Intel Core i7-860 - Core i7 Lynnfield Quad-Core 2.8 GHz LGA 1156 95W Processor - BX80605I7860

Pros: This is an amazingly fast chip. The combination of Hyperthreading and a faster Turbo Boost makes this chip faster than the Core i7 920 in most benchmarks. The differences are especially stark single-threaded applications because the 860 regularly runs at 3.33 Ghz in single-threaded apps yielding a 15-20% increase over non-turbo mode. That means - for regular desktop and game usage- this chip will crush the 920 since most apps are at most optimized for dual-core setups. In addition, 1156 socket motherboards are $50-100 cheaper than 1366 motherboards.

I upgraded from a Core 2 Duo 2.0 Ghz chip and the difference is incredible. I've included some benchmarks below.

The Core i7 is highly efficient at video encoding/decoding compared to C2 Duo/Quad chips. See benchmarks below.

Excellent power efficiency. Usually runs at 1.2-1.33 ghz with 2 cores disabled on idle. Power usage only slightly higher than some Core 2 Duos. Uses 20-30W less system-wide on idle than a i7 920, and more at lo

Cons: None

Overall Review: Benchmarks:

Multithreaded synthetic:

wPrime (calculate first 32 million prime #'s)
Core i7 860- 8.7 seconds
C2D 2.0 Ghz - 40 seconds (4.5x faster)

y-cruncher (Calculates first 32 million digits of Pi - x64, SSE4, and multithreaded)

Core i7 860 - 14.25 seconds (3.5x faster)
C2D 2.1 Ghz - 50 seconds (64 bit)
C2D 2.0 - 70 seconds (32 bit)

Single-threaded synthetic:

SuperPi
Core i7 860- 12 seconds (2.1x faster)
C2D 2.0 - 25 seconds

"Real' applications:

Mediacoder x264 encoding for iPod (x64, multi-threaded)
Core i7 860- 250 fps
C2D 2.0 - 50 fps

1080p x264 decoding (Defiance, 1920x1080 L4.1 x264, 20 mbit avg, 30-40 mbit through tested scene - toughest H.264 sample I have)

Core i7 860- 10-16% CPU usage (6.66x faster!)
C2D 2.0 - 90-100% CPU usage (frame dropping)

Average 1080p x264 Decoding

Core i7 860- 10%
C2D 2.0 - 60-70%

Just for kicks, I ran 3 1080p x264 encoded videos simultaneously and CPU usage still only ranged from 30-33% usage. (3.

Pros: Wicked fast!

Turbo modes are awesome.

Total system is cheaper than i7 920 while performing
very similarly.

I used to get about between 4 and 10 FPS while encoding 1080p blu-ray rips with handbrake (h.264) with a Phenom 9950. I now get 20-30 FPS, a massive improvement.

Cons: The stock cooler is garbage. After 10 minutes of encoding in handbrake the processor hit 80c and shows no sign of stopping there. (The reason for 3 eggs.)

Do yourself a favor and buy a good after-market cooler (even if you don't plan to overclock) if you plan on actually utilizing this processors incredible power.

Overall Review: The processor itself gets a solid 5 eggs. The terrible cooler, however, is inexcusable to me. For 280 bucks you would think they could include a better one.

i7 860
ASUS P7P55D-E
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)