1 or 2 processors

[Icyculyr]

thanks, i probably should have said that i use pro tools, i dont know if it can utilize all those cores or multiple tho.

With Pro Tools, the more cores the better (I think), but IIRC there was a big issue with Pro Tools and the Hyper-threading (HT) with the Nehalem processors, I don't know whether it's been fixed or not.
I don't know if you are looking for a new computer yet, but if you are I'd wait for the Gulftowns, they should be coming sometime next year, 6-core w/ HT.

The 5500 series Xeons cost about $1400 USD per CPU if you want 2.93GHz. For most people, that is excessively expensive and not cost effective. I suppose if you are willing to spend $3000 on CPUs alone, then you can get something like that, but most of us don't have that sort of extra cash.

Ahah ok that's expensive