- Apr 3, 2013
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- 10,510
So I have this HP computer that I bought about 5 years ago. Its getting pretty old but it has served me well. Anyway, it has a AMD Phenom X4 9500 CPU and the CPU socket is 'Socket AM2+(940)'. I wanted to play the new Bioshock Infinite and Simcity games so I bought a HD 7850 to handle it all with. Unfortunately, I am still unable to reach playable fps, even at medium/low settings, with either of those games. I've already spent so much money on the games and on the card that I would rather not replace my mobo+cpu+ram+psu all so that I can play a couple games on PC.
I've upgraded the PSU to a corsair 450 watt and I replaced a HD 4850 I put in two years ago with the 7850. I also replaced one of the 1GB ram sticks with a 2GB ram stick so I have total - 4GB of DDR2 RAM. Otherwise, here is my computer's specification.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01333404&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=3644673&prodTypeId=12454
Now, in there lies my problem. Ideally, I would like to just upgrade my CPU and reduce the size of the bottleneck I've caused between the CPU/GPU but I fear the motherboard is so old and outdated that I couldn't just throw a brand new CPU (that fits the socket and brand obviously....). So while normally I would just find out the type of socket and buy a new CPU which fits the socket, in the product specification above it states -
Motherboard supports the following processor upgrades:
Phenom with Quad Core (Agena) technology (AM2+) up to 9600 (up to 95 watt)
Athlon 64 X2 with Dual Core technology X2 up to 5600+ (up to 89 watt)
Athlon 64 less than 4000+
Sempron less than 3800+
It says 'up to 9600'. Well I have a 9500 so that isn't much of an upgrade and there are many more CPU models that support this sort of socket. Now, I presume this specification is being picky about what CPU i can upgrade with because it working within the confines of the old 300 watt PSU.
My suspicion though, is I can't upgrade to any AM2+ CPU I like because either (a) my motherboard cant handle anything other than those stated above or (b) my bios wont be configured to recognize other CPUs, especially ones made AFTER the release of the Bios/ manufacture of the motherboard.
So this is my question : Can I upgrade my CPU to anything that fits the AM2+ socket? Is the specification's CPU list, a list that I should just disregard? And if I can upgrade to whatever I like, what do Tom's Hardware readers like yourselves recommend?
Many Thanks for reading this and im grateful for prompt and polite responses if any are to become apparent!
I've upgraded the PSU to a corsair 450 watt and I replaced a HD 4850 I put in two years ago with the 7850. I also replaced one of the 1GB ram sticks with a 2GB ram stick so I have total - 4GB of DDR2 RAM. Otherwise, here is my computer's specification.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01333404&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=3644673&prodTypeId=12454
Now, in there lies my problem. Ideally, I would like to just upgrade my CPU and reduce the size of the bottleneck I've caused between the CPU/GPU but I fear the motherboard is so old and outdated that I couldn't just throw a brand new CPU (that fits the socket and brand obviously....). So while normally I would just find out the type of socket and buy a new CPU which fits the socket, in the product specification above it states -
Motherboard supports the following processor upgrades:
Phenom with Quad Core (Agena) technology (AM2+) up to 9600 (up to 95 watt)
Athlon 64 X2 with Dual Core technology X2 up to 5600+ (up to 89 watt)
Athlon 64 less than 4000+
Sempron less than 3800+
It says 'up to 9600'. Well I have a 9500 so that isn't much of an upgrade and there are many more CPU models that support this sort of socket. Now, I presume this specification is being picky about what CPU i can upgrade with because it working within the confines of the old 300 watt PSU.
My suspicion though, is I can't upgrade to any AM2+ CPU I like because either (a) my motherboard cant handle anything other than those stated above or (b) my bios wont be configured to recognize other CPUs, especially ones made AFTER the release of the Bios/ manufacture of the motherboard.
So this is my question : Can I upgrade my CPU to anything that fits the AM2+ socket? Is the specification's CPU list, a list that I should just disregard? And if I can upgrade to whatever I like, what do Tom's Hardware readers like yourselves recommend?
Many Thanks for reading this and im grateful for prompt and polite responses if any are to become apparent!
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