AMD 64 X2 - Dual Core?

[Gene]

Hi -
I just got a board with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 cpu. I was wondering - 

1) Is the amd64 8.0 release the fbsd of choice here?

and

2) Does it take advantage of the athlon's dual cores?

Thanks,

IHN,
Gene

--
To everything there is a season,
And a time to every purpose under heaven.