I want to upgrade a prebuilt PC's processor. HELP!

[DatBoiWaddup]

This PC currently has a motherboard called: ASUS M4A78LTM_LE

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A78LTM_LE/

 

It has the processor called: AMD Athlon II X2 250

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Athlon+II+X2+250&id=136 

 

The processor and motherboard have the socket AM3.

 

I want to know this processor would work: AMD Phenom II X4 955

https://www.amazon.it/AMD-X4-955-3-2-GHz-Quad-Core-processore-HDX955WFK4DGM/dp/B01CQO7XPM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502052218&sr=8-2&keywords=phenom+ii+x4

 

If there are better processors that are compatible, then let me know. 

 

IMPORTANT: I'm doing this for someone in Italy so it has to be able to be shipped in Italy which is why that amazon link is in italian.

 

Thank you!

[Vegetable]

the X4 955 isnt even supported according to the CPU support list. The fastest you could get would be an X4 945 or an X6 1035T/1045T

[minibois]

Yea the 4 corer Phenoms are your best bet on that platform, or a 6 core (Phenom X6) if you can get your hands on one. That is providing your motherboard supports it, because I know some AM3 chips were quite power hungry.

I just upgraded from an Athlon X2 255 on a similar boards to an AM4 machine and man it's a big difference. Costs quite a bit more though, than just swapping the CPU.

 

But if you're gonna look into a new CPU on a different board, you're gonna have to get new memory too and the motherboard might not fit if you're case is non standard and at that point you're just buying a new system.. But if you were thinking about that, you could look into the new Ryzen 3 CPU's. Quite good value IMO.

[DatBoiWaddup]

Just now, Minibois said:

Yea the 4 corer Phenoms are your best bet on that platform, or a 6 core (Phenom X6) if you can get your hands on one. That is providing your motherboard supports it, because I know some AM3 chips were quite power hungry.

I just upgraded from an Athlon X2 255 on a similar boards to an AM4 machine and man it's a big difference. Costs quite a bit more though, than just swapping the CPU.

 

But if you're gonna look into a new CPU on a different board, you're gonna have to get new memory too and the motherboard might not fit if you're case is non standard and at that point you're just buying a new system.. But if you were thinking about that, you could look into the new Ryzen 3 CPU's. Quite good value IMO.

I cannot do a mobo swap as that will be too much work with trying to keep the OS the same without doing a fresh install, but thanks a lot for the info! I will keep researching.

[Jonathan Lemmens]

Tbh, an AM3 CPU is not worth upgrading imo. If your budget is really tight and will remain so for a while, then maybe it is. But if you can, try to save enough to buy a new platform (mobo, CPU and RAM) if you need an upgrade. 

[DatBoiWaddup]

Just now, Jonathan Lemmens said:

Tbh, an AM3 CPU is not worth upgrading imo. If your budget is really tight and will remain so for a while, then maybe it is. But if you can, try to save enough to buy a new platform (mobo, CPU and RAM) if you need an upgrade. 

It's a workstation so don't need much. Just want to have 4 cores instead of 2 for better multitasking.

[Jonathan Lemmens]

1 minute ago, DatBoiWaddup said:

It's a workstation so don't need much. Just want to have 4 cores instead of 2 for better multitasking.

But I'm afraid this mobo does not support anything over a dualcore. If you had an AM3+ mobo then yeah, you could get a decent performace bump. But because its 'just' AM3 and also a prebuilt PC it probably won't support many upgrades.