asus bios 3001 & cpu upgrade for asus M2N-E

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by cs1967, Oct 15, 2010.

  1. cs1967

    cs1967 Private E-2

    Hi folks, first post to the mg forums, hope it's a friendly place to be, wonder if someone could assist with my queries ? Thanks

    I built my own pc about 3yrs ago and am considering some upgrades. just bought two seagate 1TB hdd's to add to my raid arrayed 2x300gb which are full and I'm thinking of doing the cpu next

    mobo is asus M2N-E , running XP
    cpu compatibility here : http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M2N-E&product=1&os=17

    I can get this <http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-Athlon-X2-7850-Black-Edition-AM2plus-Kuma-Core-Dual-Core-28GHz-3MB-Total-Cache-95W-OEM> for £35 which will need a bios update - not done before but what could possibly go wrong hey ? ;-)

    I gather AM2+ can't be used in AM3 mobos, but AM3 CPU can be used on some AM2/2+ mobos

    so I could get this which will need bios 3001 <http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-Athlon-II-X2-255-Regor-Dual-Core-S-AM3-31GHz-2MB-Cache-HT-4000MHz-65W-Retail>
    then upgrade mobo later ?

    for bios 3001 asus website says "Due to Bios ROM size limitation remove LAN PXE ROM and change Crashfree3 to Crashfree2 "

    Q1:- what does this mean in reality ?? Does anyone have any practical experience of updating to this bios and using an AM3 cpu in my or other M2N mobo, how did it go ?

    Q2:- If I update the mobos bios will I lose the existing raid array ? (the mobo has nvidia chipset, including raid controller IIRC, which I used to set up the raid array after installing XP)

    Q3:- I use my PC 90% for image editing, don't use it for games, will do a little video editing -just trimming and converting from avi to mpeg. is there any point 'investing' in a quad core phenom, the software I have probably isn't multithreaded ? besides I don't think I could afford a Phenom presently :-(

    thanks for looking

    cheers
     
  2. gman863

    gman863 MajorGeek

    An AM3 will work in many newer AM2+ boards. As you've discovered, this is often based on if a BIOS update is available. Unless an AM2+ board has/had an "AM3" Ready" label on the retail package at time of sale, be sure to research if the specific CPU model is supported by the BIOS update.

    Check benchmark scores at www.tomshardware.com to determine the approximate speed gain price/value relationship of newer CPUs versus your existing CPU. These charts may indicate (if your software is one of the benchmark tests) what (if any) benefit the software gets running quad versus dual core.

    There is always a risk of losing the on-board RAID settings in a BIOS update. If running Raid 1 (mirrored), disconnect one of the drives prior to updating the BIOS. You'll have to re-mirror it once the BIOS upgrade is successful; however you'll still have all your data if something goes amiss. If running Raid 0 (striped), backup your data and plan for a clean install. If you stay with Raid 0 and the BIOS upgrade tanks you may lose everything in the array.

    If you can swing it, I'd replace the board and CPU and memory together. You'll get the best performance using an AM3 CPU with DDR3 memory, and you may be able to use the old CPU/board/memory to build a basic PC for a friend or relative needing a enrty-level unit for net surfing and e-mails. Whenever possible, this is my preferred upgrade method: The buyer ends up with a system of better quality than most off-the-shelf discount PCs and (as a seller) I recoup some of the new equip. costs quickly instead of dumping old parts on ebay or letting them rot into obselence in my spare parts cloet.
     

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