Chips with silver linings — Caseking and der8auer stock up on custom Core i7-8700K CPUs

With 6 cores and 12 threads of raw muscle under the hood, Intel's 'Coffee Lake-S' (CFL-S) Core i7-8700K chips are indeed a gamer's delight — provided you can find them. The CPU has been sold out at all major e-retailers in the US and it could take some time before stocks start to replenish. However, if you have the moolah to spare, Caseking.de have special Core i7-8700Ks in enough supply. 

Famed overclocker der8auer and his employer, Caseking, are selling de-lidded and binned Core i7-8700Ks, with some variants sporting an aftermarket integrated heat spreader (IHS) made of 99.9% silver. These chips are being sold in 3 variants —  

• Advanced - de-lidded with stock IHS
• Pro - de-lidded with polished stock IHS
• Ultra - de-lidded with all silver IHS

Each of the chips are sold with information on voltage settings needed to reach the targeted overclock, with the highest voltage required being no more than 1.4V. Caseking is guaranteeing that these chips will hit clocks between 4.8 GHz to 5.2 GHz. der8auer's and Caseking's logos are etched on all variants.

Right now, the Advanced chips that reach 5.1 GHz are available for approximately US$544 (without VAT) with the least expensive option being the 4.8 GHz Advanced version, which is available for approximately US$413 (without VAT). The top most pick in the Ultra range clocks at 5.2 GHz and can you be yours for approximately US$816. 

Whether the aftermarket chips are worth it or not, we'll leave that up to you to decide but the stock chips are pretty good on their own with excellent single-core performance and a multi-core performance comparable to the Ryzens. Here's hoping that retailers get to replenish their stocks at the earliest.