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

[Glaice]

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?

 

[AddRAM]

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/M3A78EM/#specifications


Have you looked at Tigerdirect ?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/

 

[Indianatone]

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.

 

[Glaice]

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.

 

[Solarstarshines]

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

 

[Glaice]

The motherboard appears to be an AM2 and AM2+ platform based on the specs page on ASUS's website.

 

[DocBrown]

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

 

[Glaice]

I am on a pretty tight budget, that is why.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

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.

 

[Glaice]

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.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

yup.

Consider a good cheap cooler too. The stock one on mine (has 95W of TDP too) has to run the fan at "takeoff" speeds to cope with the heat if the room is above 23°C / 77 F.

In the budget section it's hard to beat a Hyper 212 EVO.

I'm not trying to sell anything, try the stock cooler first.

 

[Glaice]

I will keep that in mind by keeping it in a wish list But it is only warm here in the summer when the AC in my room is not in the window, otherwise it is like 65-67 F (18-19.4 C) in the room if not colder. I live in the northeast so I am good nearly year round.

 

[Glaice]

To bump this up I am wondering with my setup when I get the processor if I will run into any power draw issues under load in 3D gaming. I just have a feeling I am running really close to the 500W limit as the power supply is about 4 years old now and may have an effect on total load.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

I doubt you are getting anywhere close to 500W, unless you have other stuff you aren't telling.

Your 7850 card needs 180-190W at max (from real-life tests in reviews when it is running very heavy benchmarking programs), and the new processor is 95W at max (TDP = power draw). Hard drives use 6-15 watts at max per unit. It adds up to 300-ish watts at a total 100% load which is completely unrealistic. Say 400W to be safe.

This calculator can also be of assistance to get a less eyeballed estimate.

 

[Glaice]

Yea, I did use that calculator and two others to get a rough estimate and yes, there is nothing extra within my system.