I need a CPU but really Dont know what to get, and with my PC having an crap one, i want to replace it and the AUD being so strong i might as well grab one now while its basically 1:1 nice and cheap. So whats an good CPU to get for gaming.

I really want to play Civ 5 then shogun 2 total war when it comes out. 

any suggestions 

What motherboard do you have and what socket does it have? You may need to get a new motherboard if your computer is quite old. And we also need to know whether you have an AMD or Intel based PC before any suggestions can be made.

Also, price range?

well i have an Asus mother board that supports Intel core 2 extreme and intel core 2 quad CPU's 

45 nm CPU support 

currently i have an intel core dual 2.6Ghz CPU

and i need a quad Core by the looks of it from looking at some game recommended requirements 

I have been doing some research in the mean time 

is this any good 

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Intel-Desktop-Core-2-Quad-Q-Q8400-2-66-Ghz-LGA-775-CPU-/250702941214?pt=AU_Components&hash=item3a5f0f4c1e#ht_2805wt_911

I already have 4gb ram, an 1 gb graphics card (dont know the name, searching to find out) and 500gb space. 

So i guess after getting an quad 4 CPU i will be able to play some games hopefully 

Your CPU's actually not that bad. It may be acting as a bottleneck for some games considerring the rest of your setup, but for most it should be fine as most games barely go over 2 cores and even the ones that do barlely use more than 3. You should be able to play most games at higher settings than the HD consoles with that 1GB graphics card. However, I understand you want a faster CPU that'll keep your system going for a good few years.

So, the CPU is a decent CPU for the price. If possible though, I'd go for a Q9xxx series quad core. These tend to have more level2 cache available to them. The Q9400 should only be a little extra but you get 6 Mb Lvl 2 cache as opposed to 4. Obviously, the more you spend, the better the CPU.

Not sure. Your current CPU isn't that bad. But my expertese is on older CPUs and GPUs.

You got "a CPU" right in the OP but wrong in the title?

Your budget and motherboard would be nice to have...

Ok, I have a couple of questions: What is your budget?

Also, perhaps you are more familiar with it, but you should check out Amazon international shipping, since the Q9550 is sold for only $60 more than that (before shipping)...this has 3 times the L2 cache and a faster processor speed.

Once again, depending on your budget, $50 more for the Q9650 may also be worthy, as that has an even faster processor speed (but same L2 cache).

Based on the games you want to play, I'd say the Q9550 is plenty for you and would probably last you a little bit longer than the 8400

Are you really having problems due to your cpu?

I'm a bit out of the loop but the idea of "future proofing" your computer is generally bad, and you're not looking into top of line models anyway. My advice would be that you wait unless you really need it or just really want it and have no problem spending this money.

Get CPU-Z and give us the model of your motherboard and your graphics card.

The GPU may be your bottleneck.

I recently upgraded my GPU and will probably get a SSD next as I want to upgrade my PC but don't want to do everything at once :S