You are exactly right, there is no real way to tell without benchmarks. Yes, in theory the architecture seems to be revolutionary in a way that Intel's new architecture is not. This does not however prove that it will run 10x better than the Intel chip. I will be going with whoever can provide...
well, that is great news for the competitive market then, as well as us consumers.
The performance of bulldozer combined with the recent news that Apple may be switching to AMD processors for it's macs will surely stir up some competition, and should bring high end parts from both chip-makers...
And this is exactly why Sandy Bridge 8 Core EE will be $1000 while AMD Bulldozer is $3-500 (to start).
Also, does anyone know what is going on with the multi-threading. I know it is hardware based unlike Intel HT but does that mean the Bulldozer 8 core is 8 physical cores, 16 logical or 4...
Heres to hoping AMD will put up a fight this round. according to the information we have so far though, it should be an interesting race in 2011/2012. here is a glimpse of what the high end market has in store from both companies
Intel Sandy Bridge
Socket 2011
6 to 8 cores w/...