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#11
I only based my opinion on what he stated he's planning to use it for, noting that he mentioned media usage first and moderate gaming second. The Q8200 is also a great choice, and depending on the application, it betters the e8500 in quite a few tests. see here for benchmark comparisons:
Tom's Hardware - Benchmark 3DMark Vantage 1.0.2 CPU
Software developers have been slow to optimise their code for multicore use, and I don't think we'll see a huge increase within the next couple of years... I may be wrong though. This is one of the great advantages of the Core i5 & i7 cpu's with their Turbo Boost, ramping up the first core from 2.66 to 3.6Ghz (i5 750).
If multicore optimised apps are were the norm, wouldn't Intel's Turbo Boost be made redundant?
Personally, if I were in the market for a new cpu, I'd go C2Q and overclock it, probably because I'm planning a new i5 anyway, and I've had this current mobo for a while...
Just my 2c :) .... again