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CPU upgrade question

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I have some questions / concerns about upgrading my computer. I’m mainly concerned with my CPU upgrade. I’ve researched, and it seems like the best CPU that I can get is the Phenom IIX4 970 since my motherboard will support that with BIOS version 2202. It seems like they say that my motherboard will support a Phenom IIX4 975 with BIOS version 2301, but the newest version they have available at their website is 2202, so any clarification about this discrepancy would help. I was getting my information from this website (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM2Plus/M3A32MVP_D...)

It seems like I’m using BIOS version 1304, so I’d probably need to flash my BIOS at some point. Does it matter when I do this? I was planning to do it before I bought my CPU just to make sure nothing went wrong, but somebody told me that I shouldn’t do that because the newer BIOS versions won’t run my older CPU (I don’t see why that would be true but was worried about it).

Just in case anyone was wondering, I’m also planning to upgrade my GPU to probably a Radeon 6870 or something equivalent, but don’t have any questions about that because it should be a much simpler process.
Here’s the information about my current computer.

Motherboard: Asus 790FX M3A32-MVP DELUX
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (32 bit)
Power Supply: 750 Watt Antec
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5800+ (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 3326MB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

Thanks in advance for any help.

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CPUs Expert

As far as whether or not you'll be able to run your old CPU on a new BIOS revision, I don't see why you would have any problem with that.

Now for some unsolicited advice-- if I were you I'd go with a 955 or 965 instead of the 970 or 975. The reason is that, in my opinion, the 970 is just a 955/965 with no overclocking headroom. I have a 965 myself, but at least they were binned vs the 955.

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CPUs Authority

^sound advice.

To OP: Your friend is wrong about old CPU not going to work with new BIOS. In fact, the only way you can flash the new BIOS is by using the old CPU.

Whether you choose the 965 or 970/975, you have to flash the BIOS anyway. Just be careful about it and do some reading before you do. it is relatively safe process and I did it 3x already on different motherboards (ECS, Biostar, MSI ).

I’m not sure if the 975 would work with my current set-up (that’s what I’m confused about). On the Asus website, under the information about my motherboard, it lists the 975 under CPUs supported but it says that it requires a BIOS version with a number 2301 or higher. However, the highest version they have available for download is 2202. I’ve even checked everywhere but can’t find any version above 2202.

I should be able to flash the BIOS without problem because I’ve read about it and even watched a video on it. I wanted to make sure everything would be compatible though because the Asus website seems to contradict itself on whether the 275 is supported. If I can’t find out, I’ll probably go with the 965 at this point, since I’m pretty positive that would work.
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