Upgrading motherboard for AMD Phenom II X6 1055T

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jhaveri

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I have this processor on Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 since late 2010 running Windows 7 professional. Everything seems to be running okay, as I am not into gaming, mostly internet, email, and programming in Java or Python in Eclipse environment. So do not really have problem with speed or anything. However, I do have an issue with this earlier revision of Gigabyte motherboard with USB 3.0. It has never worked stably, and I spent lots of time trying to resolve that and ultimately gave up, relying instead on external Sata port for backup media and so forth. But now, I really want to make USB 3.0 work, because I want to buy large capacity USB 3.0 external drive for backup. Right now the USB 3.0 works only I 2.0 mode with transfer speed too low for backing up several TB of data from internal SATA drives.

My question are:

1) Is it worth to upgrade the current motherboard to say AM3+, so I can still use the same CPU, and have a better chance of getting USB 3.0 to work.

2) Or, since this system is 7 years older, is it time to buy AM4 motherboard and get the latest Ryzon cpu. DDR4 memory, and compatible video card? ( My current video card is Video Card is AMD Radeon HD 5500 Series.)

3) Or, the solution is much simpler than that, such as get a new PCI USB 3.0 card? Although I am afraid that this earlier revision of Gigabyte motherboard has buggy USB 3.0 implementation, which may even impact added card performance.

Thank you for your help and recommendations. Let me thank one more time that 7 years ago I did build this system using component recommendations from this forum.

jhaveri


 
Solution
k1114
Get a pcie add in card. Pci is no longer used so you may want to get pcie instead if you ever may need it in the future. You never know and the cost is the same. A different component doesn't affect compatibility of another. They're not connected in anyway.
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k1114

k1114

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Get a pcie add in card. Pci is no longer used so you may want to get pcie instead if you ever may need it in the future. You never know and the cost is the same. A different component doesn't affect compatibility of another. They're not connected in anyway.
 
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TJ Hooker

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Assuming the external drive is an HDD and not an SSD, you're probably going to be limited by the read/write speeds of the drive before you're limited by the bandwidth of USB 2.0 anyway.

If you really want USB 3.0 and your current build is otherwise satisfying all your needs, a PCI(e) USB3 card would be good too. I don't know what sort of buggy behaviour you're currently seeing with USB 3.0, but I don't think it would affect the performance of a USB3 add in card.
 
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jhaveri

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Thanks k1114 and TJ Hooker. The buggy behavior is where the drive would disappear in a middle of writing in 3.0 mode, but not in 2.0 mode in the same usb 3.0 slot. So I only use 2.0 mode. The drive is 2.5 inch laptop drive inside a usb 3.0 enclosure. But I have issue even when I connect Samsung galaxy s8 with usb to otg connector.

So I will go ahead and get a pcie usb 3.0 card.

Do you see any reason for me to change the motherboard, or that is of no value unless I upgrade the cpu?
 
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jhaveri

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I understand now, my mobo is AM3, and if I upgrade, it will be a major deal, going to either AM3+ or probably AM4. Then, i am pretty much building a new system, since most of my current components will not work, memory, CPU, and probably video card also. In that scenario, I need to seriously evaluate why I upgrade. From my experience 7 years ago, it was difficult but fun.

I am going to stick with your suggestion of getting a pcie usb card for now. Found one on amazon already for $19 from Rosewill RC-508, and leave this system alone for a time being. But I do want to build another one to replace this, since Windows 7 support will die sometime in future anyway, and I have to get Windows 10. So might as well get the latest components, ie. AM4 and components that go with them. Can you point me to a suggested system that I could build for less than $1000 including Windows 10 professional license? I will start searching the forums here, but if you have any suggesion, I will really appreciate. Thanks, jhaveri.
 
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