Which System Is Better?

[fishy_fiz]

A core2duo, per physical core is roughly 80-100% faster at same clockspeed vs a Pentium4 (depending of course on which type of core2 and which p4 architecture). Bare in mind that a 2.7ghz core2duo can be bought new for about $65 these days, socket775 motherboards supporting either ddr2 or ddr3 for about $40 (again new), and ram itself for about $40 per 4gig(ddr3@1333 or ddr2@800), so make sure you dont spend too much if it is 2nd hand.

[fishy_fiz]

If you pay more than $100 for the entire system though youre being ripped off (even if not intentionally,... that sort of gear is just practically given away these days is all). Core2 based architecture is now 3 generations old (or will be in a few weeks when sandy bridge based systems are released). That's not to say they dont make nice little machines (Im using one clocked at 3.86ghz for my aros box), theyre just old is all, ergo the warning in regards to pricing.

[fishy_fiz]

Pipeline depth doesnt directly dictate speed, but more typically frequency potential. Things like branch prediction and so on are more relevant to speed than pipeline length, especially with a larger pipe. Also there was 4 different architectures for the p4, not all had the same length pipeline. JUdging by the frequency though it's probably either northwood or williamette.

As for the price, I guess if it includes a monitor and other bits n bobs 200 isnt too unreasonable. Personally I wouldnt pay it, but for some people I guess a ready to use system is worth a little extra money. When I said $100 to begin with I was thinking more along the lines of just the box + core components.

[fishy_fiz]

@ElPolloDiabl
Even those prices youve mentioned are too much. 4 Gig ram is $50. LCD monitors can be bought for between 120-150 for an ok-ish 22-24 inch (acer/asus) anyway, or around/under 100 for a 18.5-20 inch. Obviously you can go up and down as well in both size and price, but theyre fairly typical monitors these days. The machine mentioned is about 2/3rds the price of a new, significnatly more powerful machine with warranty, etc. It's only if it's a legitimate Windows7 that it's worth it.