Best CPU for my motherboard? (GA-G31M-S2C)

[fastgaming031]

Hello,i have a GA-G31M-S2C motherboard ATM and I'm using E2180,i want to upgrade processor because i will probably sell this potato in december and get a new pc,but before december i want to upgrade to best CPU possible for this old PC im looking for CPU that is good in gaming i know this shit is old but you gotta do what you gotta do.
400w power supply
Pentium E2180 Dual core @ 2.0ghz
4gb ram
nVidia GT 610 1gb
can you help me?

 

[fastgaming031]

I need it mustly for CPU intesive games like GTA V,CSGO etc

 

[panathas]

Here is the list with the CPUs that your motherboard supports => https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-G31M-S2C-rev-1x#support-cpu . Keep in mind that you may need to update the BIOS in order to make your motherboard recognise some of those CPU models.
You should choose the cheapest quad core you can find and it it's frequency should be as close to 3GHz as possible. But don't spend too much money, since this is an already dated platform and the rest of your parts are pretty dated too (PSU, RAM, GPU). So you won't be able to play any current/new AAA game even with a CPU upgrade (your GPU is also too weak). However you may be able to play some older games with low settings but don't have high hopes. Good luck.

 

[fastgaming031]

But how do i know how much watts i have left so i dont buy for example q9650 but i can only support up to 65w or something like that

 

[fastgaming031]

After researching a bit issue is i cant upgrade my bios on win 7 64 bit

 

[panathas]

Yes, there was an issue with older motherboards where you couldn't update the BIOS under a 64-bit OS. However you can still update the BIOS using other alternative methods. Just read the manual or visit your motherboard's support forum and you'll find a way.

As for the CPU, you motherboard supports all those CPU models. It supports 65W CPUs and even 130W models. However you shouldn't choose a CPU over 95W. There are many reasons for this.

1) The higher wattage models are usually the faster ones and they should also be more expensive.
2) You motherboard power delivery system seems pretty minimal, so it will certainly have issues with higher wattage CPUs.
3) On top of the above, your motherboard is old and even though it can support higher wattage CPUs, it's electronic components have aged and you may face stability issues.

So a 65-95W quad core CPU should be enough. Try to find a 65W model and only if you are unable to find one search for a 95W CPU. Just make sure you are able to update the BIOS before you get it though.

Finally another consideration should be your PSU. It's an old and low wattage unit. If it's also a generic PSU model, you may face stability issues by choosing a high wattage CPU. However since what you already have is a 65W CPU model, you probably won't face any stability issue with another 65W CPU. You may still not face any issue with a 95W CPU model, but it's hard to tell since your PSU may already be operating at it's limits. On the other hand if you had a new/good and non generic 400W PSU, it would be able to easily handle even a 130W CPU model although I can't say the same thing about your motherboard. Good luck.

 

[eross1]

After researching a bit issue is i cant upgrade my bios on win 7 64 bit

Hi,
I realize it has been a while since you asked.
However, I just wanted to tell you you can update the BIOS on this board through a usb boot disk. Easiest is with Rufus https://rufus.ie/
After you create the disk download the latest Bios update which is F6e from Gigabyte http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/BIOS/motherboard_bios_ga-g31m-s2c_f6e.exe
It is a autoextract zip file. You can run it on any PC and it will extract 3 files:
autoexec.bat
FLASHSPI.EXE
G31MS2C.F6e
The autoexec has one line: flashspi G31MS2C.F6e
Copy FLASHSPI.EXE and G31MS2C.F6e to the boot disk
copy autoexec.bat as well , replacing the one rufus created. Alternatively you can edit the rufus autoexec by adding flashspi G31MS2C.F6e at the end of the file (right click the rufus autoexec.bat >edit , paste the line, save and close)
Now your boot disk is ready. place it in a USB port and restart the PC. Press F12 repeatdely until the boot menu comes up, scroll down with the downward arrow on your keyboard to "+Hard Drive" and press Enter. You will see a list of all hard drives on your PC as well as the USB drive (such as Kingston USB, Sandisc USB etc.) Choose it and hit enter. This will run Freedos followed by Keyboard layout selectio. It doesn't matter what you choose because the flash program will run automatically and flash the BIOS.
None of your BIOS definitions will change. You can boot normally to Windows.
Now that yoh have the latest BIOS, you can decide which CPU to buy from the support list:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-G31M-S2C-rev-1x#support-cpu
You can go upto a Core™ 2 Extreme QX9770 , but these sell for around 200$ on ebay....
You will do fine with a much cheaper Core™ 2 Duo E8600 3.3 GHZ which sells for 7$ or Core™ 2 Quad Q6700 for 15$
I would go with the E8600.
BTW, you can still upgrade for free to Windows 10 using the Microsoft Media creation tool. I did that on this board. All the drivers were found during installation.
I still don't think you can play new games on this rig because of the limited 4GB RAM that the board supports.
Good luck!