Toms HW has responded to user requests and finally did a benchmark test consisting of today's most popular LGA 1155 processors against the much older (5yr) Core 2 Duo series.
This is an interesting article that I think people should read, if you're still rocking an old desktop and wondering if you need a CPU upgrade
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-wolfdale-york…
Bit blown away that my E8500 which used to cost $300 is now beaten by a sub $70 CPU..
Yes, but it also indicates that it generally doesn't matter much. Traditionally (90s) the CPU was always the defining characteristic of a system and they are still sold that way today for marketing reasons (i7 only really gets sold because of the marketing of the importance of the CPU).