Help Please, CPU not fitting on to motherboard?

[louis]

Hi all, I'm knee deep in my first build. My PSU is fitted, cd drive fitted, standoffs screwed on to my case (and lining up) so all's going well.

Think I may have encountered my first issue though. I bought a Phenom x4 940 with this motherboard

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-198-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=

I'm almost certain the chip is compatible but I just can't get the buggering pins to line up with the holes on the motherboard. It's definitely going on the right way, the little arrow is lined up with the same one on the chip and both have the 4 little square blocks in the exact same spots, yet I can't get it to sit nicely. The arm lever is raised and the pins aren't bent from what my naked eye can see. At a bit of a loss as to what the problem is.

I don't want to force it since I shouldn't need to and don't really want to damage anything.

Any ideas folks?

P.S Is there no way of getting away with DDR2 memory on this board or must it be DDR3?

Thanks all

 

[louis]

I may be wrong but I thought that CPU was an AM2+ and that board is AM3. I may be wrong but I cant see that CPU on the support list! OOOPS!

From OCUK's product description for the motherboard:

"Support for AM3 processors (Note1): AMD Phenom™ II X4 processor/ AMD Phenom™ II X3 processor"

Would the 940 not fall into this category? I've even counted the number of pins/holes either side of the 4 tiny squares on both the chip and the sockets, and all match up so the socket seems fine.

I give up on it, No matter how delicately I move the chip around, it won't sit in the socket. I've checked the pins and there isn't anything screaming out as being out of line (checking both axis) and I've been trying for about an hour now....Catch 22 of course is I can't give the thing any force incase I damage it and ruin any chance of returning it.

I've seen a video on youtube of a guy installing an i7 chip with no effort whatsoever, why can't it just be that easy....are the 940 style sockets notoriously fiddly or am I jut having bad luck in this case? All I can say is the design means that even a pin slightly out of line will cause a headache, which it has.

Any more ideas before I send it back to the site I bought it from?

EDIT* Gents, the last 3 replies came through while I was typing my response. Are we sure it's not compatible? I made the decision based on the product description as above and some friends go ahead....If it isn't compatible I should be able to get it replaced, the site I bought it from are pretty good with returns. Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[louis]

Cheers for the help chaps, I've sent the chip back along with a radeon 4670, ordered a replacement phenom x2 550 and upgraded to a ati 4850 with the £30 I saved on the replacement cpu.

Silly mistake in the end, being an expensive and from a newish range, i assumed it would be ok with an am3 motherboard. To make sure, I checked this site and sure enough it mentioned the phenom x4 processors being compatible from a quick glance. Should have been 100% sure but with the tweaks I've made, hopefully it'll turn out better than it would have been.