Following the release of the 8th generation “Kaby Lake-R” mobile CPUs last month, Intel has finally launched its 8th generation “Coffee Lake” CPUs.

Model Core i7-8700K Core i7-8700 Core i5-8600K Core i5-8400K Core i3-8350K Core i3-8100K Cores / Threads 6/12 6/12 6/6 6/6 4/4 4/4 Frequency (Base/Boost) 3.7Ghz / 4.7GHz 3.2Ghz / 4.6GHz 3.6Ghz / 4.3GHz 2.8Ghz / 4GHz 4Ghz / NA 3.6Ghz / NA Cache 12MB 12MB 9MB 9MB 8MB 6MB TDP 95W 65W 95W 65W 91W 65W Price $359 $303 $257 $182 $168 $117

Coffee Lake uses an improved version of the 14nm FinFET. Though there’s still no transistor node shrink (we’ll have to wait until [...]

Several days ago, we reported that benchmarks had accidentally been leaked for the Intel Core i7-7700K, 7th Generation Core Processor codename Kaby Lake, on the SiSoft benchmark database, and it looks like another benchmark was that was run around a similar timeframe was inadvertently uploaded to the GeekBench database as well.

According to the results page on the benchmark run, the Intel Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake processor managed to reach a score of 6,139 single-core performance and a score of 20271 multi-core performance.

The system configuration shows an Intel Core i7-7700K 4C/8T processor running at 4.2GHz (likely its base clock, not turbo) on a [...]

Intel will soon be re-branding their entire future Atom CPU lineup to deliver more consistent branding across their product lines. As most of you are familiar, Intel’s Core processor lineup has used the i3, i5, i7 naming convention with great success since the launch of Sandy Bridge back in 2011. Like the core processors, next generation Intel Atom processors will now follow the good (x3), better (x5), best (x7) naming strategy as well.

“In order to help people understand the level of processor performance and make an informed purchase decision based on their needs, Intel® Atom™ processors will now be offered in three distinct brand levels in a [...]

Self-Hosted Bliss

When I originally founded Custom PC Review back in 2012, it was nothing more than a small personal blog running off some run of the mill shared hosting. Since then the site has grown quite a bit, and along with the type of infrastructure hosting the site as well.

The first type of hosting infrastructure for CPCR was shared hosting. While shared hosting was a good, cheap option to get started, the site faced constant crashes as soon as any surge of traffic rolled in. Several months after starting the site I was facing more downtime than uptime, so I decided it was time to upgrade to a VPS. Unlike shared hosting where tons of sites are all hosted on [...]

High Performance in a Bite Sized Package

With Intel’s focus shifting towards power efficiency rather than maximum performance at all costs, it’s becoming increasingly unnecessary for gamers and enthusiasts to purchase bulky and cumbersome giant cases with giant motherboards with tons of cooling capacity. This is why over the past couple generations of Intel CPUs, a number of motherboard manufacturers have begun embracing the mITX formfactor, which has traditionally been reserved for low power systems.

With that said, today we’ll be reviewing out the ASRock Z87E-ITX motherboard, which as you may expect is a mITX formfactor motherboard based off [...]

For consumers looking for top tier performance, there’s currently nothing faster than processors based off Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E platform, and while the lineup is still the creme of the crop for consumer based desktop applications, the microarchitecture underneath Sandy Bridge-E is based off technology that’s nearly two years old. While Intel has been busy developing and releasing mainstream processors based off newer microarchitectures such as Ivy Bridge and Haswell, the HEDT (High End Desktop) platform hasn’t really changed since late 2011, until now.

Just in time for IDF (Intel Developer Forum) 2013, Intel recently announced the release [...]

It’s been leak after leak for Intel’s upcoming Ivy Bridge-E LGA 2011 based High End Desktop (HEDT) CPUs and the latest leak comes from VR-Zone where they recently revealed the pricing information along with the release date for the upcoming CPUs.

According to their article, information given to major retailers suggest that the release date for these processors is September 10 with starting prices for the new CPUs starting at $310 ranging all the way up to $990.

CPU Intel Core i7-4960X Intel Core i7-4930K Intel Core i7-4820K Stock Frequency 3.6GHz 3.4GHz 3.7GHz Turbo [...]

Build a Powerful Next Generation Gaming PC!

With the recent release of Intel’s latest 4th Generation Intel Core Processors codenamed Haswell, a number of our readers here have been contacting us for an update to the $1,500 gaming PC build and since our last $1,500 gaming PC build was a small form factor gaming PC build, we decided to go ahead and see what we could come up with. For our build today, the goal was to create a no compromise system that would run every game on the market at high to ultra settings at 1080p yet still keep the budget under $1,500.

Care to check out what we’ve come up with? Let’s find out!

Haswell Gaming Computer Build [...]

Undoubtedly AMD’s been feeling a little like the underdog in the CPU arena as of late. While its FX line of processors provide plenty of processing power, they are slightly outmatched when compared to Intel’s Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge-E competition.

But as Winston Chrchhill said:”Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm”, and AMD seems to be doing just that. According to HEXUS.net, there are rumors floating around that AMD is planning to release a higher clocked FX chip based on the same Vishera architecture used for the FX-8350. Code named Centurion, it will be made in very limited quantities and will be [...]

7870 Done Right

It’s great to be a PC gamer these days. Gaming PC costs have fallen significantly over the past couple years largely in part due to the amount of performance AMD and Nvidia have been able to cram on their mid range graphics cards, and gaming bundles such as AMD’s Never Settle Reloaded bundles are making it easier than ever to obtain great graphics and some great games at prices unheard of many years ago.

Today we’ll be reviewing ASUS’s custom implementation of the Radeon HD 7870, the ASUS Radeon HD 7870 DirectCU II (HD7870-DC2-2GD5-V2). The Radeon HD 7870 is a mid to high end graphics card, which features a 1GHz clock speed, 1280 [...]