Well, dual-core is a no-brainer, if only because all of your AV, system, IO and other stuff can be handled by one of the cores while the other does nothing but concentrated on your game. So you're always going to see a speed jump by using a dual-core, whether the game is optimized or not.

But with the chip manufacturers pushing four-core procs, it really does become a burning question for gamers. 'Cause if the apps don't take advantage of those two extra cores, we're being encouraged to waste money and electricity powering a chip that's 50% idle.

For now I'm encouraging people to stick with dual-core. But I'm willing to change my tune if new evidence comes to light ...