I think you mean the other way around.
While I agree with you in absolute fact, I think that since he already has a motherboard and can just buy an 8350 and drop it in, the difference in performance from an 8350 to an i5 will be negligable. The 8350 won't provide an inferior experience. If anything, he'll be bottlenecked by his video card, which is the way it is supposed to be.
Thanks- I fixed it.
On the rest, I don't think people should buy AMD cpus anymore. It's just throwing good money after bad.
If he had bought a midrange $200 intel 2500K in January 2011 when they launched, he'd still have a CPU that beats AMDs $800 FX-9590.
Almost two years later.
What does AMDs $200 chip from January 2011 look like in benchmarks these days? A 486 or some other antique.
AMD has been so far behind for so long that IMHO, buying their products is pretty much like lighting money on fire.
AMD FX-8350 Processor Review: Tuned-Up Bulldozer. Page 6 - X-bit labs
Intel’s Core i5 remain the best gaming processors with a pretty significant performance advantage. In other words, we continue to claim that contemporary gaming systems shouldn’t be built on Socket AM3+ platforms.
Most review sites won't say this because review sites need to get review parts. People like us should say it.
This charade of "Well every couple years AMD puts out a new weak cpu that I can put on my ancient motherboard and get a little more performance than I had" should end.
Paying $200 for a Vishera is like paying $40,000 for a Nissan Sentra SE because you had some seat covers that fit it, when you could have bought a 'vette.