Intel E8500 vs Phenom X4 940 for gaming

well 720 BE is better than the E8500, costs less, gives you the extra core, overclocks just as well, and in some benchmarks puts it just as high as the 940.

I would recommend the 940 since newer games are going to make use of multi-cores.

E8500 is multi core, as is the 720 BE, and due to how far the 720 can overclock, there won't be a major difference in between the 720 and 940, except price tag and multitasking, which if your gaming you probably won't be doing a lot of.

720BE has a third core when games start to use it (or if you're a fan of GTA 4), overclocks to ~3.8Ghz, and is cheaper than the E8400. Seems the best deal right now to me.

AM3 processors are backwards compatible with AM2+ motherboards and have memory controllers which allow you to use DDR2.

So you can put that sucker into an AM2+, plug in some DDR2 and you're good to go.
Note - the AM2+ CPUs wont work in AM3 sockets or use DDR3. Only the AM3 CPUs can use socket AM2+ or AM3, and DDR2 or DDR3.

If you OC you should get the E7400 - clock for clock the same as the E8500 or E8600 - the extra cache is overkill - has no performance benefits - check this article for more:
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=g [...] rticID=908

I see this topic everyday on the forum in some form or another- I wish I could post this article as a sticky (maybe I should macro the link to my keyboard?) - but on the other hand I quess it would only be for helping others and I don't no if I want to be such a selfless and giving person.