Best CPU upgrade for an older motherboard?

Hey everyone,

I really need you guys to help me out with picking a new CPU.
Money is pretty tight right now so I can't just go buy a whole new rig, so I'm thinking about just patching up
my old setup. I already sorted out the RAM and the GPU, so I just want to give the processor a little boost.

Anyway,

I've got an Asus M2N-SLI deluxe te motherboard
and I'm looking to swap out my current Athlon x2 4000 + for something a bit beefier.
I pulled this list from the Asus website, so if you could just tell me which one of these
is probably the best bet, that would be awesome.

I was poking around on eBay and saw you can find an Athlon x2 6500 for maybe $33 or something like that.

Here's the link showing which processors it supports (it's an AM2 socket), though it says it works with AM2+ and AM3 too, but honestly, I'm a little confused by that part.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M2N.../HelpDesk_CPU/

Thanks to all the experts out there!
LP
🙂

The Amd x2 7750. I’m fairly certain that represents the absolute pinnacle of this socket.

mellowtiger83 said:Amd x2 7750, I think that's the top of that socket

Wrong.

I'll start a thread,

but just grab some triple-core Athlon or even a quad-core. You'll probably need to flash the BiOSA first to get support for them.

Something in the range of
x3 450
x4 640

or a triple-core Phenom... stuff like that.

I wouldn't touch Phenom chips like the x4 955 or 965 because this motherboard's power delivery is too weak.

The Phenom x4 9950 is essentially the top-tier processor compatible with that motherboard.

The power delivery looks solid, especially with that 4+1 phase setup and the VRM cooling. It should handle a Phenom... maybe an x4 945 would work, though you'll probably need to flash a beta BiOSA first.

Let me jump in here too 😁

The thing is, looking at the support page, I don't see any mention of Phenom support—it just lists Sempron and Athlon chips
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M2NMX_SE/HelpDesk_CPU/, which is a bit of a bummer because I actually scored an Athlon x2 4600 on eBay recently and it’s been working perfectly fine, though I know the absolute ceiling for this board is an Athlon x2 6000 since I'm running on an AM2 socket

But now, I've stumbled upon this Phenom x4 9950, which looks like an absolutely stellar processor!

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AM...ZXAGHBOX).html

It says it works with both AM2 and AM2+ sockets, and my motherboard is rated to handle up to 89 W TDP

So, I can't help but wonder what would actually happen if I tried to drop that Phenom in there. I've heard some people say all you need is a BIOS update and that AM2+ chips are compatible with AM2 boards, and I actually just performed a BIOS update via a bootable USB in DOS to get onto the latest 2008 version, which is the most recent one listed on the manufacturer's site. I'm just curious if that Phenom would actually function even though it isn't officially on the CPU list for the m2n-mx-se; I assume it wouldn't work if it's not listed, but I'm also limited to 2 GB of RAM on this setup, so I'm not really planning on sinking more money into this machine while I'm still using this board, but I'm asking purely out of curiosity😁

😉

http://www.ebay.com/itm/amd...listing-11662145
Personally, I don't see anything better than this.

wanderingpanther68 said:Let me jump in here too. 😁

Looking at the specs, this board doesn't list support for Phenom, just Sempron and Athlon models.
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M2NMX_SE/HelpDesk_CPU/, I spent quite a bit of time hunting around on eBay and eventually picked up an Athlon x2 4600, which works great. The best one for my current setup is the Athlon x2 6000, since I'm on the AM2 socket.

But now I've spotted the Phenom x4 9950, which looks like an incredible processor!

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AM...ZXAGHBOX).html

It mentions compatibility with AM2 and AM2+, and my motherboard supports up to 89 W.

I'm wondering what would happen if I actually installed that Phenom. Some people say all you need is a BIOS update and that AM2+ chips work fine on AM2. I actually just performed a BIOS update using a bootable USB via DOS to get to the latest 2008 version—that's the newest one listed on the manufacturer's site. So, I'm just curious: would that Phenom actually run even though it isn't officially on the m2n-mx-se compatibility list? Probably not, but I'm curious. Plus, my board caps out at 2 GB of RAM, so I don't plan on spending much more on this machine, but I'd love to know for the sake of information.😁

😉

Even with a BIOS update, I can only use CPUs that are actually on the official list.

Thanks for all the help, everyone!

So, I checked my BiOSA version,
and yeah, I already updated it a while back,
so right now I'm running:

1701 BIOS for M2N-SLI deluxe te
Support new CPUs, please refer to our CPU support list for more details:
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...Language=en-us

After that one, the only other option is 5001, but that's just for AM3 processors.

There’s this site that sells used CPUs straight from China,
and they guarantee everything works—they apparently test every single one before shipping.

9950 - $133 95W
6750 - $107 125W

I might just go for one of those, maybe?

Do I need to worry about the power draw because of my motherboard?
Can I just throw any of them in there?

Thanks again, guys!
LP

Alex Anderson3 said:Thanks for all the replies.

I checked my BIOS version,
I've already updated it once,
the current version is:

1701 BIOS for M2N-SLI deluxe te
Support new CPUs, please refer to our CPU support list for more details:
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...Language=en-us

After that, there's only 5001 for AM3 processors.

There's this site selling used processors from China,
they guarantee functionality—they test everything before shipping.

9950 - $133 95W
6750 - $107 125W

I might pull the trigger on one of those.

Do I need to worry about power draw because of the motherboard?
Can I just throw any of them in?

Thanks everyone
LP

Just grab an Athlon x3 or x4 under 95W on Craigslist and you're good to go. What GPU are you running? Also, make sure to update to the 5001 BIOS.

Honestly, those first Phenomi X3 and X4 chips were pretty much garbage even when they launched, so I'd steer clear. Things get a little better once you hit the Phenom II or Athlon II era, since they actually brought some decent progress and hold some value. Maybe listen to Alexander Moore67 and just hunt down an Athlon ii x3 that works with your board; you'll probably notice a bit of a boost with that.

Or, if you're feeling adventurous, maybe stop throwing money at that ancient motherboard and just grab a new RAM kit, a fresh mobo, and a board. A modern processor from $100 would likely be way faster than what you're running now anyway.

Tiki is right on the money here. Just grab a pentium 4, a motherboard, and some RAM—you can probably pull the whole lot together for about $800-$$300 and call it a day. Honestly, shelling out $133 just for the processor alone is a total waste of money. Your best bet is to hunt down something used for maybe $$67 if you get lucky, otherwise, just buy new.