Two things:
1. Intel has overall the faster CPUs but in your price range I'd seriously look at AMDs, they might just offer the faster ones for a lower price, but try to look at Phenom IIs, not the older Phenoms.
2. A 9800GT is not expensive and perfectly fine for M2TW.
edit: Just went to ibuypower and made the following system:
Case: Nzxt Alpha Gaming Tower Case Black
Processor: AMD Phenom™ II X2 550 Black Edition Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology AM3 & AM2+ support
Memory: 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR3-1333 Memory Module-Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT PCI-Express x16 - 512MB Single Card
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 DDR3 AMD 770 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, PCI-E MB
Power Supply: 450 Watt -- Standard Power Supply
Hard Drive: 320 GB HARD DRIVE-[Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache]
Optical Drive: [** Special !!! ***] LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive-Black
All that without mouse and monitor etc. for 587$.
I used this as a base and changed some components, replaced the crossfire(two graphicscards) by a simpler, cheaper one etc. since you prolly don't want crossfire, especially not with an NVidia card.
How the Phenim II dual core performs can be seen here. Should be more than enough for your purposes.
I thought about putting in a somewhat more expensive power supply, might be worth considering as they have become relatively important over time and can cause a few problems, would cost quite a bit more but that's up to you(as everything, else, just suggesting here).
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