I know everyone here warns the S chip is "just an underclocked regular chip that costs more!"
-But if a;
i5-3470s @ 2.90 GHz (3.60 GHz Turbo ) is $198

and a;
i5-3470 @3.2 GHz (3.60 GHz Turbo ) is $212


then wouldnt the S chip be a better deal, with turbo enabled?

Isn't Max Turbo Frequency 3.6GHz for both?

http://ark.intel.com/products/68315/
http://ark.intel.com/products/68316/

yes, thanks. i had pasted the wrong stats. (was just editing op)

The maximum frequency may be the same but the Turbo schemes are different:

i5 3470

3600 MHz (1 or 2 cores)
3500 MHz (3 cores)
3400 MHz (4 cores)

i5 3470s

3600 MHz (1 core)
3500 MHz (2 cores)
3300 MHz (3 cores)
3200 MHz (4 cores)

Source: CPU World 3470 and 3470S

AFAIK Intel Turbo Boost isn't as straight-forward as the GHz is labelled. The 3.60 GHz Turbo doesn't mean that all 4 cores will be able to reach that frequency; there's a certain calculation based on the base clock frequency, which the non-S version here obviously is higher (faster).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Turbo_Boost

The exception being Asus motherboards that would allow both CPU's to run at 3.6GHz on all four cores (set by default I think). This would probably make change their effective TDP values to be nearly identical.

It used to be like that, and maybe it is for some CPUs + Mobos, but on my i7 4770K + MSI Z87-GD65 i can reach 3.9ghz on prime95 and sustain it on all cores, ill leave you HWinfo with the loads and the ghz per core,

That would be great then, because that would merit the S series CPUs since they would be more efficient on lighter loads and achieve the same max GHz on load. That would also make the lower price on the S version strange.

thanks all/
well it looks like im getting an S-chip. its $175 on amazon...seems like the best bang for my buck right now.