With what I have experienced with dual core, I would NEVER not recommend it to anybody. General system usage is just so smooth. Everything snaps open with next to no regard to what I am already running. I update and run once a week Adaware SE, Spybot Search and Destroy, Syware Blaster, Windows Defender, and Kaspersky AV all at the same time, and it does not affect my general system usage at all(With my Athlon 64 3000+ @2.7Ghz, this was not possible, it would slow down general usage and even web browsing by a significant amount). Granted, that is quite a heavy load, so gaming may not be flawless with that much, but general system usage definately is.