which cpu to buy

what cpu should i buy for gaming , intel i 5 (haswell) or intel i7 (haswell). will i see a diference in fps , going to build new rig after xmas.

@npalmer1470: For gaming i7s are only marginally faster than i5s on the same clock, and they are considerably more expensive. So an overclocked i5 makes a lot more sense IMO. Higher clock is what matters for fps, not hyper-threading.

Depends how long you want it to last.

Depends . i7 is a bit faster in cpu intensive ( like a 64player Multiplayer map in BF4 ) but the difference even on those games is quite small 10-15% at most and is only there if you use a high end Gpu . Now whether that difference worth an extra $100 i doubt it. Of course if you do video and or photo editing then yeah i7 more than worth it

If strictly for gaming then go with 4690K.

As people before me said, if it's for gaming only - i5 hands down - don't waste the extra 100$.

If you do occasionally some editing go with i7.

I've got the i5 4670K and it's a brilliant processor!

You won' see a difference in FPS unless you plan on streaming

amd way cheaper and gets similar performance

^ lol. Performance isn't even in the same league as Intel, also AMD cpus use a lot more power. Stay clear of them for now.

FPS will be same on both i5 and i7 cpus for most games that only use 4 threads but some use more so i7 is the better choice. Also gives you more cpu threads to do other things, compress videos and game at same time is something i do very often to make the most out of my i7 4700k, and the i7 is such a quality cpu it can do that.

its just a little bit more money for any i7 but gives you twice the threads and will extend the time in which you have to upgrade, so its an obvious choice.

No they do not, AMD's FX cpu's are actually slower per clock then their own Phenom 2 series. Unless your on a budget and or get a great deal for an AMD FX 8 series cpu intel is the better option.

Only if you're getting a CPU on a very limited budget build limit and you're forced to buy a CPU for under 150$ (FX63XX series or 860K)

@04dcarraher: no sorry intel is over priced and not needed

lol so wrong, I upgraded from overclocked Phenom 2 X4 to an i5 4690k with the same gpu in cpu bottlenecked games seen double the minimum and average fps, and the difference overall was massive. AMD's offerings compared to intel just plain sucks, like I said unless your on a budget and or able to get a sweet deal on the price going with AMD is short sighted. FX 8350 is $180 vs i5 4460 that can be had for $180 as well and it creams it

You've been saying?

While Intel CPU certainly isn't needed, it does provide superior performance over what AMD offers unless you're comparing a decently OC'ed 8350 that can allow use of 6+ cores in a program compared to the 4 cores of an i5. This is where you'll see AMD offering similar or better results.

Only reason I'd suggest anyone to get AMD over Intel is if they do heavy photoshop work or video editing and are on a limited budget - I'd say the FX 8350 would be ideal if they can't afford an extra $200-250 for an i7 build.

What do other games show in SLI? I realize the FX-8350 is quite slow in Civ V. But, even 60fps in a turn-based strategy game is plenty fast.

How about fast-paced action games where framerates really matter?

I wouldn't say there aren't games that the performance is exact same fps on both FX83XX and i5, but as you can see there're also games where you'll benefit extra 20-30fps more just by having an i5 CPU.