Need help with getting new AMD processor :S

[agent1138]

Here are my specs:
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 AM2 Dual Core Processor 6400+ (2 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Motherboard: ASUS® M2A-VM: DUAL DDR2, SATA II, x16 VGA, 2 x PCI
Memory: 4096MB RAM DDR2
Card name: ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
Power Supply: 500w

Im looking to upgrade to a AMD Quad Core, at least 3.4ghz. Ive been doing some research and apparently theres really only decent AM3 cards. For a new AM3 card do I need a new mother board to support AM3 processors. However then is it true I need DDR3 ram as my DDR2 ram will not work in a new board?
If you have an suggestions Im looking for everything to be £200 max. My pc is 3-4 years old and due a cpu/mobo upgrade

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[jasont78]

check asus website but you should be able to put most phenom 2's in your compu but since its a cheap motherboard you maybe limited to wattage of the cpu so u may not be able to get the ultra high end, but u will definately be able to put a quad core in. the am3 chips have both a ddr2 and ddr3 controller in them, its just the am2's have no ddr3 controller in them so they cant run with ddr3.

 

[agent1138]

Im expecting to get a new motherboard, I guess I need one already.
So are you saying I do not need new ram with a ddr3 motherboard?
Also would something like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AMD-Phenom-II-X6-1055T-2-8GHz-6-Core-CPU-4GB-DDR3-RAM-ASUS-Motherboard-Bundle-/180800158330#vi-content

Work with my 500w power supply do yo think?

 

[lunyone]

Well you would need a new mobo to support the newer CPU's. You can get an AM3/AM2+/AM2 based mobo so you can transfer you DDR2 over to the newer mobo.

Here is an example:
ASRock A770DE+ AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
- Support for Socket AM2+ / AM2 processors: AMD Phenom™ FX / Phenom / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / Athlon X2 Dual-Core / Athlon 64 / Sempron processor
- Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom™ II X6 / X4 / X3 and Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 processors
- Supports CPU up to 140W
- Supports AMD OverDrive™ with ACC feature (Advanced Clock Calibration)
- AMD LIVE!™ Ready
- Supports AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet Technology
- FSB 2600 MHz (5.2 GT/s)
- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
- Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology

I would recommend going with an AM3+ mobo, so you could get the cheap DDR3 (2 x 4 gb = 8gb) and be able to upgrade the CPU later, if you so desire.

AMD's cheapest 4 core CPU's generally start at about $100 and go up from there. Intel has options, but they are more expensive.

 

[agent1138]

Ok, its looking promising.
What I was to get the motherboard you suggested.
With this ram:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9-1600MHz-Vengeance-Memory/dp/B004CRSM4I/ref=pd_cp_computers_2

And with this processor:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Bulldozer-FX-6100-Socket-Processor/dp/B005UBNKWO/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1327711361&sr=1-2
Will this AM3+ cpu with with that AM3 motherboard?

 

[esrever]

good news is you don't need a new motherboard.

you can get a 960t to work with your motherboard since your motherboard supports phenom IIs below 95 watts.

Just buy the 960t and you should be fine.

 

[agent1138]

960t is £100 cheepest, so for £200 if I can get a new mobo with 8gb ram and 6core I'd prefer to do that as it would be better spent in the long run :S. But id need someone to say whether those hardware options are compatible :s

 

[esrever]

that processor sucks and the 960t is compatible to it in performance. but otherwise its compatible as long as you get an AM3+ motherboard for it.

 

[agent1138]

How is that 6 core worse? (i don't know anything, only that one has more ghz

 

[esrever]

The new FX cpus are not good, the old ones were better. Which is why they are sold for so little.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-fx-8150--8120-6100-and-4100-performance-review/11

 

[agent1138]

Ah nice thanks, what about this though? Since the 1100T was better.
AMD-Phenom-II-X6-1055T-2-8GHz-6-Core

 

[esrever]

thats a good upgrade. but might not be worth the money over the 960t since you are spending more on a very slight performance gain.

the 960t should be plenty fast for almost anything you do and will perform better in games because of the higher clock speed compared to the 1055t.

 

[jasont78]

Well you would need a new mobo to support the newer CPU's. You can get an AM3/AM2+/AM2 based mobo so you can transfer you DDR2 over to the newer mobo.

Here is an example:
ASRock A770DE+ AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
- Support for Socket AM2+ / AM2 processors: AMD Phenom™ FX / Phenom / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / Athlon X2 Dual-Core / Athlon 64 / Sempron processor
- Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom™ II X6 / X4 / X3 and Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 processors
- Supports CPU up to 140W
- Supports AMD OverDrive™ with ACC feature (Advanced Clock Calibration)
- AMD LIVE!™ Ready
- Supports AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet Technology
- FSB 2600 MHz (5.2 GT/s)
- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
- Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology

I would recommend going with an AM3+ mobo, so you could get the cheap DDR3 (2 x 4 gb = 8gb) and be able to upgrade the CPU later, if you so desire.

AMD's cheapest 4 core CPU's generally start at about $100 and go up from there. Intel has options, but they are more expensive.

if your gonna go to the effort to swap mobo cpu and ram forget amd get a cheap i3 will be faster in your games etc otherwise do what i said get the cpu will only be about a hundred and save the rest to spend on your gfx card money much better spent

 

[mosco2005]

I would Suggest getting the AMD 960T since it will work with some AMD 2 boards with DDR2.
Stay away from Intel if your looking to save money, Not only will it cost you more for the simple fact its intel but it will cost more for the, board, the cpu etc.

 

[lunyone]

I would Suggest getting the AMD 960T since it will work with some AMD 2 boards with DDR2.
Stay away from Intel if your looking to save money, Not only will it cost you more for the simple fact its intel but it will cost more for the, board, the cpu etc.

Are you sure the 960T works on his mobo?
These are what I found on Asus' website of supported CPU's, so I'm not sure if the 960T is supported, but I think the 960T is just a PhII x4 rebadged??

Supported CPU's:
Athlon IIX2 215(ADX215OCK22GQ),2.7GHz,512KB,rev.C2,65W,SocketAM3 ALL
5001
Athlon IIX2 240e(AD240EHDK23GQ),2.8GHz,1MB,rev.C2,45W,SocketAM3 ALL
5001
Athlon IIX2 255(ADX255OCK23GM),3.1GHz,512KB,rev.C3,65W,SocketAM3 ALL
5001
Athlon IIX3 405e(AD405EHDK32GM),2.3GHz,512KB,rev.C3,45W,SocketAM3 ALL
5001
Athlon IIX3 440( ADX440WFK32GI),3.0GHz,512KB,rev.C2,95W,SocketAM3 ALL
5001
Athlon IIX3 445( ADX445WFK32GM),3.1GHz,512KB,rev.C3,95W,SocketAM3 ALL
5001
Athlon IIX4 605e(AD605EHDK42GM),2.3GHz,512KB,rev.C3,45W,SocketAM3 ALL
5001
Athlon IIX4 635(ADX635WFK42GI),2.9GHz,512KB,rev.C2,95W,SocketAM3 ALL
5001
Athlon IIX4 640(ADX640WFK42GM),3.0GHz,512KB,rev.C3,95W,SocketAM3 ALL
5001
Phenom IIX3 705e (HD705EOCK3DGI),2.5GHz,65W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Triple-Core ALL
5001
Phenom IIX3 715 (HDZ715WCJ3DGI),2.8GHz,95W,rev.C2,SocketAM2+,Triple-Core ALL
5001
Phenom IIX3 740 (HDZ740WFK3DGI),3.0GHz,95W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Triple-Core ALL
5001
Phenom IIX4 820 (HDX820WFK4FGI),2.8GHz,95W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Quad-Core ALL
5001
Phenom IIX4 905e (HD905EOCK4DGI),2.5GHz,65W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Quad-Core ALL
5001
Phenom IIX4 910E(HD910EOCK4DGM),2.6GHz,65W,rev.C3,SocketAM3,Quad-Core ALL
5001
Phenom IIX4 925 (HDX925WFK4DGI),2.8GHz,95W,rev.C2,SocketAM3,Quad-Core ALL
5001
Phenom IIX4 945 (HDX945WFK4DGM),3.0GHz,2048KB,95W,rev.C3,SocketAM3,Quad-Core ALL
5001

Link to Asus M2A-VM supported CPU's

 

[esrever]

the 960t works with all boards that supports the phenom II 95 watt cpus. many people upgraded no problem to it on AM2 boards.

 

[elbert]

The 960T is a thuban based CPU as it can unlock to 6 cores. This said it may not work. What I have found tho is that some are getting 955BE CPU's to work.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122121

I would suggest a 955BE if you can get one at a good price. Make sure you have the latest 5001 bios and the 955BE should work fine.

 

[esrever]

thats because the 955BE is a 125 watt cpu and will not work with motherboards that only support 95w cpus.

the 960t however is 95 watts and will work.

 

[elbert]

That is a bit backwards as the 955BE does work and the bios list has C3 rev CPU's. The bios list has no EO rev thubans and those being the newer design its less likely they will work.

 

[esrever]

thubans were not redesigns. they were literally denebs with 2 extra cores. thubans and denebs uses the same pins and the same voltages.

your like shows the 955be not working which is why I brought it up.

 

[elbert]

Sorry they are as the thubans have turbo core and at the same GHz works on lower volts.

 

[esrever]

turbo core was a tack on they added to compete with turbo boost. It doesn't even work, which show how much work they put into it.

The ghz working with lower volts but if the motherboard doesn't have the right voltage to the right pins, it won't work. Which is why the 125 phenoms IIs don't work with 95w AM2 motherboards even with a bios update. The motherboard will however work with 95w CPUs like the 840, 925 and 960t given the bios update.

 

[elbert]

The redesigned thuban also had a more powerful IMC and can take more heat. The Deneb limits around 55c but unlike the thuban which requires a balanced CPU Cores, CPU-NB, HTT, and RAM. The bios for this motherboard has no thuban or rev E0 in the list but does have rev c3 Deneb. As pointed at the motherboard can work with the 125W 955BE.

I have searched and I get no hits on this motherboard with any thuban based CPU. The 5001 bios was released on April 14th of 2010 which was before thuban's launch on April 27 2010 (E0 Stepping). Its highly unlike this bios will support any thuban including the 960t. This said there are 95w 6 core thubans like the 1035t.

 

[lunyone]

Well even the Athlon II x4's/x3's would be a good upgrade on his board though. You can get the x3's in the $70-85 price range and still be good to go, although the 960T would be the best option (if the mobo supported it).

 

[elbert]

From what I can find Thuban chips absolutely require dual-plane/split-plane motherboards. This one is an older 3+0 phase board. I really don't know if any of the phenoms II's would be a good fit as this motherboard has a max HT Link of 1000MHz. Guess tho it depends on price the OP is willing to spend.