Each generations performance gets better then it’s old generation and Nehalem is no exception. Intel continued to tweak Nehalem. As far as performance goes, Nehalem seem to be 1.1x -1.25 xs for the single-threaded app and 1.2x - 2x in multithreaded app at similar time. Look wise it may not be up to mark but keep in mind Core 2 Duo has already replaced AMD. The only difference I see is the performance-per-watt; Nehalem cuts the power usage up o 30%.

In 3DMark Vantage, a 2.66 GHz Nehalem scored 16,000 points; in comparison Core 2 Duo E6600 scored only 4,300 points. That’s a big difference margin. And also the memory controller and the big increase the integrated controller gives the memory bandwidth.