Why is my inferior i-7 2700K more expensive than the superior i7-3700K?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
L

Lakitu

Reputable
Mar 20, 2014
4
0
4,510
For the past 2 years, I've been seeing the price of my i-7 2700K CPU remain steadily slightly more expensive than the superior i7-3700K that was launched as a replacement.

This benchmark chart shows clearly that the i7-3700K is better: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/cpu-charts-2013/-01-Cinebench-11.5,3142.html

Yet, the price difference doesn't make sense.

The i7-3700K is $336.49 on Amazon
The i7-2700K is $374.66 on Amazon

Why is my CPU more expensive than its substitute?
 
Solution
Supernova1138
I'm guessing it's because the older Sandy Bridge chip likely has better overclocking potential, and might wind up being slightly faster once you factor in overclocking. Starting with Ivy Bridge, Intel stopped using fluxless solder to fill the space between the actual CPU chip and the heat spreader and started using thermal compound. This made it cheaper to make the chips, but also decreased cooling performance. The decrease in cooling performance meant little to the average user, but for people looking to push a high overclock it made a big difference, hence some people actually delidding their Ivy Bridge processors to try to get better cooling performance.

As such, Ivy Bridge doesn't overclock quite as well as Sandy Bridge, and since...
Sort by date Sort by votes
Supernova1138

Supernova1138

Illustrious
Mar 22, 2011
5,340
54
37,690
I'm guessing it's because the older Sandy Bridge chip likely has better overclocking potential, and might wind up being slightly faster once you factor in overclocking. Starting with Ivy Bridge, Intel stopped using fluxless solder to fill the space between the actual CPU chip and the heat spreader and started using thermal compound. This made it cheaper to make the chips, but also decreased cooling performance. The decrease in cooling performance meant little to the average user, but for people looking to push a high overclock it made a big difference, hence some people actually delidding their Ivy Bridge processors to try to get better cooling performance.

As such, Ivy Bridge doesn't overclock quite as well as Sandy Bridge, and since the performance difference between Sandy and Ivy was so small, it is possible for a Sandy Bridge CPU to wind up being the faster chip simply because you are more likely able to break past 4.5GHz on Sandy Bridge than Ivy Bridge.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
V

VenBaja

Distinguished
Nov 8, 2008
343
0
18,810


This. Supply and demand. Supply is very low as it is not in production anymore, so if anyone really wants one they're going to pay a premium.
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom