What's very concerning to me is the very low turbo speed of 3.3GHz, even with IPC improvements HW brings to the table over IB it's going to be slower then 4960X in ST workloads and low-threaded workloads like games. Compared to 6-cores HW it's going to look even worse. On a positive note I think that the low stock clocks are attributable to the abysmal stock cooler which I guess haven't changed at all compared to previous CPUs with that TDP. With a proper cooling it should pass 4GHz with ease but anything over 4.5GHz might require a custom loop. I don't know why enthusiast whose most stressful workloads are games flock to this CPU. 6c/12t is going to be plenty for games for the foreseeable future. I think the only reason is e-peen. For the wast majority of users Core i7-5930K clocked at 3.5GHz base/ 4GHz boost is going to be faster, especially in games.
That's 16% higher base frequency and that's a lot. 16% higher frequency should be better then 33% more cores in a majority of contemporary workloads. As for overclocking crowd, for those with custom loop coolers that would allow the 8 core monster to stretch its legs it should makes sense as that frequency gap should erode. IMHO both CPU should hit a wall well before 5GHz, the 6-core version maybe getting 100-200MHz more.
hope you are right about the low clocks being limited by the stock cooler matching.
for some of us that "actually" demand maxed out eye candy running quad flagship gpu playing very demanding online first person shooter. this is no e-peen. every IPC counts. it is a matter of getting the job done.
only if aftermarket cooler or water loop can bring up the clocks. then it will be a winner. for now IVB-E looking really good overall.