Ah well... again this make my previous post truer: no direct comparison by online magazines with former best selling i7 CPUs. And probably with some OC @ 3.8/4.0 GHz, you will get the same 'K' performance with a 'legacy i7' without changing motherboard, CPU, reinstalling...
Passmark compares CPU "max throughput". That's not enough "direct comparison" for you? Your "legacy i7" won't run in the new Core motherboards, so "changing mobo, CPU, installing" is not applicable. Suspect the majority of the benefit of the new CPU line will be to those who have formerly sold budget mobos systems with integrated video chip. Video function on these new ones will be run from the CPU. Save $10. Big deal.
I'd prefer some of more real world testing used by tomshw and yes... obviously you have to change everything if you already own an i7. That's why I complained about a lack of direct comparison by anandtech & tomshw.
Well geez. It's a totally new platform, requiring totally new hardware. How else can you compare rather than "processing power"? (I'm not complaining nor picking on you, but how else are you going to compare in a way which is meaningful to most users? I'd like to know.)
>>how else are you going to compare in a way which is meaningful to most users>> Simple: real world testing benchmarks, including both i7 'legacy' and i7 'k' architectures , not just the last ones models or the previous Intel Q9xxx series. These seem just marketing tricks by tomshw/anandtech for pleasing their sponsors.
And specifically to the 920 and W3520, you can run a W3520 on a desktop motherboard that will run a 920, so you can get a higher performing non-server MB and memory. The 920 is one of the most reliable OCing CPUs, the W3520 more so. The W3520 is higher "binned" than the 920. In practical terms this means it is more robust and more stabile. So stable you can get OC to 3.9 and it is tradeable stable. You may also be able to buy a less expensive OEM version of the W3520. But, still costs more than: Sandybridge i7 2600K Quad cpu There's more test results in for the 2600K, so new scores for PassMark: i7-920, 5,557 (W3520 in i7 MB) around $300 W3520 (on i7 MB OC 3.9) 9,700 i7-970 (hex core) 9,989 $1000, but can be had new private sale around $500-$600 i7-2600K, 10,367 $340 Friend running the W3520 OC @ 3.9 swapped his W3520 out for a 970 @stock. 970 stock benchmarks on his system at barely better than the W3520, but it does way more work in the same time on real world tasks at lower watts and heat. so, the 2600K has in hands down for bang for buck but, if money is no object, for real work for multi-threaded apps, more and more reports have the 970 well on top still early for the 2600K... higher end Sandybridge on the way, including Hex cores and Oct cores