Ive had the same computer for 5 years now. I am looking at new builds because I am afraid if I dont quickly build myself a new computer I will forget how to do it and become an old nostalgic guy that says things like ''back in the days''

Now the problem is that unless I pay crazy amount of my dollars I cant get a processor that performs better than my 5 years old Q6700. I would like to pen discussions on current processor lineup, I looked at this:

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3350P processor (6M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz)

versus what I currently have:

Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q6700 (8M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/common_cpus.html

Really the common CPU list is what you'd want to look at when shopping but your 6700 isn't on that list so take a look at the high end CPU list for comparing your processor to others.

The 2500/2500k is still one of the best processors for gaming and it's very affordable. I'd consider that processor. The one you're looking at seems to be nearly as good though for a few bucks less.

The best performance to cost ratio currently is the i5-3570K Ivy Bridge right now, it costs about 220 dollars.

To the best of my knowledge, there's little to no performance difference in gaming between the i5 and i7 chips. For other tasks, the i7 can start to blow the i5 away, but strictly for gaming performance it's probably going to be cheaper to go the i5 route.

Thanks for the headsup. I actually use Photoshop, Reason and Soundforge. I also have to use Autocad once in a while. I do a lot of archiving and I will often use this system as a server. To be honest beside Witcher and Skyrim I mainly play games like Sim City 2000 and Civilization so I dont really need an upgrade in processor. I just want a new computer while I can still sell my old one for a decent price. But you are right most benchmarks show that differences are in file compression and rendering.

The first posted list (cpubenchmark) has almost ALL processors. Look closely, your current CPU has 3,359 Points, a common Core i5-2500 has 6,326. Of course this is the power for all cores, but both have each four cores. The difference is: any Core i5-2xxx or 3xxx uses much less power in idle mode. You can power a complete PC with under 30W (plus GPU, so calculate 10W up in idle for the newest generations).

I recommend same thing like Qwertyman: the Core i5-2500 (or now 35xx) is the CPU with almost the best price-performance ratio. Also it needs very few power in idle mode. The K-variants have free mutliplicator, so that you will be able to overclock (but why? the power is already more someone needs for any game for the next five years).
For using tools like Photoshop and so, a Core i7 could be a solution. Those series has the ability of hyperthreading, so you have eight virtual cores (i5 does not have HT), much is useful for video cut and so. I don’t know if sound editing tools and Photoshop already are able to have usage for eight cores …

If you want a useful boost from another direction, buy an SSD. Your patience will thank you. :) And buy lots of RAM (16GB), it’s cheap.

My main motivation is that I just found a good deal on a barebone kit with the i3070. I would not specifically shop for it but the fact that the bundle gives me this processor for a fair price settles the deal for me.

That's fine. If you got a nice bundle, use it. An i7-3xxx quad core has good performance and it power saving in idle mode.

For myself I'm happy with my 16 months old i5-2500. I think, the next 4-5 years I will not need anything new, except some fans, when the current ones are worn down.