From what we have seen here and from what we saw in our most recent
Real World Gameplay CPU Scaling article, HyperThreading needs in real gaming situations are minimal. For the most part, CPU frequency is still the most important factor way out in front of HyperThreading or memory bandwidth. Albeit, a dual core base level of computing is becoming the norm in gaming now. In most respects we are GPU limited way before CPU bottlenecks crop up.
The Intel Core i5-750 in our preview looks to be a tremendously worthy enthusiast part even if Intel is labeling it "mainstream." You guys know as well as I do that the true enthusiast parts always have been the mainstream or low-end dwellers anyway. Some upcoming Core i5 models are said to be featuring HyperThreading, but given the pricing structure and performance shown by the i5-750,
I have to think that a lot of my overclocking brothers will be migrating to the i5-750.
MSI and ASUS look to have very promising motherboards in the
GD-80 and
P7P55D that are worth putting on your short list of LGA 1156 boards already. Both companies' motherboards have done great in our testing, and believe it or not, MSI has produced the best LGA 1156 motherboard we have seen yet.