I currently run the 950@4ghz, but i got my hands on a e5645 for free and assuming I can hit the average overclock of 3.5ghz(might get more), which would be better?

Better for games? Most new titles take advantage of multiple cores. Example BF4.

Thanks

p.s. also if my e5645 only hits lets say 3.3ghz, would the result change?
 
 
p.s.s I am running a gtx 780, wth tri-channel 6GB ram, if that also changes anything.

how about for mordern games? I feel like they are utilizing the cores alot more. I never really see my CPU go above 60% when running BF4, and when I watched my friends 6 core, all of them were at 60% and it had a lower clock then 4ghz.

Yeah i7 950 @ 4GHz is going to be faster by about 8% in games... Compared to that Xeon @ 3.5GHz. It's not about the cores, it's about the process architecture. The new i7 4790K processes 26% faster at the same clock speed of the i7 900 series... and it's stock clock is 4Ghz, with 4.4GHz turbo. So, for that i7 950 of yours to match the performance of a stock i7 4790K, it would need to be in the 5GHz to 5.5Ghz to match the performance. Then there is the i5 4690K, with just 4 cores and no hyper-threading... which pretty much performs similar to the i7 4770K in games.
 
If you go with a more powerful video card, like a GTX 780... I'd suggest selling your i7 950 and E5645 then buy something newer. The reason your CPU usage isn't as high as your friends, is because your GPU isn't as powerful most likely.

RainStryke
Yeah i7 950 @ 4GHz is going to be faster by about 8% in games... Compared to that Xeon @ 3.5GHz. It's not about the cores, it's about the process architecture. The new i7 4790K processes 26% faster at the same clock speed of the i7 900 series... and it's stock clock is 4Ghz, with 4.4GHz turbo. So, for that i7 950 of yours to match the performance of a stock i7 4790K, it would need to be in the 5GHz to 5.5Ghz to match the performance. Then there is the i5 4690K, with just 4 cores and no hyper-threading... which pretty much performs similar to the i7 4770K in games.
 
If you go with a more powerful video card, like a GTX 780... I'd suggest selling your i7 950 and E5645 then buy something newer. The reason your CPU usage isn't as high as your friends, is because your GPU isn't as powerful most likely.

 
 
isnt the e5645 a better process architecture then the 950? 

akballow

RainStryke
Yeah i7 950 @ 4GHz is going to be faster by about 8% in games... Compared to that Xeon @ 3.5GHz. It's not about the cores, it's about the process architecture. The new i7 4790K processes 26% faster at the same clock speed of the i7 900 series... and it's stock clock is 4Ghz, with 4.4GHz turbo. So, for that i7 950 of yours to match the performance of a stock i7 4790K, it would need to be in the 5GHz to 5.5Ghz to match the performance. Then there is the i5 4690K, with just 4 cores and no hyper-threading... which pretty much performs similar to the i7 4770K in games.
 
If you go with a more powerful video card, like a GTX 780... I'd suggest selling your i7 950 and E5645 then buy something newer. The reason your CPU usage isn't as high as your friends, is because your GPU isn't as powerful most likely.

 
isnt the e5645 a better process architecture then the 950? 

No, just 2 more cores. It's a lot like the i7 970 but slower. The only thing it has over the i7's is the QPI link and ECC memory compatibility.

No, in my opinion.

Based off of this review:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/11/06/amd-fx-8350-review/6
 
They show the difference between a ton of different CPU's and frequencies while paired with a GTX 690 to make sure there is not a bottleneck. The second game has the processor comparisons you are looking for. The closest thing to your processor is going to be the i7 990X at stock speeds if you can achieve 3.5Ghz.
 
With a newer processor like the i series 3000, 4000 and 5000 you get PCI-E 3.0 that less latency than a PCI-E 2.0 set-up on the X58 platform.