Coffee Lake - Owners Lounge and Discussion

Well I'll go ahead and start this off, just got my 8700K and Asus Strix Z370-E build up and running a bit earlier. I have barely scratched the surface as far as messing around in the BIOS and tweaking. I tested the one click 5.0Ghz on all 6 cores overclock and it booted without an issue and benched no issues. What was the issue was the insane voltage draw around 1.42v. HOLY ****! Temps were fine around 80C under 100% load, but my fans weren't running max on CPU like they should have been with the H100i V2 PUMP.

I'll update more tonight and tomorrow. Its the Anniversary today and I my evening is tied up spending quality time and what not.

 

A bunch of new content came out today for the Z370 / Coffee Lake, I tried to find the best available, and posted them here:

Intel Core i7-8700K Coffee Lake Z370
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/intel-core-i7-8700k-coffee-lake-z370.809268

 

Was misreading my vcore voltage, it's running around 1.25v while under load. So far I am very pleased with my gains. PUBG on AVG is seeing 20~ FPS increase over my 4.5ghz 5820K and has a heck of a lot less stuttering and jitters. Many reviews are super pleased with it so far and its getting some good praise what I'm seeing. AMD fanboys are not happy in the comment sections.

 

Not all maybe, but even being AMD focused, I am just as happy before and after release of Intel Coffee Lake, that one-shot per CPU release motherboard product line.

 

MicroCenter better get their act together, the launch prices are obscene compared to Intel MSRP, and Newegg's 10.06.17 prices (in or out of stock, US $)

Newegg 8700k 380 8700 315 8600k 260 8400 190


The top SKUs are $100 over, I've never seen MCenter so out of whack; if anything they almost always come under MSRP in order to offset sales tax and better compete with Newegg (minus sales tax). May be a temporary glitch - if not - avoid MCenter's price gouges, which look like Alienware prices

Aurora R7 desktop, Dellware.com: 1st pay ~$180 for 8400, add $350 for 8700k = $530 (= +$170 over MSRP)

Spoiler: $2500 i9

1st pay ~$390 for 7800x, now add $2100 more for 7980XE = $2500 for poorly binned OEM wholesale tray CPU, MSRP $2000
screencap courtesy Dellware.com

 

Microcenter usually has some of the best Intel CPU prices, and great CPU+MB combo pricing too. So this may be just how it is with the Coffee Lake release.

There are rumors it's a real paper launch with short supplies until 1Q18, so maybe it's better to buy now rather than be left out in the cold - when the CPU stock runs out.

 

https://imgur.com/a/pJziu

My parts before slapping it together yesterday. For some reason my coffee was that much more delicious.

 

They are price matching, this has been confirmed on Intel reddit threads.

 

Microcenter is good with price matching, the only catch is the store with the better price needs to have them in stock

There used to be other limitations - like the other store needs to be within driving distance, but I think they removed them - I'd call and ask what the price matching limitations are before driving over.

Which Reddit threads are you tracking?

 

I mainly hit up Intel reddit and PCMR.

 

Great thread, I have been too busy to keep on on the news lately, when will you be delidding this bad boy??

 

Nice to see you again. How's the piloting been working for you lately? I guess you'd trade nothing for that life!

 

Won’t be delidding just yet. My temps are good and I will be retestin 5.0ghz tonight or this weekend since Asus updated the bios to fix the voltage controls.

 

@Mr. Fox I think you might either need to post in here now or create your desktop build thread.

 

Post about... what I ordered? Or something else?

Nope, there are no boxed 8700K CPUs for sale that I could find. After pricing everything out I discovered ibuypower has them in stock and they can sell me a system of that caliber (mid-range enthusiast/high-end for consumers) for the same or less as me shopping around and buying things from various vendors. I did not want a case, so I will replace the case with an open bench, custom loop cooling and water chiller later on. I wanted something more potent (like i9 Extreme and 1080 Ti SLI) but the price gap was too wide and broke my budget.

• Thermaltake Suppressor F31 w/ Tempered Glass Case - Black
  
• Thermaltake Commander FT Touch Screen 5 Channels Fan Controller
  
• ASUS Z370 ROG MAXIMUS X HERO
  
• Intel® Core™ i7-8700K Processor
  
• Thermaltake 360mm RGB Aio Liquid Cooler
  
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti EVGA FTW3 GAMING iCX
  
• 32 GB [16 GB x2] DDR4-3200
  
• 1000 Watt - EVGA 1000GQ - 80 PLUS Gold; Full Modular PSU
  
• Asus MG248Q 24" FHD LED 1ms 144Hz Gaming Monitor

 

Post build progress, overclocks, whatever you like.

 

A GeForce GPU with a FreeSync monitor? That's an...interesting...combo.

 

I have to agree. @Mr. Fox you should really consider the G-Sync monitors. They work far better on desktops at 144hz and 1ms.

I have a Dell TN which is 144hz and Gsync and it’s great. Better than the 120hz TN you’re used to on the F5. Great colors and great viewing angles. It’s an 8bit TN. I have the 27” but the 24” offers even better pixel density.

 

The one I selected had nothing to do with FreeSync. FreeSync will not work, but I do not care. I also do not care about G-Sync and consider both of those technology gimmicks to be worthless. I bought it because of 1ms and 144Hz. Finding a decent display for a price that is not asinine is as hard for desktops as it is laptops. 99% of the stuff on the market is 60Hz junk. I did not realize it was so bad until I started looking for a monitor that had decent specs. Again, I was working within a budget and did not want a crappy monitor. I found this one refurbished and paid under $250 with a 3 year warranty. The only alternatives within my budget were $100-$150 60Hz trash monitors, most with only HDMI and VGA input. I wanted 2560*1440 144Hz, but nothing I could find in my price range.

Dell makes some great monitors, but most are too expensive and I would prefer to spend less on a monitor and more on higher performance specs inside the box. I am neither an audiophile nor a videophile so I would have a hard time with the idea of spending $400 or more on a display when I could spend that on a stronger CPU, cover half of a second 1080Ti for SLI, faster than 3200 RAM, or custom cooling with a GPU water block and a water chiller.

Second GPU, water chiller and putting water on the GPUs will be the first upgrades, with no future plans or budget allocations for a better monitor than this one.

 

to be honest, I never experienced the beauty of G-Sync, call me blind but I don't see a difference

 

I've always thought it was a bit of a gimmick as well and I can't justify spending an extra ~$200 on a monitor just because it has "G-sync" slapped in the name of it. If you have a machine that is capable of putting out 120-144+ fps on whatever settings you are using and never dropping below 100, what do you really need G sync for? What benefit does it really give you if you are capable of playing your games at or above the refresh rate of your monitor, what does it even really do for you at that point? Brownie points for having G sync in the name and saying you are using it?

 

I notice a big difference in smoothness if I disable Gsync. on my desktop I run a cap of 139 where it mostly stays but when it does drop below that It's barely noticeable with Gsync on if it gets turned off then I notice tearing a bit of blurriness. Weather or not its worth it is up to the individual but it does makes a difference.

 

I have tried really hard to tell a difference with G-Sync on versus off and I am unable to see anything except a drop in performance with it enabled. It might be easier to notice a difference with a 60Hz panel than 120Hz or higher. In games the drop is not enough to matter, and sometimes too small to even perceive a change in the game experience. But, it ruins benchmark scores. I often say I "hate G-Sync" but it's not really accurate to say that. Heck, most of the time I cannot even notice a difference between medium and high, or high and ultra game settings. I can see performance decline with the highest possible settings, but I cannot remember the last time the impact on the graphics quality in the game was significant.

To be more accurate, what I mean is that I find zero benefit from using it and I hate having to disable it every time I reinstall new drivers. I would like it better if it just wasn't present and there was nothing that needed to be disabled. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, just a minor inconvenience. The only reason I would ever consider having it on a laptop is for resale value. With the perception of some that it is an awesome must-have, it's a sales gimmick for the laptop owner as much as it is for the Green Goblin.

 

Ahh that makes sense then. I didn't know you got that monitor so cheap, looks like a great deal for the price then. I haven't used a crappy 60hz on desktop for over nearly 3 years. Once I went 144hz I saw the light, and until I got that 120hz panel on my F5 it was a somewhat painful experience. I just wish laptop displays response times would fully catch up. Until then the 120hz 5ms is a great screen.

I turn G-Sync on and have never turned it off since I've owned the same monitor as you. It's really a thing of beauty. I agree that overall image crispness and blurriness is significantly increased, and you simply don't notice the fps drops/slow downs nearly as much.

That said, simply having a 144hz 1ms screen is where it's at. It's like getting a GPU upgrade IMO. The games come alive and the fluidity of each frame just unparalleled. Laptops for too long lacked far behind in this regard no matter the GPU and CPU horsepower under the hood.

 

I can say without a doubt that G-sync is not a gimmick. Even if you have high refresh and fast response, it's not the same thing. Maybe 144Hz refresh and 1ms response will be hard to discern, because I haven't used such an LCD, but I have used 144Hz/5ms one with and without G-sync and it is noticeable. And I abhor TN panels. Most are just washed out low viewing angle piles of trash. When response times become a non factor (i.e. < 1ms) and refresh easily sits above 144Hz on OLED or IPS LCD's, at an affordable price point, G-sync and Freesync will be irrelevant.

G-sync is really just a gaming tech though. If you don't play a lot of games it won't do anything for you. And some games are affected more than others. It's also wildly overpriced. Can I say it's worth the price? I guess that's up to the individual. It is noticeable though. It's also something that you appreciate it more when you've used it regularly and then not use it, the less than fluid video is readily apparent.

What ticks me off is that Nvidia doesn't offer up the best way to manage it. Bottom line is you need to limit your FPS below your native LCD refresh rate, and preferably with an in-game limiter to limit input lag. External limiters like Nvidia Inspector or RivaTuner are OK, but still incorporate some input lag. There really needs to be a frame limiter option in the G-sync tab in the driver settings. That's part of the problem is people turn on G-sync and V-sync and then still get crap input lag or stutter. If it's enabled properly, it works like a charm. Problem is, Nvidia doesn't make it readily apparent.

 

Having used both desktop and laptop implementations, the desktop version has been issue free and a reliable smooth experience. On my laptop I had issues with drivers which causes flicker or stuttering. The desktop has never caused me a single issue across all drivers, and 3 different GPUs. I have heard of others having issues, but with the Dell monitor I have it's been a great experience.

 

From what I've seen, it's worth it in external displays, but I really don't see much improvement on notebooks, and what improvement there is shouldn't be a dealbreaker on systems that don't support it.

 

I don't know. My Sager NP8157 / P650HS-G seems to perform just as well as my desktop with G-sync. It either works or it doesn't. Unless there's driver issues of course. Granted I don't use my laptop as much as I used to, and don't game on it much any more, but when I do, G-sync has worked fine.

I don't want to sound like a fanboy, and I was a huge skeptic when G-sync first came around. Now I'm a believer. I wish it didn't have to be a proprietary thing and added cost, but it does work. Just it's implementation and execution isn't as smooth as it should be.

 

I'll have to give it another chance.

 

hey I have a question for you guys. I'm gonna be building a desktop soon and am trying to decide between the new 8700K or the 8600K. ive seen great results from both but what intrigues me about the 8600K is the lower power draw and thus its ability to stay cooler. whichever I choose I'm pairing it with a GTX 1080ti. this will be strictly a gaming build.

Also would you guys order your desktop from ibuypower or I can go to micro center and pick out all the parts I want and have them build it for $150. Ibuypower comes with a 3 year warranty which is nice. But I like the ability to pick out all my individual parts myself from a massive selection. what would you guys do?? neither do delidding services and I'm not confident to do it myself or build the pc as this will be my first gaming pc of any kind. thanks again!

 

Talk with @Johnksss@iBUYPOWER

 

does he come on these boards? I'm guessing he works for Ibuypower? I know Mr. fox ordered from them recently and I know hes really happy with his build. But id really like to have the 8700k delidded so I can overclock it without having to worry about heat as much. that's why I was also looking at the 8600K which from what ive seen so far is an overclocking beast.

 

If you have the money... Go for 8700K. Johnksss is tagged and is usually on the forum. If he don't see it, maybe bro @Mr. Fox can remind him on the post.

 

8700K all day. The 8600K is a great chip no doubt, but the 8700K is going to get your years of additional gaming without the worry of any bottlenecks.



Look at this video and the 8600K OC to 5.0Ghz and it's core utilization. Also keep in mind this is 1440p ULTRA settings and yet were seeing north of 90% CPU utilization at times. My 8700K at 5.0Ghz in the same test environment and setup sees around 50-70% utilization.

 

I am very happy with the system. However, my first pick would have been to build it exactly to my own specs in all ways rather than settling for what they had on offer. You are fortunate to live near a Micro Center. I wish there were one near me. As I have mentioned, availability (rather, the lack thereof) of 8700K through retail channels is what drove the decision to go with iBUYPOWER. I m not into waiting for anything... Life is too short to waste precious days of it waiting.

I would not recommend 8600K or any other CPU without hyperthreading. No reason other than life without hyperthreading sucks. It is leaving performance on the table and walking away just to save a few bucks.

 

that's great to know. definitely going with the 8700K now that ive heard from all of you. And technically I don't live near a microcenter. I live in North crolina and there is no micro center anywhere near me. However, I travel to Columbus Ohio quite frequently for work and there is a micro center 15 min away from my hotel. I'm actually in ohio now and just went to micro center last night to price out my build. with everything I want I'm looking at just under 3 grand and that's with the price of them building it for me included. Not too bad if you ask me. My plan is to wait until Feb of 2018 when Ill be back in Columbus for a week for my job. The first night I'm here I'm going to go to micro center and pick out everything and have them build it. Then ill pick it up a few days later and bring it home with me in my car since I drive to ohio to Greensboro. Its actually not a bad drive especially once your in west Virginia going through the mountains. Its a really beautiful drive and I prefer driving to flying anyway (I think of planes as death traps with wings haha). my only concern is the drive back I hope they have some kind of packing/shipping solution to help everything stabilize and not be too affected by bumps while driving and stuff like that. So ya that's my plan if I decide not to order from Ibuypower. Hopefully by feb of 2018 the 8700K wont be as scarce and hard to find.

But also I just wanted to thank you guys especially Mr. Fox. When I first came on these boards a few months ago I didn't know anything about computers and my plan was to get a gaming laptop. Ive learned a lot just from reading your guys posts and it also made me realize that a gaming laptop sacrifices way to much for portability. so desktop it is!! I'm super excited. My only concern is the heat from an 8700K that's not delidded.

 

Hopefully the availability of the 8700k will be better in Feb 2018, even so that's kinda short notice to gather parts and build it, walking in same day, you might prepare a little more and set up a build sheet with Microcenter further ahead of time so they can collect all the exact parts you want, otherwise there might be substitutions last minute, not always a bad thing.

By Feb 2018, there may be other alternatives to consider as well

 

Could get lucky and have everything there. Haven't been to the Ohio one, last time I was at the one near me they were pretty well equipped, so you can probably get away with it, but I am the type that prefers to plan ahead.

 

I wonder if intel will bring back extreme editions sometime later in the game?

 

The i9 7980XE is just that beast

Intel® Core™ i9-7980XE Extreme Edition Processor
https://ark.intel.com/products/1266...Edition-Processor-24_75M-Cache-up-to-4_20-GHz

 

Have you guys ever used or have heard of cyberpower?? I can buold a custom desktop through them as well

 

Intel Z390 Chipset Spotted on Upcoming SuperMicro Motherboard
https://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/Intel-Z390-Chipset-Spotted-Upcoming-SuperMicro-Motherboard

"Specifically, the Intel Z390 chipset was spotted in a SuperMicro C7Z390-PGW motherboard along with an undetected 92W Coffee Lake 6 core / 12 thread processor (perhaps SiSoft is simply incorrectly reading a 8700K or it’s an unreleased slightly more power efficient SKU). More interesting though is the continuing tease of possible 8 core (16 thread) consumer Core processors being released for these new Z390 chipset-based motherboards. The rumor mill is going all in on salt futures on this one it seems. What we still don’t know is what architecture these rumored 8 core chips will use, whether Coffee Lake or Cannon Lake (I’m leaning towards CNL but an 8 core Coffee Lake chip, while large, is not out of the question.)

The Z390 chipset will reportedly add a SoundWire digital audio interface with quad core DSP, integrated Intel Wireless AC (Wi-fi + BT CNVi), integrated SDXC 3.0, and Thunderbolt 3.0 with DisplayPort 1.4 support (using the Titan Ridge controller). The chipset further supports C10 and S0ix

In the last bit of Intel chipset rumors for today, rumors are also spreading suggesting that Intel may be moving up the launch of the Z390 chipset to the first quarter of next year to better compete with AMD and its Pinnacle Ridge (Ryzen 2000 / Zen+) processors and Promontory X400 series chipsets (e.g. X470 and B450) which are allegedly coming in January. Basically, it’s going to be a crazy CES for motherboard and processor soft launches and product teases / announcements!"

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...coffee-lake-z370.809268/page-38#post-10633359

 

Nice. The rumored 8 core i7 should be compatible with Z370 as well. Nice to see Intel turning out those products and giving us better mainstream CPUs.

 

Look like Z370 and Z390 from this image will be exactly like z68/z77, z87/z97, z170/z270. I have little doubt processors will be forwards and backwards compatible across both chipsets. People complaining Z270 wasn't compatible with CFL should have looked at Intel's CPU/Chipset history. The writing was on the wall that you were purchasing a deadend platform.

 

There hasn't been any indication that the z390 will be compatible with z370 CPU's, those CPU's will all be locked to the z370 chipset.

Intel would have been wise to make the z370 backwards compatible with z270 and before CPU's, and there was no power limiting factor as Intel said there was fitting the 8700k into z270 / z170 boards, but Intel still made previous pin compatible CPU's not work in the z370.

Intel's recent history with making 1151 socket parts incompatible backward / forward across motherboard chipset's doesn't bode well for the z390 accepting z370 or before pin-compatible CPU's.

Part of the problem is QA and verification testing, regression testing of previous CPU's on the new motherboard chipset, Intel is giving up on that without even trying because they can't afford the time to wait for that to be done, they need to ship new components the second they are ready, to compete with AMD Ryzen / ThreadRipper / Epyc / Ryzen Mobile / Ryzen Vega + Intel, Intel can't afford to wait.

Cutting out that QA time is a big chunk of time savings that allows Intel to jump several Quarters in time forward the release date for new CPU's and motherboard Chipsets.

I don't expect Intel to provide 1151 pin compatible CPU support for previously shipping CPU's, no support for any CPU other than the concurrently shipping newer 8th (8.5th or 9th?) generation CPU's the z390 supports, that the z370 does not.

 

Who says they're going to be locked to Z370? Do you have any source at all for that claim? I'm not saying they will be backwards, but as history of their CPU and Chipset support go, it has ALWAYS had 2 gens of chipsets and CPUs. The 1151 for Z370 and CFL is NOT the same as it was for z170/z270. It's considered a second generation of it and has a revamped power delivery system. It makes sense that Z170/Z270 didn't support it as they had to change this to fully support higher core count CPUs, and again following Intel's history of CPU/Chipset support, it got 2 CPU gens.

Z370 has this second gen socket and redesigned power delivery, in addition has only had one CPU gen released for it, so it again makes sense it will see a second CPU such as the 8900K or 8790K or whatever they decide to call it.

https://www.bit-tech.net/features/tech/motherboards/asus-interview-andrew-wu-rog-motherboard-pm/1/

bit-tech: The 20 previously unused pins that you mentioned, what are they now used for?

Andrew: Many of them are used for power control. It's possible that these are in preparation for the high-core count processors.

This interview and statement so far are the greatest insight we have into what Intel has/had planned all along. It has a revamped power delivery that is different from the Z170/Z270 chipset. It's very unlikely Intel will give the cold shoulder to Z370 adopters and owners as they are on their first CPU revision and have the revised socket that should fully support higher core count CPUs.

 

We don't know and Intel isn't telling us, which is also a bad sign, we only have recent history to go on and that tells us z390 won't be backwards / forwards compatible.

With Intel jumping several Quarters in time to push early release, what usually gets cut in those situations is the QA regression testing, and if Intel wants to ship the soonest, giving up on backwards / forwards 1151 CPU compatibility will be the first to go. Intel will just lock out previous CPU's in the firmware and move forward as they did with the z370.

We'll have to be patient and wait for official news or leaks to fill us in until release. Until then, I wouldn't get your hopes up, I'd plan to buy a whole new set of parts to build a whole new computer: new motherboard, new CPU, new Coolers, new everything to run 8c/16t K CPU's.

In order to support the new higher core count CPU's Intel is making the z390, so I also wouldn't expect the new 8c/16t CPU's to run on z370 or earlier motherboards.

After all we've seen recently, I wouldn't count on Intel "doing the right thing", and instead expect them to do the "expedient thing", which is to keep rolling out new higher performance higher core count products until they are a step ahead of AMD CPU's released in 2017 / 2018, and the 8700k 6c/12t isn't enough, yet**.

That way if Intel surprises us with compatibility of any sort between z370 and z390, it'll be a pleasant surprise.

**The z390 is billed as a Coffee Lake full performance motherboard chipset, so maybe the 8700k will run faster (?), but then again why run the 8700k on the z390 which is more expensive (?) than the z370, and not run the new 8c/16t 8800k (?).

 

You're right we have very little information yet, but I am still leaning towards we will see compatibility. Saying we can only go on their recent history just doesn't make sense. What about their recent history are we talking about? The fact that Z270/Z170 didn't support CFL? Again see my above post where they redesigned the power delivery, and again Z170/Z270 like Intel's previous history HAD THEIR 2X gen of CPUs and is both forward and backward compatible.

Saying we should look at their recent history doesn't make sense, it only makes sense if you are saying that a lot of butthurt Kabylake buyers are upset their CPU had such a short king of the hill time frame in comparison to previous gens. However, they had their 2 gens of CPU support and Intel moved on just like they have done since the first i series CPUs. I'm really confused about what you're getting at by saying we should look at their recent history.

Bottom line if it comes down to it, I will go ahead and sell my CFL/Z370 early, grab an X99 chip on the cheap (still have my board and will be keeping it) and get a Z390/8Core CPU. I wouldn't need to buy a new AIO lol. Guys are using 8 and 10 core X299 and X99 CPUs just fine with my AIO. But yes a new CPU and mobo if necessary.

I like a light hearted debate like this, but I suppose neither of us can really know much until Intel leaks or someone in the know leaks some concrete information.

 

Intel's "panic" mode of operation (recently) is what is different than Intel's previous long history of slowly plodding forward, with backward and forward compatibility somewhat expected.

Now (recently) Intel is panicking about AMD competition and bringing forward CPU and motherboard chipset releases 6 months - 12 months early, negating any time for QA regression testing.

The time for regression testing is needed to test the new CPU's on old motherboard (chipset's), and old CPU's on new motherboard (chipset's). Then make and test firmware updates to provide compatibility, issue those updates to motherboard makers, and go through several firmware update cycles to maintain error free operation in the field.

Intel can't afford the time or the resources to do "the right thing" if they are trying to accelerate their delivery schedules by leaps and bounds to catch up with AMD's releases, which will keep coming in 2018.

Like on the z370, Intel didn't have time to do that regression testing so rather than risk exposure to something not working quite right for a customer in the field trying to run a 7700k on a z370 Intel simply took the easy and quick way out, Intel locked out all previous generation 1151 CPU's in the z370 firmware.

Intel did the same thing for compatibility of the Coffee Lake CPU's (not only the 6c/12t CPU) on z270 / z170. It might have worked just fine, but Intel didn't have the regression testing time available to test it and make firmware updates for motherboard makers to make them compatible with reliable operation. So Intel took the easy way out and made the Coffee Lake CPU's incompatible with the previous generation motherboard chipsets, only allowing operation on the z370.

I see no reason to expect Intel to treat the z390 any differently. Intel has even less time to get z390 + 8c/16t CPU's ready to market, and Intel needs these new releases to be as problem free as they can make them. Cutting off forward / backward compatibility testing is likely the first "extra" to go.

Yup, and that's why it's always best to buy when you are ready to buy, and not wait. Buy now and enjoy gaming now.

When the next big thing arrives wave at it happily, and go back to enjoying what you bought, because it's likely within a gnat's whisker in gaming performance anyway.

If you want / need high core count *now* buy Ryzen or ThreadRipper now, or dig deep for an Intel x299 i9 system.

 

I don't think Intel is "panicking" my friend. Does Intel feel somewhat threatened by AMD finally bringing Haswell like IPC and performance to the table along with some amazing marketing? Sure, I can agree with that. But to say they're panicking I can't agree with that at all. When my 8700K with just 6 cores/12threads overclocked can outpace AMD's 8core/12thread CPU in multitasking and absolutely destroy it in some high fps/high refresh rate gaming, I don't think Intel has anything to panic about.

It's like you think Intel isn't years ahead of what they are actually releasing. Just like Nvidia, Intel is has the cash on hand to do R&D years above what AMD has the ability to do, and they aren't just running into the workshop and slapping these products together without testing as you're suggesting. True they are pushing up their release date (hence initial low launch supply which has been largely fixed since it can be purchased at Newegg right now), but to assume that they're somehow untested or rushing said testing is based on what?

Since gaming is my main concern, both Ryzen (very bad gaming choice for me and a joke in comparison IMO) and X299 would be terrible choices. Both perform worse compared to Z370 and 8700K. In some cases they perform significantly worse, and I like my rated memory to run at its rated speed out of box without worry of compatibility or stability. We do have Zen2 to look forward to and see what AMD can come up with, but honestly after seeing the failure that is Vega, I don't have high hopes for AMD at all no matter how high they can get their CPUs to score in blender or CB. When it comes to day to day multitasking, gaming, and general performance, Intel is KING.