Core i7-4820K

This is yet another processor from Intel that demonstrates their total market domination in the high end PC sector. The 4820K isn't really a step forward in any particular direction but rather a variant on what's already been available (performance wise) for a few years. As long as Intel is largely competing with itself they will likely continue with these sorts of incremental releases. The 4820K requires an Intel X79 chipset, which dates back to Sandy Bridge-E and lacks some of the newer features like native USB 3.0 support. An investment in the 4820K only makes sense if you already own an LGA2011 Motherboard and could be seen as good money chasing bad given that the platform is due an upgrade. That said the 4820K is a very capable multi-core processor and it sits amongst the top handful of processors in this regard. For typical consumers a Haswell i3 will offer mostly identical response times, a lower energy footprint and a significantly more competitive price. ^{[Nov '13 CPUPro]}