AM 3 on a AM 2 motherboard?

[Maverick2310]

I'm thinking of buying a new cpu but the problem is, my knowledge of cpu/mobo combos is limited so I came here for help.

My motherboard is: ASUS m2n 1394 and it supports AM2.

Now ofc all of the new amd Cpus are am3 so Im asking you can I put it in?

I've searched the internet and found out that most AM2 support AM3 as long as the bios is updated but I have really no idea what that means so pls shed some light there as well.

[stroyal]

Welcome to TechIMO!

I don't think so.
This is the latest BIOS update.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download M2N 1394
And this is the list of supported CPUs for the latest update.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- CPU Support M2N 1394

Not all AM2, can be updated to AM3.

If I recall correctly, the sockets are the same, but are wired different.
I think it has to be a hydride socket, for the BIOS update to be possible.


BIOS, is "Basic Input Output System".

It is a program on a small chip mounted on the Motherboard, that can be updated, but the updates have their limits.

[ShyguyXPC]

If your board had the Geforce 6150SE chipset on it, it might be AM3 Compatible (as it was originally an AM2+ chipset board).

Many AM2+ Chipset Motherboards are AM3 Compatible via Bios, but AM2, most aren't.

with AM3, your dealing with varying voltage requirements from those of AM2, as well as increased Hyper Transport Bus (HTT) that are nearly doubled, etc.

But I also looked at Asus's site and as Stroyal mentioned, there are no Bios Updates for it to support AM3, nor does the CPU Support list contain any AM3 CPU's, let alone any AM2+ CPU's.


Best advice is a New motherboard Socket AM3 or one of the new AM3+ boards, and a New CPU. Though the latter are exclusively DDR3 I think, many standard AM3 Socket boards can be bought with DDR2 slots. So aside from transplanting the board out and reconnecting everything and installing new CPU, you could use your old RAM, and maybe would need to do a repair install of windows, or a new fresh reinstall.