Question 1

Is a water-cooler necessary for this chip, assuming it isn't being overclocked? If not, what fan/heat-sink would work fine?

Accepted Answer

Water cooling is not at all necessary for this chip, even when overclocked. A half decent air cooler will cover you fine, even with a light oc. A Hyper 212 Evo or equivalent is a good cheap option, although I’m running a Cryorig H7, as I like the looks and it delivers great performance. If you do want to look into overclocking, and I hope you do if you buy a K sku processor, you could go as far as a Noctua air cooler that will perform on par with some closed loop water coolers with about the same performance, sacrificing only cost (relative to other air coolers) and looks. But a medium tier air cooler like the H7 would be a good option for stock or a moderate oc.

Question 2

Does this come with a heat sink fan, or do I need to buy separately?

Accepted Answer

As far as I know, all of the overclockable K series intel chips these days do not come with a stock cooler fan. You will have to purchase one yourself. If you're looking to stay within a budget, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO air coolers are very affordable and reliable IMO. If you're looking to do some heavy overclocking, however, I would suggest shopping around a bit (maybe look at some AIO liquid coolers).

Question 3

Is this compatible with a slot that fits  i5-3330?

Accepted Answer

No it is not. The 8600k is compatible only with Z370 or the eventual H370 and B360 boards on the LGA1151 socket, but if you’re buying an overclocking capable chip you should really by a Z370 motherboard

Question 4

RAM Memory compatibility -- The spec sheet says DD4 2666, I'm confused.  Does that mean it will not run on, say... DD4 3200?

Accepted Answer

I'm running 3200mhz memory now, it was an xmp profile and it loaded up by default using xmp profile 1..  I used the Gskill RipjawsV 3200mhz memory with a cas latency of 15 and the machine runs flawless.. Very fast gaming rig.  
The 2666mhz you see is just Intels base standard jedec speed..

Question 5

I plan on overclocking but not by much, probs 30-50% should I get liqiuid cooler or stick with air cooling?

Accepted Answer

I could get to 4.8G with air cooled fairly easily, but temps rose quickly after that.  5.0G was unstable for me, and I didn't feel comfortable with the temps that I was getting at 4.9.  Every chip is different, so you never know.  If you want 5.0 or higher, I'd suggest going with liquid cooled.

Question 6

The i5-8600k says it supports Optane Memory, but does that mean it actually comes with it? I don't see anything that specifically addresses this definitively, and I don't see an 'Optane Memory version' of this, so I assume it does come with Optane memory, right? Anyone know for sure?

Accepted Answer

It comes with the ability to use optane memory but does not come with optane memory specifically, to use it you have to buy the the little optane drive and put it in an m.2 slot on the motherboard.  The processor itself only comes with the processor.

Question 7

Does it come with thermal compound?

Accepted Answer

any intel cpu that comes with a stock heatsink will have one applications worth of thermal paste alreasdy on the heatsink.  but the 8600k does not have a stock heatsink.  cheap artic silver or notcua or pricier thermal grizzly kryonaut all will work and you should be able to find one of them for less than 10 bux.  arctic silver should be about 7 i think

Question 8

Will I be able to view 4K UHD video if I use this with an Intel LGA 1151 300 series MB? Thanks

Accepted Answer

I am assuming you are wanting to build a HTPC and not just wanting to stream 4K content from YT or from a Plex Server or something similar (which this CPU works fine with the proper playback software and network bandwidth).  This CPU fully supports 4K UHD video playback with a proper 4K TV or monitor featuring HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2 capabilities. You will also need a 4K UHD BD player and compatible software if you go that route or a streaming service with proper OS support (I am using Windows 10, v1803 and Netflix 4K runs great on this CPU).

Question 9

How good is this with multitasking? (Like gaming/streaming at the same time)

Accepted Answer

While I do not own this processor myself, I can tell you that the increase from 4-cores to 6-cores for the intel i5 line of desktop processors will definitely help with multi-tasking as time goes on. With 6-cores being the new standard, going with this over a 4-core i5 from the previous generation will also help to extend the useful lifetime of your machine (future proof it a bit). You should be able to handle most modern games + streaming with this processor no problem. If I were in the market to build a new machine today, I would probably go with this processor over the significantly more expensive i7-8700k or the previous gen i7-7700k.

Question 10

I am going to build a new gaming pc when these become more available.  Would it be worth it to get the i7 8700k that has hyper threading for the future of games or is hyper threading still not used in games?

Accepted Answer

if your looking for pure gaming performance the 8700K has been proven to add a couple extra FPS to games but not much. So unless those few extra fames really matter to you, or you plan on getting into some sort of video editing/creation save the 100 bucks and get the I5. take that 100 bucks saved, buy an AIO liquid cooler and overclock the crap out of it.

Questions & Answers