I7-3990k or i5-3570K

I don't believe it will make much of a difference as games normally only use 4 cores max. The clock speed is also almost the same, which really doesn't matter if you plan to overclock. A 3570k should be all you would need as far as gaming CPU's go, and you should Spend the extra $300 on extra RAM or a graphics card.

Ok then. I already have a Zotal 670 AMP! and 16 gb of ram, so theres not that much room for improvement. I'll just get the i5 then.

X79 isn't really a gaming platform, it's more of a "home workstation" platform used for editing/number crunching and/or extreme multitasking.

For gaming, it won't make any difference at all, I game on my system but I do other stuff as well such as compiling stuff on my Linux partitions.

Unless u wanna use 3 or 4 GPU's, get 3570K, overclock it and enjoy it.

how far could i ooverclock it? I am getting a cooler master v6 gt cooler and that can do like 80 cfm

4.6GHz should be possible, but it also depends on your mobo and the case : )

You should be able to get to 4.2-4.6Gz range. Just be sure to watch your temps, as Ivy Bridge has a problem about heating up a lot when OC'ing.

And good thermal paste shave off few degrees from there too.

Best answer selected by jimmy_dog.