Is My Socket FM1 Motherboard Salvageable?

I'm looking to do a $200-$300 upgrade to my desktop so I can get into playing more modern PC titles like Assassins Creed Unity and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Based on their recommend specs, I need around 8 GB of Ram (which I already have) a CPU with at least 6-8 cores and a decent GTX model video card.

In researching on Newegg, I ran into a problem. I found that my motherboard is only socket FM1 and there are 0 cpu for sale for this older style.

My question is this: can anyone recommend what a good CPU would be for FM1 or am I stuck hitting a glass ceiling and not being able to get as powerful a processor I need with this particular motherboard? I currently have a quad-core installed.

Thanks!

 

Quad core max with that socket:

http://www.cpu-world.com/Sockets/Socket FM1.html

 

Thanks for the info, but that's a real bummer :cry

Let me ask you this then: since I cant upgrade the CPU and I already have a enough RAM installed, what if I pour all that money into my video card? What if instead of trying to buy a mid-range video card, I get a really great one.

Will I still not have enough processor cores recommended for the games I mentioned to allow me to play them at fairly high settings even with a powerful video card? I don't want to turn the graphic settings down to low, otherwise it defeats the purpose.

Thanks

 

The recommended system requirements are at least a 3GB card, and the six or more cores. I'd get a nice FM2 or better yet a Piledriver equivalent CPU/mobo combo. It took me over two years to slowly upgrade and piece together my Piledriver rig. Started with the mobo I wanted, and a budget CPU which was unlocked and clocked.

Could you pull it off if you dug up a nice 4GB card? Probably.

Would you be taxing your current CPU to it's limit? Very likely.

 

Thanks man. You've been very helpful. While I still have you here, allow me to pick your brain on a couple more things:

1) If I'm stuck with using a max of four-core, I can't see wasting my money on buying another quad-core any better than what I have (swapping out the motherboard isn't really practical in my case either). So my thought is to push my current CPU as far as it will go. I've never over-clocked before, but I'm hoping it will give me the little extra push I need from the four-cores. Can any CPU be overclocked and will it guarantee a performance boost?

2) I've got a pretty good looking 4 GB video card picked out that should max my video/visuals pretty well. How about RAM? I have 8 installed, because I was following the 2 GB per core rule. Would upping the GBs to 10 or 12 resulting any performance bump without the extra cores behind it?

Thanks

 

Unless you have an unlocked CPU, it would normally not be possible to do so unless your board has a feature like Asus' CoreUnlocker. CPUs which are locked are designed to be that way and to prevent being tampered with. Any CPU functions such as unlocking multipliers and cores are better performed in the BIOS. The BIOS also must be designed to perform these tasks. If you try to mod a CPU and it's not supposed to be clocked (like a Black Edition) you could seriously damage the CPU especially if you are not experienced at overclocking.

If you want to invest in a better GPU now make sure you futureproof yourself. That means features like 512 bit bandwith, a bucketload of streaming processors, and GDDR5. That way, you can set some loot aside to upgrade your mobo/CPU in time and you'll still have a card which will perform.

The heart of a system is the motherboard, the CPU does the heavy lifting as far as calculations, RAM is a waystation for information, and the graphics card processes your video. More cores, means more logic processes in less time.

 

Thanks for all the useful info man. It's been a big help!