2002?  Your best bet right now would be to get a new system or build one yourself.   You'll need a new motherboard (if you're current one is intel or if the current MB won't support a newer AMD socket), new processor, and a new graphics card at the least.  Depending on how much money you want to spend, what you'll be running, and what gfx card you choose, you might even need a new power supply (I had to upgrade my power supply when I went with the gtx275).

Basically you need to ask yourself what you are able to spend and what you want.  I think the lynnfields i7s are the best bang for your buck if you can afford them.  For GFX cards I wouldn't spend too much because if what I've seen is true, the new AMD cards are going to be better than the 480s.  Plus the best cards are always overpriced.

About cores, they are mostly for hyperthreading or multitasking.  Each core does something on its own so even if each core is a little slower, you might be able to get more done overall.

edit: BB aren't the droid phones just as good?  The main thing I'd worry about going with iphones is you might need to jailbreak them because of how apple are pretty fascist when it comes to their store.

WARK!

Thus Spoketh Winterclaw: a blog about a Winterclaw who speaks from time to time.

 

(using Poser Pro 2014 SR3, on 64 bit Win 7, poser units are inches.)