Performance info leaks about AMD's upcoming FX desktop CPUs, Llano APUs

Lest more of you accuse me of being an Intel fanboy (see yesterday's post), here's some news that should excite AMD devotees more: Leaked slides have provided more performance info about the chip company's upcoming FX-series CPUs and A-series APUs (the latter code-named Llano), which will be officially launched next month.

According to the slides, these desktop processors look to give Intel's Sandy Bridge latest CPUs a serious run for their money on the graphics side of things, if they may be less impressive on the traditional CPU tasks. On PCMark Vantage, it looks like the eight-core FX "Zambezi" processors can hang with the quad-core Core i7-2600K, though the A family, even the A8 series, can't keep up with a Core i3-2100.

However, even the dual-core A4 processor can beat the i7-2600K in 3DMark Vantage. Considering that the integrated graphics performance of Sandy Bridge units has already been hailed as a breakthrough, Llano could make the low-end discrete graphics card market a relic of the past.

Of course, we don't know anything about the testing conditions for these numbers, so the results should be taken with a whole shaker of salt. We also don't know how AMD's new processors will be priced compared to Intel's current lineup, which could tilt the price/performance balance in one or the other's favor.

Still, AMD's new chip advances should make for an interesting summer for desktop buyers and builders, leading to Intel's Ivy Bridge 22nm processors early next year.

[Via Fudzilla]