TR Forums

Hey guys! Welcome the latest noob around here .

I am looking at putting together a new machine in the near future, and I was wondering if there is any advantage, or even disadvantage, to putting an AM2 processor into a motherboard designed for use with an AM2+ processor. Specifically, I am considering slotting an Athlon 64 X2 6000+, and probably an ATI HD 3850, into an AM2+ motherboard with an AMD 7 series chipset (2/3 of a Spider platfrom ). The logic behind it being that I don't have much interest/need in purchasing a Phenom processor at the moment, but I thought since the AM2+ mobo's are backwards compatable with the older AM2 CPU's, I might see some performance gain by going with the newest possible motherboard.

I'd like to hear what some of you think about this.

Thanks in advance =]

This is a perfectly sensible thing to do, and gives you an interesting upgrade path in the future.
(I have a BE2350 in an Asus M3A for just this reason)

The AM2+ board will allow you to access the more advanced Phenom features, should you choose to go that route.

There is no real performance gain in using a Socket AM2+ with a Socket AM2 chip, but there is no loss either. I have an Athlon 64 x2 4000+ in an Asus M3A, and it works perfectly (overclocked to 3.0ghz, and that is without bothering to fiddle with the voltages) along with my Radeon HD 3850.

Thanks for the input guys!

One thing I am confused about is the front side bus speed, when listed as part of the motherboard specs. I see some of the higher priced AM2+ mobos listing the front side bus (hyper transport) speed as 2600MHz, while the lower priced boards generally clock in at 1000MHz. Is the front side bus even a part of the motherboard, or is it part of the processor, where when I am reading the motherboard specs, I am simply looking at supported speeds? I had thought the later was correct, but if so, how can the AM2+ boards with 2600MHz supported fsb, be backwards compatable with the older AM2 chips clocking in at a slower fsb speed.

I am quite confused on this particular subject matter, and I'm fairly certain everything I think I know regarding front side bus speeds is entirely incorrect. In fact, as I'm writing this I'm not even sure I know what a front side bus is.

Could someone help clear this up for me!