Upgrading on the cheap. Going from AM2 to AM3.

[TheCamba]

We all know that when times get tough, the best option is to do things on the cheap. 

 

I have an old AM2/AM2+ board that supports AM3.  [ECS BLACK SERIES A780GM-A] (no longer available on newegg). Running with a AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+.  A friend suggested that I at least update to a quad core to get the most out of my old system.

 

Anyone think for or against picking up an AM3 AMD PHEN II X4 840 3.2?  Or something the like on Ebay or another vendor?

 

 

 

Extra: It already has 8GB of DDR2 800, runs a hand me down GTX 260, and has an SSD.  (again, I know its old, but we do what we got to do.)

 

Thanks,

 

 

[Tmt97]

I say go for it. AM3 is pretty much your only upgrade path, unless you have the money to upgrade both the motherboard and the cpu at once.

[mattonfire]

I say go for it. AM3 is pretty much your only upgrade path, unless you have the money to upgrade both the motherboard and the cpu at once.

This ^^

[TheCamba]

I say go for it. AM3 is pretty much your only upgrade path, unless you have the money to upgrade both the motherboard and the cpu at once.

It pretty much is the only upgrade path as I have looked at it.  I picked up a 600watt PSU on the cheap a couple days ago so that when time, I could upgrade CPU, RAM, MOBO at the same time.

 

I would like to go Intel, but I am not ready to commit to a $400+ upgrade at the moment.  Still working on paying off my student loans.

 

Anyone recommend a particular AM3 quad core?  Or a site that handles them well.  I am thinking Ebay, but haven't decided.