sandy bridge dual core any good?

thankyou, but without the upgrade it has minimal gaming capacity? how would it compare to the stats I listed below?

Desktop i3 is a dual core. Desktop i5 is a quad core. Since OP specified dual core, I assume it's an i3 (though it could be a Pentium or Celeron).

Honestly, if you want a PC gaming, you need to spend at least $1000 on a desktop to get the "I saw it on youtube" type performance (1080p High graphics 50FPS) on things like WatchDogs, COD:AW, etc. that are out / coming out. The only way to 'go cheaper' is PS4, as many of the titles can perform the 'same as PC' (AC Unity for example 1080P High 60FPS garunteed by the maker!). It all comes down to how much your willing to spend.

From what I understand, there aren't that many games which make extensive use of multiple cores. BF4, Guild Wars 2 are the ones I hear most about being CPU-limited. The vast majority of games are still GPU-limited. So my gut instinct is that the i3 shouldn't be too much of a handicap. But again, I'm not a hardcore gamer.
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Edit: The AMD Phenom II quad performs about the same as an i3. Better for multi-threaded tasks, worse for single-threaded tasks.

I would like to chime in something said here to better CLARIFY and QUANTIFY what was said so the OP and anyone else reading can better grasp this MISSPOKEN wordage. I often hear the same argument about "there aren't ...games..use of multiple cores" and this is say in a blanket sort of statement which I think it is VERY POORLY WORDED AND VERY MISLEADING, because it comes from the endless AMD vs Intel flame wars.

To clarify for EVERYONE: When they 'code' the programs (web browser, games, etc.) they 'code' to the largest market, which means the 'most people we can sell this too'. To do that they still code in "single-thread tasks". That means STAND IN A LINE.

CODE A, CODE B, CODE C, CODE D, etc. stand exactly like this in a line to wait their turn to be processed.

Code A, CODE E \
Code B, CODE F > Mutithread meaning multiple LINES are being run at the same exact time
Code C, CODE G / means more CODE is getting a turn
Code D, CODE H /

AMD tried to do the 'mulitthread' by making multiple CORES, each core waits for ONE line (thread) of code to be passed to it,
Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, etc. all are SINGLE thread programs, so while there is multiple lines, they ONLY go to one line.

Code A, Code B, Code C \
------ Empty Line ----- >
------ Empty Line ----- /
------ Empty Line ----- /

Intel decided with Hyper Threading (HT) to do it different.

CODE A, CODE B, CODE C, CODE D > HT -- CODE A --->Core 1
\= Code B ---->Virtual Core 2 in Core 1
\-- CODE C --->Core 3
\= Code D ---->Virtual Core 4 in Core 3

IF all the 'Programmers' made the 'code' run in Multithread (like the super expensive software like CAD, MAYA, etc.) then AMD 'true' cores would work alot better then Intet HT Cores. But all Programmers still code things in SingleThread, so AMD suffers in performance, and 'Intel' performs 2 times better for HALF the physical hardware installed.

I am more betting money this was a Celeron G530 or so http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge and
ABSOLUTELY NOT A GOOD DEAL. Sandy bridge means the RAM is DDR2, which hasn't been made for years, besides a hell alot slower. Running SATA, maybe SATA II not current SATA III, which means a much smaller pipe of DATA to pull from the 1TB. Even if you tossed in a R9 270, the slot it fits in is much lower end old tech that the R9 270 wouldn't even be running at full 'speed' or potential because the I/O bus isn't capable to even handle it.

Oh, yeah right. Like AC Unity will ever hit 1080p 60 fps at launch. No way. It uses parts of the same engine as Watch Dogs (which they also originally said would run ultra settings, 1080p/60 fps), yet Watchdogs was downgraded to high settings, 30 fps, 900p.

Console developers have been lying through their teeth this whole generation. Even the games that they claim run at 60 fps really don't; you can feel noticeable and sometimes severe drops while playing. Some, like Warframe (the game where my GTX 750 Ti keeps a rock solid 60 fps, ultra, 1080p), run down to 25 fps at times on the PS4, medium-high settings. Just play it in a thickly populated room and you'll see how the PS4's CPU suffers.

My GTX 750 Ti so far has outperformed every PS4 game in the multiplats, and this is a $700 PC.

Thanks for all the help. Now I think I found a better deal then sandy bridge especially since sandy is basically obsolete in a few months. I found a
Case: Silver antec case
Power supply: Antec earthwatts 650w
Mother board: Intel DQ45CB
Processor: Intel q9550 2.83ghz
Memory: 6GB ddr2
Video card: SAPPHIRE DUAL-X R9 270X 2GB GDDR5 OC WITH BOOST
Hard drive: 150gb WD 1500 rpm "raptor" for operating system and programs, a 1tb drive for storage
Optical drive: DVD RW
system that looks pretty good. Howver I don't know much about cpus, how long until this is obsolete? It has a more recent gpu which is good, but how long until the cpu is obsolete? I definitely want a few solid years of gaming. nothing hardcore though.