CPU Upgrade

[Simfriend]

Hello Gentlemen,

I need some advise from people who have a bit more knowledge than I have regarding the wisdom of upgrading an ancient MOBO (Gigabyte GA-M61VME-S2 REV.2.0) running an equally ancient CPU (AMD Athlon 64 X2
5400+,socket AM2, 2.8 gHz).
I saw recently on this site that AMD has released a low cost CPU (Athlon II X2 280 Dual-Core Processor, socket AM3, 3.6 gHz).
Would this be a worthwhile upgrade? It appears that the 280 is backward compatible with the AM2 socket. Are there any other traps I could fall into?. BIOS issues for example?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Hal

 

[C12Friedman]

Looking at Gigabyte's CPU support list for that motherboard found here http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2439# I find no AM3 CPU's supported - those listed have N/A listed in the Since BIOS revision area meaning not supported - the AII x2 280 hasn't made that list yet it seems, but I doubt support will come for it.
Hope it helps

 

[simon12]

According to this http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2439# (click support & downloads then CPU support) It supports just about all AM3 CPUs except the 280 (most likely not updated yet), I suggest getting a Phenom II x4 as they are cheap at the moment but even the Athlon II x 2 is alot better than what you have.

 

[C12Friedman]

Please thoroughly read my above post - N/A in the Since BIOS Version column (on the very right of the popup) means not supported (says so right at the top of the list)
Simply making the list doesn't mean it's supported

 

[lazyboy947]

Could go with a $80 athlon II X4 640 or atm a phenom ii x4 965 for $85, a asus M5A78L for $60, and 4-8gb of ddr3 for 20-40, way better cpu, motherboard that supports all current fx cpus, and way cheaper than ddr2 ram if u want to and can, or else a APU for its graphics, but seems that ur current board does not support any am3 cpus

 

[iceclock]

+1