yumri :
well if an i7 CPU is needed then i will expect some pretty advanced AI functions in the dialog, in combat from the enemy and if accialbe from anyone who helps the player, and an option for it to have a steam workshop for mods so those extra threads can be ulitized and 8 to 36 threads is a ton and as the morden high preforamnce games at most usilize barely ulitize 8 threads and offload the rest to efficent OpenCL coding why couldnt Bethesda so the same?
I don't think you need an i7 for play this game, I have an Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600 (8 years old), and works very well... and my video card is not so new too, AMD Radeon HD6970 with 2GB of VRAM.
I don't know why Bethesda lie with the specifications. Must be something behind this decision... maybe stupidity?