I just recently purchased an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor and placed it into my old “form-factor” pc-motherboard: an eMachines (WMCP61M – Socket AM2). It now runs a lot faster than the original single-core 2650e chip. And not to worry my fellow techies, I also upgraded the power-supply and computer-case to a Thermaltake (Plenty of breathing room now and the chip is running just where it needs to be @ 55 degrees Celsius)
My new power supply is a CoolerMaster “Glite” 460w (Dual +12V1 and +12V2 output / for high-power usage).
MY QUESTION:
I’ve been looking to upgrade the motherboard but not necessarily the RAM (DDR2 – 4GB) since I just upgraded that not long ago and I recently came across the ASUS Crosshair AM2. I like the 8 phase EL-Capless power design feature of this motherboard, but also wonder if I could do better than that while retaining the DDR2/RAM I already have?
Any suggestions?
I hope you got it really cheap. Since you’re considering upgrading the board anyway, you probably should have held off getting the CPU & gone with an AM3 or AM3+ system. And don’t hold yourself back just because of your old DDR2 RAM. Here’s a low budget AM3 build for example:
ECS IC780M-A2 (V1.0A) AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard – $25 after rebate
Athlon II X3 450, 3.20GHz, Retail w/ Fan – $70
Pareema 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 – $22
“My new power supply is a CoolerMaster “Glite” 460w”
If you meant “Elite”, that is Cooler Master’s low end series. You would have been better off getting this Corsair 500W for just $30 (after promo code & rebate):
CORSAIR Builder Series 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply – $30
Not bad for $147.