Well I just got my core 2 duo E6600 couple days ago to replace my pentium d915 and it seems like a huge improvement, I cant find any first person shooter to slow it down(paired w/8800gts). BUT for some reason it doesnt seem to run medieval 2 that much better, I guess that game is brutal on processors. I did a lot of research kind of like what your doing right now, and it really seems like intel is the way to go.BUT I hear amds new lineup is going to be great. I have no Idea when it comes out though, just heresay