Amd 3800 vs 4200 - How big a difference?

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warthog9

I posted in here a little while ago that I got a hp prebuilt with an amd
3800 processor. Which for me works fine. It just needs a better video card
because it has a built in cheap one. Now I have a chance to get pretty much
the same machine except it has a 4200 amd in it & that lightscribe
technology with the burner.
If I do get this I would just sell the 3800 computer & get the 4200 one. So
my question is how much better is the 4200? Am I really going to notice a
big difference? Also in the long run will it let me keep the computer for a
lot longer then the 3800 one?
I have looked at benchmark tests and everything for both but, nothing
really compares the two really giving me any info on them head to head. I
know for games & such sure the 4200 is going to help. Will the 4200 help in
multi tasking...like playing music & having a spreadsheet open while doing
something else.
I guess what i'm trying to get to is the 4200 worth upgrading to for the
$200 i'll probaly have to shell out extra to get or is the 3800 just fine
for me for a few years?
If someone has a website or such to help in my decision i'd appreciate or
just opinions are fine. Thanks for any help.
 
warthog9 said:
I posted in here a little while ago that I got a hp prebuilt with an amd
3800 processor. Which for me works fine. It just needs a better video card
because it has a built in cheap one. Now I have a chance to get pretty much
the same machine except it has a 4200 amd in it & that lightscribe
technology with the burner.
If I do get this I would just sell the 3800 computer & get the 4200 one. So
my question is how much better is the 4200? Am I really going to notice a
big difference? Also in the long run will it let me keep the computer for a
lot longer then the 3800 one?
I have looked at benchmark tests and everything for both but, nothing
really compares the two really giving me any info on them head to head. I
know for games & such sure the 4200 is going to help. Will the 4200 help in
multi tasking...like playing music & having a spreadsheet open while doing
something else.
I guess what i'm trying to get to is the 4200 worth upgrading to for the
$200 i'll probaly have to shell out extra to get or is the 3800 just fine
for me for a few years?
If someone has a website or such to help in my decision i'd appreciate or
just opinions are fine. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

It should, if one believes AMD's speed claims, be about 10% faster. Most
people would not notice a "wow, that sure is faster!" difference between
them -- it would be a matter of using the stopwatch to tell the
difference. Installing as much memory as possible in the 3800 would
probably yield as noticeable a speed difference without changing
machines at all. And changing the main system drive to a 10Krpm drive
like a WD1500AD Raptor would speed up pretty much everything.

A serious multi-tasking improvement, IMHO, would call for going to a
multi-core processor or at least an Intel hyper-threaded type. I've been
using an AMD 3500 system and an Intel 3gHz HT machine with essentially
equal memory and storage and the Intel is noticeable more graceful about
handling heavy multi-tasking loads.

Just my $0.02 of course...
 
warthog9 said:
I posted in here a little while ago that I got a hp prebuilt with an amd
3800 processor. Which for me works fine. It just needs a better video card
because it has a built in cheap one. Now I have a chance to get pretty
much
the same machine except it has a 4200 amd in it & that lightscribe
technology with the burner.
If I do get this I would just sell the 3800 computer & get the 4200 one.
So
my question is how much better is the 4200? Am I really going to notice a
big difference? Also in the long run will it let me keep the computer for
a
lot longer then the 3800 one?
I have looked at benchmark tests and everything for both but, nothing
really compares the two really giving me any info on them head to head. I
know for games & such sure the 4200 is going to help. Will the 4200 help
in
multi tasking...like playing music & having a spreadsheet open while doing
something else.
I guess what i'm trying to get to is the 4200 worth upgrading to for the
$200 i'll probaly have to shell out extra to get or is the 3800 just fine
for me for a few years?
If someone has a website or such to help in my decision i'd appreciate or
just opinions are fine. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
In my experience a 10% increase in CPU speed is essentially unnoticeable
without a stop watch. In general, cpu upgrades are not economic. Memory,
video and hard drive upgrades usually are economic.
 
I posted in here a little while ago that I got a hp prebuilt with an amd
3800 processor. Which for me works fine. It just needs a better video card
because it has a built in cheap one. Now I have a chance to get pretty much
the same machine except it has a 4200 amd in it & that lightscribe
technology with the burner.
If I do get this I would just sell the 3800 computer & get the 4200 one. So
my question is how much better is the 4200? Am I really going to notice a
big difference? Also in the long run will it let me keep the computer for a
lot longer then the 3800 one?
I have looked at benchmark tests and everything for both but, nothing
really compares the two really giving me any info on them head to head. I
know for games & such sure the 4200 is going to help. Will the 4200 help in
multi tasking...like playing music & having a spreadsheet open while doing
something else.
I guess what i'm trying to get to is the 4200 worth upgrading to for the
$200 i'll probaly have to shell out extra to get or is the 3800 just fine
for me for a few years?
If someone has a website or such to help in my decision i'd appreciate or
just opinions are fine. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...


It's not worth the time or cost, just keep what you have and
buy a video card.
 
It's not worth the time or cost, just keep what you have and
That is, assuming it has a PCIe (or AGP but I doubt it) slot
for the video card.
Click to expand...

By the sounds of everyones opinion. I'm just going to stick with the 3800
which does have 2 extra pci slots & 1 pci-e slot available. Then i will just
get a decent video card and up the ram. Thanks alot for the feedback
everyone.
 
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