it not prickly, its clear, vy bridge i5k/i7+ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 is it
you don't need an article and the answers not prickly in the least as of today providing you do or want to do any of these things in any combination on your current old PC or your new shiny box.
play hardware assisted 1080p HD video , Intel "quick sync", get a ivy bridge i5k
(re-)Encode hardware assisted 1080p HD video faster than real time with Intel "quick sync" , get a ivy bridge i5k/i7
(re-)Encode software assisted x264 for highest visual quality 1080p HD video , get a ivy bridge i5k/i7
want lower power usage at full full speed get a ivy bridge i5k
play casual games get an ivy bridge i5k + Nvidia (anything in the nvidia geforce gtx should be fine)
higher speed gaming get a ivy bridge i5k/i7+ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
programming OpenCL etc get a ivy bridge i5k/i7+ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
be specially careful if you Ever want o run Linux at any point then you definitively need to get an ivy bridge i5k/i7 and some low priced or high end NVIDIA GeForce GTX
want actual Open source drivers for kit before launch day again get ivy bridge i5k/i7
want to impress your friends with now much cash you saved get any AMD CPU and gfx card....
want to impress your friends with how some AMD have lower power AT IDLE, get get this AMD CPU/APU
want to hide from your friends the fact that the best kit doesn't even have Open source Linux drivers then get a top of the line AMD southern islands card, when you think about it is perfect it perfect symmetry and a bit Irish in it self given AMD scream we support Open source everywhere :)
are you seeing a pattern here yet , like i said above not prickly at all if you don't want to come to regret buying the other system and so feel the need to go online justifying your choice.
but , but MAD oops, AMD is cheaper you say, sure it is and for good reasons, it;s also
not got a hardware assisted Encode engine included in the price and the core ,
its not got a decoder that works or is even officially supported in Linux ,it ONLY officially works in windows,
clock for clock given the real like for like CPU to CPU not this crap article , AMD Never beats Intel i5k/i7 for quality x264 encoding speed.
at full load ( the whole purpose of a PC is to do actual work right so idle means nothing here) AMD will always use more power than intel ivy bridge at the same job.
dont supply any UVD (universal Video Decode documentation to write an Open source video decode driver
i could go on but you also see the pattern here right!
the choice is clear Intel ivy bridge i5k/i7 is your open source, power saving,time saving and long term money saving ,friend today, so get one.