Question Need help understanding an old Phenom II X4 965 BE 140W TDP requirements..

[Rodrigodrt]

Thing is, my sister's motherboard fried and she can probably only afford a replacement motherboard, but most still available AM3 boards i find around are either 95W or 125W (explicit on the title) I'm only guessing this is the max CPU TDP they can handle? since hers is a 140W CPU i'm assuming here these wont work but some retailers say it does, even on 95W ones, please a little help understanding this....

 

[Dragos Manea]

Evey motherboard has a website, check product on the website, under cpu compatibility you can see if it supports or not.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thing is, my sister's motherboard fried and she can probably only afford a replacement motherboard, but most still available AM3 boards i find around are either 95W or 125W (explicit on the title) I'm only guessing this is the max CPU TDP they can handle? since hers is a 140W CPU i'm assuming here these wont work but some retailers say it does, even on 95W ones, please a little help understanding this....

And when checking the motherboard's listed compatibility charts, don't rule out AM3+ boards as they are compatible with Phenom II processors.

And don't spend a lot on this as it truly is woefully obsoleted so motherboards can be overpriced if you get brand new. Even though it may cost a bit more in total, looking for an AM4 board, processor and DDR4 memory will offer a significant uplift in performance even at the low-end and make your sister very happy.

 

[Misgar]

I've just checked my Phenom II 965 RB-C3 stepping and it's the 125W version (CPU-Z shows it as 123.9W). My motherboard is a GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. Running Aida64 CPU Queen on the Phenom 965 gives a score of 24,917. On my 7950X, the same test yields 201,595 - a tad faster.

I did try undervolting the 965 last year but I think i went a bit too far. It failed POST after a few months, so I reverted to stock voltage. I'll have to wade through my notes to find how many milliVolts I reduced the CPU voltage - probably 200mV. Aida64 is currently showing CPU VID 1.475V and CPU Core 1.475V for the 965.

This particular Gigabyte board doesn't support AMD 'Cool-n-Quiet' in Windows 10, so the 965 sits at 3.40GHz all the time. In older operating systems (Win7 & XP), the 965 down-clocks to around 800MHz when idling.

I still keep this 2006 AMD system running as a backup data repository with 8 hard disks and 2 SSDs. I can boot the machine into Windows XP from hard disk to use proprietary Nikon software on an ancient SCSI scanner. I also have a Windows 7 SSD and a Windows 10 SSD.

A friend of mine is still running a 965. He can't afford a modern system and seems quite happy with Windows 7 and no internet connection. Each to their own.

If you're sure your sister's 965 is the 140W version, you could set the CPU multiplier to x32 to bring it down to a "955" or even x30, to reduce maximum dissipation. That always assumes the BIOS on a motherboard with only 125W power delivery will POST if it detects a 140W CPU.

There are quite a few second hand Socket AM3 boards for sale on eBay in my neck of the woods, with numerous Dell and HP offerings which I'd avoid. Prices range from the equivalent of $25 to $250.

https://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/2...__BE)_vs_AMD_Phenom_II_X4_965_(140W__BE).html