For LTC gpu's are now usable. Cgminer and Reaper are capable of mining LTC on gpu's
Do they still use the CPU as well though? Basically what I am looking at is that I am going to need a CPU either way, so would it be worth it for me to get a little better of one that will help my hash rate?
has comparisons for all the different CPUs. I personally don't think you should purchase a better CPU because the mhash/$ is so low.