"It'd be nice if there were a web resource for general guidelines on what it takes to max out hardware. Basically, benchmarks for real-world tasks."

Here here!!

I had the same thought when reading the first two pages of the article. I'd love to be able to better intuit performance (or heck, troubleshoot slow systems - which I do more often). The problems I encounter are lack of accurate and understandable information about the underlying hardware and the various layers between my program and the hardware (especially important for me lately as more of my stuff runs in a VM).

It seems like you need to be lucky and find a mentor willing to teach this esoteric material.