Everyone's wanted to trade up at times. Sure, you can get the 8oz steak for $15, but the 12oz steak is only $17.... Sometimes the choice can be as easy as calculating performance versus price, but other times it's worth to pay more if it will really satisfy your needs. The 3.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU is a dual-core chip based on the 45nm 'Wolfdale' core that falls into the upper end of family, supplanted only by the relatively expensive Core 2 Duo E8600.