Quote Originally Posted by MythToken View Post
If you arnt gettin an i7 then just go with an FX, or hell if you can find a good price on an Old Phenom 2 dual they are still p good.


Also don't get sucked into the more cores is better trap, highest GHZ possible is all that matters, and less cores is actually better.
Specifically speaking, less cores-higher speed is better for video games. Very few video games make use of the full 4 cores on any mid to high range CPU and let's not even get into hyperthreaded and other virtual cores. But for the purpose of clarity, more cores is very much better for other applications. Having 20 tabs up in Chrome is a breeze with 4 cores, video and 3D modeling don't even make my 8-core sweat. Since the OP seems more interested in the video game applications though, I agree: higher speed-lower number of cores is probably the best way to go.

Take this with a grain of salt, as all of my CPU experience in the last 3 years has been on ARM, but historically, you pretty much get what you pay for in the world of CPUs (GPUs too). AMD makes good, high quality but middling power CPUs that you can get at an affordable price, while Intel always tries to stay on the bloody edge of technology. You'll pay through the nose for a high end Intel, but it will be a much better chip for it. If you're looking for something "good enough" that is affordable though, I would definitely say AMD. As I said, take that with a grain of salt, I haven't looked into AMD or Intel in years (except for AMD's ARM chips).