user wroteIf he turns hyperthreading off there should be no reason why the i5 will outperform the i7 in anything(talking single threaded and out of the box) not sure if the i5 overclocks better than the i7 though
There is a 0.5 ghz in favor of the i7, I'd get that, you don't want to cut your desktop's life by one year because you wanted to save 100$. And don't tell me the i5 is enough, some games eat up cpu like nothing(see planet side, rome total war) they take one core and hammer them to death, the extra 0.5 would greatly help fps in those cases. If you plan to overclock, it's a different story.
Also, summer is near, if you can wait till quarter 3 and see if intel brings out a new desktop uber cpu. It will run cooler and maybe faster.
The i5 overclocks better than the i7 and quad-cores will be the norm for the coming years, so he won't cut his PC's life by one year. Stop falling for the higher number and more expensive stuff. Of course he's overclocking, he's going with a K CPU, if he doesn't overclock he deserves the Gulag.