Upgrade Processor?

[Piolit]

If I wanted to upgrade my processor speed, could I buy a new chip and just pop it in to my existing motherboard, setup, etc. Considering it’s the same socket (939), would I have to reinstall windows, reformat hard drive, etc or will the old setup run after the new chip is physically installed. Also, I'm going form a single core Amd chip to a dual core.

-Piolit

 

[Piolit]

Now what's the difference between the Opteron's and the 64 X2's? Could I use either on a socket 939. For pure processor power, which do you recomend. Also I have DDR400, PC 3200, will this be fine with the dual core's.

 

[LeonRa]

I just upgraded my AMD s939 3000+ to dual core 3800+. All you need is to eventually upgrade your bios, if the old bios doesn't support dual core cpu's.
If you have an Abit MB it is really easy, just use the bios flashing utility That's what i did. It works perfectly. 8)

Opteron is a server processor( i think). The memory is fine, anyway i think you can't use ddr2 with the s939, so you'll have to stick with it. The more you have, the better. Hope this is helpful.

 

[SciPunk]

Here's another oppinion...
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=204462&highlight=reinstall

The above post is correct, the Opteron (165, 170, 180) are essentially the same as the Athlon X2, except they are rated for servers, so they should last longer and run a bit cooler.

Also correct about the memory. DDR memory for socket 939, DDR2 memory for socket AM2.