I think the HT link actually makes everything a lot better. It's basicly a HUGE highway what's connected to everyting in the whole system.

IMC surely helps, but not due to the latency tests you see from for example Everest but latency's we can't test (I think). I mean, if you'd run DDR800 5-5-5 (giving crap latency) or DDR1200 4-4-4 (superior latency), I wonder if this would make a whole lot of difference in your 24/7 usage experience. It's more the IMC being architectural wise good located and, as already said, gives untestable good latency.

But only the IMC isnt cutting it, I think it's more the whole connection with the whole system, the HT link.