Imac i5 2.66 Ghz vs. i3 3.2 Ghz, buying advice

[agarbos]

Hi I'm new to Apple Imacs, and look forward to putting behind 15 years of Windows.

Living in Greece, my options are more limited. Here's what I've got the choice down to :

APPLE MC509GR IMAC 21.5'' 1TB
3.2 Ghz Intel Core i3 w/ 4MB L3 Cache
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
ATI Radeon HD 5670 w/ 512MB GDDR3
1689.00 €

APPLE MB953GR IMAC 27'' 1TB
2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 8MB L2 Cache
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
ATI Radeon HD 4850 w/ 512MB GDDR3
1799.00 €

2 things i noted in my probably superfluous research:
1. I haven't seen HD 5670 video card w/ GDDR3 in it's specs, but GDDR5.

2. The 27" IMAC looks to be an older model? Apple doesn't show it on it's website, and I see details such as 8MB L2 cache and 1066Mhz memory (as opposed to the newer model's use of 4MB L3 cache and 1333Mhz speeds).

My questions:
I wonder if anyone can confirm this, and if I'm right in supposing that gains in getting the core i5 2.66 over i3 3.2 are somewhat lost there?

I'm leaning towards the 27" because it seems to me to be a better value. Your opinions?

But the gaming aspect might change that since it's the most demanding task I'll ask of it. The most demanding game I play is Flight Simulator X. I looked through the gaming thread and got the impression that both will perform about the same. I hope someone with more knowledge/experience can illuminate it for me: if there's a big difference it will sway my decision.

Thank you

 

[jrcsh6]

having just got a 27, from a 20 (g5), i've gotta lean that way too. the screen is fantastic both in quality and size.
i actually went with the low end 27 refurb as it's too good of a deal regardless of how it stacks up. then threw in 4g of ram on top and i'm very happy with it. out in all about 1329$ plus some tax.
between the two you're looking at the 27 seems like the better deal. IMO

 

[agarbos]

having just got a 27, from a 20 (g5), i've gotta lean that way too. the screen is fantastic both in quality and size.
i actually went with the low end 27 refurb as it's too good of a deal regardless of how it stacks up. then threw in 4g of ram on top and i'm very happy with it. out in all about 1329$ plus some tax.
between the two you're looking at the 27 seems like the better deal. IMO

I was a bit curious as to why the 27" was only 100 euro more, but it's looking like it is far better deal than the 21.

Found some benchmark scores of the 2 as well, and the 27" came out on top in most of them.

Thank you for the input