Intel Core i7-4790K - Core i7 4th Gen Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 4.0 GHz LGA 1150 88W Intel HD Graphics 4600 Desktop Processor - BX80646I74790K

Pros: The K version allows you to overclock the CPU speed, so it tends to appeal to gamers and, naturally, overclocker enthusiasts opposed to business users. I overclock my i7-4770K not long after I got it over a year ago just for fun. This one is for my wife. She isn’t a gamer, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t push the stability. The 4790K PC beats my overclocked system by a clear margin. This CPU is fast and stable. I have a closed-loop water cooler on it and the temperature is not an issue at idle or under load. Its about 30 Celsius idling and around 40 Celsius under load.

Cons: None. It rocks!

Overall Review: The awesome-in-a-case build: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Devil’s Canyon Quad-Core CPU Corsair Hydro Series H105 Liquid CPU Cooler Asus Maximus VII Gene Z97 Motherboard G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 Memory (x2 for 32GB) EVGA 04G-P4-2983-KR GeForce GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0 4GB Video Card Samsung 840 EVO 1TB SSD Corsair AX860 860W Power Supply Corsair Obsidian Series 350D Black Case

Pros: I am able to 4.8Ghz at 1.4v Corsair H100 @ 84c with prime Not too bad. Its stable. Cool and clocks better than my i7 3770K. I'm using a Gigabyte Z97X Gaming G1

Cons: Absolutely none. It wont quite hit 5.0 but its a good chip

Overall Review: This really is what the 4770K should have been. But better late then never. Say goodbye to AMD. There is just no comparison. All benches this chip shines when its overclocked

Pros: 4.0ghz (4.4ghz Turbo) Hyperthreaded New TIM and packaging for this refreshed Haswell Unlocked cpu Overclocks well enough considering stock clocks Intel HD 4600

Cons: Lousy stock cooler. Getting expensive

Overall Review: To be honest there was nothing wrong with my 3770K or 4770K. However I am an early adopter and building computers is a hobby of mine. I decided to buy the 4790K to see what the new TIM and packaging brought to the table. I must confess that I am pleasantly surprised. I bought a new ROG Hero Z97 board for this build and until last week I was using my 4770K in it @ 4.4ghz with 1.3v and a load temp of 87C (prime 95). I have a custom water loop and 87C was a little too high for my liking. I received this cpu yesterday and swapped it out after updating the bios on the Asus motherboard. I ran the cpu at stock for a few hours and was amazed when I found that it was running Prime 95 at 67C with only 1.23V. I have been able to manually overclock this cpu easily to 4.7Ghz on all 4 cores with 1.3V and the load temps have not exceeded 73C. The memory controller is much better on the Z97 motherboards allowing me to run this high overclock with my memory at 2400mhz, which I was not able to do with my older Z87 motherboard. This cpu is a win/win for me. At stock it is actually faster and cooler than my overclocked 4770K at 4.4ghz. It is running a massive 20C cooler than the 4770K at 4.4ghz!!! As far as performance is concerned there is not a huge difference between the 4770K at 4.4ghz and the stock 4790K in Firestrike. The 4770 is returning a total score of 16,750 and the 4790K is returning a score of 17,120 with a pair of overclocked R9-290's. I have not seen any major differences in fps in games as at 2560x1440 the video cards are more important than the cpu. However I have noticed that converting video in Handbreak is definitely faster with this cpu. It's a great upgrade for anyone running with Sandybridge or earlier, however I am not sure if it is as valuable for people with overclocked Ivybridge or Haswell cpu's... Bottom line if looking for a new cpu this is it. 4.0ghz and a crazy 4.4ghz under turbo boost 2 and lower temperatures than early Haswell is something I was unable to ignore. Terrific cpu.

Pros: System Specs: Core i7 4790K 4.8 GHz ASrock Z97 OC Formula 16 GB DDR3 2666 MHz SLI Asus GTX Titan 1228 MHz/6 GHz Cooler Master RPP 1250 watt Win7 x64 The 4790K really is an incredibly powerful CPU. Especially based on its price and compared to AMDs similar offerings. It appears that the vast majority of these chips are capable of running at 4.8 GHz and there are some that will run at and even above 5 GHz. 3D Mark Benchmarks with my system: 3D Mark Fire Strike P17567 X9574 3D Mark 11 P23094 X10925 3D Mark Vantage X52741 GPU-54076 CPU-35903 In all the benchmarks I ran the 4790K came in faster than my older 4.5 GHz i7 980x. Which is extremely impressive, especially considering the 980x is a $1000 6 core 12 thread chip with more L3 cache than this one and is still one of the fastest chips money can buy. The memory controller on this chip is extremely efficient for dual channel memory. I'm running 2x8 GB sticks 2666 MHz at 1.65v, which admittedly may be contributing to my core temps. And the memory read bandwidth was 28.9 GB/sec and write bandwidth was 41.9 GB/sec. Which is a fair amount faster than my 2 GHz triple channel set was on my x58.

Cons: This chip cooks. When I first tried to overclock it I decided I wasn't going to mess around and set the voltage to 1.4v. Using Prime 95 version 28.5 to determine stability I set it to "small FTTs" because that setting is better for stress testing CPUs than the mixed setting. And as soon as I started the stress test the core temp shot up to 100c instantly. I thought perhaps my water block may not have been mounted tightly enough, so I tightened it down some. Which did reduce temps a little. But they were still shockingly high. After a bit of searching various forums, I found that it's not unusual for these chips to get that hot and that unless you were lucky enough to get a cherry chip, you will most likely be limited to 4.8 GHz. I also found out that Prime95 version 28.5 isn't suited for stress testing Haswell and Devils Canyon CPUs. it causes them to run unnecessarily hot. You should use Prime 95 version 26.6 for stress testing these chips. It gives a more realistic representation of real world temperatures. Initially I used the thermal paste that came with my 380i water block, but I found it to be inadequate. So I spent a fair amount of time doing research to determine which thermal paste would be the best under these circumstances. So I let my rig set for a few days while I waited for the Prolimatech PK-3 to arrive. My research showed that the Prolimatech PK series of thermal pastes are consistently among the best in the industry. The PK-3 is the best of the series, but difficult to properly apply. Being more cautious at this point I decided to start at a lower setting. The new z97 boards have a number of BIOS settings that I've never seen before. Of course, it's not uncommon for various board manufacturers to give certain settings their own names, making it difficult to keep track when switching from one manufacturer to another. So, being unfamiliar with so many of these new features I decided to let the board auto over clock the chip to 4.7 GHz and use those settings to determine a base line for future over clocking. It worked out well, I had to set the voltage manually, which I set to 1.275v. I Stress tested the OC with Prime95 and it was stable with temps averaging in the low 70s C range. Next I decided to try 4.8 GHz, I eventually had to increase the voltage to 1.325 and found it to be stable with temps in the low 80s C range. However, no amount of tweaking or voltage would allow me to exceed 4.8 GHz, by much, across all 4 cores. The 4790K only supports 16 total PCI-E 3.0 x16 lanes. Which can be limiting, especially if you're running SLI or X-Fire with a set of Titan Z or 295x2 cards or more than 2 other high end cards. That can also potentially cause problems down the road. Keeping in mind what may come in the time you plan to keep your current build is important. Graphics cards are sure to eventually exceed the capability of PCI-E 3.0 at x8 speeds, if they haven't already.

Overall Review: I am somewhat disappointed with this chips inability to exceed 4.8 GHz, based on Intels grand claims that the 4790K would be able to achieve 5 GHz on air. It's been made clear that unless you're either very lucky or patient enough to endure multiple RMAs, most people will be stuck at 4.8 GHz. And Intels latest TIM isn't a very big improvement. If you've already got a 4770K, you'd be well advised to forego the 4790K and stick with what you have. However, in spite of the limited over clocking ability and the core temps, this chip is has impressive performance. It was able to outperform my Gulftown 4.5 GHz i7 980x in every benchmark I performed. The 4790K was between 3% and 9%faster depending on the benchmark. As I will be using this PC primarily for gaming I only ran gaming related benchmarks. With the x99 boards and Haswell-e coming soon, it may be smarter to wait and see just how well they perform and their price points. But one thing is certain, a decent x99 board and CPU will definitely cost significantly more than a Haswell or Devils Canyon with a decent z97 board. For those of you wanting to run multiple high end graphics cards, there are some Z97 boards that have a PCI-E controller that adds the ability to handle additional lanes, letting you run SLI or X-Fire at x16 for both your cards and some at x16/x16/x8 for 3 way configurations. I recommend if you plan to run 3 or 4 way GPU configs, you should go with an enthusiast platform like the x79 or the soon to be released x99.

Pros: Amazing performance, plus stability and reasonable temperatures. Beats the last two processors I've owned (Ivy Bridge i5-3570K and Haswell i3-4130) by a huge margin in most areas. My 3570K had 10 or more degrees Celsius difference between the coolest and hottest cores, and the highest stable overclock I got was 4.2 GHz. The new Haswell Refresh thermal interface material really works in my experience, as my 4790K has at most three, *maybe* four, degrees difference between cores, and overall runs more than ten degrees cooler, using a Corsair H100i. Around 30C at idle vs. 40C+ on the 3570K. I think I lost the silicon lottery on the i5 and won it on this i7... My dual-core (four virtual with Hyper-Threading) i3-4130, with much lower TDP (54W vs 88W), runs about five degrees cooler even on air, but at 3.4 GHz, and no Turbo mode, is nowhere near the i7-4790K's performance, which at stock is 4.0 GHz with 4.4GHz Turbo, plus four cores (eight virtual with Hyper-Threading). In Cinebench benchmark my 4790K easily beat the 4770K sample result and in GPU benchmarks it removed any CPU bottleneck when I tested with 3-way SLI GTX 670s. The i3-4130 was unable to get anywhere near it in 3DMark Firestrike, Unigine Valley, and Catzilla benchmarks with the same SLI setup. Note: I was unable to use my 3570K (LGA 1155) for 3-way SLI, as I was using a Gigabyte Gaming G1 (LGA 1150 with a PLX chip) for these tests and I don't have a Z77 board with 3-way SLI capability. On the other hand, I tested the i3-4130 on a Gigabyte Z97 UD5H board against the i5-3570K on Gigabyte's earlier Z77 UD5H board with 2-way SLI 670s and the results were pretty close. So extrapolating, the i7-4790K made a big difference, at least in these benchmark tests. See Other Thoughts below for my gaming opinions. With the above G1 motherboard I tried the EasyTune utility. The 4790K passed Gigabyte's stability test at 5.0 GHz and started to push into 5.1 GHz before I quit - I didn't want to stress it too hard, and at only around 60 seconds I didn't completely trust the stability test. The latest EasyTune version only pushed the Vcore to about 1.33V (1.5V is indicated as the safe maximum), so that utility may have improved since earlier reviews I've read. I experienced no instability after the overclock, though I did not perform any extended stress tests. However, this is a review of the 4790K, not the mobo I was using :). Built-in iGPU is more than adequate for hi-def video and Blu-ray playback, as is my i3-4130's iGPU - not that you will likely be using it, except maybe for initial system setup.

Cons: None I can think of yet, although it isn't exactly cheap. Just make sure you need this much power, and don't use it in an HTPC unless you're doing a lot of video trans-coding :)

Overall Review: I'm really happy with this processor. Running on Windows 8.1 it's way cooler and faster than my 3570K on Windows 7. Opening programs is almost instantaneous compared to my i3-4130, also on Windows 8.1, and it's only a few degrees warmer at idle despite a much larger TDP (of course they both throttle down in Balanced Power Mode). My i5-3570K Z77 rig is now officially retired. My i3-4130 mini-itx PC is used for general duties, such as internet (including this review), light gaming, videos, and my 4790K build is reserved for heavy gaming, mostly due to the power hungry SLI graphics cards. Is it worth upgrading? Depends on your current system and requirements. If you're on Sandy Bridge or higher, for gaming you might do better upgrading your graphics cards(s) if your CPU can keep up, e.g buying a second GTX 760 for SLI would be cheaper and could be more beneficial than upgrading to the 4790K, and maybe a Z97 motherboard. Gaming-wise, an i5-4690K or one of its its predecessors might also be adequate, depending on the game, but at 3.5 GHz and no multi-threading, I don't know what effect that has across the latest games. Battlefield 4 and Watchdogs come to mind as resource hungry games. Older games would be just fine. Check reviews for latest benchmarks. If you're doing CPU-intensive work the 4790K could be a great upgrade unless you already have a good 4770K, or one fairly close in performance. Overclock this CPU if you want, especially as overheating is much less of a problem now compared to previous Haswell chips, provided your motherboard has good power delivery. I don't think you will even need to overclock for gaming though, as in my opinion it is fast enough at its stock speed to remove any bottlenecks. I'll probably leave mine at stock except for benchmark tests, just to see what I can get out of it. Bottom line: If you need it and can afford it, the i7-4790K is a solid buy.

Pros: Wow! Fast! Super power! Easy install in a new Windows 7 build.

Cons: Your'e kidding right? Cons?

Overall Review: This CPU is a real beast!

Pros: 4.0 out of the box with a 4.4 turbo. Mine started at 4.4 all the time so i clocked it down to 4.0 Easy O.C. by just raising multiplier on a z97 chip set no need to adjust voltages. Not to expensive. Stays cool

Cons: none so far.

Overall Review: I had to do a follow up as i don't overclock a chip till after about 200 hours break in period. I am using with a zalman cooler which i don't recommend. You get better service from any other company. I am using on a gigabyte gaming G1. I finally overclocked it this week and wanted to post my temps so others could see the difference. At idle clocked at 4.7 i am at 29c core 1 core 2 is 31c and core 3 is 32c and core four is 29c with a package temp of 33c. After gaming for 3 hours my temps are core 1 39c, core 2 41c, core 3 42c core 4 39c, package of 43c. Did a 8 gig video in 8 minutes and 32 seconds which is the best i have ever gotten. So my temps are great, games are smooth and my start up times with windows 7 and SSD are 13 seconds. What more can a person ask for. They make this chip so easy to overclock with the Z97 chip set i have not touched voltages just raised the multiplier and it adjust voltages itself. Am using with an older Silverstone Strider 1000 watt psu which will be my next upgrade as it is 4 years old and haswell with the new low power states needs better regulated low voltages. Still runs great but i want to get the max out of it and alot of times i get busy and wak away from the computer and forget it is on to go back in 5 hours later and it is still running in sleep state c3. I am impressed by the frame rates i get out of my R9 280x paired with this chip nothing slows me down. 1. Great speed 2. easy over clock 3. Temps are so cool it will last a long time. 4. Inexpensive to other chips i have bought.

Pros: I love this CPU!! I've always upgraded every 5 years and this by far has been my best upgrade yet. I came from an i7-930 Bloomfield CPU, which is still in service in another computer to this day. What did I get from this upgrade? A 97% increase in performance across the board. In some areas higher. The fact that I can overclock this CPU AND have virtualization support is phenomenal! Very glad that I held out for this CPU. Benchmarks of my old system always showed my CPU as the bottleneck, but now I've noticed that my GPU is my bottleneck. I will be upgrading to a better graphics card soon to see how much more this system has to give. If you're like me and have been riding the fence, you can stop now. Buy this CPU and you will not be sorry. Unless you have a 4770k, in which case you should probably wait for Skylake. Broadwell has promise, but for you guys Skylake is probably gonna be where it's at.

Cons: Stock fan and heatsink makes a nice paperweight, but seriously get an aftermarket cooler. You're building a powerful system though, so you were planning on doing that anyway. Right?