> Is the generation of the processor always the dominant factor nowadays?
No.
> Is there a convenient way to estimate performance without poring over benchmarks?
Unless you are willing to quite a lot of time learning, not really. And unless you've been willing to do that, you haven't been able to conveniently estimate performance for about 14 years now.
> What are people's favourite sites for finding out about these things?
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/ is pretty good, as they standardize all results into a convenient database with easy head-to-head comparisons.
No.
> Is there a convenient way to estimate performance without poring over benchmarks?
Unless you are willing to quite a lot of time learning, not really. And unless you've been willing to do that, you haven't been able to conveniently estimate performance for about 14 years now.
> What are people's favourite sites for finding out about these things?
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/ is pretty good, as they standardize all results into a convenient database with easy head-to-head comparisons.