Core i7-8700K vs Core i5-9600K

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i7-8700K and the Core i5-9600K are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Core i7-8700K has 6 cores and 12 threads, and the Core i5-9600K has 6 cores and 6 threads. Core counts are the same, so cache size and clock speed decide the difference. Boost clocks are 4.7 GHz and 4.6 GHz.

Platform, power and price

Both chips use the LGA1151 socket, so they fit the same motherboards. You can swap one for the other without changing the board.

Rated power is 95 W for the first and 95 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

At launch the Core i7-8700K cost $359 and the Core i5-9600K $262, which gives 12.0 and 16.0 points of gaming performance per $100. Today's prices will differ.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Core i7-8700K can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core i5-9600K reaches the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i7-8700K if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Core i5-9600K if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.