E8500, Q9550 or neither?

Well.. I can tell ya what you wont be doing on a dual core.. and that is popping Mach1 on the deck in the FA/18 over a decent size city with 100% SC/AG/SR/MC/TR and maintain 24+ smooth frames with crystal clear scenerythats what the quad does.. maintains smooth frames and terrain clarity under high velocity with autogen in the scene

NickAt last, I feel I have a proper idea as to the benefit of a quad core over a dual.And just as well, as I've finally started building a new system - my first build too :( I can't afford state of the art components, but considering I'm coming from an Athlon 64 3500+ processor and an Ati X800 card, I'm looking forward to a reasonable improvement.I'll now definitely go the quad core route. I too am open to any suggestions for a decent mid-range CPU. I was looking at a Q8400. That any good?ThanksIan