Which is better: handle the exception or not throw it?

Question

C++ / C#

Let's say I have a list and what would be the best way to do it? So:
var list = new List<int> { 1, 2, 3, 4 };

int getValue(int index) {
    try {
        return list[index];
    }
    catch (ArgumentOutOfRangeException ex) {
        return -1;
    }
}

or like this:

int getValue(int index) {
    if (index < list.Count) {
        return list[index];
    }
    else {
        return -1;
    }
}

or is there no difference?

Answer 1

practice measuring execution times .. and questions will disappear
ps for async schemes, everything can change a lot