php - mysql tandem and multi core performance

Hi all, I have to setup a new dedicated server for my job, it will need to host some mysql databases with php accessing them, for a number of reasons it need to be a Windows server ( 2008 ) the amount of data will not be very great ( the biggest table will contain between 100.000 and 200.000 rows ), but php will perform some complex, full-text queries to the databases. now I have a couple of choices about server configuration: 1) Bi Xeon E5504 - it has 8 cores at 2.4 Ghz, with 24 GB RAM 2) Xeon i7 W3520 - it has 4 cores ar 2.66 Ghz with 12 GB RAM obviously the second choice is quite cheaper than the first; my question is: on your experience, how do php / mySQL behave on multicores? maybe its better a lesser_core / highest frequency system than a more_core / lower frequency? can a 12 GB / 24 GB RAM configuration make the difference? in which terms? thank you for your answer, Giulio Giulio Mastrosanti giulio@cantoberon.it