Speed rankings of Next Gen hardware

[Duce]

Without a full breakdown on what hardware was in each machine (for example, same hard disks, same RAM speed/amounts, etc. in all machines?) it isn't worth much to me.  Then there's the common sense approach of the whole matter - I wouldn't be using *any* of these machines to do transcoding, not when a $300 PC can do it much, much faster (and likely more elegantly).

FYI, I use both MOS and OS4.

[Duce]

Not hard to find older SAM 440ep boards for a couple hundred bucks.

While the low end of OS4 machines, I still find mine extremely enjoyable and capable.  Though my requirements and expectations of it are admittedly low, I still find it fun for what I use it for - running a BBS, a bit of web browsing, and coding.

I still run mine in barebones fashion (no add on graphics card) and find it very snappy and fun to use.  The addition of a couple SSD's about a year ago give me 10 second or so boot times, even on admittedly slow hardware by todays standards.

[Duce]

Why people keep reccomending sam boards?. These boards arent entry level by the price, and the power it offers is too low.

In the used market, they are more than affordable.  Even new (assuming you can find a new one to buy), the 440 boards are significantly cheaper than they were when they were brand new.  Performance wise, I am willing to bet most people who own them have few to no complaints.  

I certainly don't, and I've owned mine since 2008.  I still find it as peppy as I did when I bought it, and I didn't buy it with the intentions of it being a world class rendering machine or anything silly like that.

Curious, have you used a SAM machine before?