Intel Quad Q9550 or Intel Duo E8600

Or i7, which is the same price as both of them? Because x58 motherboard have gotten LOTS cheaper? Because ddr3 is affordable now?

Yes. i7.

But if you insist on the Core 2 series, please list usage and the system specs of the other components, and then I'll be able to make a judgment from there.

Do you already own those components?

Since you list CS4 there (Adobe Creative Suite, I'm assuming that there has been no Counter Strike releases under that number) I would recommend the q9550 over the duo core. Unless gaming is more important to you... yet an overclocked q9550 would provide huge performance boosts to your artistic/graphic work that I don't think the 1-6 fps boost you might see with an overclocked e8600 would be worth the opportunity cost...

If you DON'T already own those components, it might not be too hard to build an i7 with a few benjamins boost in the budget, and would net you pretty much the best of both worlds, so do consider...

Neither, both are a dead end socketwise and both are waaaay overpriced. Core i5 will be available for half the price of a C2Q in a couple months.

We still need to find out whether he OWNS these parts already or not, because the i7 is such a smarter path to take for his needs... and for this generation of PC parts...

They're not out yet. But they should be pretty revolutionary.

I meant revolutionary, as in prices. The i5 should perform pretty closely to the i7 (as you say, loss of HT, but that means almost nothing to most people) at the price at or lower than C2Qs. Sounds like a deal to me.

Wow, well didnt realize how much Q9550 prices have come down, last i checked it was $300. i5 will still be better and cheaper than the Q9550. From what I've heard the lower model will be $199.

i5 will give up nothing to i7 in gaming. Those 8 threads you speak of wont be needed.