Question Is there something "special" about Intel's i7-4790k cpus?

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Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
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This is probably in the wrong sub-forum, but I just gotta ask......

Been seeing auction prices of Intel cpus bringing what I would consider stupid money....such as the i7-4790k cpus. I've got an old one myself and plan on trying to sell it. Browsing ebay and completed auctions for that cpu reveals the avg. selling price seems to be north of $185 with numerous examples cresting $200.

$185......and my wife's new AMD 3600X cost just about that much.....after sales tax.

So what's so darned special about the 4790k cpu and why are its prices so strong?
 
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blckgrffn

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May 1, 2003
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www.teamjuchems.com
Used parts are insane right now. I cringe when I think the of the 2600k and 2700k PCs I flipped on CL for like $250-$350 in the last 18 months because I felt they were out of date.

One had a 4 x 8GB DDR3 kit that would go for crazy money right now too :(

Oh well, several teenagers got their PC gaming fix and hopefully they stay in the tech world.

Makes me wonder if I should sell other halo CPUs I have access too... a 4770k and a 3770k...
 
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loki1944

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Apr 23, 2020
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This is probably in the wrong sub-forum, but I just gotta ask......

Been seeing auction prices of Intel cpus bringing what I would consider stupid money....such as the i7-4790k cpus. I've got an old one myself and plan on trying to sell it. Browsing ebay and completed auctions for that cpu reveals the avg. selling price seems to be north of $185 with numerous examples cresting $200.

$185......and my wife's new AMD 3600X cost just about that much.....after sales tax.

So what's so darned special about the 4790k cpu and why are its prices so strong?

Even a 4770K is still great for gaming; I've got a 4770K with a mild overclock to 4.3Ghz as a side rig that does fantastic at 1080p/1440p with an R9 Fury it's within a few FPS of my i7 7800X@4.8Ghz in AC:Origins@1080p Very High, and over 60FPS in GR: Wildlands @1080p VeryHigh with a 980Ti ; like mentioned by fleshconsumed; being on DDR3 definitely makes it more attractive and for someone upgrading on Z87/Z97 even more so. It's still a very capable platform, so as an upgrade on that chipset it makes sense there is a demand. Much older CPUs than the 4790K are still plenty viable for modern gaming; 4790K being much, much newer as well as top end of the platform is going to result in a higher price.
 
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blckgrffn

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May 1, 2003
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Even a 4770K is still great for gaming; I've got a 4770K with a mild overclock to 4.3Ghz as a side rig that does fantastic at 1080p/1440p with an R9 Fury it's within a few FPS of my i7 7800X@4.8Ghz in AC:Origins@1080p Very High, and over 60FPS in GR: Wildlands @1080p VeryHigh with a 980Ti ; like mentioned by fleshconsumed; being on DDR3 definitely makes it more attractive and for someone upgrading on Z87/Z97 even more so. It's still a very capable platform, so as an upgrade on that chipset it makes sense there is a demand. Much older CPUs than the 4790K are still plenty viable for modern gaming; 4790K being much, much newer as well as top end of the platform is going to result in a higher price.

Ha, one is in my mom's PC, the other in my father in laws PC. They... surf the web. Sometimes. My mom's PC might get turned on every few weeks, I am not sure, I think maybe more since the fun times started.

I am guessing I could buy nice $50 Xeons to replace what they have and they would notice no difference.

I'd just put the difference towards their next PC upgrades, which I pay for/provide since I get to the be one who also gets stuck during visits fixing their computers if they are broken. That's why they got these CPUs in the first place - Microcenter bundles ;)
 

killster1

Banned
Mar 15, 2007
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Do appreciate the responses. Just still can't believe the cpu has that much intrinsic value left in it. I tried listing locally but no bites even with the price sub-$100.

I hate dealing with ebay, but I held my nose and listed it yesterday. It's at $175 this morning. Sheesh.

Not complaining by any means...
I bet it would sell in the forum fs section.. if you have a complete setup with a celery cpu maybe it be worth 120. U can always find the bid price on ebay by watching till one ends to see true prices
 

aleader

Senior member
Oct 28, 2013
502
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And that's what I don't comprehend. I get that some people would rather flush their money down a toilet rather than keep up. But I firmly feel anyone buying a 4790k, for instance, in an attempt to make their "investment" in their current hardware stretch out longer is just throwing good money away. The motherboards aren't made any longer, memory availability is sketchy at best, and spending $200 on a cpu that's 5 generations old instead of biting the bullet and going for current tech seems rather a poor choice of budgeting.

C'est la vie. I'll take their money. I've got my old 4790k system's parts on ebay right now...the 4790k itself is at $175 (4 days left), the Asus Max. VII Gene mb has hit $70 (sound card is dead on it, hence the price hit), and the 16GB (2X8GB) of G. Skill Sniper DDR3-2133 memory is at $52. Darned near going to pay for my wife's upgrade.

Conversely, my wife's old rig, an Intel 3570k cpu, Asus Max. V Gene mb, and 8GB (2x4GB) Patriot Viper DDR3-1600 memory, which is being sold as a bundle, is languishing at $72. Ain't gonna cover squat....not my memory, not the cpu, not the mb...nada. Barely pay for the memory in wife's new computer.

Sad.

I don't get it either which is why I upgraded to the B450/3600 system from my 4670k@4.5GHz, although I am having a bit of buyer's remorse as I am not seeing any real difference in performance, and as a matter of fact, lower fps in some games (the Division 2). I'm giving the old system to my son so it's not that big a deal, but it's a little annoying how little progress there's been in game development. Maybe the new consoles will change that?
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
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I don't get it either which is why I upgraded to the B450/3600 system from my 4670k@4.5GHz, although I am having a bit of buyer's remorse as I am not seeing any real difference in performance, and as a matter of fact, lower fps in some games (the Division 2). I'm giving the old system to my son so it's not that big a deal, but it's a little annoying how little progress there's been in game development. Maybe the new consoles will change that?
If I remember right from the recent GamersNexus YT vid on the 3100 and 3300X, they mention that 'The Division 2', likes high core clocks over threads. However, this is not true of all modern games, some do prefer "more threads", and thus, the 3600 should pull away slightly from that 4670K. Though, clocked @ 4.5Ghz, and Zen2 having not much difference in IPC (but a much larger L3cache), is not something to ignore.

Ask @DAPUNISHER , he'll tell you that to move from a high-clocked / overclocked Haswell platform to a Ryzen is more of a side-grade of anything for gaming purposes. But for video-editing, streaming, 3D rendering, the Ryzen blows it away, so there's very little downside to the move, and you can always step up to a 3900X or 3950X.
 
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DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
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Ask @DAPUNISHER , he'll tell you that to move from a high-clocked / overclocked Haswell platform to a Ryzen is more of a side-grade of anything for gaming purposes.
For the majority of the games I played, absolutely, but Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Denuvo :mad:) was the game that convinced me to ditch the last of my DDR3 based systems i.e. 4770K. Ryzen 3600 solved the problems with that title. For some of the multiplayer stuff out now, Haswell is showing its age too.

I was putting together systems using $85 Ryzen 1600AF, or whatever deal I could get on a used 2600 around $100, $54 MSI A320M-A PRO MAX, and $62 2x8GB Warhawk RGB 3200DDR, for about what OP's 4790K is selling for. That was before the budget market dried up here recently. The historically high price of used Intel CPUs still makes no sense anymore. It did back when AMD was sucking wind, but now that AMD and Intel have both upped the ante, putting $200 or more into a 4c/8t 4th-5th-6th gen Intel CPU is a bad investment. Heck, even the prices old AMD FX CPUs are going for on Ebay, have me face palming. And a Ryzen 1400 going for $100? Tough time to be doing a budget build. I don't even consider 4c/4t anymore, and neither do many others, which is why you can still get them.
 
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DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
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R5 1400 going for $100 makes no sense with the 3100 being out.
I would say none of it makes sense, but for the fact that people are still on lockdown. Must be what is driving the demand right now? Maybe that stimulus money is burning a hole in their pockets? I saw a FX8350 with 16GB and a 970 mobo combo, used of course, and the bidding was over $200.
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
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I would say none of it makes sense, but for the fact that people are still on lockdown. Must be what is driving the demand right now? Maybe that stimulus money is burning a hole in their pockets? I saw a FX8350 with 16GB and a 970 mobo combo, used of course, and the bidding was over $200.
I hope that I can sell my i5-4570/4590, 16GB DDR3-1600, 480GB SSD, 500GB WD Blue HDD, and GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5 LP card rig(s), for a decent amount (at least enough to cover costs, and maybe $20 or more for my time/gas, preferably $100 more if I can swing it.)

I saw last night, that "HP Power Gaming PC" from Nov. 2017 (Walmart's B&M BF sale Gaming PC for $500), was selling, brand-new, from a 3rd-party on Walmart's web site for $999 !).

I just gave mine to a buddy of mine for free not that long ago. Should be good to game on. Gave him a 1440P (*refurb, with some issues) LCD monitor too.

(It came with an i5-7400, 8GB DDR4-2400 DC, GTX 1060 3GB OEM, 1TB HDD, and a spare SATA port / power lead for a SATA SSD to be added.) It was pretty beefy at the time, especially for $500, I bought it because I couldn't build one for that price, but it's not really very upgradable. I gave it away because I have limited space in my apt., it used a HDD (I had an SSD in it when I was using it for mining, but I removed it to give it away), and my other Ryzen 6C/12T rigs are way more powerful, so that was actually one of my weakest systems I had lingering around my place.
 
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DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
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I would say none of it makes sense, but for the fact that people are still on lockdown. Must be what is driving the demand right now? Maybe that stimulus money is burning a hole in their pockets? I saw a FX8350 with 16GB and a 970 mobo combo, used of course, and the bidding was over $200.

2015 says hi?
 
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aleader

Senior member
Oct 28, 2013
502
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For the majority of the games I played, absolutely, but Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Denuvo :mad:) was the game that convinced me to ditch the last of my DDR3 based systems i.e. 4770K. Ryzen 3600 solved the problems with that title. For some of the multiplayer stuff out now, Haswell is showing its age too.

I upgraded mostly for DCS World, thinking I could stretch the 1070 out a few more years with just a little push from the CPU. I 'think' I'm seeing a bit smoother gameplay (1440p), but that could just be me wanting it to seem smoother to justify the upgrade. My FPS hasn't changed at all. In any event, it's such a minor difference if it is one it definitely wasn't worth it just for that game. Yet if you go on the forums at ED there are several page threads about the 'massive' performance upgrade moving from a 4 core CPU, and lots of arguing about core utilization. I call BS on that.

I don't stream or record or anything else for that matter on my desktop, so I'm just hoping games that I tend to play catch up and start using the extra cores eventually. I know DCS is supposed to be moving to Vulkan, although I don't know that that will improve core utilization, not that I know much about Vulkan.

In any event, the fact my son can use the Z97 board and 4670k eases the sting a bit, and now I won't feel like I'm being 'held back' by the 4670 when I upgrade the vid card this fall. I'm curious to see if MS Flight Sim benefits from extra cores. Surely that game will use them?
 
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DAPUNISHER

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I upgraded mostly for DCS World, thinking I could stretch the 1070 out a few more years with just a little push from the CPU. I 'think' I'm seeing a bit smoother gameplay (1440p), but that could just be me wanting it to seem smoother to justify the upgrade. My FPS hasn't changed at all. In any event, it's such a minor difference if it is one it definitely wasn't worth it just for that game. Yet if you go on the forums at ED there are several page threads about the 'massive' performance upgrade moving from a 4 core CPU, and lots of arguing about core utilization. I call BS on that.

I don't stream or record or anything else for that matter on my desktop, so I'm just hoping games that I tend to play catch up and start using the extra cores eventually. I know DCS is supposed to be moving to Vulkan, although I don't know that that will improve core utilization, not that I know much about Vulkan.

In any event, the fact my son can use the Z97 board and 4670k eases the sting a bit, and now I won't feel like I'm being 'held back' by the 4670 when I upgrade the vid card this fall. I'm curious to see if MS Flight Sim benefits from extra cores. Surely that game will use them?
It really is about the games you play. I am currently playing Red Dead Redemption 2, and it is another CPU intensive title, in the vein of Odyssey, where the Ryzen 3600 ensures a great experience@1440p. Lately however, when I want to fire up an old title like Fallout New Vegas, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, or some other classic in my collection, I play on an old, overclocked, Phenom II 960T with 4GB DDR2 800, and a GTX 1070. If all I played were older titles, and consumed web media, it would still be enough.

MS Flight Simulator 2020 is suggesting a minimum of a i5 4460 and recommends a Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or higher. So it is going to be capable of utilizing extra cores and threads beyond a quad core.
 
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loki1944

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For the majority of the games I played, absolutely, but Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Denuvo :mad:) was the game that convinced me to ditch the last of my DDR3 based systems i.e. 4770K. Ryzen 3600 solved the problems with that title. For some of the multiplayer stuff out now, Haswell is showing its age too.

I was putting together systems using $85 Ryzen 1600AF, or whatever deal I could get on a used 2600 around $100, $54 MSI A320M-A PRO MAX, and $62 2x8GB Warhawk RGB 3200DDR, for about what OP's 4790K is selling for. That was before the budget market dried up here recently. The historically high price of used Intel CPUs still makes no sense anymore. It did back when AMD was sucking wind, but now that AMD and Intel have both upped the ante, putting $200 or more into a 4c/8t 4th-5th-6th gen Intel CPU is a bad investment. Heck, even the prices old AMD FX CPUs are going for on Ebay, have me face palming. And a Ryzen 1400 going for $100? Tough time to be doing a budget build. I don't even consider 4c/4t anymore, and neither do many others, which is why you can still get them.
I upgraded mostly for DCS World, thinking I could stretch the 1070 out a few more years with just a little push from the CPU. I 'think' I'm seeing a bit smoother gameplay (1440p), but that could just be me wanting it to seem smoother to justify the upgrade. My FPS hasn't changed at all. In any event, it's such a minor difference if it is one it definitely wasn't worth it just for that game. Yet if you go on the forums at ED there are several page threads about the 'massive' performance upgrade moving from a 4 core CPU, and lots of arguing about core utilization. I call BS on that.

I don't stream or record or anything else for that matter on my desktop, so I'm just hoping games that I tend to play catch up and start using the extra cores eventually. I know DCS is supposed to be moving to Vulkan, although I don't know that that will improve core utilization, not that I know much about Vulkan.

In any event, the fact my son can use the Z97 board and 4670k eases the sting a bit, and now I won't feel like I'm being 'held back' by the 4670 when I upgrade the vid card this fall. I'm curious to see if MS Flight Sim benefits from extra cores. Surely that game will use them?

Well, hopefully they do a better job than MFS X; that thing still doesn't run the greatest.
 

Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,504
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Well, to follow up.....

The 4790k cpu that I listed on both Craigslist and FB Marketplace, that didn't get a sniff until I'd dropped the price below $100 without selling, closed at $197.50 on ebay (a place I loathe selling on, but the exposure is just so darned much better) to my surprise.

Didn't hit $200, but what the heck.

And the cpu was a darned good one...it would OC to 4.6GHz on stock volts. Kinda sad to see it go, but it did pay for my wife's 3600X, so sorta evens out.
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
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Well, to follow up.....

The 4790k cpu that I listed on both Craigslist and FB Marketplace, that didn't get a sniff until I'd dropped the price below $100 without selling, closed at $197.50 on ebay (a place I loathe selling on, but the exposure is just so darned much better) to my surprise.

Didn't hit $200, but what the heck.

And the cpu was a darned good one...it would OC to 4.6GHz on stock volts. Kinda sad to see it go, but it did pay for my wife's 3600X, so sorta evens out.
When you are looking to maximize sell price, it is really the best place, even after fees. I rarely sell there either, because despite not having had a bad experience yet, all the horror stories have had their effect. I usually just list it for dirt cheap here when I want to get rid of something. Helping someone out and/or providing hot deals, gives me warm feels. Sometimes it sits here for far too long though due to how few views you get, and how spoiled on high end kit, most of these ballers are :p May have to start using r/hardwareswap, hot deals sell in minutes or hours there.

But back to your topic: almost 2 bills for a 4790K, is yet another SMDH at what ebayers will pay for stuff. The new budget AMD and Intel CPUs should kill off the almost decade long tradition of old HEDT, or close to it, Intel CPUs, holding so much value. Anything older than 8th gen Intel i7, will be up against 4c/8t i3s selling for $100-$150. Then again, there is no accounting for the spending habits of ebayers. o_O
 

fleshconsumed

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2002
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Well, to follow up.....

The 4790k cpu that I listed on both Craigslist and FB Marketplace, that didn't get a sniff until I'd dropped the price below $100 without selling, closed at $197.50 on ebay (a place I loathe selling on, but the exposure is just so darned much better) to my surprise.

Didn't hit $200, but what the heck.

And the cpu was a darned good one...it would OC to 4.6GHz on stock volts. Kinda sad to see it go, but it did pay for my wife's 3600X, so sorta evens out.
As much as I hate ebay, it really is the best place for selling stuff like that. And it's not really ebay that I hate, it's the unscrupulous buyers who claim you sold them non-working part and now you're out of shipping because ebay refunds them in full. For specialty items like electronics that are small enough to ship economically ebay is still the best place to sell despite the obnoxious 10% sale fee. I live in major metropolitan area, and I still can't sell tech items even if I list them at a fair, i.e. ebay minus commission/shipping price on CL/FB, you'd think 15-20% off ebay prices would entice people, but that is not the case in my experience.

Back to the topic, I sold all my 4770k/4790k's a while ago on ebay and replaced them with Ryzen. No regrets, same or better performance with more cores and NVME support.
 
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loki1944

Member
Apr 23, 2020
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As much as I hate ebay, it really is the best place for selling stuff like that. And it's not really ebay that I hate, it's the unscrupulous buyers who claim you sold them non-working part and now you're out of shipping because ebay refunds them in full. For specialty items like electronics that are small enough to ship economically ebay is still the best place to sell despite the obnoxious 10% sale fee. I live in major metropolitan area, and I still can't sell tech items even if I list them at a fair, i.e. ebay minus commission/shipping price on CL/FB, you'd think 15-20% off ebay prices would entice people, but that is not the case in my experience.

Back to the topic, I sold all my 4770k/4790k's a while ago on ebay and replaced them with Ryzen. No regrets, same or better performance with more cores and NVME support.

Well I've had my share of non-working parts, usually GPUs sold to me on ebay that were listed as working. As far as selling, I personally haven't had any issues. I pretty much never list things as an auction; I use the "buy it now" option though. Ebay has funded many upgrades for me.
 

fleshconsumed

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Feb 21, 2002
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Well I've had my share of non-working parts, usually GPUs sold to me on ebay that were listed as working. As far as selling, I personally haven't had any issues. I pretty much never list things as an auction; I use the "buy it now" option though. Ebay has funded many upgrades for me.
It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen. Last one for me was an ebay buyer who returned 200GE claiming it was defective. It wasn't, I put it back into my motherboard and it was working just fine. Of course because he claimed it was defective I had to completely refund his money including return postage so in the end I was out shipping both ways.
 
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DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
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It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen. Last one for me was an ebay buyer who returned 200GE claiming it was defective. It wasn't, I put it back into my motherboard and it was working just fine. Of course because he claimed it was defective I had to completely refund his money including return postage so in the end I was out shipping both ways.
Buyer's board probably needed a bios update, eh? Or had you hashed that out with them already?
 

fleshconsumed

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Buyer's board probably needed a bios update, eh? Or had you hashed that out with them already?
The buyer said he tried it in 3 different motherboards with latest BIOSes. He also said motherboards were working because he tried different chip with them. At that point it was my word against his and ebay always sides with the buyer. At least he sent me back the same chip I sent him (I verified by the serial number).

Just for the record I have to say that most of the time everything goes smoothly. Out of all of my ebay selling experience I'm guessing I only have 1-3% problematic buyers where they try to return an item when I clearly list them as no returns accepted or try to return anyway by claiming it's not working as I'm sure was the case with the 200GE. But that 1-3% really spoils the experience.