I'm worried about upgrading my CPU.

[INeedUpgradeInfo]

Hello! Before I start, I want to say my computer knowledge is minimal. I posted a thread about upgrading my Gateway PC's CPU, PSU and CPU fan to remove the bottleneck my CPU was causing to my 750ti. After the discussion was over, I ended up buying these 3 items (PSU here, CPU here, and CPU fan here). The fan and PSU will be here tomorrow, while the CPU already arrived. I am worried about how many watts my motherboard can handle, and whether or not I need to update my BIOS. I have ran into so many roadblocks while trying to figure out those two questions. I have a Gateway DX4380G-UW308 desktop, so I went over to the Gateway page to see if they could help. The problem is that my PC is currently out-of-warranty, so they will NOT help me unless I go to a 3rd party site and pay $70. Any method I tried to identify my motherboard, it didn't work. In my MS info, it literally says my motherboard is not available. Eventually I found a board I am PRETTY sure is mine (I found it here). It looks exactly like mine. However, I still cannot find out how many watts it can take. My current CPU is 65 watts, and I feel like the board will be the bare minimum for that CPU. The CPU I wish to upgrade to and already have is 100W. So if anyone could help me figure out if my motherboard can handle this and whether or not I will have to update my BIOS if so, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

MS Info here.

 

[TechCIDLC]

You have nothing to worry about. Just upgrade normally. Your current power supply should supply at least more than enough watts for the CPU.

 

[INeedUpgradeInfo]

You have nothing to worry about. Just upgrade normally. Your current power supply should supply at least more than enough watts for the CPU.

That is not necessarily what I was worried about. I know the PSU is enough, but I have heard from multiple sources that a motherboard may not be able to supply enough power to a CPU. Also, I saw that my BIOS version was from 2012, while the CPU is from 2013. So I wasn't sure if it would work out as well. But if you say everything is good to go for those problems, then I will go ahead and do it.

 

[ryguybuddy]

+1 for name

 

[kanewolf]

Since it is a Gateway PC, the best you can do is see what CPUs it was sold with from Gateway. It is quite possible your new CPU won't work either because of BIOS not recognizing it or requiring too much power from the motherboard. Does your motherboard have a 4 pin CPU power plug or an 8 pin?

 

[INeedUpgradeInfo]

Since it is a Gateway PC, the best you can do is see what CPUs it was sold with from Gateway. It is quite possible your new CPU won't work either because of BIOS not recognizing it or requiring too much power from the motherboard. Does your motherboard have a 4 pin CPU power plug or an 8 pin?

I can't contact Gateway at all. And what do you mean "what CPUs it was sold with from Gateway"? From the looks of it, it is most likely a 4 pin.

 

[kanewolf]

Usually when a model was sold, it could be purchased with 2 or 3 different CPUs. You need to figure out what CPUs were supported by the manufacturer. You may be able to find service manuals on-line that will tell you or other types of info. But it is quite possible, not certain, that your motherboard won't recognize your new CPU.
A 4 pin CPU supplemental power plug is more power limited than the 8 pin type.

 

[INeedUpgradeInfo]

Usually when a model was sold, it could be purchased with 2 or 3 different CPUs. You need to figure out what CPUs were supported by the manufacturer. You may be able to find service manuals on-line that will tell you or other types of info. But it is quite possible, not certain, that your motherboard won't recognize your new CPU.
A 4 pin CPU supplemental power plug is more power limited than the 8 pin type.

Well, models SOMEWHAT similar also use 65W CPUs. I looked around more and found someone with the same exact PC as me, and he upgraded to the Anthlon 750k. He said he got onto windows just fine, but just the temps and voltage were bouncing around a bit. He said he could use the PC, though. This also could be because he also added a GPU that was pretty intensive with only a 430W PSU. The 750k also uses 100W. So, I don't know exactly what to do. If the problem was the mobo not supplying enough power, I may return the 760k and get a 65W one. Otherwise, I think I will be good to try it out. What do you think?

 

[kanewolf]

With prebuild motherboards, there is no way to predict.

 

[INeedUpgradeInfo]

With prebuild motherboards, there is no way to predict.

I guess I will go for it. Will there be a way to tell if something isn't right? I don't want it to seemingly work perfectly and actually do damage to my system. Maybe if everything loads up, should I stress test it?