AM3 socket Mobo... AM3+ CPU?

[Durakken]

I have this motherboard and CPU ...
GA-MA785GMT-UD2H - http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3395#ov
Phenom II x2 555 3.2ghz - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846

I want to upgrade my CPU but not my MOBO (if I were to replace my MOBO i'd have to reinstall and i don't have the win7 disc and it was one of those 1 time install ones anyways also I'd not get AMD if I were)

My CPU seems to be taxed just enough over the limit where I'm having problems with playing a few games so I want to upgrade.

Currently all the options I possibly see are within my budget of around $200 but I don't know if they work with my MOBO or if they'll make a difference.

I see some Phenom x6s AM3 still available but they all have 2.8ghz or less
I see some Phenom x4s AM3 available which are between 3.0 and 3.4 ghz
And then i see the AM3+ stuff which is x6 and x8 and 3.1 to 4.2 ghz

I have heard that Gigabyte am3 Mobos handle AM3+ but i can't find anywhere that confirms that and not for my specific mobo.
I think the x4 will be enough to push me over the line of not eating 100% CPU with the games i play, but I'd prefer the best one I can get if it works in my Mobo...and if it doesn't I'd like to know how much of a difference any of those other processors would make... if it would be enough to push my CPU usage lower than say 90% so I don't get as much of the stutter from AMD's processors...

If it makes a difference the games I am playing are.
X-Com
Planetside 2
and Guild Wars 2

I also recently bought a Geforce GTX 650Ti card and I have 4GB 1300 DDR3 RAM all of which is almost never maxed out in it's usage.

 

[o1die]

Your old board supports alot of newer amd cpus, but may require a bios flash with your old cpu before it will post with a newer one. It does not support the bulldozer cpus, such as the 4100. Microcenter has a combo special if you live near one: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1240665/.

 

[Durakken]

Your old board supports alot of newer amd cpus, but may require a bios flash with your old cpu before it will post with a newer one. It does not support the bulldozer cpus, such as the 4100. Microcenter has a combo special if you live near one: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1240665/.

Perhaps you didn't read what I wrote.
I don't want to buy a new mobo as that would mean i need to buy a new win7 license and reinstall and such. I don't want to do that.
Also, what you said doesn't make a lot of sense to me as you said...
My mobo supports a lot of new CPUs but not bulldozer... but all those CPUs would be Bulldozers or piledrivers.

So you didn't answer my problem at all...

 

[socialfox]

Perhaps you didn't read what I wrote.
I don't want to buy a new mobo as that would mean i need to buy a new win7 license and reinstall and such. I don't want to do that.
Also, what you said doesn't make a lot of sense to me as you said...
My mobo supports a lot of new CPUs but not bulldozer... but all those CPUs would be Bulldozers or piledrivers.

So you didn't answer my problem at all...

I believe he was referring to the newer Phenoms. Anyways a good upgrade from the X2 would be something like the Phenom II X4 955/ 965 Black edition. Those are quad cores and much better at gaming. I myself own the 955 and I can tell you I play games just fine with over 30 fps with an HD 7770 and playing at maxed settings. The 955/965 are also overclockable to great feats like 4ghz. Also on a side note, clock speed is not everything.

Now to answer the main question: I would say AM3+ processors don't work on AM3 (non plus) sockets. The AM3 + socket works with AM3 processors but not the other way.

 

[nekulturny]

Bulldozer/PileDrivers are AM3+. AMD DOES NOT offer any official support for AM3+ CPUs to function on AM3 socket boards. Now, yes, there have been a few vendors who have been marketed motherboards that are AM3 socket with AM3+ CPU support. However, read my second sentence again. With no official support from the CPU manufacturer itself, it is a crapshoot, one that I would not advise. You may find you have bought a CPU you cannot return (CPUs are generally not returnable from most merchants once opened unless they're defective), and you'll be forced to buy a compatible motherboard (or enjoy a nice $100+ paperweight).

CPU support list for your board, yes the FX-4130 is on there.. Again read my second sentence of this post
http://www.gigabyte.us/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3395

 

[djangoringo]

Like someone said just get the Phenom II X4 965 be...it's quadcore, stock speed 3.4GHZ and if you have a decent cooler it can it ~4GHZ.
Not much difference even if the mobo supported the fx-4170(which does not), and you just can put the cpu without worries.
The price is 84$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

 

[Durakken]

I believe he was referring to the newer Phenoms. Anyways a good upgrade from the X2 would be something like the Phenom II X4 955/ 965 Black edition. Those are quad cores and much better at gaming. I myself own the 955 and I can tell you I play games just fine with over 30 fps with an HD 7770 and playing at maxed settings. The 955/965 are also overclockable to great feats like 4ghz. Also on a side note, clock speed is not everything.

Now to answer the main question: I would say AM3+ processors don't work on AM3 (non plus) sockets. The AM3 + socket works with AM3 processors but not the other way.

While I do know that there is more to it than just speed. I don't know enough to judge based on anything more complex. I know it's not the whole story, but it seems like a good indicator to me. And I can't really judge off of total processes simply for the fact programs still don't all multi-thread so to me it seems like a fair estimate to always try to go equal or higher in cores or speed while maintain or increasing the other to make sure it's improved at least a little...

Are you saying this is what I should get?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Is there anything better that i could possibly get within my budget for my mobo or is that maxing the AM3 mobo?



On a side note the only thing that maxes other than CPU right now is my HDD usage or whatever it is called. I use non-SSD and I try to keep my games on a separate drive to the OS. Would getting a SSD HD improve anything about my in game performance other than basic load times? My RAM is also not hitting max but it's up to 70% sometimes and I do work with photoshop sometimes would upgrading my RAM be beneficial?

 

[socialfox]

While I do know that there is more to it than just speed. I don't know enough to judge based on anything more complex. I know it's not the whole story, but it seems like a good indicator to me. And I can't really judge off of total processes simply for the fact programs still don't all multi-thread so to me it seems like a fair estimate to always try to go equal or higher in cores or speed while maintain or increasing the other to make sure it's improved at least a little...

Are you saying this is what I should get?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Is there anything better that i could possibly get within my budget for my mobo or is that maxing the AM3 mobo?



On a side note the only thing that maxes other than CPU right now is my HDD usage or whatever it is called. I use non-SSD and I try to keep my games on a separate drive to the OS. Would getting a SSD HD improve anything about my in game performance other than basic load times? My RAM is also not hitting max but it's up to 70% sometimes and I do work with photoshop sometimes would upgrading my RAM be beneficial?

Yes the 965 will do nicely, there are better Phenoms such as the 1100t and the higher end part of the X4's that come after the 965 but those are VERY RARE to find brand new and even when used its still hard to find and overpriced. My choice is stick to the 965, give it a nice overclock after buying an aftermarket cooler if you don't have one already. Also it would be good to upgrade the ram to 8gb but make sure its the same model and make.

Also you did nail it with the SSD, you will only get faster load times and if you play one of those open world games and the map loads as you go then expect that to be faster as well. However you should not gain any FPS gains with the SSD.

 

[Durakken]

Yes the 965 will do nicely, there are better Phenoms such as the 1100t and the higher end part of the X4's that come after the 965 but those are VERY RARE to find brand new and even when used its still hard to find and overpriced. My choice is stick to the 965, give it a nice overclock after buying an aftermarket cooler if you don't have one already. Also it would be good to upgrade the ram to 8gb but make sure its the same model and make.

Also you did nail it with the SSD, you will only get faster load times and if you play one of those open world games and the map loads as you go then expect that to be faster as well. However you should not gain any FPS gains with the SSD.

I've always used the stock fan. I'm not very good with putting devices together in the first place... some sort of weird anti-skill i have with constructing things... Is there a particular fan i should get (no liquid cool despite knowing that they are generally better I don't need that risk with my skills lol)?

If I get more RAM I'll be buying all 8GB together... just simpler that way.

Planetside 2 is one of those load as you go games it seems though i don't know how much so. It loads first, but the world is too big to load all in the 1GB it loads up so i have to assume it loads as you go. Is there any way to connect a SSD other than through the standard connection (i forget what their called sorry) or an external USB3 connection (it says it works with USB2, but low transfer rate would kinda defeat the point i'd think) I'm just curious in case I do eventually decide to get one. This wouldn't be a problem a month ago, but the new graphics card blocks 2 of the 5 drive port things.

 

[socialfox]

I've always used the stock fan. I'm not very good with putting devices together in the first place... some sort of weird anti-skill i have with constructing things... Is there a particular fan i should get (no liquid cool despite knowing that they are generally better I don't need that risk with my skills lol)?

If I get more RAM I'll be buying all 8GB together... just simpler that way.

Planetside 2 is one of those load as you go games it seems though i don't know how much so. It loads first, but the world is too big to load all in the 1GB it loads up so i have to assume it loads as you go. Is there any way to connect a SSD other than through the standard connection (i forget what their called sorry) or an external USB3 connection (it says it works with USB2, but low transfer rate would kinda defeat the point i'd think) I'm just curious in case I do eventually decide to get one. This wouldn't be a problem a month ago, but the new graphics card blocks 2 of the 5 drive port things.

Ok good to see your going to buy all 8gb together, if you can try and get them in a combo. Let me know if you want me or any of us to find it for you. Just let us know your country. There are external SSDs but on newegg they are out of stock and I assume they are more expensive. Instead of buying external just get a right angle sata cable to cope with that video card.

This is that sata cable I was talking about:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812123111
or
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200075CVF

Anyways for your CPU cooler just grab the Hyper 212 EVO, there are guides on Tom's Hardware and youtube for installing it. CPU cooler should not be too hard, if you built your build yourself then you should have no troubles.

 

[MajinCry]

Your thinking of PCI-E, right? Just get a sata SSD. They are much cheaper and perform just as well (The PCI-E SSDs connect via sata. Pointless, eh?)

 

[Durakken]

Ok good to see your going to buy all 8gb together, if you can try and get them in a combo. Let me know if you want me or any of us to find it for you. Just let us know your country. There are external SSDs but on newegg they are out of stock and I assume they are more expensive. Instead of buying external just get a right angle sata cable to cope with that video card.

This is that sata cable I was talking about:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812123111
or
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200075CVF

Anyways for your CPU cooler just grab the Hyper 212 EVO, there are guides on Tom's Hardware and youtube for installing it. CPU cooler should not be too hard, if you built your build yourself then you should have no troubles.

Yeah if I buy RAM I always buy it together as it keeps me from running into problems from not having the same type also I can upgrade their speed to 1600 from 1300 if I get them all together, but that is not a concern right this second I was just wondering if upgrading would have any appreciable difference.

I've built all my PCs after my first 1 that started messing up and didn't have the ability to upgrade easily so I decided I didn't want to deal with stuff that I had to pay a premium on to fix or upgrade even if I didn't want to. Since then I've had 3 I think... so I know how to put it all together I just always cause something to mess up on everything i construct lol.

I'll try out the right angle sata cable as I unplugged my optical drive in favor of keeping 3 HDDs internal. If worse comes to worse I can always transfer one of my older HDDs to my external one. Like with the RAM the SDD isn't a priority but I'm looking down the road if I decide I do need it.

thanks for all the input everyone