AMD Phenom X4 9950 vs. AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+

[anoor9000]

Greetings,

 

I have come across the internals of an HP-a6200n desktop computer: https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-a6200n-athlon-64-x2-5000-plus-2-6ghz-2gb-ram-320gb-hdd-vista-home-premium/specs/

 

The current CPU is a  AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+. Through research, I believe the best AM2 CPU is the AMD Phenom X4 9950. If it is not, please inform me.

 

I am wondering if I would be able to swap out the CPU for a AMD Phenom X4 9950. Would the PSU and mobo handle it? What about the cooling solution? If so, would it be worth the $20 I would spend getting a used AMD Phenom X4 9950? I am using this PC as an HTPC/Emulation PC. I slapped on a 1GB Radeon HD 5450 that I had lying around. 

 

Thanks for the help

[Stefan Payne]

5 hours ago, anoor9000 said:

Through research, I believe the best AM2 CPU is the AMD Phenom X4 9950. If it is not, please inform me.

No, that's an AM2+ CPU wich means that for it to work on an AM2 Board, you need a special BIOS Update with a so called AGESA inside. 

And its highly unlikely that that is the case with your board as Am2 Boards that actually support AM2+ CPUs are very rare - only the most common  and higher end boards got a BIOS Update for that.

So you're stuck with the 5000+ and it doesn't even really make sense to upgrade...

 

Here the Board Specs:

https://support.hp.com/lamerica_nsc_carib-en/document/c01077676

 

And since it has an nVidia Shitset, its highly likely that it might die anytime..

The good thing is that its a standard ATX Thing so you can replace the Board with whatever you can find in µATX...

And when you do replacing, pls also replace the PSU with something good (like be quiet System Power or Pure Power 400W or so)

[anoor9000]

13 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

No, that's an AM2+ CPU wich means that for it to work on an AM2 Board, you need a special BIOS Update with a so called AGESA inside. 

And its highly unlikely that that is the case with your board as Am2 Boards that actually support AM2+ CPUs are very rare - only the most common  and higher end boards got a BIOS Update for that.

So you're stuck with the 5000+ and it doesn't even really make sense to upgrade...

 

Here the Board Specs:

https://support.hp.com/lamerica_nsc_carib-en/document/c01077676

 

And since it has an nVidia Shitset, its highly likely that it might die anytime..

The good thing is that its a standard ATX Thing so you can replace the Board with whatever you can find in µATX...

And when you do replacing, pls also replace the PSU with something good (like be quiet System Power or Pure Power 400W or so)

This computer isn't my main driver. I found the internals and I am going to build an HTPC out of it with a different GPU. The experience is extremely sluggish even on an SSD so I figured getting a cheap CPU what goes in the same socket might revitalize it. It still functions, just compared to what I use on a daily basis it makes using it painful.

 

I agree the power supply is suspect. for some reason the ATX power for the motherboard excludes the last 4 pins so you have power from the CPU only going to 20/24 pins. How does that even work?

[Stefan Payne]

9 hours ago, anoor9000 said:

The experience is extremely sluggish even on an SSD so I figured getting a cheap CPU what goes in the same socket might revitalize it.

How much memory does it have?
That's the first thing, 4GiB is the bare minimum to really use Windows 10

9 hours ago, anoor9000 said:

It still functions, just compared to what I use on a daily basis it makes using it painful.

Haven't used an AM2 CPU in a while and no reason to do it, so can't comment on it.

But I use a Core 2 Duo regularly and that is still OKish...

9 hours ago, anoor9000 said:

I agree the power supply is suspect. for some reason the ATX power for the motherboard excludes the last 4 pins so you have power from the CPU only going to 20/24 pins. How does that even work?

I think you mean a 4pin CPU Header and only a 20pin ATX Connector, right?

Yeah, that's when you use an older ATX 1.3 PSU or so with newer ATX 2.0 stuff.

Might have had that PSU lying around at the time. the 24pin ATX was introduced back in 2004 with PCIe...

[anoor9000]

On 10/9/2018 at 2:16 AM, Stefan Payne said:

How much memory does it have?
That's the first thing, 4GiB is the bare minimum to really use Windows 10

Haven't used an AM2 CPU in a while and no reason to do it, so can't comment on it.

But I use a Core 2 Duo regularly and that is still OKish...

I think you mean a 4pin CPU Header and only a 20pin ATX Connector, right?

Yeah, that's when you use an older ATX 1.3 PSU or so with newer ATX 2.0 stuff.

Might have had that PSU lying around at the time. the 24pin ATX was introduced back in 2004 with PCIe...

It has 4GB of RAM. I ordered another 4GB of Kingston DDR2 from Aliexpress for $5 to hopefully give it some kick.

 

 The ATX power header on the motherboard has 24 pins available, but the power supply cable that plugs into the 24 pin only has 20 pins, so that last 4 open pins on the motherboard don't have anything plugged into it.

 

[Stefan Payne]

On 10/11/2018 at 1:04 AM, anoor9000 said:

It has 4GB of RAM. I ordered another 4GB of Kingston DDR2 from Aliexpress for $5 to hopefully give it some kick.

That is rather close but shoud be somewhat OK, if you don't do too much with it...

And maybe it might make sense to use the 32bit version

On 10/11/2018 at 1:04 AM, anoor9000 said:

 The ATX power header on the motherboard has 24 pins available, but the power supply cable that plugs into the 24 pin only has 20 pins, so that last 4 open pins on the motherboard don't have anything plugged into it.

Yeah, that's what they did back in the day with cheapish Business Models. Just use an old ATX 1.x PSU with just 20pins...