Hey all you gurus.I'm thinking on installing a new cpu in an older system but I wanted to ask here before I did anything.Anytime I have a problem I come here and usually dont even have to ask the question for finding a related thread.What I have is an ASUS M2N32-SLI DELUXE mobo with an AMD Athalon dual core cpu.I was wondering if I can change that out to the newer Phenom quad core cpu.I see the phenom is an AM3 socket whereas mine is AM2.Right there is probably my answer wether it will work or not but that is why I am here.Is this possible? If it is,is it worth it? Or should I upgrade mobo as well?What I am trying to achieve is just a bit more umpf out of this system w/out dropping a load of cash.I currently have 2 gigs of ram,was gonna double that as well.Anyway,I'll leave it up to you guys,I always appreciate the posts here.Thanks in advance to anyone that replies.
Thanks for the link and I'm sorry I forgot to mention that I am running windows 7 and XP Pro on a dual boot but I mostly use the 7 now.I hardly ever use XP anymore and thats kinda sad after using it for so long.Farewell old friend.Anyway I tried some of the settings listed on the link you provided(I think I have something similar in a PC World mag. here somewhere) and it did speeds things up quite nicely,tyvm.I guess for the most part I'm happy w/ it but with the new USB 3.0 making its debut and DDR3 and AM3 I'm gonna have to setup a new machine or something.May I ask what you would suggest as far as cpu's?Be it AMD or Intel.Also,how about Gpu,Nvidia or ATI?I've always been an AMD/NVIDIA guy myself but I hear that ATI may be the way to go now,I dunno.Any advice will be appreciated.thx in advance for your reply.
I prefer intel cpu's, but AMD Phenom performs good aswell. I'd definitely go ATI though, they have way better drivers then nvidia for the moment. If you want ddr3 and usb3.0 on a flying machine, then the intel i7 is highly recommended, but not really cheap. Mobo is personal preference. I love Asus, others may prefer Gigabyte... Just make sure the ram is compatible with the mobo, timings are tuned right and psu is sufficient.