I really appreciate all your help. I'm not that big of a multitasker yet. I mainly edit video for fun, and play occassional games. I haven't ever had framerate drops. I just have recently been irritated with the load times of mass effect 2, but I guess thats unavoidable.

So do you think I should get a higher clock speed quad core when prices drop?

I currently have a socket 775 motherboard that I'm looking to upgrade the cpu. Would I notice the switch from my current E7400 to a Q9300? I'm asking because microcenter has it listed for cheap $139.00.

Any info would be helpful. I'm not really looking to spend much more right now. If the change in speed wouldn't be noticeable, then I just won't do it.