[citation][nom]p1n3apqlexpr3ss[/nom]Good to hear the i3s are becoming better value, but have yet to find a article comparing its performance to a true quad[/citation]
Check Anand's article on them. Particularly the launch article.
Short form:
1-2 threads they do great. However, it should be noted that an i7-860 comes within 5% of the single-thread performance of an i5-661 and beats the i3s. The i3s are comparable to a high-end C2D here.
Light multithreading they still beat the Athlons and show very well for themselves. In other words, they game very well with a good GPU.
At 4 heavy threads though, the limitations of HT start to show. It lets otherwise wasted cycles be used productively, that's it. Athlon X3s and X4s meet and beat them respectively. The PII quads and i5/i7 quads just eat them alive on heavily threaded benchmarks.