Redundant comparison & “if” before assignment

Here is a code sample when the check is quite useful:

 public class MyClass {
    ...
    int ageValue = 0;

    public int AgeValue {
      get {
        return ageValue
      }
      protected set {
        ... // value validation here

        // your code starts
        if (value != ageValue) { 
          ageValue = value; 
        }
        // your code ends
        else
          return; // do nothing since value == ageValue

        // ageValue has been changed
        // Time (or / and memory) consuming process
        SaveToRDBMS();
        InvalidateCache(); 
        ...
      } 
    } 

 ... 

More natural implementation, however, is to check in the very beginning in order to avoid unnecessary computation.

    protected set {
      if (ageValue == value)
        return;

      ... // value validation here
      ageValue = value; 

      // ageValue has been changed
      // Time (or / and memory) consuming process
      SaveToRDBMS();
      InvalidateCache();  
      ...
    }