lake flagship, the i7-8700K, with a single-core turbo frequency factory overclocked by 300 MHz. Thermals permitting, out of the box, the i7-8086K achieves a single core boost speed of 5.0 GHz – which is a new record for Intel. That said, you would be unlucky if you were unable to achieve a 5.0 GHz single core OC with an 8700K. For everything other than single core, the turbo clock speeds on the 8086K exactly match the 8700K which puts the 8086K firmly into gimmick territory. Directly comparing the 8086K and 8700K shows that for a $100 (24%) price premium you get around a 5% performance improvement which drops to around 2% when both chips are overclocked. If the price gap between the 8086K and the 8700K were to fall to less than 20 USD it may be worth considering the 8086K. [Jun '18CPUPro]
Intel’s latest 10-core i5-12600K Alder Lake desktop processor offers an impressive 50% 64-core performance improvement over it's predecessor. The 12600K combines six hyper-threaded Golden Cove P-cores with clock speeds up to 4.9 GHz and four energy efficient Gracemont E-cores for a total of 16 threads. Alder Lake CPUs have a new LGA 1700 socket which requires new cooler brackets and a new Z690 motherboard. Z690 brings several new features including PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory. Most Z690 boards will ship in both DDR4 and DDR5 variants. DDR4 is likely the better option, at least until DDR5 prices settle. With an MRSP of just $290 USD, the 12600K is both cheaper and faster than the competition in both single and, notably, multi-core performance. As a result, even AMD's prolific marketing infrastructure (youtube, reddit, forums etc.) will struggle to drive sales, at least until Zen 4 launches (est. late 2022). In the meantime, Intel's i5-12600K is the obvious choice for consumers that do not wish to pay over the odds for almost unparalleled performance in the majority of workloads including gaming. That said, gamers that already own a K series CPU from the 8th gen. or higher will see limited gains in the majority of titles when paired with a 3060 (or lower) tier GPU. In some cases (e.g. PUBG or Overwatch) gamers will see fewer frame drops by disabling the E-Cores all together. If recent history is a guide, stock levels at MSRP are likely to deplete rapidly. [Nov '21CPUPro]
We calculate effective speed which measures real world performance for typical users. Effective speed is adjusted by current prices to yield a value for money rating. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top CPUs. [CPUPro]
Welcome to our PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best value for money upgrades.