Does CPU Speed affect Gaming?

Yes todays games are even cpu extensive
Crysis 3 utilizes full 6 cores of the 1090t phenom cpu

of course it does. but its not an amazing amount, some people think that it will make games go from slideshow to butter but usually you gain like 10 fps (depending on the overclock). still the 3570k is a better choice because its cooler and overclocks better. you should be able to reach 4.2ghz pretty easily with a good cooler on it.

Get a hyper 212 evo u can get 4.3-4.4 ghz with this cooler

Its a good overclocker stable at 4.5 ghz
Yeah u r ryt

I feel like you created the same post again and just reworded it, but anyways I think you will be happy with Intel or AMD. Any recent CPU in the price range of $110 to $200+ will get you good frame rates with a good GPU.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html

I have a 3570k @ 4.3ghz with a CM Hyper 212. If you go with the 3570k, I recommend an Asrock Z77 Extreme 4. It is a nice board for the money. Have had mine for a little over a year now.

yeah with 4.2 with ease no problem

I have had the 3570k, hyper 212, and Z77 Extreme4 for a little over year. I am @ 4.3 stable. Also, THG even approved of the board, which is why I bought it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z77-express-ivy-bridge-benchmark,3254-35.html

my pick would be asus z77-v as they have slightly better quality

I wouldn't bother with the FX-8350 at the moment since it will take sometime before games are capable of making use of 8 cores especially if you are talking about efficient usage. Perhaps in maybe 3 or 4 years that will happen, but even today the games that can make use of 4 cores do not necessarily take full advantage of all 4 cores.

If you plan on keeping the FX-8350 for at least 4 years, then sure go ahead an buy it. But for now and the short term future (about 3 years) Intel CPUs should still provide overall better performance in games that are CPU intensive. For games that are not CPU intensive (like Tomb Raider and BioShock Infinite) you will not notice any difference in performance between a FX-8350 / i5-3570k / i5-4670k.

If I had the choice between a 3570k (Haswell) or an FX 8350 I would choose the 3570k in a heartbeat. From a pure gaming standpoint there is absolutely no logical reason whatsoever to pick the AMD platform unless your hanging on the logic od "Mooooooorrrr Cooorzz is better for future"!! No doubt developers will become accustomed to using more threads but this by no means = the FX beating the I5 automatic no questions asked. The i5 is the stronger, more powerful, more effecient, more future proof processer. I'll happily eat crow if I turn out to be wrong. Some reason why the 3570k is the obvious choice are..

1) upgrade path= buying the FX is buying a dead socket.

2)performance=Even with less cores the 3570k absolutely obliterates the FX in anything using 4 cores or less (which is 90% of the games out there) and still handily matches or beats the 8350 in heavily multithreaded games due to the IPC of the intel. Did I mention the i5 is nearly 50% more powerful on a per core basis?

3)Features=with the i5 ou get quicksync,speedstep,pcie 3.0, etc. Getting the AMD no PCI-e 3.0 for you. For now it barely makes a difference but in a few years you'll be bottlenecking the most powerful GFX cards. Good luck with that.

4)Power Consumption=while it can be argued that desktop enthusiasts could care less about power consumptiion given the choice between a nuclear reactor or a lightbulb why choose more heat Lol? The FX when heavily overclocked (which is the only way ot match the performance of even a stock i5) sucks more than 250w. It's insanely inneficient compared to the i5.

cpu bound games=Thsi cannot be stressed enough. Games that require 1-4 powerful cores with some grunt fail terribly on the FX. Even when heavily overclocked the FX can barely manage to keep up with a stock 2500k my less a 3570k in thse types of games. FX fails terribly in this regard. So if you play games that require powerful cores ger ready for frustration.

The 3 year old 2500k is a better processor than the 8350. The 3570k just multiplies. If you want a power hungry cpu with limited features and a dead socket just for the purpose of having those few extra semi cores get the FX.