because almost every game only utilizes 2 cores, not 4 (half life 2 is the only one i know of that uses all 4). i thought the same...like 'shit this is a no brainer...this is a 4 core processor of course it's gonna be better' no so much...not all games utilize the 4 cores. they are more efficient with the dual core which is why we say to go with the dual core. just as far as gaming. i went on computer forums myself to do research and they said to go with the dual core for games. BUT...since he's not so hung on making his PC for games...he'd be happy with either chip (spend a lil more for the quad...and it'd last a lil longer than the dual perhaps...keep him from spending cash for upgrades also). he'd get good results for games...and good results for multi processing. since he's not worried about TOP TOP TOP notch for either...he'd be happy regardless. i'd just go with the dual core (for now) for better gaming processing.