well, since i'm going through with things and purchasing that computer, i saw somewhere about the possibility of unlocking cores on a dual core to get a quad core processor.
say i abandon my current processor, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808 and get a dual core that can be unlocked instead?

will there be stability issues, etc that i should worry about?

Unlocking cores will be a crapshoot. I don't even know if you can do it on Intels, but with AMD it is more likely/common.

If a processor is sold as a 2 or 3 core varient, there are three possible reasons:
1. The chip was originally created with more cores, but one or more cores were faulty, so they've been disabled.
2. The chip was originally created with more cores, but for marketing reasons one or more of the perfectly-working cores was disabled, so the CPU could be sold to meet demand for cheaper CPUs.
3. The chip was created with only 2 or 3 cores anyway, so there aren't any extra cores to unlock.

Provided you buy a CPU that is *known* to come from category 1 or 2, then you just run the risk of getting a #1 CPU when really you wanted a #2. This is complete luck of the draw. You'd be best off finding a dedicated AMD fansite with a useful forum and asking there. Over the course of a products lifetime, there will be fewer #1 CPUs made and more #2s and people in the forum will be able to tell you about your odds of getting a #2, but there's still no guarantee that you will get a #2 with any particular purchase.

As for getting a #1 processor and unlocking the cores - the defects can range from really minor (core runs hotter than normal), to complete show-stoppers that could prevent the entire CPU working, or the unlocked core working. However as modern CPUs are so complex, and operate so fast, there really is very little margin for error - generally any core that is defective won't work at all. That is to say, if you do unlock your additional core and you can boot into windows and do some basic tasks, it is unlikely that you will run into problems in the future, but as with overclocking it would still be worth running some stress tests to confirm stability.

Why would you abandon that processor? If you get a callisto, you have to unlock 2 cores. It's hard and unlikely. If you get a heka, you'll only need to unlock 1. Make sure you underclock the processor a little if heat is too much.

...You sir have no idea how anything works if you were going to dump a 955 to try and unlock a 555. A 555 unlocks into a 55BE, which is a fancy way of saying turning a 555 into a 955. If you have a full 955 already, you'd essentially be downgrading and taking a risk.

My 555 unlocked (and overclocked) extremely easily to a 55BE. However, if you can afford a 955, get it. It'll be more stable, easier, not a risk, and have better OC.