I am pretty dead-set on using a new i5 Haswell processor for my $800 budget Intel build but I am just wondering what is the difference between Ivy and Haswell?
real world gains haswell is about 3-5% faster than ivy. It is also more expensive, runs SIGNIFICANTLY hotter, uses more voltage and has less overclocking head room. I don't really like haswell for these reasons and would be more inclined to buy an ivy or even sandy before haswell, this however is simply my opinion.
There would be no noticeable gaming difference between the 2 at stock clocks, maybe a couple FPS more for ivy if OC'd since it OC's higher. Ivy tends to run $20-30 US less from most on line retailers. Also 1155 boards are less expensive by about the same margin. The 7850 would run the exact same on both systems. People tend to give haswell the nod if staying at stock speed but if overclocking it just gets way too hot way too fast and most people I have spoken with prefer ivy in this environment.
I have no interest in overclocking but I want to stay within a $800 so I've been deciding between ivy and haswell.
In that case I would probably use a i5 3570 and an Asus P8B75-V motherboard, together they can be had for around $300 and then use the $50~ saved over haswell cpu/board and put it into something else in your system such as a better GPU or an SSD
CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.97 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: MSI B75A-G43 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V200 Series 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Apevia X-SNIPER2-WHT ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.59 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master i500 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($33.00 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.88 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $755.37
Looks good to me man, Except I would change the PSU to something a little better like a corsair or other well known psu maker, and recommend that the extra few bucks for the asus board i suggested is money well spent over the msi.