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

[Meghan54]

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?

 

[aleader]

I guess maybe I could try selling it on Ebay (I've only ever sold one thing on there) and see what I can get for the system. I hate having to figure out shipping costs, especially to the US. Since B450 doesn't support Zen 3 (for now anyways) I may just hand that one to my son instead down the road. His Asrock H81/i5 4690 and GTX 1060 are still enough for him at 1080p/60Hz, and I will be gifting him the 1070 this fall when I upgrade, which should put him at 60fps/Ultra in pretty much everything. He can then gift the 1060 to my youngest son, who's surprisingly still able to play RB6 Siege at 1080p/High without any issues with my now very old GTX 950 (on my old H81 board/4670).

 

[aleader]

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.

I hope you're right about MSFS. I'm still trying to find a game in my 150+ library that I can test out the multi-core thing on.

 

[ehume]

Why not continue to use the 4790k system? A modern GPU is probably all one needs to do up-to-date gaming. Cheaper that way . . .

 

[Zucker2k]

An FX-8350 or i7-4770 were released a year or two before Windows 10 came out - 12 years after Windows XP. Absolutely nobody is using an i7-4770k to run Windows XP - it'd be driver hell.

On the contrary! The last platform Intel released Windows XP drivers for is the 4th series or Haswell platform. For a purely gaming perspective, chips like the 4690K, 4770K, and 4790Ks, are pure gems for people who want a gaming platform that covers games from the late 90s to this day. This is made possible because you can run any number of Windows OSes from Windows (2000) XP - Windows 10. You could for example run XP, Windows 7, and Windows 10 triple boot and you're covered for the last 30 years of games!

If you visit threads where people are trying to run Windows XP on modern hardware (which I'm currently doing), you'd understand the value these relatively old chips offer for a hassle free experience, especially dealing with games and legacy software. For those who want or need a single platform that can handle anything over the last 30 years (sure, with some serious performance limitations in areas like rendering and encoding), HWBot world record chasers, etc., these are the best of the best, save for the HEDT platform. There's a huge market out there for the halo chips, and as more and more people delve into legacy computing for nostalgic and other considerations I expect some of these chips will retain their value for a long time to come.

 

[Magic Carpet]

@Zucker2k

That's true, there's even Windows XP 32/64 IGP drivers support.

AND.

It's the last Intel IGP w/ native VGA output. Also, due to the FIVR design, boards are simple and reliable. Lots did come with PCI slots, so legacy equipment was simple to add too, e.g. Voodoo Graphics 1/2/3/5.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Used 4790Ks don't worth that much here (~USD 100) in Singapore so I kept mine in the cabinet with Asus H81i mobo and a spare $50 noname B85 Chinese mobo as a backup for retro purposes in the future.

 

[Meghan54]

Why not continue to use the 4790k system? A modern GPU is probably all one needs to do up-to-date gaming. Cheaper that way . . .

As for me, actually, that was kinda my intention...sorta.

I'd had the 4790k system for almost 6 years. Had upgraded the gpu twice; its latest an RTX 2060.

But got the "itch" to upgrade, as happens. And after 6 years, the system felt "old"...but was to become my wife's replacement for her even older 3570k system.

We'd made the decision to upgrade mine back in Oct. 2019 and I was buying parts as they went on sale and was in no hurry.

Got finished (3700X, MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC, WD SN750 1TB NVMe, 16GB DDR4-3200) about two weeks before the Covid Cash hit...and since we really aren't in dire need of anything (own house, vehicles, boat...no real debts outside a couple of CC's), figured may as well have two brand new systems to maybe go another 6 years or so before having to do full bore upgrades again.

So, in the end, after selling both cpus, mbs, and sets of memory, we did two upgrades for essentially one Covid Cash payment ($1200): Hers a 3600X, the MSI B450 listed above along with the memory, a Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SSD, and my old RTX 2060. Mine: 3700X, MSI MEG Ace, 32GB DDR4-3600, the aforementioned 1TB WD SN750, and a Gigabyte RTX 2070 super OC 3X gpu.

Not too bad. Can't think of any way to get cheaper than zero out of pocket at the end for two almost complete computer upgrades (sans ps's.)

 

[akiakay]

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?

The 4790K was stable enough at 4.7GHz to run some benchmarks, but I’d say 4.6GHz is the more reasonable overclocking limit for daily use, unless you have a much beefier cooler than this one. The amount of extra voltage needed—and the resulting thermal load—isn’t worth it.

 

[Topweasel]

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...

Its not just home users. Companies that are using certain hardware. Specially if that hardware has features that are missing today (like lets say a PCI slot or two), and are using the system in a pretty much can't come down situation have their buyers stock up on compatible hardware and getting the fastest CPU that works in their platform is a pretty low hanging fruit.

Another reason would be those Dell "Gaming" PC's people resell. Getting the top I7 for a gen can pump up the value of the PC to those looking at the systems to purchase. They aren't buying Ebay stock, but them holding them back from lease and recycling returns lowers the availability of them on the market driving prices up.