CPU and Graphics Benchmarks: What do I need for gaming?

[micahnick]

I'm building a gaming PC, that I'm hoping to use on graphics-intensive games (1st person shooters), and I've been looking at the benchmark results from this site to determine what kind of CPU and Graphics card I'll need. I don't know what benchmark range I should be looking for. For example, for CPU's I've been looking at the Intel i7 4770 which shows a benchmark of 9947, but the 4770K shows 10,332. Is that a remarkable difference? Are either of these CPUs more powerful than I need?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[David (PassMark)]

The CPU and GPU required depends a bit on what screen resolutions you will be running, what games you will be running, how much cash you have and how long into the future you want the machine to be viable.

the Intel i7 4770 which shows a benchmark of 9947, but the 4770K shows 10,332. Is that a remarkable difference?

No. <pulling out calculator> It is about a 3% difference. So is so small you won't notice the speed difference. The only reason to take the 'K' unit is for overclocking.

Are either of these CPUs more powerful than I need

Maybe. You can certainly play all the current games with a lessor CPU (e.g. i5-4670). But the higher end CPUs will become redundant slower.