Intel vs AMD

if hardly for gamming i recommend to get 2500k otherwise phenom II isn't a bad cpu but 2500k give you much better performance than all of amd cpu.

if it is for gaming only, i would say, grab an am3+ mobo and a fx 4100, there is a upgrade path to higher end models like 8150 and upcoming b3 revison. and also piledriver too.
you can overclock the fx way upto 4.6ghz with stock hsf.simply by raising multiplier.

AMD FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor FD4100WMGUSBX 120$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103996

ASRock 970 EXTREME4 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS 105$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157262

or

ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157280 85$

right now, if you have to buy - a z68 motherboard with pcie 3.0 capability + core i3. check newegg or your preferred website for motherboards that fit your budget.
you can upgrade to ivb next year and use the pcie 3.0 gfx cards at their full bandwidth.
although, this will only be helpful for you if ivb is as good as intel's leaked slides and rumors say. you could still use a sandy bridge core i5 or i7 in case ivb underwhelms.

they are cheaper because they cannot outperform old generation phenom ii in multitasking, but in gaming, performance seems to be same.

If you are like me and don't upgrade every year then stretch a little and get the parts you really want. If it is a 2 year build then there should be no problem spending $1-200 more for good parts that you won't have to mess with for a while. Otherwise you are buying a $130 i3 + $220 i5 = $350. For that price you could just buy an i7!
So buy once, and buy what will work for you for the life expectancy of your machine rather than throwing money away with incremental upgrades.

^ totally disagreed, every one cannot buy an i7

that's not the case!
but ivy bridge also the newest architecture and old softwares taste it real power i saw in benchmarking.

ivy bridge hasn't been released yet. where did you get your benchmarks from?

its going to be 150 but they won't give you 60 bucks off of the motherboard so if you bought it now you would save 30 bucks more

that is a highly ignorant and border line stupid comment. if thats the case then how come my 2600k hasnt seen any improvement in software since its release? admit it dude and tell all of your possy, bulldozer is as big a flop as anything. it cant get out of its own way. there is not a single program that is good enough at to warrant buying one.

and you know the codename of bulldozer that is "FAILDOZER" heheh

If you're going to use a low end h61 board anyway, then the 2400 is a good choice. Buy it today or tomorrow and you may get a discount on the board when you buy a combo in stores only. Microsoft may not offer combo specials on black friday.

The 2400 is not an unlocked processor and will not overclock beyond the "turbo" setting. I would suggest trundling down to a Micro Center if you are near one (as others have suggested) and spend $30 more to get the i5-2500K ($179.99 right now) + z68 mobo bundle deal; you will get an automatic $60 discount on the mobo. The deal is for "ANY" z68 motherboard. I just bought the i5-2500K with the ASUS P8Z68-V Pro for a total of $330 before tax.

i5 2500k rocksssss just get it with p67 or z68 chipset and but a good gpu then you be super fine in gaming plus if you are overclocker then u can clock 2500k at more then 4.2ghz

Yep, that is one of the many deals going on at Micro Center, (at least it was when I purchased my components this last Saturday). I think it applies at any Micro Center, but may not apply during "Black Friday" because of other overriding deals and discounts. I don't think it is advertised up-front on their website; I didn't know about the bundle discount until I went to pick up my processor, and saw the sign inside the store advertising it.

i would not buy an AMD cpu for gaming, they have nothing on intel. If you were to get the phenom x4 955 over the i3-2100, you have no upgrade possibilities, the only "upgrade" (the FX cpu's) is actually a "downgrade" for gaming, due to its slow per-core performance. If you get the i3 2100/2120 now, you can always upgrade to a 2500k/2600k or better when ivy bridge cpu's are released. AMD will not likely ever be making a good gaming cpu again, not if they continue with this bulldozer FX crap. You could always opt for an i5 2320, its still going to be faster than anything AMD has to offer, even if you overclock their processors. - oh, and now wait for the AMD fanboys response to this "oh but you dont need that much power for gaming.... .whinge, whinge, whinge, blah, blah, blah" < disagree, you DO need more power for gaming than any AMD cpu can offer if you want to keep your minimum FPS up in many titles, and for the many titles that still don't use more than 2 cores, like skyrim.

Don't let ram1009's comment get lost in the noise, whether or not from fanboys. The simple fact is that even an Athlon 2 X2 can play any game. More CPU-bound titles (Skyrim is one) will benefit from a stronger CPU, but they will still be playable. Consider other factors, such as connectivity options on the mobo. I have a 970BE, which is thoroughly "out-pissed" by any i5. I just bought Skyrim, and it is nice and smooth with my GTX560Ti, so I doubt I'd see the difference. OTOH, my mobo is much nicer than some cheap H61 board; I've got six SATA 6Gb/s ports, USB 3.0, eSATA, and more PCIE lanes than I'm likely to need, any or all of which can be used at the same time.
I realize this doesn't point in a clear direction, but does hopefully add some context. This Friday, or possibly on Cyber Monday, an outstanding deal may turn up, on either platform. I'd wait until then. If you can afford a Z68 mobo (or a P67) with an i5, that would be your strongest choice. If not, a 970 or 990[F]X and a PhII would run well enough that you might not notice any difference.

bollocks, its not playable on an athlon II x2 along with many other games. I guess it depends on what you call playable. 15-25 fps is not playable to me. I agree a phenom II x4 is a fine choice, but has no upgrade possibilities and is not likely to ever have any. So if your fine with having to upgrade the whole platfirm when you want to upgrade, then go for a phenom II and OC it for a budget cpu choice. If you want no fuss performance without having to OC and low power consumption, get a SB cpu.

Ok, I need a final input:

AMD

Intel


pick one please.

+1

And yet my AMD FX 8120 rig can play any game including Skyrim max at very good frame rates. But what can you expect from a Intel fanboy you have to justify your overpriced crap! Funny how many i5-i7 systems seem to have a problem with Skyrim and my little AMD system runs it great! Don't believe it just look at the Skyrim forum on Steam!

If you can afford an Intel system, there's no doubt it's faster. Whether or not that increase in speed will be important enough to you to spend the extra money, only you can answer.

^ Definately not in gaming.

See how much better the FX8150 is?

The i5 2500K only scores 133.3, but the FX8150 scores 229!

AMD is obviously better by 71%!

Now seriously, anyone who knows how to interpret this chart would be utterly disgraced. FX8150 deserves to be a 140W TDP CPU.

Seriously.