CPU Advice

[mchljrdn]

Thanks for taking time to help!

I'm going to put together a home build (spend $600ish have GPU, OS, case)and I'm about 5 years behind on the CPU scene. Willing to OC, but I don't push the envelope (x4 black 3.0 OC'd to 3.5 last OC project for friend, would've gone farther on my own). PC will be used for application development (20+ open apps/tabs), voip, media, gaming (Warcraft/Diablo type games)

■Is this a good time to buy a CPU or is there a compelling reason to wait a couple of months?
■Seems like i5 is the overwhelming favorite? Any models in particular to look at or avoid? I've been AMD since the late 90s but that's more a reflection of my love of bargains than anything else.
■Given the workload, where is the "best bang for the buck" currently? Any cpu's out there I can OC for good performance now, and slap a major cpu upgrade on in a couple years?
■Any other CPU's I should take a hard look at?
■If you have any great links you'd like to share

Thanks again for reading. I apologize for the wool gathering, trying to get up to speed quickly.

 

[ram1009]

FYI, AMD recently announced they would no longer compete with Intel for desktop business. That was my clue to dump them. The i5 seems to be every body's darling although given Intels' propensity for obsoleting their own platforms I wouldn't expect a CPU only upgrade path.....ever.

 

[mchljrdn]

Best answer selected by mchljrdn.

 

[mchljrdn]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the assist.