GA-M68M-S2P - a question about this limited AM2+ board

[gamei56]

Hi,

As I speak to you right now I have the following specs:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2P Rev. 1 AM2/AM2+/AM3
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2 GHz
GPU: EVGA Geforce 9500GT 1GB DDR2
Memory: 2 GB Kingston DDR2 800 MHz RAM

So I've hooked onto playing Starcraft 2, and started playing on the medium detail. Medium settings were fine for me, but when battles in 3v3s started getting a little big, my FPS drops to 5 and whenever I try to send commands, my computer beeps and everything gets extremely slow. Bothered by this, I monitored my CPU, which was under stress at 80-99%.

Feeling good that this was a hybrid AM2+ board, I decided that I should upgrade to the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition. But when I read the CPU support list for this board I was extremely disappointed (CPU support chart)

The 125 W version of the 955 BE isn't supported, and the 95 W version isn't exactly available in the stores I've looked.

Still disappointed, I noticed:

Get Ready to Unleash the Power of AMD 6-Core CPU
GIGABYTE's AMD motherboards are ready to support the new generation of AMD Phenom™II X 6 processors, delivering the very best platform for multitasking, multimedia and high performance gaming.

This sounds awesome! But wait!

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3200MHz 512KBx6 6MB Thuban 45nm E0 125W 4000 N/A
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2800MHz 512KBx6 6MB Thuban 45nm E0 125W 4000 N/A
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2800MHz 512KBx6 6MB Thuban 45nm E0 95W 4000 F2
AMD Phenom II X6 1035T 2600MHz 512KBx6 6MB Thuban 45nm E0 95W 4000 F2

The 125W versions of the 1090T and 1055T isn't supported. But what? Those are the only ones that I see right now. I reside in Canada so this 95W version might be much more difficult to find at the right price.

But, here's another thing that confused me:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6052731&Sku=A79-1055 - HDT55TFBRBOX
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Gigabyte/GA-M68M-S2P%28rev._1.0%29.html

Supported:

HDT55TFBGRBOX
HDT55TFBK6DGR
HDT55TWFGRBOX
HDT55TWFK6DGR

Not supported:

HDT55TFBGRBOX
HDT55TFBK6DGR

Uh... what?

I don't know if this cpu-upgrade site is a reliable source or not but this absolutely confuses me. Gigabyte's lack of AMD CPU model numbers also confuses me.

What do you think? Do you think this board supports the 1055T or even the Phenom II X4 955 BE?

 

[tecmo34]

1) I would look to upgrade to the Athlon II X3 440 as your CPU, as it looks like the newer X4 955 or X6 1055T 125W aren't supported.

2) I would look to upgrade your GPU quickly too. The 9500GT is no gaming CPU.

 

[gamei56]

1) I would look to upgrade to the Athlon II X3 440 as your CPU, as it looks like the newer X4 955 or X6 1055T 125W aren't supported.

2) I would look to upgrade your GPU quickly too. The 9500GT is no gaming CPU.

1. I was looking into a bigger upgrade than the triple cores... gaming isn't the only thing that I use the computer for, the extra cores would be really great for the applications I use. Of course those extra cores won't help in gaming. Though I found this:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6075240&CatId=4431

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6455299&CatId=4431

TDP 95W CPUs! I think these are compatible. Though- they have a bigger price tag, so this kinda discourages me from buying neither... not sure if its worth it.

2. Very aware of this problem, though I only have enough money for either a CPU or GPU upgrade. Right now I think the CPU is killing me more than the 9500GT unless you suggest that a GPU upgrade might be better. But Firefox at times uses 50% CPU on this processor, it is ridiculous

thank you for the answer

 

[tecmo34]

1) Out of those two CPU's, I would go with the X4 945 or look at the Athlon II X4 640 (Comparison of the 945 vs 640 [close enough]... http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/122?vs=80 ). You can see they are some what close with the edge to the 945. Here is what the X4 640 looks like compared to a CPU similar to yours... http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/35?vs=122 , which is a huge difference. You would be much improved with either CPU.

2) Get the CPU first than follow up with your GPU. You need more horses for your CPU

 

[gamei56]

Hey, thank you for the answers, I really appreciate it. But I was surprised today:

This is what I sent into Gigabyte Support before I made this thread.

"Hello,

I was wondering if the GA-M68M-S2P Rev.1 (BIOS Ver: F4) supported the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition processor (HDZ955FBGMBOX). I tried looking at the CPU Support List and other sources as well but at times they conflicted each other and it was difficult to conclude whether this board supported it or not.

Would these be able to work on the board:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=4_64&item_id=027383
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6052731&Sku=A79-1055

Thank you in advance."

"Dear Customer,

Yes, both your listed processors will work. Please see our validated CPU list:

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3270

I would suggest you update your BIOS to the latest version F5, before attempting any processor upgrade:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3270#bios

Thank you for choosing Gigabyte products"

I don't know how that CPU support chart says it's supported, this makes absolutely no sense to me again

 

[gamei56]

Best answer selected by gamei56.