Fox92 Posted 30 November 2009 Share Posted 30 November 2009 Evening all, hope you all well. I'll get down to it and make it short: Current PC has a AMD Sempron in. Want to put in the AMD Athlon. I have only ever replaced the RAM, hard drive and expansion cards such as graphics card, sound card etc but never the processor, so I need a little help. Here are the questions: Can I directly replace the processor? Will I need new hardware or not? Will I need to buy Windows XP again? Can I put the new processor in, turn on the PC and it will run? Cheers everyone. Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB11 Posted 30 November 2009 Share Posted 30 November 2009 Think so, as long as the motherboard supports it. Just try and see what happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 1 December 2009 Author Share Posted 1 December 2009 Think so, as long as the motherboard supports it.Just try and see what happens Thats what I am scared of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Posted 1 December 2009 Share Posted 1 December 2009 Evening all, hope you all well.I'll get down to it and make it short: Current PC has a AMD Sempron in. Want to put in the AMD Athlon. I have only ever replaced the RAM, hard drive and expansion cards such as graphics card, sound card etc but never the processor, so I need a little help. Here are the questions: Can I directly replace the processor? Will I need new hardware or not? Will I need to buy Windows XP again? Can I put the new processor in, turn on the PC and it will run? Cheers everyone. Many thanks. Hi, You can't directly replace all CPUs like for like. What Sempron CPU are you using? From that you should be able to determine what socket it has and source alternative processors. i.e if your current CPU uses socket 'x', your new CPU will have to fit into socket 'x', otherwise you'll need a new motherboard. At that point, you might just consider buying a new machine for the amount it'll cost to update. Good guide here for physically replacing CPUs for the first timer. You may also need to replace the Bios and cooling fan (heat sink), as they might not be compatable. Windows XP will be fine as that is installed on your hard drive. I'd opt for Windows 7 though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 1 December 2009 Author Share Posted 1 December 2009 Hi,You can't directly replace all CPUs like for like. What Sempron CPU are you using? From that you should be able to determine what socket it has and source alternative processors. i.e if your current CPU uses socket 'x', your new CPU will have to fit into socket 'x', otherwise you'll need a new motherboard. At that point, you might just consider buying a new machine for the amount it'll cost to update. Good guide here for physically replacing CPUs for the first timer. You may also need to replace the Bios and cooling fan (heat sink), as they might not be compatable. Windows XP will be fine as that is installed on your hard drive. I'd opt for Windows 7 though. The processor is Socket 754 and the most powerful Socket 754 processor is the Athlon 64 at about £31 - £40 from eBuyer. I am playing with little money and can't really afford a new PC, so I just thought about getting a new processor and eventually, perhaps some new RAM. So, my motherboard/Sempron uses Socket 754 and thats what Athlon 64 I am looking at - Socket 754. Therefore, can I directly replace the processor, turn the PC on and everything will be ok? Would I have to change the RAM as well? P.S. I would love Windows 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Posted 1 December 2009 Share Posted 1 December 2009 The processor is Socket 754 and the most powerful Socket 754 processor is the Athlon 64 at about £31 - £40 from eBuyer.I am playing with little money and can't really afford a new PC, so I just thought about getting a new processor and eventually, perhaps some new RAM. So, my motherboard/Sempron uses Socket 754 and thats what Athlon 64 I am looking at - Socket 754. Therefore, can I directly replace the processor, turn the PC on and everything will be ok? Would I have to change the RAM as well? P.S. I would love Windows 7 I'd certaintely flash the Bios before you changed the CPU but as long as your swapping a Sempron with a Athlon 64 processor then I see no reason why this shouldn't be straight forwards. It really depends how much of a PC wizard or novice you are, the scary thing for me here would be flashing the Bios and ending up with a dead motherboard. You shouldn't need any new ram, altouigh it you only have 1gb of ram, I'd suggest upgrading that as a cheaper and easier alternative to the CPU upgrade. I'd also recommend anyone on Vista to upgrade to Windows 7 as it doesn't drain anywhere near the amount of memory as Vista does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftsideoverhere Posted 5 December 2009 Share Posted 5 December 2009 I'd certaintely flash the Bios before you changed the CPU but as long as your swapping a Sempron with a Athlon 64 processor then I see no reason why this shouldn't be straight forwards. It really depends how much of a PC wizard or novice you are, the scary thing for me here would be flashing the Bios and ending up with a dead motherboard. You shouldn't need any new ram, altouigh it you only have 1gb of ram, I'd suggest upgrading that as a cheaper and easier alternative to the CPU upgrade. I'd also recommend anyone on Vista to upgrade to Windows 7 as it doesn't drain anywhere near the amount of memory as Vista does. I have to say that the scariest thing I ever do is change processors: it is so easy to fook them. Static electricity is your enemy. Heat is your enemy. And processors heat up like fook. Especially powerful ones. In the old days processors could cope with accidentally putting them down somewhere without shorting out. These days the tolerances are so fine that shorting a processor is as easy as picking it up wrongly. You need to check that the motherboard is powerful enough to provide enough cooling for the higher powered processor - probably your existing fan will not be good enough, and a more powerful one for a 64bit processor might need two fan power connectors. But find 'case histories' on the web of people using the exact combination of processor and mobo and RAM that you've got. Then you'll know it works. Three rules - learned the hard way: 1. Always use lots of cooling paste. Always. If the new processor is second-hand then clean it first, then put new paste on. It's not optional. 2. Wear an anti-static wriststrap, and only take the processor out of the bag once you're ready to slot it right in. And put it in the right way, first time! 3. Never, ever be tempted to turn the PC on (or even plug it in, just in case) until the fan is back on the processor and definitely, definitely connected to the mobo power supply. Less than a second of current is enough to fry a processor. All that said, you don't need to be a hardware guru to do it, just cautious and methodical. I'd also echo the Windows 7 option, or downgrade to XP even - more stable and less resource hungry than Vista, which was a disaster. Or get linux, which runs so much better on lower spec PCs than Windows does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftsideoverhere Posted 5 December 2009 Share Posted 5 December 2009 Reading the thread again, actually, I'd say spending the money on RAM and a different OS is a better option: Vista uses a gig just waking up, and that's all you've got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 5 December 2009 Author Share Posted 5 December 2009 Reading the thread again, actually, I'd say spending the money on RAM and a different OS is a better option: Vista uses a gig just waking up, and that's all you've got. I was going to spend the money on the RAM. Think I need more RAM, a new graphics card and a better hard drive before I get a better OS. Not sure though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coale39 Posted 5 December 2009 Share Posted 5 December 2009 I was going to spend the money on the RAM.Think I need more RAM, a new graphics card and a better hard drive before I get a better OS. Not sure though. Might just be easier to get a new base unit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 5 December 2009 Author Share Posted 5 December 2009 Might just be easier to get a new base unit? Don't think I have that much money. I worked out that to get 3GB of RAM, it would cost about £65.00!!!!!!!!!!! Loads!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftsideoverhere Posted 5 December 2009 Share Posted 5 December 2009 Don't think I have that much money.I worked out that to get 3GB of RAM, it would cost about £65.00!!!!!!!!!!! Loads!!! Can your mobo take that much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 6 December 2009 Author Share Posted 6 December 2009 Can your mobo take that much? One of them can, the other one only 2GB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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