Question What determines the price range of a used CPU?

[jhsachs]

I'm going to put together a couple of "new" computers from some parts on hand and others that I'll buy used. I'm puzzled by typical prices for used CPUs that don't seem to track processing speed at all.

What other factors determine a CPU's perceived value? I can think of lots -- amount of cache, number of cores, power consumption -- but none of them seem significant enough to account for the differences I see.

I know that a single performance statistic can be misleading depending on how the CPU will be used, and won't necessarily be the same when reported by different sources but I would still expect CPUs with roughly similar numbers to have roughly similar perceived value, and thus similar used prices. I wonder if I'm missing something important.

To illustrate what I mean, here are a few CPUs that I might consider. "Amazon" is the lowest used price currently offered on Amazon. "eBay" is the range of prices for items recently sold on eBay, excluding outliers.

i7-4790K: Passmark 11,165, Amazon $256.71, eBay $99-$150
i7-4770K: Passmark 10,075, Amazon $154.95, eBay $60-$95
i7-4770T: Passmark 8,604, Amazon $249.99, eBay $120-$130
i7-4785T: Passmark 7,647, Amazon $181.94, eBay $100-$140

 

[USAFRet]

What determines the price is what someone else will actually pay for it.
eBay, you're looking at Used items.
Amazon, presumably New items.

 

[jhsachs]

USAF, your answer took us far away from what I want to know. Let me frame the question a different way. Given several CPUs with similar Passmark scores and very different prices, or similar prices and very different Passmark scores, what should I consider when I think about which ones are most desirable?

 

[CountMike]

USAF, your answer took us far away from what I want to know. Let me frame the question a different way. Given several CPUs with similar Passmark scores and very different prices, or similar prices and very different Passmark scores, what should I consider when I think about which ones are most desirable?

Your usage, what you need it for and how much you are willing to pay. Modern CPUs are very durable and not easily ruined unless physically damaged or heavily misused.