Intel Core i7 Processors: Nehalem and X58 Have Arrived

3DMark06's built-in CPU test is a multi-threaded DirectX gaming metric that's useful for comparing relative performance between similarly equipped systems.  This test consists of two different 3D scenes that are processed with a software renderer that is dependent on the host CPU's performance.  Calculations that are normally reserved for your 3D accelerator are instead sent to the CPU for processing and rendering.  The frame-rate generated in each test is used to determine the final score.

The new Core i7 processors returned to their winning ways, outpacing all other test systems in this test.  The Core i7 920 was once again able to pull out in front of the Core 2 Extreme QX9770, and the higher-clocked Core i7 940 and Core i7 Extreme i965 only extend the lead.

3DMark Vantage's CPU Test 2 is a multi-threaded test designed for comparing relative game physics processing performance between systems.  This test consists of a single scene that features an air race of sorts, with a complex configuration of gates. There are aircraft in the test that trail smoke and collide with various cloth and soft-body obstacles, each other, and the ground. The smoke spreads, and reacts to the planes as they pass through it as well and all of this is calculated on the host CPU. 

The results with 3DMark Vantage's CPU Test 2 essentially mirror those of the 3DMark06 results above, with all Core i7 processors outperforming the competition.  However, in this test, disabling Hyper-Threading gave the Core i7-based system resulted in measurable increase in performance.