is there much of a difference in performance between Athlon X2 3800 and 4200?

Question

there's a deal on dell.com for a athlon x2 3800 but i was planning on getting a 4200? what's the difference really, is it significant?

Answer 1

Probably not BUT I'm pretty sure that the 4200 also has more cache along with the increase in clock speed. If I were you though, I would just go with a Core 2 Duo Processor and say, 1GB to 2GB of memory. Then again, I wouldn't buy a desktop from Dell, I would just build it myself. AMD is playing catch up to Intel right now and their quad cores can't even keep up with Intels dual cores though, it has to do more with how the processors handle the threads rather than a pure speed issue. But right now Intel offers the best and fastest processors on the market.

Answer 2

Difference is significant, but only to those getting powerful computers. If it costs $50 or less to upgrade, do it, otherwise, leave it a 3800, with more RAM.

But you would get a much better computer from this site for the same price, and you can customize just how you need it:
http://www.ibuypower.com/

Answer 3

I have the 4200 really it is far superior to the 3800.

Answer 4

3800 model number = 2000Mhz (2Ghz)
4200 model number = 2200Mhz (2.2Ghz)

if i was you.. get 3800 and get more ram