Nforce 590 AM2 Board - Best CPU?

[Bunjiweb]

Well I've been pondering upgrading for a while, and as I have been incredibly lucky recently and won myself both an 850W Enermax PSU on here and an ASUS GTX 550 card off their Facebook page I decided to look in to what my motherboard is capable of and if it is worth upgrading the CPU.

The board itself is a FoxConn reference board as fitted to Alienware machines - The delightfully named 'C51XEM2AA'

I understand this is a 590 chipset and an AM2 socket but that's about all I know and I'm struggling to find more information about what is the best CPU this board can handle. It's Currently got in it an Athlon X2 5200+ running at stock 2.6GHZ.

[Bunjiweb]

No one? A friend told me that some AM3 chips might work in the board, is this true?

[MadduckUK]

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD...400CZWOF).html (90nm)

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD...600DOBOX).html (65nm)

in theory - its going to depend on the BIOS, and if it has been updated for newer CPU's as much as anything.

[DanceswithUnix]

You need to find a CPU compatibility chart for your board, I had a quick look but couldn't find one or BIOS update notes which sometimes list new processors added.

Some AM2 boards had AM2+ support added when Phenom came out, some (like mine) didn't so we really can't say. I used a 5600+ X2 in my AM2 board but I was upgrading from single core so it was a big change.

[scaryjim]

I've known motherboards accept and work fine with CPUs that weren't officially supported, but it's not guaranteedm sadly. You've also got the issue that AMD are currently running down retail supply of the lower end Athlon II/Phenom II CPUs to try to shift more volume of their APUs and lower-end Bulldozer, so it's harder to get hold of them.

Theoretically *any* AM3 CPU *might* work, but you could potentially be taking a risk if you buy one then find out that it doesn't, or that it's limited to only working at 800MHz, or that there's some other bizzarre limitation for no apparent reason. Since it's an OEM board made specially for Dell, your best bet is to look up the specific Alienware PC that it originally came with and see what updates have been made available - that might give you a better idea...

[DanceswithUnix]

Looks to me like you can use a 6400+, if you can find one.

http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Foxcon...A-8EKRS2H.html

TBH I would put the money towards an AM3+ or FM1 motherboard. That means CPU, motherboard and ram all in one hit, but you can sometimes get a good bundle deal.

[Bunjiweb]

Not sure that an upgrade is really worth it for a 6400. I might just OC to 3ghz (if it gets there stable) until I can afford a new mobo / CPU.

Thanks for the help though peeps :-)

[Zak33]

Bunji.. I think I have a phenom 1 at home somewhere.... pm me to remind me and I'll look later