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The 1156 platform has "only" a two channel memory architecture, but as we have seen at the 1366 platform, it's not a big disadvantage. Also the 1156 platform does have higher memory dividers and an official support for 1333MHz modules, which the 1366 platform lacks. It's a bit unfair to compare the i5 750 with its bigger brothers, but we would like to know if it can cope with them. Also note, the i5 750 CPU has a higher turbo mode which gives it the edge over the i7 920. We overclocked the i5 750 to 3.2G and 3.6G. At the highest settings we decided to go for a lower memory speed but with tighter timings which is overall faster. All benches have been run with C-States disabled.
The i5 turbo mode does cost some energy, but much less compared to the i7 9xx. So the i5 CPU is always more efficient. Of course we used the most efficient board on the market which gives us some advantage. But MSI 975 with Turbo enabled compared to MSI at 3.6GHz overclocked, is also a win for the i5 CPU, because you don't need that much QPI voltage to run the memory at 1600MHz.
