I had a p4, 2.4ghz with Hyper threading in my last computer. I was able to play ut 2004 with decent settings. It was ok for me, and I think it'll be ok for you until you can get something better (when is free bad?). But I wouldn't buy other components to build around that one for now and then buy a whole new system in the near future. If that's your plan, I would not use the p4.