Right, my original plan for the CPU was AMD 4200+ 64bit however, the 3800+ 64bit is £70 cheaper.

I've got a load of foreign quests (metal festivals and such), and the extra £70 saved would be cool.

Now, my music is heavy metal. i use Drumkit from Hell superior, Kontakt 2 and my pod XT pretty much.

DKFH, i bounce down and import as audio and have VERY LITTLE realtime midi processing going on. I also rarely use effects besides reverb and compression as well as some noise gates. If i want to use delayes and such, i track with them on from the pod. But that said, i'm a very purist guitarist. Guitar - amp/pod - Ear/Harddisc.

will the 3800+ hold me for my usage 90% audio work with like a vgew compressors, reverbs and such or is the 4200+ a MARKED improvement over the 3800+?

Opinionswould be great. I realise going with the best i can afford is going to be a general opinion here but i'm not wanting to go Overkill and buy huge power i won't nessiscarily use.

The type of mixes i create at the moment...

an example is here..

http://www.celtiaproductions.co.uk/misc/recordings/gavinharper-myjekylldoesnthide.mp3

That was created on this laptop here. 1.7ghz celeron and 1gb ram.

The only real difference is in my own songs, i use a lot of strings, choirs etc (hence Kontakt), but ALWAYS bounce them to audio before importing into a project.

anyhoo... Opinions please!

cheers!