Will this CPU work with my motherboard?

[dragonjen]

I'm in the process of chasing quotes for upgrading my pc and just wanted a second opinion before I proceed. I've also been told there might be issues with the graphics card, although I'm not sure if that was just an excuse to 'encourage' me to purchase a new system.

Current Motherboard: ASUSTeK M2N68-CM
Current Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+
Quoted CPU upgrade: AMD Phenom X4 9650 2.3GHz 2MB

The upgrade also will include win7 install and more ram.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Cheers,
Jen

 

[PP Mguire]

Yes the CPU will work, but the first gen Phenom quads suck hard. Depending on what you have now for a CPU and what you intend on doing with your computer it could actually be a downgrade. You would be better off getting a Phenom 2 after doing a bios update.

Really hard to give any real advice without knowing any further details.

 

[dragonjen]

Thanks for your reply Mguire.

What sort of details do you need? I can attach an AIDA32 report if that helps. (I know my bios is out of date!)

My current CPU is AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ and I'd like a quad core so I reach the min specs on some games I want to play! Assassins Creed 3 is what's currently choking on my baby - so my current aim is to be able to play that!

 

[PP Mguire]

AC3 is being choked by your GPU.

http://www.techist.com/forums/f76/your-cpu-modern-games-guide-those-building-261626/

My 6000+ paired with a 5850 plays BF3 at 59FPS solid and it's more demanding than AC3. Currently my fiance is playing Dark Souls 2 flawlessly at 1080p with the same 6000+ and 5850.

Games are pretty much 99% GPU dependent and single threaded apps will be slower on the Phenom due to its IPC being much lower and also its clocks are slower than the 6000+. To simplify that, the Phenom 1 quad will be much much slower at gaming than your current 6000+. A more realistic upgrade would be a better GPU as the 9800GTX+ is a little long in the tooth these days. If you absolutely want to retain your current setup then a Phenom 2 555 or 955BE would be a much better choice. Even still, at 1080p your 9800GTX+ will still choke the game up on higher settings.