Intel Core i7 8700k CPU Review

Gaming Benchmarks

For gaming benchmarks, I chose 4 games, and mostly new titles. All games were tested with the MSI Lightning 1080 TI, as well as the Integrated GPU on the i7 8700K. Intels UHD Graphics 630. I tested the new Assassins Creed Origins, Shadow of War, the sequel to Shadow of Mordor, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Watch Dogs 2. Assassins Creed Origins and Shadow of War are the 2 newest titles in my benchmark suite. Both are beautiful, well optimized games. They are also very graphically demanding. Watch Dogs 2 is also a newer title. It too is a gorgeous and a very demanding game. Until AC Origins released, Watch Dogs 2 was the most demanding game in my suite of games.

Although GTA V was originally released in 2013, it didn’t see its PC release until 2015. At release and even today, it has one of the most extensive graphics menu I’ve even seen. When you crank up the advanced graphics, it can bring a 1080 ti to its knees. A quick side note on GTA V. I maxed out all setting, even the advanced graphics, with one exception.  I left the Frame Scaling Mode off. This is due to the massive hit in performance the game takes, even on high end hardware.

Each of the were tested in 1080p, 1440p, 3440 x 1440 and 4k.  For testing the integrated graphics, games were tested in 1280 x 720p on the games lowest possible settings. All games were played at their max settings. They were left at their stock settings. Each benchmark run was timed at 120 seconds, ran three times each, then averaged out to get the final results.

For all resolutions, benchmarks were run at the games max possible settings. This chart goes to show how an 8700k, combined with a 1080 ti, is completely overkill for 1080p gaming. Shadow of War did best, averaging 128 fps. Shadow of Mordor also had the highest max fps with 224. Next was GTA V. GTA V has the second highest average with 111 fps. However, it also had the highest minimum with 85 FPS. Here is where GTA V is starting to show its age a bit. AC Origins was third on the list with an average of 94 fps. This game also had the lowest minimum with 29 fps. Last on the list for 1080p was Watch Dogs 2 with an average of 90 fps.

The results for both 1440p and 3440 x 1440p were very close. In some results, with in margin of error close. The 1440p results followed a similar trend as the 1080p results. Shadow of War took the lead with an average of 108 fps. Next was GTA V with an average of 96 fps. Third was again AC Origins with an average of 79 fps. Watch Dogs 2 came in last again with an average of 70 FPS. AC Origins had the lowest minimum with 34 fps and GTA V the highest with 83 fps.

I also test games in 21 x 9 aspect ratio at 3440 x 1440p. In this resolution, GTA V beat out Shadow of War by 1 fps. GTA V averaged 92 fps where Shadow of War averaged 91. Third was Watch Dogs 2 with 70 fps and Assassins Creed Origins was last with an average of 65 fps. Getting closer to that magic number of 60.

I was very surprised to see Watch Dogs 2 taking the lead in 4k. Not only did it take the first spot, but it stayed above 60, averaging 64 fps in 4k, at max settings. Next was GTA V with an average of 63 FPS. Even with all that raw GPU power, the Lightning 1080 TI couldn’t keep the newest titles above 60. Shadow of War averaged 52 fps in 4k and AC Origins only managed 49 fps on average. As for the lowest minimum, AC Origins bottomed out at 27 fps, followed by Shadow of War with 28. Watch Dogs 2 shocked me again with a minimum of only 51 and GTA V was the highest minimum with 54 fps.

Integrated GPU Testing

I was pleasantly surprised with the UHD 630 integrated graphics on the 8700k. THe UHD 630 integrated graphics are a refresh of the HD 630 graphics found on the 7700k, and other Kaby Lake processors. Even though all games were run on the lowest possible settings at 1280 x 720 resolution, I fully expected the games to not even run. I half thought I’d be benchmarking Rocket League instead. However, GTA V amazed me averaging 58 fps. Even watch dogs 2 averaged 30 fps. Shadow of War had the highest max fps with 133, but only averaged 29 fps. Assassins Creed Origins was painful to get through, averaging only 13 fps. Although after playing on a 3440 x 1440p monitor and going to 720p looks terrible, I’d consider all but AC Origins playable on the integrate GPU.

From 3DMARK, I ran Sky Diver to test the integrated graphics. The UHD 630 graphics did rather well, considering. The overall score was 5574. This is over 300 points higher than the HD 630 graphics on the 7700k, and over 500 points higher than the HD 530 graphics on the 6700k.

I also ran Unigine Heaven on the IGPU. For the IGPU, I lowered the setting. Still on a custom preset with low quality, tessellation disabled, AA disabled, in 1920 x 1080p using the DX11 API. Using these settings, the integrated GPU did better than I had expected. The UHD 630 graphics on the 8700k achieved an overall score of 1030 with an average FPS of 41.2, a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 71.9.