for me a faster 4 core is better than a slower 6 or 8 core cpu, the reasons being,
1 most games dont support more than 2 core, latest games support 4?
if so what game? and when i say support 4 cores i mean will use the 4 cores, as yet very few so called 4 core games are any quicker in real term use that the same speed dual core setup, there is some that work a few % better, good coding makes up for this but the most it's just hype for more chip sales, for me a better vga is my first choice, not a 6 or 8 core chip, not for gaming anyway.
so why get 6 or 8 core as yet for gaming unless the clock speed for each core is better than the 4 core, there's no real need,
Ultimately, I don’t think the amount of cores matters too much unless you are making use of programs that actually use the multithreading capabilities of multi-core processors. And while gaming does use multi-core chips, their true purpose seems more into “work” type applications like programming, video editing, graphic design, etc. As long as your processor puts out a decent standard speed, you probably won’t notice a difference between having 2,3,4, or 6 cores.
Now, if you have a motherboard which has TWO chip slots, that’s a whole new territory. However, I stand by the graphics card still being the most important device.
util we have a o's and games made for multi core / thread use in all apps and programs, buy the fastest quad thats out and upgrade to 6 or 8 core when you do something else on the pc that needs or uses it, for me i dont plan on a 3 / 5 years use for a pc, im happy if it works well for 6 months then i'll upgrade some bits when the prices have dropped as they always seem to be cheaper and faster in 6 months or so time