Reply #25: If you're not a gamer and multitasking isn't a high priority...

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You can probably save yourself some further money by going dual core rather than quad core. There are still very few applications optimized for multiple (3 or more) cores, other than games. So unless you'll be burning CDs while torrenting and ripping movies from DVDs or Blu-rays while simultaneously surfing the net and running benchmarks, you're really not going to take advantage of all those four cores. You'll probably achieve almost equal performance from a decent dual core system such as an older C2D or an i3 or lower level i5. If your computer has been slowing down as of late, it most likely has nothing to do with your processor speed, especially if you're running a C2D or C2Q now (even the lowest level C2D is still a very respectable chip if you're not a gamer). Older systems tend to get bogged down with malware over time which can make them slow to a crawl. Downloading and running a malware removal tool such as Adaware can do an awful lot towards reviving a slow system. Another thing you should be aware of is that for a while now, the hard drive has been an incredible bottleneck in typical systems. You might find that by simply getting a new hard drive and reinstalling your OS on it, your computer will run better than new. If you're looking for an even larger performance bump, get a solid state drive and reinstall your OS on that. You'll be amazed at how much faster your computer will run with Windows loaded on an SSD, it's a much, much bigger performance upgrade than upgrading your CPU (especially if you've got a decent dual or quad core already) or upgrading your RAM (especially if you've got 2 gigs or more already). The price per gigabyte of solid state drives now is still high, but it's definitely worth it. You can get a 64GB Kingston drive for around $150. I'd say that's without a doubt the best performance upgrade any computer running a conventional hard drive can get.