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Intel Core i5-8600

Intel Core i5-8600: Review and Practical Guide for PC Building in 2025

(Prices are current as of April 2025)

Key Specifications: Coffee Lake in Detail

The Intel Core i5-8600 processor, released in 2017, remains a popular choice for budget builds due to its balance of price and performance.

Architecture and Process Technology

- Codename: Coffee Lake (14 nm).

- Cores/Threads: 6 cores, 6 threads — lack of Hyper-Threading is compensated by physical cores.

- Cache: 9 MB L3 — sufficient for smooth gaming and multitasking.

- TDP: 65 W — low power consumption for its class.

- Integrated Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 — suitable for basic tasks but not for gaming.

Performance:

- Geekbench 6: 1442 (single-core), 5085 (multi-core).

- Real-World Practice: In 2025, the processor handles office applications, YouTube at 4K, and gaming at medium settings (with a discrete graphics card). For example, in CS2, it provides stable 100+ FPS when paired with a GTX 1660 Super.

Key Features:

- Support for Intel Optane Memory (HDD acceleration).

- VT-x and VT-d virtualization technologies — useful for developers.

Compatible Motherboards: How to Choose Wisely

Socket and Chipsets

- Socket: LGA 1151 v2 — a specific version that is not compatible with motherboards for Intel's 6th and 7th generation.

- Chipsets:

- Z370: For memory overclocking and enthusiasts (ASUS ROG Strix Z370-E — $120-150).

- B360/H370: Budget options with basic features (Gigabyte B360M DS3H — $70-90).

Important:

- BIOS updates may be required on some boards. For instance, the MSI H310M Pro-VD Plus initially does not support Coffee Lake without flashing.

- Avoid 200 series chipsets (e.g., H270) — they are incompatible.

Memory: DDR4 and Its Nuances

- Type: Only DDR4.

- Max Frequency: Up to 2666 MHz on B360/H370 chipsets; on Z370, it can be overclocked to 4000+ MHz (but the CPU unofficially supports up to 3000 MHz).

- Recommendations:

- Optimal size: 16 GB (2×8 GB) DDR4-2666 — for example, Kingston Fury Black (~$50).

- For gaming: 32 GB is excessive, but relevant for video editing.

Limitation: DDR5 is not supported — this is the main downside in 2025 when DDR5 has become the standard.

Power Supply: How Many Watts Are Needed?

- Calculation:

- CPU: 65 W.

- Graphics card (e.g., RTX 3060): 170 W.

- Other components: ~50 W.

- Total: 285 W + 30% headroom = 400 W.

Advice:

- Without discrete graphics: 300-400 W (Be Quiet! System Power 10 — $45).

- With a mid-range GPU: 500-600 W (Corsair CX650M — $75).

- Avoid cheap noname power supplies — they pose a risk to system stability.

Pros and Cons of the i5-8600 in 2025

Pros:

- Reliability: 14 nm process technology has been tested over the years.

- Energy efficiency: Suitable for low-power builds (e.g., home servers).

- Price: $120-150 for a new unit — cheaper than many Ryzen 5 processors.

Cons:

- No Hyper-Threading: Lags in multi-threaded tasks (rendering, streaming).

- Outdated socket: No upgrades to newer generations without replacing the motherboard.

Use Cases: Who Is It Suitable For?

1. Gaming:

- For titles like Apex Legends or GTA V (1080p, medium settings) — adequate.

- Underpowered for modern AAA games at 4K (e.g., Cyberpunk 2077 with RTX 4080).

2. Work Tasks:

- Office applications, browsing with 20+ tabs — no lag.

- Video editing in Premiere Pro: 1080p rendering is possible but slower than with Ryzen 5 5600.

3. Multimedia:

- Streaming in Full HD: better to use a GPU with NVENC (e.g., NVIDIA GTX 1650).

Comparison with Competitors

AMD Ryzen 5 2600

- Price: $110-130.

- Pros: 12 threads, unlocked multiplier.

- Cons: Weaker in single-core tests (Geekbench 6 Single Core — ~1200).

Intel Core i3-12100F

- Price: $130.

- Pros: Newer (Alder Lake), higher IPC, DDR5 support.

- Cons: Only 4 cores.

Conclusion: The i5-8600 outperforms the Ryzen 5 2600 in gaming but lags in multi-threaded performance. For office and multimedia use, it's on par.

Practical Building Tips

1. Motherboard: Choose B360/H370 with guaranteed Coffee Lake support (e.g., ASUS Prime B360-Plus).

2. Cooling: The stock cooler is sufficient, but for quieter operation, consider the DeepCool Gammaxx 400 ($25).

3. Storage: An SSD is a must (Samsung 870 EVO 500 GB — $60).

4. Memory: 16 GB DDR4-2666 — the gold standard.

Example Build for $500 (without GPU):

- CPU: i5-8600 ($140).

- Motherboard: Gigabyte B360M DS3H ($80).

- RAM: 16 GB DDR4-2666 ($50).

- PSU: Corsair CV450 ($55).

- Storage: WD Blue SN580 1 TB ($90).

Final Verdict: Who and Why?

The Intel Core i5-8600 in 2025 is a choice for:

- Budget gamers: If the goal is to play at 1080p without aspirations for ultra settings.

- Office PCs: Reliability and enough power for everyday tasks.

- Home media centers: Quiet operation and 4K support via iGPU.

Why not Ryzen? If you value stability and don’t require multi-threaded performance, the i5-8600 is a reasonable compromise. However, for future upgrades, it's better to consider the AM5 platform or Intel LGA 1700.

This article is relevant as of April 2025. Prices may vary depending on region and vendor.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

February 2018

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

i5-8600

Code Name

Coffee Lake

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Basic Frequency

3.10 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

4.30 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

4.30 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

2.0

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

L3 Cache

9 MB

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

FCLGA1151

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

14 nm

TDP

65 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

100°C

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

3.0

Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Yes

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

Up to 1x16 | 2x8 | 1x8+2x4

Memory Specifications

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR4-2666

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

128 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Bus Speed

8 GT/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

41.6 GB/s

ECC Memory Supported

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® UHD Graphics 630

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

350 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

1.15 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

64 GB

4K Support

Yes | at 60Hz

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096x2304@24Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096x2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096x2304@60Hz

Number of Displays Supported

Miscellaneous

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

Yes

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

9 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Intel® Device Protection Technology with Boot Guard helps protect the system’s pre-OS environment from viruses and malicious software attacks.

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, like its predecessor, Intel® Clear Video Technology, is a suite of image decode and processing technologies built into the integrated processor graphics that improve video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel® Clear Video HD Technology adds video quality enhancements for richer color and more realistic skin tones.

Yes

Intel Clear Video Technology

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Yes

Intel OS Guard

Yes

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

4.5

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

1442

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

5085

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

1085

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

4955

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

2596

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

10205

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

Core i9-10980HK

1550 +7.5%

Xeon W-2295

1492 +3.5%

Core i5-8600

1442

Core i9-9920X

1389 -3.7%

Xeon E3-1260L v5

1356 -6%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Xeon Platinum 8156

5726 +12.6%

Core i5-1245UE

5418 +6.5%

Core i5-8600

5085

Xeon D-2143IT

4788 -5.8%

Xeon E3-1275 v5

4520 -11.1%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Xeon Gold 6354

1123 +3.5%

Xeon Gold 6336Y

1108 +2.1%

Core i5-8600

1085

Core i5-1145GRE

1064 -1.9%

EPYC 7443

1040 -4.1%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Ryzen 5 4600HS

5506 +11.1%

Xeon E5-2690

5202 +5%

Core i5-8600

4955

Core i7-1370PRE

4747 -4.2%

Ryzen 3 PRO 4350GE

4494 -9.3%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Ryzen Embedded V2748

2680 +3.2%

Xeon W-3375

2643 +1.8%

Core i5-8600

2596

Core i5-8500B

2556 -1.5%

Xeon Gold 6336Y

2522 -2.9%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Ryzen 3 PRO 5450U

11066 +8.4%

Xeon E5-2470 v2

10588 +3.8%

Core i5-8600

10205

Ryzen 3 5300U

9696 -5%

Ryzen 5 PRO 1500

9262 -9.2%