Manufacture and Clock Speed

• Intel designs the Intel Core i7-920 and i7-860 as quad-core processor, meaning that each processor consists of four processing units. The i7-860, however, performs its basic functions faster than its older sibling. While the i7-860 has a clock speed of 2.8 gigahertz, that of the i7-920 is 2.66 gigahertz.
  
  

Power Consumption

• Moreover, the Intel Core i7-860 has a higher power efficiency than the i7-920. Intel gives the i7-860's maximum power consumption as 95 watts, while it records that of the i7-920 at a higher 130 watts.
  
  

Memory

• Both the Intel Core i7-920 and Intel Core i7-860 use DDR3 (double-data-rate three) random-access memory architecture. The i7-860 operates on faster memory speed at 1,066/1,333 megahertz; the i7-920's has a 800/1,066-megahertz range. The i7-920, however, has three memory channels and a maximum memory size of 24 gigabytes, while its younger counterpart has two memory channels to combine for a peak memory size of 16 gigabytes.