Surveyor, i am well aware that i chose the most expensive sandy-e cpu. i chose it for a good reason. it shows that even the most powerfull sandy-e available is almost on par (GAMING PERFORMANCE WISE) with a sandybridge i5 2500k.
The point i was making was that if the new pc he was building was gonna be mainly as a gaming rig, then its not worth buiying a sandy-e. If its a pc for multithread applications and such. then yes, it would be worth it.
You mentioned the cheaper alternative sandy-e cpu's. Just checked a few reviews, and for Gaming, they perform WORSE than an i5 2500k. And they still are more expensive.
Like i said, it depends what he'll use it for.