CPU Upgrade (AMD)

smoking_kills

Hi all, need to upgrade the cpu, currently has a AMD Athlon X2 (B) (AM2+)

mobo is M2N68-LA(NARRA5) 3gb ram

Supported cpu according to the manufacturer are:

Motherboard supports the following processor upgrades:
NOTE only socket AM2+ processors are supported with this motherboard.

AMD Phenom II Quad-Core
AMD Phenom II Triple-Core
AMD Phenom Quad-Core (A) 9xxx series (AM2+)
AMD Phenom Triple-Core (T) 8xxx series (AM2+)
AMD Athlon X4
AMD Athlon X3
AMD Athlon X2 (B) (AM2+)

Which one is fastest/ or best bang for my euros?

Thanks in advance

Rob

Tea_Bag

Phenom II x4 955 without a doubt. under €100 delivered in most places.

smoking_kills

Thank you very much

just one more thing, am3 and am2+ are they interchangable? All the Phenom II x4 955 i can find are am3 socket? Mobo specs say am2+ only

marco_polo

Is that from here, if so you left out a rather important piece of information

TDP: 95W

Which rules out alot of 125W chips like the 955 unfortunately . Athlon II quads are probably as high as you can go.

smoking_kills

Yeah, ok thanks, i'll get it sorted

marco_polo

smoking_kills wrote: »

Thank you very much

just one more thing, am3 and am2+ are they interchangable? All the Phenom II x4 955 i can find are am3 socket? Mobo specs say am2+ only

AM2+ boards can support AM2 and AM3 CPUs. The main difference between an AM2+ and AM3 board is that the AM2+ boards cannot not use the DDR3 memory controller on an AM3 CPU but must use the DDR2 memory controller on the motherboard instead.

It would be nice if HP had a specific CPU support list like most normal motherboard product pages have. There are a few 95W Phenom II X4 and X6 CPUs in existance but I have never seen any of the usual retailers stock them, bar the 925 below.

You best bet is probably something like the 925 BE (note CPU cooler needed) or the likes of the Athlon II X4 635/640 or Phenom II X4 840 (Really an Athlon II in disguise as it has no L3 cache). Doesn't really matter too much which one of these four as there is not a great difference between any of them.

Tea_Bag

marco_polo wrote: »

AM2+ boards can support AM2 and AM3 CPUs. The main difference between an AM2+ and AM3 board is that the AM2+ boards cannot not use the DDR3 memory controller on an AM3 CPU but must use the DDR2 memory controller on the motherboard instead.

It would be nice if HP had a specific CPU support list like most normal motherboard product pages have. There are a few 95W Phenom II X4 and X6 CPUs in existance but I have never seen any of the usual retailers stock them, bar the 925 below.

You best bet is probably something like the 925 BE (note CPU cooler needed) or the likes of the Athlon II X4 635/640 or Phenom II X4 840 (Really an Athlon II in disguise as it has no L3 cache). Doesn't really matter too much which one of these four as there is not a great difference between any of them.

****e that was bad research on my part. i made a stupid assumption that phenom II x4 would be all versions, not just the 95W one.

925BE looks good for that price. a cooler can be picked up cheap second hand or €15 new if money is tight.

if youre in limerick ill give you some thermal compound for free.