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CPU Upgrade Question - M3A78 PRO

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - CPU Upgrade Question - M3A78 PRO

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ikaroh   10-08-2009 at 10:28:52 PM

Hello,

I am looking to upgrade the cpu for a computer that has an M3A78 PRO mother board. I was wondering if I should upgrade to the Phenom II X4 955 or the Phenom II X4 940. I have done the necessary bios update, so my board should support them both. Would I get better performance out of an AM2+ cpu, or the newer AM3 chip?


Thanks

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sincreator   10-08-2009 at 10:44:18 PM

ikaroh wrote :

Hello,

I am looking to upgrade the cpu for a computer that has an M3A78 PRO mother board. I was wondering if I should upgrade to the Phenom II X4 955 or the Phenom II X4 940. I have done the necessary bios update, so my board should support them both. Would I get better performance out of an AM2+ cpu, or the newer AM3 chip?


Thanks



The 955 will be faster because it is 3.2ghz and the 940 is 3.0ghz.(you can go alot higher on both through overclocking though) The 940 only works with DDR-2 memory as well, and the 955 works with both DDR-2/DDR-3. Im pretty sure that the 940 will NOT work with an AM3 motherboard either, so you would be fine as long as you have the board you have now, but if you wanted to switch to a newer motherboard(AM3), then the 940 would be useless to you in the future. Hope this helps.


Message edited by sincreator on 10-08-2009 at 10:45:38 PM
------------------------------ AMD Phenom II AM2+/AM3 X3 710 Triple Core@3.45ghz,Zalman CNPS9700 cooling fan,ATI Sapphire 5870,4Gb DDR-2 1066mhz Crucial Balistix,500gb WD Caviar Black 32mb cache,10000rpm 73 gig WD Sata II Raptor,WD 320gb sata II 16mb cache,M3A32-MVP Deluxe 790FX
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ikaroh   10-12-2009 at 10:12:35 PM

Okay thanks!

I was worried about putting an AM3 chip into my mobo because I heard some people say that the M3A78 series underclocks AM3s since they aren't natively supported.

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sincreator   10-12-2009 at 10:40:25 PM

ikaroh wrote :

Okay thanks!

I was worried about putting an AM3 chip into my mobo because I heard some people say that the M3A78 series underclocks AM3s since they aren't natively supported.



No... AM3 "is" supported by your board with a bios update:
http://support.asus.com.cn/cpusupp [...] odel=M3A78 Pro&product=1&os=24 (copy paste all of the text. for some reason these forums won't allow the full url)

I was saying that the 955 would be the better chip to get, because it will work in AM2+/AM3. The 940 will only work with AM2+ so if you get a new mobo for DDR-3 support down the road, the 940 would not be any good to you anymore.

So I am still recommending you get the 955 phenom II.


Message edited by sincreator on 10-12-2009 at 11:03:30 PM
------------------------------ AMD Phenom II AM2+/AM3 X3 710 Triple Core@3.45ghz,Zalman CNPS9700 cooling fan,ATI Sapphire 5870,4Gb DDR-2 1066mhz Crucial Balistix,500gb WD Caviar Black 32mb cache,10000rpm 73 gig WD Sata II Raptor,WD 320gb sata II 16mb cache,M3A32-MVP Deluxe 790FX
 Reply to sincreator
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