Boring Upgrade Options Thread

Muel

Muel

Muel

Soldato
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Howdo,

I'm looking at upgrading my aunty's computer, and at the moment it has an Athlon64 3800+, the motherboard is an Asus M2NS-NVM/S, which according to the manual is an AM2 socket board that supports Athlon64, Athlon64 X2 and Sempron CPUs.

Here is the manual I found. It's on a German site but appears to be for the correct board.

Would this CPU work in it? I can't find out if AM2+ CPUs work in AM2 boards.

I'd also be looking to upgrade the RAM, but I think I have that sorted. It will take upto 4x1gb 400/533/667/800mhz unbuffered non-ECC modules. At the moment it has some 4x256mb 400mhz rubbish. The plan is to get 2x1gb 667/800mhz for it.

What I'm wondering is, would it be worth upgrading the motherboard at the same time? I stuck an E5300 with a Gigabyte G41M-E2SL and 2gb of 1066mhz ram in my brothers computer recently, and it flies now for everyday stuff. (Overclocked to 1066mhz RAM and 3.4ghz CPU). Would that be a better cost/improvement ratio than just upgrading the CPU and RAM in this motherboard?

I guess the first step is to find out if that CPU will work, then compare it with an E5300. Changing to that Gigabyte board would have a lot of advantages, I know my way round it for one thing, and it's a much better board than this current one with a lot more features, but they're not needed. It's not going to be overclocked, it's only for surfing the web. Also if I change the board, I'd have to reinstall the OS, which would be a pain in the arse.

Cheers guys!
 
Having had a look, reason why Asus dont have the board on their site is its an OEM board for Packard Bell, is that right? is this a PB? If it is you could have major problems trying to change mobo etc as OEMs such as PB/Dell etc tend to move away from ATX specification and use their own thing, also whilst AM2 boards do take AM2+ CPUs (to answer your question) they often need a BIOS update, you'll have to contact PB to see if there is one, if not then youll be stuck with AM2 CPUs which are only available via 2nd hand sources nowadays, if there is a BIOS update then your best bet is to just bung in a new CPU, if not your options are to try and source an old AM2 CPU which is better than the current one, if there isnt then you have to either leave machine as is or basically bin and do a new build as pretty much nothing will be capable of being carried over
 
It is indeed a Packard Bell. Apparently the board is the uATX form factor according to the manual.

I'll look into the CPU upgrade in the future. For the time being I reckon giving it a good clear out is the best bet, then the next stage more ram. It has been supplied with 4x256mb of ram, and Vista. Whoever drew up this spec needs shooting! Even when idling it's hammering the page file by the looks of it.
 
lol
yeah thats why vista got slammed on release, cos most OEMs didnt use anywhere near enough RAM for it to run properly, it needs 4 gig really to run smooth, which was ahead of its time (standard now I know) vista wasnt nearly as bad as most people made out, so long as you had a top system capable of running it, but thats where MS did drop the ball cos a new OS shouldnt require a top end system, anyway enough rambling
 
I've got so many other little grievances with Vista after working on this computer today that I'd be here all night if we went down that path lol.

I heard 2gb minimum? W7 seems to run really smooth for everyday stuff with 2gb to me. In your opinion, would going from 1gb to 2gb make a significant difference, despite this CPU? It's only a 2.4ghz single core after all. I know they were more efficient than the equivalent Pentium 4, but it's still a little weedy...

Thanks for your advice. :)
 
Yeah 2 gig would still be a massive improvement, I was just saying 4 as a ultimate no slow down at all scenario, 2 gig would help loads though yeah, definitely worth it, something like this
 
First step is to clear out the OS and see what difference that makes, and keep an eye out for the right RAM second hand. Once it has 2gb in there we'll see if it's fast enough. If not then I'll look at CPU upgrades.

Cheers. :)
 
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