I have financical trading software. It decodes fast/fix messages. I'm running same binaries on two different machines on very similar set of data. Software receive "messages" and decodes them. The general rule - longer message takes more time to decode:

i7-860, Windows 7:

Debug 18:23:48.8047325 count=51 decoding take microseconds = 300
Debug 18:23:49.7287854 count=53 decoding take microseconds = 349
Debug 18:23:49.7397860 count=110 decoding take microseconds = 516
Debug 18:23:49.7497866 count=92 decoding take microseconds = 512
Debug 18:23:49.7597872 count=49 decoding take microseconds = 267
Debug 18:23:49.7717878 count=194 decoding take microseconds = 823
Debug 18:23:49.7797883 count=49 decoding take microseconds = 296
Debug 18:23:49.7997894 count=50 decoding take microseconds = 299
Debug 18:23:50.7328428 count=101 decoding take microseconds = 583
Debug 18:23:50.7418433 count=42 decoding take microseconds = 281
Debug 18:23:50.7538440 count=151 decoding take microseconds = 764
Debug 18:23:50.7618445 count=57 decoding take microseconds = 279
Debug 18:23:50.7738452 count=122 decoding take microseconds = 712
Debug 18:23:50.8028468 count=52 decoding take microseconds = 281
Debug 18:23:51.7389004 count=137 decoding take microseconds = 696
Debug 18:23:51.7499010 count=100 decoding take microseconds = 485
Debug 18:23:51.7689021 count=185 decoding take microseconds = 872
Debug 18:23:51.8079043 count=49 decoding take microseconds = 315
Debug 18:23:52.7349573 count=90 decoding take microseconds = 532
Debug 18:23:52.7439578 count=53 decoding take microseconds = 277
Debug 18:23:52.7539584 count=134 decoding take microseconds = 623
Debug 18:23:52.7629589 count=47 decoding take microseconds = 294
Debug 18:23:52.7749596 count=198 decoding take microseconds = 868
Debug 18:23:52.8039613 count=52 decoding take microseconds = 291
Debug 18:23:53.7400148 count=132 decoding take microseconds = 666
Debug 18:23:53.7480153 count=81 decoding take microseconds = 430
Debug 18:23:53.7570158 count=49 decoding take microseconds = 301
Debug 18:23:53.7710166 count=156 decoding take microseconds = 752
Debug 18:23:53.7770169 count=45 decoding take microseconds = 270
Debug 18:23:54.7350717 count=108 decoding take microseconds = 578
Debug 18:23:54.7430722 count=52 decoding take microseconds = 286
Debug 18:23:54.7540728 count=138 decoding take microseconds = 567
Debug 18:23:54.7760741 count=160 decoding take microseconds = 753
Debug 18:23:54.8030756 count=53 decoding take microseconds = 292
Debug 18:23:55.7411293 count=110 decoding take microseconds = 629
Debug 18:23:55.7481297 count=48 decoding take microseconds = 294
Debug 18:23:55.7591303 count=84 decoding take microseconds = 386
Debug 18:23:55.7701309 count=90 decoding take microseconds = 484
Debug 18:23:55.7801315 count=120 decoding take microseconds = 527
Debug 18:23:55.8101332 count=53 decoding take microseconds = 290
Debug 18:23:56.7341861 count=121 decoding take microseconds = 667
Debug 18:23:56.7421865 count=53 decoding take microseconds = 293
Debug 18:23:56.7531872 count=127 decoding take microseconds = 586
Debug 18:23:56.7621877 count=58 decoding take microseconds = 306
Debug 18:23:56.7751884 count=138 decoding take microseconds = 649
Debug 18:23:56.8021900 count=53 decoding take microseconds = 288
Debug 18:23:57.7392436 count=139 decoding take microseconds = 699
Debug 18:23:57.7502442 count=121 decoding take microseconds = 548
Debug 18:23:57.7582446 count=61 decoding take microseconds = 301
Debug 18:23:57.7692453 count=98 decoding take microseconds = 500
Debug 18:23:57.7792458 count=94 decoding take microseconds = 460
Debug 18:23:57.8092476 count=41 decoding take microseconds = 274

Xeon E3-1220, Windows Server 2008 R2 foundation:

Debug 18:28:57.5087967 count=117 decoding take microseconds = 255
Debug 18:28:57.5087967 count=85 decoding take microseconds = 187
Debug 18:28:57.5087967 count=55 decoding take microseconds = 155
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=86 decoding take microseconds = 189
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=53 decoding take microseconds = 139
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=52 decoding take microseconds = 153
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=55 decoding take microseconds = 146
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=103 decoding take microseconds = 239
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=83 decoding take microseconds = 182
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=85 decoding take microseconds = 180
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=80 decoding take microseconds = 202
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=58 decoding take microseconds = 135
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=55 decoding take microseconds = 140
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=81 decoding take microseconds = 183
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=74 decoding take microseconds = 172
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=80 decoding take microseconds = 174
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=88 decoding take microseconds = 175
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=55 decoding take microseconds = 131
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=80 decoding take microseconds = 182
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=80 decoding take microseconds = 183
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=101 decoding take microseconds = 231
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=58 decoding take microseconds = 134
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=57 decoding take microseconds = 126
Debug 18:28:57.5243967 count=57 decoding take microseconds = 134
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=115 decoding take microseconds = 234
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=106 decoding take microseconds = 225
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=108 decoding take microseconds = 241
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=84 decoding take microseconds = 177
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=54 decoding take microseconds = 141
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=84 decoding take microseconds = 186
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=82 decoding take microseconds = 184
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=82 decoding take microseconds = 179
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=56 decoding take microseconds = 133
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=57 decoding take microseconds = 127
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=82 decoding take microseconds = 185
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=76 decoding take microseconds = 178
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=82 decoding take microseconds = 184
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=54 decoding take microseconds = 139
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=54 decoding take microseconds = 137
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=81 decoding take microseconds = 184
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=136 decoding take microseconds = 275
Debug 18:28:57.5399967 count=55 decoding take microseconds = 138
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=52 decoding take microseconds = 140
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=53 decoding take microseconds = 136
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=54 decoding take microseconds = 139
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=55 decoding take microseconds = 138
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=57 decoding take microseconds = 134
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=53 decoding take microseconds = 136
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=80 decoding take microseconds = 174
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=74 decoding take microseconds = 175
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=57 decoding take microseconds = 133
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=57 decoding take microseconds = 149
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=100 decoding take microseconds = 262
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=56 decoding take microseconds = 156
Debug 18:28:57.5555968 count=55 decoding take microseconds = 165

From this test I see that E3-1220 is almost two times faster than i7-860.

Is that possible? Because in the processors ratings these processors are about the same.

Is it possible that this is because of cache or something? And if so which processor I better to buy to decode messages two more times faster?