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CPU Upgrade

Bacon?

Bacon?

Bacon?

Soldato
Joined
21 Apr 2012
Posts
4,991
Location
Bristol
Hey guys long time no see ;)

I had a friend ask me yesterday if he could upgrade his CPU to get a little more umpf from his PC. Its an AM3 CPU, think its an Athlon 2. He does video editing type work from what I know.

His motherboard is a AM3 (not AM3+) HP model from whes told me. Hes bringing in the full name today.

I suggested he look at getting something like a Phenom 2 X4 or similar. And if hes BIOS has an update (he checked and said he couldnt find an update) for AM3+ processors a FX4300 or 6300.

Anyone got any other advice? He has 4GB of RAM to so should be fine (DDR3 AFAIK)
 
It's all going to depend on the model of the mobo and whether it can actually take anything faster with or without a bios update. Sometimes they skimp on mobo features and can't be upgraded. We will have to wait and see the exact model he has.
 
If you can grab an old x4 955, that'd be a great buy..

THough if the board supports piledriver a 6300 would be a good choice, though by the sounds of it i doubt it..
 
The thing is if the mobo is changed windows may no longer work on it. A lot of manufacturers have windows tied to the mobo bios. On bootup windows looks for the key in the bios and if it's not there no boot.
 
and then just activate it. vast majority of the time it will activate online just fine, otherwise you might need to call free MS activation line. In the absolutely worst case, you'd tell them that the mobo was faulty and had to be replaced.

these are all older boards, windows tied to BIOS will not apply here.
 
Last edited:
pastymuncher said:
You misunderstood. Some OEMs tie their own versions of windows to their own motherboards via a key in the bios. Those versions of windows will not work with a normal motherboard.
Click to expand...

SO. download a new copy of windows from the Microsoft site and install it.
no product key is needed i have a laptop that been running a copy W7 for over a year with no key and its fine. microsoft disable some stuff but its just crap they turn off.
 
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