Even the i7-920 was release late 2008 for $284, but here we are almost 8 years later and double the core count cost people about $1000 USD.... And Intel wonders why I am not giving them my money?
The real answer is probably because you haven't done a proper cost analysis by ignoring all the $ you spent on electricity on that i7 920 assuming it's OCed, as well as have either ignored the gigantic increase in single threaded performance on those new Skylake cores over your Nehalem or you just don't use your rig for any modern gaming, rendering, video editing, etc.
You aren't comparing apples-to-apples when you suggest the only viable upgrade for you is a $1000 USD processor.
Your i7 920 $284 has been replaced by $389 6-core i7 5820K, soon to be i7 6820K (or whatever). However, the $100 increase in price is not the correct context here since your X58 board is completely outdated from PCIe 1.0/1.1, lacks any of the modern SATA 3 ports, M.2/U.2 storage ports, and at 4.0-4.4Ghz gobbles power like no tomorrow in both idle and load states. Not to mention 6GB (2GB x3GB0 of DDR3 in 2008-2009 cost an arm and a leg, I bet like $150-200 USD. Today 16GB DDR4 3000 is $80.
How much did the entire i7 920 + X58 + DDR3 cost back in 2008? At least $700 USD, right?
Today, even a 4.4Ghz 8-core 5960X uses less power than an i7 920 OC to 4Ghz! i7 6700K OC uses half of what an i7 920 OC system does.
I got an x58a-ud5 board, but can't really sale it tho. Nothing to replace it, skylake is too expensive since its only 4 cores, especially with the Canadian dollar.
Do you realize that already in 2011 a Core i7 2600K OC leveled a 6-core
$1000 Core i7
990X OC for most tasks people use their PCs? So how do you think a $1000 2016 CPU is the only viable upgrade?
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-2600k-990x_3.html
A stock i7 6700K would run circles around your i7 920.
Have you not looked at reviews?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/11
For all programs that use single-threaded performance, i7 6700K OC would slaughter an i7 920 OC by more than i7 920 beat a Q6600 OC.
If you need more cores, the upcoming BW-E 6-core would still be a huge upgrade from what you have.
If you had an i7 2600K OC or 3930K OC, I'd totally understand the smack talking but i7 920 is obsolete. If you don't find it obsolete, it simply means you don't use your PC for anything intensive like gaming or rendering or video work. If you did, no way would you be saying that there is no viable upgrade path from an i7 920.
Sorry, but i7 920 even with a 4Ghz overclock is long outdated using objective benchmarks, whether productivity or games.
This is stock vs. stock.
Also, I am not sure why you say your X58 cannot be sold unless it's not stable? I bet right now you can sell your i7 920 + X58 + DDR3 for $200 USD.
$390 i7 6800/6820K
$200 X99
$80 16GB DDR4 3000
- $200 resale
= $470 USD
That new system overclocked will last another 5-7 years.
Total cost of ownership per year is:
5 years = $470 / 5 = $94
7 years = $470 / 7 = $67
That's assuming $0 resale value on BW-E.
That's 2 months cell phone bill
per year to own a cutting edge 6-core Intel processor or 4-core Skylake for 5-7 years.
At the end of the day, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using any outdated PC if it fits the users needs. However, let's not try an downplay the gigantic level of improvement that Intel has brought from an i7 920 to an i7 6700K/i7 5820K and soon to launch $389 6-core BW-E.