Well, we just have to wait and see. There's still the point that production models of Bulldozer are 3 steppings advanced from what the slide's creators could POSSIBLY have tested, for the reason AMD themselves have stated as 'The performance was not good enough', and the fact that that slide was not talked about much after a week. Lots of slide like that appear, and most are fake, so I see no reason to think it is real. I think everyone should be hoping it does well, though, otherwise Intel will have a monopoly on the CPU industry (Unless ARM come in) and then we will have to pay through the nose for all our PCs.
However, I've been following the developments very closely for the last 8 months and learning as much as I can about how CPUs work. This, and in-industry contacts (Courtesy of my Uncle) tell me that they should be very fast, at least competing with Sandy-Bridge, if not Ivy-Bridge. They *shouldn't* have all the problems of the previous generations because it is a totally new concept. Nothing like it has been tried before, and the clock speeds are high, very high compared to the last 4 years. On top of all of this, AMD have leaked that Bulldozer should be at least 50% per core aster than the last of the Phenom II range, so that along puts them right into Sandy-Bridge league. Even if they do lose the CPU war though, AMD aren't going to be declaring bankruptcy any time soon. Their Llano APUs have been exactly what was promised and are selling extremely well, they made a very healthy return last year, and they have their entire Graphics subdivision ATI to fall back onto, and in graphics they have been totally dominating the last couple of years.
You seem to be putting too much stock into the Flagship models as well, when they are only a tiny proportion of the sales. Until Sandy-Bridge came along this year, AMD had by far the best power/cost ratio, and it reflected in their sales figures, which by volume were a lot higher than Intel's. Then Sandy-Bridge kicked them in the rear...
At the end of it all, I'm a scientist, and will build with whatever turns out to be faster. I have to say, though, that you sound an awful lot like a simple Intel-Fanboi, if more clued-up than most, and last time AMD did something new an awful lot of people saying the same things as you were eating humble pie for the next four years... We have to wait and see. Which sucks :/
Heh - Oh no, I agree with you: you go with what's best. I was just winding you up as
I though
you were an AMD fan boy
I used AMD for years and I genuinely hope they get their shit together as a) alternatives are good and b) Intel need the competition. Their finances do like dire however. I know thye technically made some money the last few quarters but overall they are still WAY into the red. Also ATI are worth even less than they are and are dragging them firther down/ I hope they come back from all this but I just doubt they can manage it.