is upgrading a cpu just a matter of plugging in a new one?

[markcomp]

Two PCs, one for the kids - Gigabyte GA-970A-UDA,3.4 AMD Phenom II Black X4 965, AMD XFX graphics card. Seems to run everything they throw at it.
Wife's PC - ASUS M4A88T-M, onboard graphics ATI Radeon HD 4250, AMD 3.2 Phenom II X2 555 (could not unlock any more cores) The issue is that the wife's PC really needs a bit more grunt (some graphics work - website building, leaves lots of windows open etc) so I thought to replace the CPU with the X4 965 and upgrade the X4.
Will this work first of all, and is it it straightforward? What would be a reasonable (price is a bit critical here) CPU for the kids PC?
Any thoughts much appreciated

 

[LucoTF]

Two PCs, one for the kids - Gigabyte GA-970A-UDA,3.4 AMD Phenom II Black X4 965, AMD XFX graphics card. Seems to run everything they throw at it.
Wife's PC - ASUS M4A88T-M, onboard graphics ATI Radeon HD 4250, AMD 3.2 Phenom II X2 555 (could not unlock any more cores) The issue is that the wife's PC really needs a bit more grunt (some graphics work - website building, leaves lots of windows open etc) so I thought to replace the CPU with the X4 965 and upgrade the X4.
Will this work first of all, and is it it straightforward? What would be a reasonable (price is a bit critical here) CPU for the kids PC?
Any thoughts much appreciated

As long as the motherboard manufacturer says it's supported (and your BIOS is up to date) then yes, it's just a matter of plugging it in

 

[markcomp]

any thoughts on a processor?

 

[LucoTF]

Asus cpu support list is on this page http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A88TM/HelpDesk_CPU/

Gigabyte is http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3907

Looks like the Asus supports the 965 so no problem there, and for the gigabyte get one of:

Fx-6300
FX-6350
FX-8300
FX-8320
FX-8350

Get the best of these that is in your budget

 

[markcomp]

Thanks for this, much appreciated - I should have thought it myself daa!!

Asus cpu support list is on this page http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A88TM/HelpDesk_CPU/

Gigabyte is http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3907

Looks like the Asus supports the 965 so no problem there, and for the gigabyte get one of:

Fx-6300
FX-6350
FX-8300
FX-8320
FX-8350

Get the best of these that is in your budget

 

[markcomp]

Thanks for this, going for the FX-8350 now it has come down in price