If anyone had any doubts as to what these new 6 cores from Intel will do this says it all:
#1 for the day,#1 for the week and #2 for the month with only that 84 core beast from IBM's nos_support team ahead of me.


http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9622/wcg120610.jpg

7 day average:11,279 BOINC PPD
Statistics Date Total Run Time(y:d:h:m:s) Points Generated Results Returned
2/6/10 0:024:09:29:18 81,189 88
2/5/10 0:023:08:01:43 77,941 98
2/4/10 0:022:07:47:38 74,086 91
2/3/10 0:023:21:54:53 79,994 105
2/2/10 0:026:09:04:25 88,427 123
2/1/10 0:020:11:33:34 68,397 98
1/31/10 0:024:12:31:54 82,647 104
Total of 552,681 WCG points for 7 days or 78,954 PPD.
707 HFCC WU done in the week or an average of 101 WU per day.
Very happy with the way this machine has turned out.

I was talking to a friend today and mentioned that I remembered the numbers that my dual 3600mhz Irwindale based machine did that was state of the art back in 2005.
This is doing 10+times the work and to me that means what took 10 years to research just back in late 2005 now takes one year.
We have the tools available to beat these diseases, all we need is the hardware and desire to get the work done.

It's mine. Only X5680's on the project that I know of and here's the page on the machine:
http://boincstats.com/stats/host_graph.php?pr=wcg&id=901107

Those 75xx systems( not 74xx) are Beckton, 8 cores per cpu, socket 1567.
Designed for enterprise class boards, mostly quad socket but I imagine there will be some dual socket boards.
They are 45nm I think not 32nm like the Gulftowns and Westmere's so may run hotter and at lower speeds.
There are a few of them on the project now.
They show as X7560's and at 2270mhz from what I see.

Two hex core i7's would match a dual octo-core server system, natively clocked. A reasonably high clock might come near some 4skt versions, but certainly not a top end 8skt system.

Assuming an 8core Xeon with 16 threads (the X7560, one of the most hex-i7 comparable of the many Beckton versions to be released) clocked at 2.26GHz (the 2.66GHz version does not have HT), basic maths would suggest you would need 2X16X2.26GHz from the i7's (thats 72GHz)! However, two hex core i7's @3GHz would match this (2X12X3GHz=72GHz), so two 3.33GHz hex-i7’s might even outperform a dual skt server with 2 Becktons.

Although servers generally have more efficient boards (better QPI and quad DDR3-controllers) the hex cores sit on reasonably comparable X58 boards, so they should not be at too much of a disadvantage there. The Becktons will have plently of L3 cache (24MB for the X7560), so that might add a bit to the Becktons performance, however only some will have turbo boost (and not the X7560).
As you said Hypernova, the server systems cannot be overclocked (still) and the i7’s can easily clock to over 4GHz (5GHz might be achievable), so the i7’s should get through more work. I think about 50GHz is realistic from each hex i7 (12threads @4.2GHz is 50.4GHz).

Of course the future might bring 16 threaded 3.33GHz versions of the Beckton, say in 12months time using 32nm cores.

I read that AMD are also set to release 12-core "Magny-Cours" CPUs for 4 and 8skt servers in 2010; they will use hypertransport to link up two 6cored chips. Although they will be able to run at 3GHz their actual performance may not match the Beckton's - time will tell.

The top Beckton on the cards today clocks at 2.66GHz, has no HT, but does have Turbo Boost.
Have you managed to OC multi-socket server CPUs?

I have an i7-920 and it is Very expensive to run!
Many 860 users have reported their systems to use around 60W to 100W less than the i7-920, so I am not sure where you are getting 13W from. The TDP of an i7-920 is 130W and the 860 is 95W, so that is 35W difference in itself. Take out triple channel and the X58 chipset and you at least double that. The 860 is also clocked at 2.8GHz natively;€“ slightly higher than 2.66 and is also a newer CPU with higher number of transistors. Benchmarks show the 860 outperforms the 920 natively.
Both overclock very well, but when you overclock the i7-920 it will use proportionately more electric!
Unless you want to overclock to silly levels get an 860. You will save on the outset and continuously on the electric.
I intend to replace my 920 with a new 860 system, when I have the time and when I am finished testing a couple of GPUs in it.
Unless you use photoshop, have 2 or 3 Big GPUs, do video editing, or want to pop in a hex core in a few months, the 920 is not the way to go!