[Nomad84]

FWIW, I have a 3800+ and I love it. I haven't compared it with the other X2 chips or even a good single core, but it's nice to be able to run a ton of programs and not see any hit to the usability. I can easily datamine 40 tables on 1 XP user account (while not importing those hands until later) and have two or three different poker sites running on my main user account with several tables up, PT auto-importing every minute, PAHUD running, music playing, several Firefox windows open, etc. Even when doing all of that, it is rare that I experience any noticible delays. Even when I do, it's usually when I've been datamining for 2 or 3 days without rebooting. It's also nice that I can import 20k hands or more datamined hands without impacting what I am working on. I guess you've already decided on a dual core processor though, so maybe there wasn't much point to this part of my post.

The only other thing I wanted to add was a case recommendation. I got the Antec Sonata II, and I love it. It was pretty easy to work with and the quality was top-notch. I like the look of it too. Most importantly, though, it's super quiet. I keep it running more often than not, and it is sitting about three feet from my head when I'm on the couch watching TV. I never notice it unless I'm specifically listening for it with the TV off, and that's on the back side of the case, which is louder than the front.