For an all-round PC, doing some gaming (things like a lot of Civ 5, some medium settings Cod: MW2 etc) which CPU is better, a Core i5 670 or a Core i7 860?

i5 670 is 3.46 MHz with a 4MB cache

i7 860 is 2.80MHz with 8MB cache (but may be quad core?)

Don't expect any program or game to run on a 3MHz processor now days :) That's Super NES performance.

i7 860 by far. It is a quad core and can kick into a Turbo mode (for CPU heavy tasks) increasing performance to 3.46GHz per core.

i5 670 is a dual core and can kick up to 3.73Ghz per core during Turbo mode.

If those are the most intensive games you're playing, you definitely don't need the i7 860 (because it is fast but expensive, ~$300).

A sub-$100 CPU like the Athlon II X3 445 or the Pentium G6950 would be better choices and you save $200 with little performance difference.

What's your choice of graphics card? That matters more than the CPU.

At this stage I am thinking a Nvidia GTX 260 with 1792MB or if I can't afford it a GTS 240 with one GB.

The problem is, it is a family computer that will be required to do everything the family wants for the next three years or so.  While that will be nothing TOO intensive, it does need to hold up well over those three years, and I feel like if it's a choice I should maybe encourage the faster processor over the better GPU, because the processor is likely to be used more by the programs they will run...

GTX260 with 1792MB?

Sorry, but by the resolution your card will be using all that memory your frames shall already be at the single digits. Do not fall so easily for the memory size trap (that's like the GHz trap...)

1GB is more than enough for middle range cards.

So am I better off with the GTS 240 with 1GB?  They are really my two options...

www.tomshardware.com

Check that out, they do excellent reviews on pc parts and comparisons. There is an excellent core i5 that can be overclocked easily with the right motherboard to the speeds of the top i7's for a fraction of the price, i just can't remember what it is. Do some research and it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Oh and lol at mw2 on medium settings.... you will be able to run it maxed no probs at all mate

Your family won't need anything more than a basic Athlon II Quad core. Also you ought to get the Radeon 5xxx range like say the HD 5750/70 which supports DX11, are faster and cheaper relative to their performance and use less power than the Nvidia counterparts.

Thanks Squilliam.

@eggs2see.

I understand that there are far cheaper options out there, but noone in my family, myself included, knows how to put a computer together, and certainly not how to overclock.

So we need to buy one ready made which instantly raises our costs and reduces our performance.

Ok then, buy whatever system you want and stick in an HD 5670. Its fast and it can be stuck into all store bought machines which have full sized cases, like for instance this one: http://www1.ap.dell.com/au/en/home/desktops/inspiron-580/pd.aspx?refid=inspiron-580&s=dhs&cs=audhs1&~oid=au~en~39102~inspiron_580_t210101au~~ which you can then add something like an HD 5670 into quite comfortably.

Alternatively if you've got a local computer shop you can spec up a machine and they will build it for you.