When it comes to playing the latest games, the graphics card is likely to have a greater impact on performance than the processor.

Not too many games are able to make full use of a quad-core processor, so a dual-core Intel Core i5 chip is sufficient for most users. However, you shouldn't neglect the processor completely and we recommend that you get one that is as fast as your budget will allow.

If you're the more adventurous type who doesn't mind trying to overclock the processor, we recommend the Core i5 2500K, which has unlocked multipliers which makes it easier to overclock.