PCMark Vantage is the first objective hardware performance benchmark for PCs running 32 and 64 bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista. PCMark Vantage is suited for benchmarking any type of Microsoft Windows Vista PC from multimedia home entertainment systems and laptops to dedicated workstations and hi-end gaming rigs. The software shows the user where their system soars or falls flat, and how to get the most performance possible out of their hardware.

The PCMark Vantage is mainly based on 2D applications, which do not benefit from the multi-core CPUs. As a result, the higher clock of the Intel E8600 CPU was more efficient here but only in the productivity, communications and music tests. The Intel i7-920 CPU showed its teeth in the Gaming, TV&Movies and Memories tests, where the processor was significantly better than the rest CPUs by Intel and AMD.

BAPCo's SYSmark 2007 Preview is an application-based benchmark that reflects usage patterns of business users in the areas of Video creation, E-learning, 3D Modeling and Office Productivity.

The benchmark utilities utilize real life applications like: Adobe After Effects 7, Adobe Illustrator CS2, Adobe Photoshop CS2, AutoDesk 3ds Max 8, Macromedia Flash 8, Microsoft Excel 2003, Microsoft Outlook 2003, Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Project 2003, Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9 series, Sony Vegas 7, SketchUp 5 and WinZip 10.0.

Again, most applications that do not include 3D graphics will not be accelerated by the i7-920 processor, at least compared with a faster CPU in terms of GHz. Despite that, the i7-920 managed to get an overall rating pretty close to the one the Intel E8600 got.