Now that 2015 is nearly in the books and only a few more PTO days remain, we’re taking a look at this year’s best selling CPUs. The last time we checked the best-selling CPUs, it was the middle of the year and Intel ruled the roost. With nearly a full year of data in the rear view mirror, let’s see what has changed.
In the previous article we looked solely at revenue numbers, but we’ve tweaked that a little this time. In addition to comparing them by total sales revenue, we also examine how they rank by volume sold. We should get a clearer picture of what most users are choosing. Also, budget-oriented CPUs should be much better represented this time around.
These are the key takeaways and interesting trends we noticed:
- Intel Core i7 processors seem to be the go-to choice for builders, especially the 4790K. It tops both sales revenue and sales volume lists. It was also number one in the list of best-sellers from earlier this year.
- Intel makes a strong showing and an AMD processor appears in 4th place when we rank them by sales volume. Perhaps purchasers have more familiarity with the Intel brand or that they feel they get more value from Intel CPUs.
- There are no Skylake processors on the list, which is to be expected since they have only been on the market for about a quarter. We’ll check back mid-2016.
- All of the Intel processors are Haswell models, with a sizable subset being Haswell-E.
- Plenty of multiplier unlocked processors show up on the two lists despite the fact that multiplier unlocking is primarily for overclocking. I found that odd since most business users don’t overclock their computers. If you’re overclocking at work, let me know in the comments.
Top Five CPUs Ranked by Sales (Total Revenue)
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Intel Core i7-4790K Devil’s Canyon Processor
Release Date June 2014 Architecture Haswell Clock speed (GHz) 4.0 Max Turbo (GHz) 4.4 Cores/Threads 4/8 L3 Cache (MB) 8 Price $310 The best-selling CPU of 2015 is the Haswell 4790K when sorted by total sales revenue. It features a 4.4 GHz Turbo Boost clock rate, 8 MB L3 cache, and eight thread compute. Compared to the non-K 4790, this one features an unlocked multiplier so overclockers can get more performance out of the chip.
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Intel Core i7-5960X Processor
Release Date August 2014 Architecture Haswell-E Clock speed (GHz) 3.0 Max Turbo (GHz) 3.5 Cores/Threads 8/16 L3 Cache (MB) 20 Price $1050 The eight-core Core i7 5960X is the king of the hill amongst the fastest Intel processors. With an MSRP of around $1,000, it is the top-of-the-line choice for power users that do not worry about budget. This CPU is likely to be found in systems with SLI Titan setups and terabyte PCI-e SSDs.
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Intel Core i7-5820K Processor
Release Date August 2014 Architecture Haswell-E Clock speed (GHz) 3.3 Max Turbo (GHz) 3.6 Cores/Threads 6/12 L3 Cache (MB) 15 Price $390 Another Haswell-E processor, the Core i7 5820K features just as much L3 cache than the 5930K but fewer PCI-e lanes. However, it is priced much lower than the 5930K. Still, it has plenty of processing power and is faster than the i7 4790.
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Intel Core i7-5930K Processor
Release Date August 2014 Architecture Haswell-E Clock speed (GHz) 3.5 Max Turbo (GHz) 3.7 Cores/Threads 6/12 L3 Cache (MB) 15 Price $480 The Core i7 5930K is a Haswell-powered processor. The E suffix denotes that it is designed for the enthusiasts and high-end market users. Haswell-E features a bigger L3 cache, support for more PCI-e lanes, and typically faster clock rates. In terms of processing power, the i7 5930K matches up against Broadwell CPUs quite well.
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Intel Core i7-4790 Processor
Release Date May 2014 Architecture Haswell Clock speed (GHz) 3.6 Max Turbo (GHz) 4.0 Cores/Threads 4/8 L3 Cache (MB) 8 Price $310 Ending in 5th place is a multiplier-locked Haswell i7 processor, which shouldn’t be surprising because overclocking is almost never done on business computers. This i7 provides more than enough computing power for both mainstream and power users.
Top Five CPUs Ranked by Volume (Units Sold)
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Intel Core i7-4790K Devil’s Canyon Processor
Release Date June 2014 Architecture Haswell Clock speed (GHz) 4.0 Max Turbo (GHz) 4.4 Cores/Threads 4/8 L3 Cache (MB) 8 Price $310 It shouldn’t be a huge surprise that the best-seller in the middle of year is still a chart topper. It offers excellent value and performance.
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Intel Core i5-4460 Processor
Release Date May 2014 Architecture Haswell Clock speed (GHz) 3.2 Max Turbo (GHz) 3.4 Cores/Threads 4/4 L3 Cache (MB) 6 Price $190 This i5 processor is a true value and features the lowest price of all the Intel CPUs on the list. The 4460 is a barebones CPU, with no Hyper Threading and no support for overclocking.
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Intel Core i7-5820K Processor
Release Date August 2014 Architecture Haswell-E Clock speed (GHz) 3.3 Max Turbo (GHz) 3.6 Cores/Threads 6/12 L3 Cache (MB) 15 Price $390 The 5820K appears again at third place when sorted by sales volume.
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AMD FX-6300 Processor
Release Date October 2012 Architecture Vishera Clock speed (GHz) 3.5 Max Turbo (GHz) 4.1 Cores/Threads 6/6 L3 Cache (MB) 8 Price $110 Despite not topping Intel in terms of revenue, AMD processors provide plenty of value. An older processor, the FX-6300 still performs sufficiently well for everyday office builds.
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Intel Core-i5 4690K Devil’s Canyon Processor
Release Date June 2014 Architecture Haswell Clock speed (GHz) 3.5 Max Turbo (GHz) 3.9 Cores/Threads 4/4 L3 Cache (MB) 6 Price $215 When we shift our filter from revenue to volume, the data shows that a large percentage of buyers choose the i5 4690k. This Haswell CPU offers plenty of performance value and fits the bill for most users. Even for power users on a budget, the 4690k is an excellent value as it can be overclocked to performance nearly on par with some i7 processors.
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