it simply does not matter wat processor u use(i5/i7 etc) fwiw i run multiple programs(doing computations) on 3 monitors on a core i5 and yet i barely use 10-20% of the processing power inspite of the heavy usage. i cud easily run all my workload on a underclocked i5 if i wanted !!! but i can easily use almost 90% of my 8gb ram. u no longer need to even bother with overclocking and stuff. most ppl skimp on the ram and just stick to 4gb which is a big mistake imho. 4gb barely makes the cut today. ivy bridge is not going to make any difference unless u intend to run ur processors @ 90% workload all the time which i doubt any ordinary guy is going to. processing power has reached a stage where most programs can barely manage to utilize more than a small % of it.