AMD Single Core to Dual Core upgrade help

[darthbrooklyn]

Hello,

I currently have an AMD 3200+ and am upgrading to an Athlon X2 4400+.
They are socket 939 chips.. As a relative noob, i wanted to ask if there is anything i need to do besides just changing the chips out..
Do i need to play with the BIOS, OS, RAM, ETC ETC.. please forgive my noobish questions, but i dont want to fry my PC.. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[impreza]

Hello,

I currently have an AMD 3200+ and am upgrading to an Athlon X2 4400+.
They are socket 939 chips.. As a relative noob, i wanted to ask if there is anything i need to do besides just changing the chips out..
Do i need to play with the BIOS, OS, RAM, ETC ETC.. please forgive my noobish questions, but i dont want to fry my PC.. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

well i upgraded from a 3200 to a 4200 with out having to change anything.

 

[jitpublisher]

Hello,

I currently have an AMD 3200+ and am upgrading to an Athlon X2 4400+.
They are socket 939 chips.. As a relative noob, i wanted to ask if there is anything i need to do besides just changing the chips out..
Do i need to play with the BIOS, OS, RAM, ETC ETC.. please forgive my noobish questions, but i dont want to fry my PC.. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

We will need your system specs including what version of windows to help you out!

 

[dougie_boy]

u should be fine. just take care removing the CPU and and watch the socket.

its easy as pie.

 

[m25]

Your bios should suport dual cores, basicaly it is the same core. You should have no problems.

 

[darthbrooklyn]

System Specs.

MSI-K8N Neo4 Mobo
2GB OCZ Platinum Dual Channel RAM
Powercolor X1900XTX Graphics Card
Windows XP Home
Antec 600W PS

 

[jitpublisher]

System Specs.

MSI-K8N Neo4 Mobo
2GB OCZ Platinum Dual Channel RAM
Powercolor X1900XTX Graphics Card
Windows XP Home
Antec 600W PS

Ah, okay all your hardware is fine, no worries there.
Windows XP Home *might* be a problem. Make sure before the swap you have Windows completely up to date with SP2.

Make sure to check and set your BIOS to defaults/auto-detect settings for the CPU and memory before you start your upgrade.

When you install the processor, the first time you boot into Windows you should get the message "new hardware detected" or something similar, then Windows will install the new software/drivers and ask you to reboot. After reboot you should have 2 CPU's in your Device Manager, and 2 graphs in Task Manager for CPU usage. If that does not happen, come back here and let us know.

 

[darthbrooklyn]

System Specs.

MSI-K8N Neo4 Mobo
2GB OCZ Platinum Dual Channel RAM
Powercolor X1900XTX Graphics Card
Windows XP Home
Antec 600W PS

Ah, okay all your hardware is fine, no worries there.
Windows XP Home *might* be a problem. Make sure before the swap you have Windows completely up to date with SP2.

Make sure to check and set your BIOS to defaults/auto-detect settings for the CPU and memory before you start your upgrade.

When you install the processor, the first time you boot into Windows you should get the message "new hardware detected" or something similar, then Windows will install the new software/drivers and ask you to reboot. After reboot you should have 2 CPU's in your Device Manager, and 2 graphs in Task Manager for CPU usage. If that does not happen, come back here and let us know.


Awesome..thanks

 

[m25]

System Specs.

MSI-K8N Neo4 Mobo
2GB OCZ Platinum Dual Channel RAM
Powercolor X1900XTX Graphics Card
Windows XP Home
Antec 600W PS

You're OK. Only your system should at least be XP pro. if you plan to use some professional apps, otherwise it is OK.

 

[rahul_cracker]

ah this changing the processor will crash the OS this has been a problem with windows for a long time .The BSOD will appear i think and will spoil the new change ,but if you are lucky you will just survive
:twisted:

 

[darthbrooklyn]

Will I be able to change out the CPU without having to remove the mobo from the case? Dont feel like disconnecting everything... but if i have to , oh well...

 

[The_Abyss]

Yep - you won't have to remove the motherboard. Just the heatsink / fan and CPU.

 

[schwinn]

You're OK. Only your system should at least be XP pro. if you plan to use some professional apps, otherwise it is OK.

Not to hijack a thread, but what's this about? Home will run anything Pro does, so what's a "professional" app?

As far as I have read, Home and Pro only have these differences: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

MultiCPU was an issue before, apparently, but isn't anymore? Aside from that there is nothing that typical home users would need from Pro, really. They both run the same...

 

[uk_gangsta]

You're OK. Only your system should at least be XP pro. if you plan to use some professional apps, otherwise it is OK.

Not to hijack a thread, but what's this about? Home will run anything Pro does, so what's a "professional" app?

As far as I have read, Home and Pro only have these differences: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

MultiCPU was an issue before, apparently, but isn't anymore? Aside from that there is nothing that typical home users would need from Pro, really. They both run the same...

The only difference i know of is that, Pro edition suports dual cpu, (duel core is different), ntfs encryption thing, and sum network thing, home doesnt support them, but it stil supports duel core cpu's though. wierd i no but hey, it is microsoft after all. 8O

 

[BaronMatrix]

Hello,

I currently have an AMD 3200+ and am upgrading to an Athlon X2 4400+.
They are socket 939 chips.. As a relative noob, i wanted to ask if there is anything i need to do besides just changing the chips out..
Do i need to play with the BIOS, OS, RAM, ETC ETC.. please forgive my noobish questions, but i dont want to fry my PC.. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

The most you would have to do is flash your BIOS. If you bought the mobo within the last year you shouldn't even need to do that. The way to find out is go to the mobo maker's site and check the BIOS FAQ. it will usually have the version needed for dual core.

 

[darthbrooklyn]

After reboot you should have 2 CPU's in your Device Manager, and 2 graphs in Task Manager for CPU usage.

Ok, i installed the CPU and I DO have 2 graphs in task manager and 2 CPU's in my device manager.. I guess im good to go... Is there anything else i should check or need to set? Also, my CPU temp is idling at 41c, is that ok (room temp is about 83F)?

 

[ecosoft]

Dude

41 deg C = 105.8 deg F, so yer in great shape temp wise

 

[DrBlofeld]

Hello,

I currently have an AMD 3200+ and am upgrading to an Athlon X2 4400+.
They are socket 939 chips.. As a relative noob, i wanted to ask if there is anything i need to do besides just changing the chips out..
Do i need to play with the BIOS, OS, RAM, ETC ETC.. please forgive my noobish questions, but i dont want to fry my PC.. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Funny, I'm doing the exact same thing today!

 

[jitpublisher]

After reboot you should have 2 CPU's in your Device Manager, and 2 graphs in Task Manager for CPU usage.

Ok, i installed the CPU and I DO have 2 graphs in task manager and 2 CPU's in my device manager.. I guess im good to go... Is there anything else i should check or need to set? Also, my CPU temp is idling at 41c, is that ok (room temp is about 83F)?

Sorry took so long, just got in from work. Sounds like all went well, your temps are normal, might even go down a little after you been up and running a few hours to give the new heatsink and thermal paste time to "settle in". Enjoy!

 

[darthbrooklyn]

Thanks for all your help guys.. Appreciate it..
One concern i do have is that although you guys are saying that 41c is normal, my cpu fan is only spinning at 890 RPM at idle, shouldnt it be around 2000? I cant figure out how to adjust fan speed either...

 

[impreza]

thats normal my x2 4200 runing at 34 degress fan is only doing 1010rpm

 

[schwinn]

Not to hijack a thread, but what's this about? Home will run anything Pro does, so what's a "professional" app?

As far as I have read, Home and Pro only have these differences: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

MultiCPU was an issue before, apparently, but isn't anymore? Aside from that there is nothing that typical home users would need from Pro, really. They both run the same...

The only difference i know of is that, Pro edition suports dual cpu, (duel core is different), ntfs encryption thing, and sum network thing, home doesnt support them, but it stil supports duel core cpu's though. wierd i no but hey, it is microsoft after all. 8OThe fact of the matter is that dual-CORE is supported on XP Home... dual PROCESSORS is not. For this reason, the OP won't need Pro at all, and it makes zero difference to a typical home user. Aside from the encryption and other such junk, there is no benefit to having XPPro regardless of any "professional apps". Besides which, most of the things you mentioned (encryption, etc) are pretty weak and better supported with free, OSS software.

In other words, OP, you don't need Pro at all.

EDIT: For those in doubt about dualcore support on XP Home, refer to AMD's article here: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Weblets/0,,7832_8366_7595~95364,00.html

 

[breeze812]

Just curious....
I recently went from a 3200 to an X2 4800.... and I asked the same questions .
Response I got was to be sure I had the bios at latest version, get the 'Hotfix' installed, and run the AMD Optimizer.

Should this person be doing that also? Or is there something particular about the X2 4800 that requires those updates?

Anyways.... here is that thread with all the info......
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1179154#1179154

 

[jitpublisher]

Thanks for all your help guys.. Appreciate it..
One concern i do have is that although you guys are saying that 41c is normal, my cpu fan is only spinning at 890 RPM at idle, shouldnt it be around 2000? I cant figure out how to adjust fan speed either...

My 4600X2 ran at around 41-42 during idle at first, after a few weeks it went down to around 36. My fan spins 950-1050 at idle. Does your bios have Cool and Quiet enabled? If you shut it off, your fan should run full speed all the time.
But really, your CPU temp is fine, nothing out of the normal with the temps you are reporting. Play a game, stress the CPU, and see what your temps and fan speed do.

 

[darthbrooklyn]

Thanks JIT.. The only reason im concerned is beacause mu old 3200+ single core was idling at 32C , this is 10c warmer... but ill wait a few weeks and see where i stand.. I think i also F'ed up by not removing the thermal pad from the HS/F and applied Arctic S 5 over it