Looking to upgrade a ECS MCP61PM-GM AM2 mATX Motherboard

bsnethen

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Jan 29, 2013
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Hi im looking to upgrade my ECS MCP61PM-GM AM2 mATX Motherboard from a amd phenom 9500 quad core at 2.2ghz to a AMD ADX450WFGMBOX Athlon II X3 450 Triple Core Processor - 3.20GHz, Socket AM3, 1.5MB Cache.

Now I know that its going from am2 to am3 but from what I have read they are backwards compatible. Gateway says the mobo only supports 89watts but the cpu is 95watts. So would I have to give the cpu more power threw the bios or will it auto correct? It's a gateway bios so you can't change almost anything. My machine is a prebuilt its a Gateway GT5674.
 

clutchc

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The board should auto correct for the proper voltage if you have a late enough BIOS that it will recognize the Athlon II X3. But, being as how the board never was intended for that CPU, it may not recognize it. While it is never advisable to put a processor in the board that requires more wattage that the board is designed for, personally I wouldn't think the 6 watts difference would be enough to worry about. Max wattage will only be demanded occasionally and usually for short periods. But, the first challenge will be getting the board to recognize the CPU.
 

clutchc

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Can you verify for the OP which BIOS version you are running so he can decide if he needs to update his?
 

DemosthenesLocke

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Dec 26, 2013
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I have the same MB and my BIOS version is older than bsnethens. I just installed an AMD Athlon II X4 645 and it worked perfectly. No BIOS update needed. My machine is a Gateway GT5662. Same MB.