This will be a gaming/simming rig with 6-8 gigs of ram and at least a 5850 video card. I am a little hung up on the CPU to get though. I have been a AMD buyer for some time now but am not brand loyal. Any opinions?

The performance difference between those two won't be visible, probably. So, check the price of a complete system (CPU, DRAM, Motherboard).

The AMD product runs virtually full speed with DDR2 memory which can make a difference price wise. And newer AMD CPUs are usually plug compatible with older motherboards which might save some money later on. A 790GX north bridge and SB750 south bridge AMD mother board would be a good choice with AMD.

Still, prices and specials seem to vary monthly. So, today's best priced system may not be tomorrows. I try to check on the day I order. Better yet, I order over a period of time shopping sales to try and get near the best prices.

I notice the 3.4GHz AMD 965 is $215 today and the 2.66GHz Intel i5 750 is $200 today. The i5 is not an i7 so the GHz difference means a bit more. When the i5 came out, the 965 was slightly overpriced at $245. AMD fixed that. Competition is good

Anyhow, find the best deal and put the money you save into the GPU for the best gaming system.

Just opinions FWIW.

I've been impressed with the i5 tests and almost switched over from the Phenom for my new rig. The i5 is slightly faster and sometimes even notable faster depending on benchmark, but on the counter side it's turbo mode (while a brilliant idea) seems to me "new tech" with the potential for some still unresolved bugs.

If you buy them today, by the time they might be considered "obsolete" in the future most games will use two cores or more, so for total usable lifespan the i5 Turbo will not extend you a lot IMHO (since the Phenom will draw even when more of it's cores are used). The i5's biggest potential might be the next year or two where lots of single core games are still being played.

OTOH, if you are looking for an Ati card, then going AMD with an AMD Chipset will give you a "pure" platform from a single source, which might help minimize any troubles.

I thought the i5 had four cores? So won't it be just fine in the future for games being designed around multiple cores?

Of course the i5 will be fine in the future for multi core games, it just won't necessarily hold the advantage compared to a Phenom once more cores are used. (my prediction, not benchmarked fact)

The performance difference is really not that huge either way:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634&p=12

And for me the performance gains seem to originate in the "Turbo" mode for games or apps using less than all four cores.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634&p=8

You can see here that at the final benchmark, the Phenom even comes out on top - much of the i5 benefit seems to rely on it's Turbo doing it's thing. While the AMD is always clocking each core at 3.4 Ghz and thus will perform equally well or bad on single-core or multi-core appls, the Intel clock can be as low as 2.8 Ghz when all four Cores are used. Although even at lower clock speeds it keeps up with the Phenom, it loses the Turbo advantage.

I think the Turbo is an amazing technology, but within the next years games will be written to use more cores by default, and eventually the Turbo will lose the inherit advantage.

I just put a 965BE a couple weeks ago. I am not sold on one particular brand or teh other . (I have had and like AMD and Intel). What sold me on teh AMD what the future upgradability.

You can run DDR2 with it now... or DDR3 you'll just need the correct motherboard. But if you're looking to save money on RAM it is a savings.

Also AMD has stated that the next gen of chips will be able to be used on teh AM3 motherboards. Whereas is seems everytime Intel comes out with a new chip you gotta buy a new Motherboard as well.

I think the 965 is on par with the lowest I7 Intel makes. Intel does make faster chips but would I notice it?? Probably not. FWIW this chip is ripping through anything I throw at it. I am very pleased but honestly you can't go wrong with I5, I7 or AMD 955 or 965. They are all great.