Friend's computer is a piece of pomegranate

new comp

new comp

Quoted for truth =\

new comp

This much was evident. Was hoping for some guidance in this field, as neither of us are computer savy beyond telling our parents why their M$ Word isn't working.

He has better luck playing Starcraft I. Lol.

The beta just ended anyways (I think), even if you want to torrent it, that'll blow that computer into oblivion.

He'll probably save enough money to get a new computer by the time the official game comes out.

You can usually find some pretty good computers in Gizmodo Deals of the Day. They post new ones every few days, I'd recommend looking into some of their computers if you want to save money on a decent computer.

Finding a 2.6 CPU is kinda hard. Finding a cheap one is harder.
How big of a difference is there from a 2.6, 2.4 Dual,(I think those are the two from Req and Recs, respectively) and a 2.2 single(saw this number a lot)?

There's always going to be a WAY bigger boost from a dual or quad than from a single, and a decent dual is probably all your friend is going to need.

What qualifies as a "decent"?

From an Intel Core 2 Duo upwards.

I know I'm late in replying here, but I think the information is relevant.

From an Intel Core 2 Duo upwards.

Expanding on the above, you/your friend should know that:

The Pentium E6x00 series looks like Core 2 Duo E7x00 processors with 2 MB L2 cache instead of 3MB L2. So for example, a Pentium E6500 has 1 MB of L2 cache disabled but otherwise is basically the same as a C2D E7500. And a Pentium E6300 has 1 MB less of L2 compared to the C2D E7400 but otherwise is basically the same.

Also, note that a Pentium E6300 > C2D E6300 in every way possible. Which makes sense in the following way: the C2D E6300 was one of the earliest C2D models and is no longer being manufactured. But it's confusing because you have C2D processors that suck in comparison to Pentiums. (So this is an issue if you're buying a used computer or end up buying obsolete products some retailer is trying to remove from their stock.)

The examples above are taken from http://ark.intel.com/ so you can be sure that my examples are accurate.