Hello Everyone,

This is the second question I am posting on the site. I learned a great deal from my first post and I'm hoping to do the same this time around.

I was just given a Compaq SR1910NX as a "hand-me-down" from my brother. I was more than willing to accept the computer as my older unit just died out on me.

The computer is not bad, however, it's powered by one of those rare Socket 939 Sempron 3200+ processors. Does anyone know if an Opteron 185 or an Athlon FX-60 will work with the existing motherboard inside the computer? I'd like to swap out the Sempron CPU with a better one and I was told that the Opteron 185 and the FX-60 are the fastest Socket 939 processors available.

Here's the spes on the motherboard:

Name: ASUS A8N-LA
HP/Compaq Name: Nagami-GL8E
Socket: 939
FSB: 2000MT/s or 1600MT/s depending on processor
Chipset: GeForce 6150 LE

For everyone who responds to my posting, I greatly appreciate your time and you thoughts.

Best,

Jason

The S939 Semprons are actually Athlon64's (either Winchester or Venice core) with a portion of the L2 cache disabled. The 3200+ is one of the "good" ones because it has 256k L2. Some of the others only have 128k L2. Too bad you have a Compaq because if you had a *normal* motherboard, you could overclock the crap out of it.

http://www.digital-daily.com/cpu/se...

Here's the specs on your board:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...

I don't know what you want to do with this system, but if it's for games, you'll also need a video upgrade. The integrated GeForce 6150 is NOT good for gaming. And if you upgrade the video card, you *may* need to upgrade the power supply as well.

Getting back to the CPU, an Opteron 185 will cost you close to $250...that's more than that rig is worth. But for $60, you can get a single core A64 4000+ San Diego or for less than $80, you can get an X2 4200+ Toledo.

The X2 3800+ is only $64

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

Plus you are going to need a better psu to go along with a good graphics card.

You can do an Opteron 180 @ 2.4ghz with no problem, but an FX 60 or an Opteron 185 @ 2.6ghz maybe a diff story. These processors came out at the tailend of the Socket 939 lifespan and a lot of namebrand Socket 939 motherboards and Socket 939 budget motherboards will most likely not recongize these types of dual core processor speeds without a bios update. Chances are your namebrand Socket 939 motherboard will not have a Bios update for these processors speeds, because it was only intended to read speeds of upto 2.4ghz which is the maxium mainstream dual core Socket 939 speed of an X2 4800+.

This is another downside of a namebrand pc. The Bios chip was made custom to your pc and whatever your Bios is instructed for to read up to then that's what it's going to read and nothing more.

Jam and Cobra_R: Thank you very much for the prompt
reply. It's like I mentioned in my original posting, I always
learn a thing or two on this website and I love that there is
a place like computing.net to assist people like me with
those questions that I would have no clue in answering.

Okay, I'll stick to an Opteron 180. It's sounds like the bios
update is too big of a hassle for the type of motherboard I
have. Do either of you have any recommendations on a
good PCI-E graphics card and a sold PCU? Nothing too
expensive, but something that would serve my needs. As
far as the graphics card goes, I would only need it for
occassional gaming and the PCU, I'm assuming that
anything greater than 400 watts will do the trick. Right?

Please let me know your thoughts when you get a chance.
And as always, your time is greatly appreciated.

Best,

Jason

"Okay, I'll stick to an Opteron 180"

Why?? The Opty 180 is a waste of money for your system. Stick with the X2 4200+...it's almost $100 cheaper.

"recommendations on a good PCI-E graphics card"

This article should help:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09...

"I'm assuming that anything greater than 400 watts will do the trick. Right?"

Don't judge a PSU based solely on wattage. Amperage is what's important & it has to be distributed properly across the various volatge rails. Many el-cheapo brands load up the amps on the little used +5v rail to falsely inflate the overall wattage rating on the PSU. There's no reason to have 40-50A on the +5v...25A +/- is more than sufficient. The +12v rail is the most important...if the unit has dual +12v, they should have 18A each. If it's a single +12v unit, it should have at least 30A. Stick with reputable brand names & plan on spending at least $50-75 for something decent.

Here's an example of a well spec'd unit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...