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Socket 939 Upgrade options for HP/Asus Nagami mobo

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I've got a 2 yr old Hp pavilion a1430n that has a socket 939 Athlon 3800+ on a proprietary Asus A8N-LA mobo, and it's getting pwn'd by a Vostro w/ a Pentium 2160.

I'd like to upgrade w/o a tremendous hassle, but the 939 chips are few and far between. Already saw the thread on switching to C2D mobos, and it might be a possibility, but first I want to know if the Opteron Denmark 2.4G socket 939 is another option. I'm not a gamer, but I do a lot of photo processing, compiling, a lot of windows, and possibly transcoding in the future.

My biggest concern is that HP support officially says the mobo does not support FX or Opteron CPUs. Are they just being lazy? It's likely that they won't have a special BIOS update if one was needed.

Can anyone confirm that the Opty 180 does work in this mobo? Does anyone think I will get better perf?

Michael

More about : socket 939 upgrade options asus nagami mobo

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Motherboard Expert

Looking at the ASUS web site, that motherboard isn't listed as one of their products. Best guess would be that the "LA" moniker means it's a proprietary version of the ASUS A8N motherboard and there would not likely be any compatible BIOS upgrades which would support an Opteron CPU. That's just a guess, though.

-Wolf sends

The 3800 is 2.4 ghz and the x2 3800 is 2.0 while the P2160 is listed as 1.8 ghz and dual core. It sounds like the problem is dual core performing better than single core. Finding a 939 dual core isn't impossible. I would recommend that you first use something like CPU-Z to get the info on your current processor so you know what your dealing with in terms of number of cores, power consumption, and voltage. The reason that's important is that your power supply may be severly limited and the bios may not allow you to change core voltages (thus the lack of recommendation for an Opteron).

Can you do it - yes, just need to research a little bit and decide what you're willing to pay, and what you can find.

Sorry, I have the x2 dual core version installed. and the 180 is $140 at newegg right now. (was $125). but I suppose the question is whether the current BIOS is capable of running a 180. I am running the latest, v3.11, if that is of any help.
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You waited a few months too long my friend. With the Opty prices your better off just getting a new Matx board and a inexpensive C2d or X2.
The new AMD 780G moboS are cheap and have excellent onboard graphics capability.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/04/amd_780g_chipset...


Wow, i just read the review and am really impressed at how much power you save by using IGP. However, if I'm going to get a new board, I think I'll go Intel now. Is anyone coming out with a 775 mobo that suppots dual monitor IGP? That's all that I really need.
Motherboard Authority

The only reason you should even think about an Opteron at this point is if you are planning a big overclock. The Operton won't perform any better than the X2, save you give it a big overclock, which I don't think your going to achieve on that HP crippled motherboard.
Save your money and spend it on something worthwhile.
A platform change from the once great socket 939 (new motherboard) is your best route now.

All right. you guys have convinced me.

I think I'm going to go green and get the Gigabyte 780G board mentioned above. I only need to pick a CPU, I'm thinking a 5000+ black edition so I have the option to OC later, or upgrade to a Phenom when AMD has it all figured out.

Will my 300W HP PS be enough if I go IGP?

When I'm done, I'll have an A8N-LA mobo with 2GB and an XFX 7600GS to sell on ebay. Along with the OEM XP license.
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