I'd say the biggest change has been how much easier it is to put together a really nice rig for oneself. Motherboard onboard components (like sound cards and network cards) are improved, and compatibility is easier than ever with less guesswork, and off-the-shelf components even LOOK better. The guides out there for…

Unfortunately I don't have a crystal ball so it's hard to say... But what I can say is that while games are continuously evolving to take advantage of more processing threads, both DirectX 12 and Mantle are designed to significantly REDUCE overall CPU usage anyway, so we might not need the extra horsepower.

It really depends on the kinds of games you're playing. For less demanding games like MOBAs it definitely makes sense, but there's not much "future proofness" in it.

Honestly there are a lot of things like this. I think many people - particularly gamers - spend too much on their CPU. There are $1000 options out there, but past about $200-250 there is actually very little measurable benefit to spending more.