AMD Athlon II X2 280 (3.6GHz) or Athlon II X3 450 (3.2GHz)

[Daniel Hadaya]

Hello!
I want to upgrade my processor from AMD Sempron x2 180 (2.4GHz) to either

AMD Athlon II X2 280 (3.6GHz)
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Athlon%20II%20X2%20280%20-%20ADX280OCK23GM%20-%20ADX280OCGMBOX.html
OR

AMD Athlon II X3 450 (3.2GHz)
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom%20II%20X3%20720%20-%20HDX720WFK3DGI%20(HDX720WFGIBOX).html
OR

AMD Phenom II X3 720 (2.8GHz) Non black edition
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom%20II%20X3%20720%20-%20HDX720WFK3DGI%20(HDX720WFGIBOX).html

Idea would be playing games, surfing etc.

I don't know about the 3 core, so I want to ask you guys.
Thank you!

E: I edited the processors!
The Phenom is there due its L3 cache

 

[photonboy]

1) Pretty old, so not sure what you expect out of this.

2) Your MOTHERBOARD support site will have a list of supported CPU's.

3) Not sure what's available anyway, I assume EBay. Unless it's dirt cheap I'd recommend getting a modern setup.

4) No mention of Graphics, system memory, Windows version etc.
- simply put, it's not going to be a very good gaming system except light games with a system this old

 

[Barty1884]

As photonboy has covered, it's a pretty old setup so it would need to be cheap-cheap.

The interesting thing with the X3 is there's 3 active cores........and it's luck of the draw whether you can unlock the "hidden" 4th core. The tri-core stemmed from defective cores, so the defective core is disabled. Sometimes though, the 4th core was just fine & was only "hidden" to meet demand for tri-cores as a budget trade-off (although I don't recall very much demand for it). It's hit or miss whether the 4th can be unlocked, and I'd lean towards it being a defective core opposed to a lock-out.

The Athlon 280 will perform better, generally speaking. It's newer, faster etc. The added cores (the additional one if you don't luck out, the extra two if it can be unlocked & stable) would help mutitasking etc, but it's 5+ years old at this poiint, not too efficient at all - but functional, I'd say moreso in the budget space than the 280.

 

[Daniel Hadaya]

The PC specs:
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz (4x2GB)
Graphics: AMD Radeon R7 240
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (Windows 10 upgradable)
PSU: Antec 500w

I know that I should upgrade the GPU, but I got it for very low price, and it have been good so far.

The CPUs what I would want to buy is:
AMD Athlon II X2 280 (3.6GHz)
AMD Athlon II X3 450 (3.2GHz)
AMD Phenom II X3 720 (2.8GHz) - Non Black Edition

Thank you!

 

[Barty1884]

The 240's not too bad. You wouldn't want a top of the line GPU anyway, the CPU will be the bottleneck in most situations.

What motherboard do you have? Just because they're all AM3 sockets, doesn't necessarily mean your motherboard or BIOS will support them. Chances are pretty good, but it's always a good idea to check that out first.

 

[Daniel Hadaya]

I think it is the emachines own one (Emachines ET1352) I couldn't find anything from the internet from it..
Motherboard Chipset
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE

 

[Barty1884]

Hmmm, there does appear to be a lack of information regarding compatible upgrades. It's just going to have to be an educated guess as to whether it's supported.

Officially that eMachines rig supported:
-AMD Phenom™ II X3
-AMD Athlon™ II X3
-AMD Athlon™ II X2
-AMD Athlon™ II
-AMD Sempron

So, realistically any should be ok........

That being said though, the Sempron has a TDP of 45W, whereas all the alternatives at 65-75W...
It's entirely possible the boards were supplied, adequate for the chip that came with it (so you could switch out a 75W CPU for a 65W or 75W, but not from 45W to 75W).

Given the lack of info available, how notoriously unhelpful eMachines were (are?) regarding consumers upgrading rigs themselves, and the potential TDP issue, it's totally a crapshoot.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Daniel Hadaya]

I just today upgraded the PSU, so I got 100w more to make sure that I can upgrade to any CPUs

Thank you a lot for the awnsers! I will pick the solution soon.

 

[Barty1884]

The PSU element is not the only factor though - it's whether the motherboard is capable of accepting/distributing (not sure of the perfect word to use) that additional power, and the resulting heat.

 

[Daniel Hadaya]

I will give it a shot, I will buy the AMD Athlon II X3 460 - ADX460WFK32GM 3.4GHz, and try to get the 4th core also.. Lets see what happens 😀