CPU upgrade for my M3A78-EM, original suggested CPU discontinued

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  1. Posts : 85
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #1

    CPU upgrade for my M3A78-EM, original suggested CPU discontinued


    Back in April I was discussing a CPU upgrade alongside my new video card, but now CPU that was suggested has been discontinued on Newegg

    What alternative that is compatible with my motherboard is for suggestion? I don't want to spend more than $120-130 and is a decent gaming CPU to upgrade from my aging Athlon 64 AM2 DC 3600+ 1.91 Ghz? I was looking at this, not sure if fully compatible with my motherboard.

    Also, how would an AM2 socket support an AM3 Phenom?
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  2. Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #2

    You need to go to the Asus website and find your cpu upgrade list. Just type in your motherboard and all the specs and upgrades should come up.

    http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M3A78EM/

    http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M3A...specifications


    Have you looked at Tigerdirect ?

    http://www.tigerdirect.com/
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  3. Posts : 1,686
    Windows 7 x64 Ultimate and numerous virtual machines
       #3

    ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- CPU Support M3A78-EM

    According to the list from Asus the answer is yes. Looks like it supports the quad cores too. You may have to upgrade your bios to the latest version before you install the new CPU.
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  4. Posts : 85
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    I haven't checked TigerDirect yet but I will have to if I can't find a quad core CPU for my motherboard on Newegg. Also thanks for the compatible CPU list Indianatone :)

    I might also consider triple core for the sake of price.
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  5. Posts : 7,466
    Windows 10 Home Premium 64bit sp1
       #5

    Glaice said:
    Back in April I was discussing a CPU upgrade alongside my new video card, but now CPU that was suggested has been discontinued on Newegg

    What alternative that is compatible with my motherboard is for suggestion? I don't want to spend more than $120-130 and is a decent gaming CPU to upgrade from my aging Athlon 64 AM2 DC 3600+ 1.91 Ghz? I was looking at this, not sure if fully compatible with my motherboard.

    Also, how would an AM2 socket support an AM3 Phenom?
    To support any AM3 chip the motherboard must be AM2+ AM2 will not work at all

    AM2+ AM3 AM3+-Current socket
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  6. Posts : 85
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    The motherboard appears to be an AM2 and AM2+ platform based on the specs page on ASUS's website.
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  7. Posts : 9,606
    Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
       #7

    You will never gain that much by upgrading a CPU in an old MB. You need to buy a newer MB & CPU combo to get the greatest effective increase that you desire
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  8. Posts : 85
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    I am on a pretty tight budget, that is why.
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  9. Posts : 1,711
    Win 7 Pro 64-bit 7601
       #9

    To give you a general idea of the performance of a processor, check PassMark. They benchmarked (and keep updated) nearly all processor around and gave them a score.

    This page highlights where your processor is in their charts. The top processor you can install is highlighted in this page as you can see, you can get around triple the performance before you have to buy a new mobo.

    This way you can make sure you get the most bang for your bucks.
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  10. Posts : 85
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Hmmm the CPU I am looking at is an AMD Athlon X3 450, which clocks out on Passmark at 3,064 in the lower list of the High End section, compared to my current CPU in the halfway section of Low Mid Range and getting a score of 940. This seems like a reasonable upgrade for $70ish for me. :)

    It just needs 95W as opposed to 65W for my current processor as well so I don't really see a need for me to upgrade my PSU to 550 or 600W. I also took a look at the AMD Phenom II X2 550, which got a 2,079 on the charts on PassMark so I can see which one is the superior choice between it and the X3.
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