So does this game require an Intel Core i7 or AMD 8-core CPU to actually run?

the longest i have been able to play is about an hour and i have an A8-3820 2.5 GHz clocked to 2.8 and game def makes it hit 100% but it bounces constantly

Patch 2 actually made the title screen stop acting up on my AMD 3820 quad core, no more hard CPU spikes so I can easily make it into the game now, and the load times are pretty short, even on my 5400 HDD (so fast that I can't read codexes).  Before the patch, it was a complete mess, I had to disable a core just to make it stop grinding my CPU long enough to load a save.  In some cases, it seems like Patch 2 helped people already having problems, and created problems for people who didn't have them.  Great.

The only thing up in the air is how long I'll be able to play before I get a CTD, but a tiny improvement is better than nothing.

I've been able to play the game quite well with an AMD Penom II x4 965 BE (which is very outdated) and now I can play it very well on my new PC with an i5 4690K. The game runs very smoothly and my processor temperatures (on the Intel CPU) are usually around 50°C even under full load. No crashes, no unexpected framerates.

GPU : Geforce GTX 750 Ti

CPU : AMD Fx 4300 Quad core processor 

Memory : 8GB 

OS : windows 7 home premium

Running terribly with these specs