AMD Athlon64 X2 Dual Core 5200 upgrade plan

[Aideen]

I am thinking of to upgrade my computer keeping the same Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H motherboard. My system is currently powered by AMD Athlon64 X2 dual core 5200 processor and I am thinking of to change this. I need your help over here. Which processor is more feasible in place of this one?

[PeterAGASSI]

Since you have not mentioned about any graphics card then I suppose you are not into gaming or video/photo editing part. Correct me if I am wrong. In such case, and since your motherboard can support, I would suggest you to go for Phenom II 965. However it completely depends on your budget and your requirements. Other than that I would suggest you to go for Athlon II X3 435. It should give you best performance.

[Aideen]

I am using Nvidia 8800gtx, I play some games when I am free but not too much. But I want good graphics during my gameplay. You are suggesting me to go for Phenom II 965 but I would like to inform you that I have AM2 socket on my motherboard and so it will not fit on my computer. Do you have some other suggestions?

[PeterAGASSI]

Certainly you can use Phenom II 965 in your current configuration, I can see it being listed in the CPU support list. However if you want then you can even purchase Phenom II X6 which is even good at things. Amd has also released some X4 model which is similar to Intel's turbo boost technology. Otherwise I would suggest to stick with 965 because it is good at gaming and other works.

[Aideen]

So do you want to state that I should go for AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition? I would also like to tell you that I am already having DDR2 RAM of 2GB. I would also like to know about your thoughts on my PSU. At present I am using 650W power supply and so should I change it or not? And do I have to change my motherboard also? Someone suggested me that!

[tEcH mAsTer]

Aideen, i checked your motherboard(mobo), and its already AM3 compatible, check this link:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/products/....aspx?pid=3447

You will get the advantage of buying a new motherboard in case of Hyper Transport 3.0(its 3000MHz compairing to your current 2600MHz) and other nick-nacks (SATA 6GB/s etc.). Please take a look at the mobo i suggest below.

In case you still want to buy a new mother board i would suggest you buy the ECS A785GM-M. It will cost you around Rs.5000 and is feature packed and really good value for money.
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Pro...nuID=1&LanID=0

Enjoy your computing!!

Best regards,
Daz..

[PeterAGASSI]

I suppose there is nothing to talk about your current psu right now. It is perfectly ok. You can go for a better graphics card with this psu. And yes you are right I was talking about AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition. You can even clock it to 3.3 GHz, if you know about overclocking, in order to get better performance. You can even lower down the power consumption of this with this. For motherboard, there is no need of upgrading or changing the motherboard. You can use the same motherboard.