Question Phenom II x4 975 - Need a cheap/free upgrade

thedoublej

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I put Apex Legends on my kid's computer with a Gigabyte something-or-other MoBo (All free to me) only to discover that the Phenom II x4 975 in there is missing some instruction set to play that game. Free game, 9 year old chip, no upgrades, no workarounds that actually work.

Turns out that her MoBo has an AM3+ socket though, so I think I can put an FX-4xxx chip in there instead. Her phenom is rated at 125 watts, none of the quad core Bulldozer chips is higher, so her 750 PSU and MoBo should be about to supply enough horsepower to run the chip at stock clocks.

Wikipedia says every FX-4xxx chip has the same or higher clock speed, so whatever I get should perform better, although the bottleneck in this system will always be the CAD optimized GPU (Also free to me)

Am I missing anything, or can I just get an FX chip, slap it in, and she can join up and play some Apex with us old people?

Edit: EA says I need an FX-4350 minimum, which looks to be 2 years newer than the FX-41xx chips, but same AM3+ socket. Thoughts?
 
I put Apex Legends on my kid's computer with a Gigabyte something-or-other MoBo (All free to me) only to discover that the Phenom II x4 975 in there is missing some instruction set to play that game. Free game, 9 year old chip, no upgrades, no workarounds that actually work.

Turns out that her MoBo has an AM3+ socket though, so I think I can put an FX-4xxx chip in there instead. Her phenom is rated at 125 watts, none of the quad core Bulldozer chips is higher, so her 750 PSU and MoBo should be about to supply enough horsepower to run the chip at stock clocks.

Wikipedia says every FX-4xxx chip has the same or higher clock speed, so whatever I get should perform better, although the bottleneck in this system will always be the CAD optimized GPU (Also free to me)

Am I missing anything, or can I just get an FX chip, slap it in, and she can join up and play some Apex with us old people?

Edit: EA says I need an FX-4350 minimum, which looks to be 2 years newer than the FX-41xx chips, but same AM3+ socket. Thoughts?
What is the motherboard model? Have you actually looked at the supported CPUs?
 
Unfortunately, all FX series processors are based on an architecture that offers lower performance than your Phenom ii if clocks are the same.

Due to this, an FX4100 with the close clocks and same core count as your Phenom may actually have lower performance, although it will have the instructions to run Apex Legends.

The x3xx (EX FX4350) chips are a step up from the x1xx (EX FX4100) chips. Neither are good at all, but the newer x3xx CPUs are noticeably better.

I would consider an FX6300 or similar since they offer better performance than the FX4300 and only cost around $10 more on ebay.

What is the exact model and manufacturer of this motherboard?
 
According to Gigabyte's own documentation, your board supports most FX CPUs, apart from the ridiculous 9xxx series.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-870A-USB3-rev-31/support#support-cpu

So I would buy an FX4300 or 4350 if you really or budget-constrained, or an FX6300 for better performance and not much more money.

However, I would consider it if its really worth it. I would just try to swap board and ram for like an I5 second or 3rd gen at least.
 

thedoublej

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The thing I really need to keep front and center is how much I want to spend so my kid can play a free game twice a month when she's totally fine playing Fortnite (the worst 'shooter' ever). A guy at work has a couple chips laying around, says he'll trade them for pizza, so maybe I'll luck out there.
 
The thing I really need to keep front and center is how much I want to spend so my kid can play a free game twice a month when she's totally fine playing Fortnite (the worst 'shooter' ever). A guy at work has a couple chips laying around, says he'll trade them for pizza, so maybe I'll luck out there.
This is your best bet because once you start talking money it may not be worth it. Although a free chip would be great. I'd watch online too as many people will dump a whole motherboard combo for cheap or even an intel 1155 series combo for cheap that will be much, much faster than the am3.
 
Another option. If you can find an old office PC with an i5 that may be something to look at. My work for example sold a computer to one employee for 25 dollars with 8gb and an i5 CPU of some kind. So keep an eye out and you may catch a deal like that.
Oh I forgot about this--great idea!

These systems are pretty cheap being a complete, and you should be able to move over the ram and maybe even the gpu, although the igpu should be enough:
https://www.pcliquidations.com/p107993-lenovo-thinkcentre-m82-sff
https://www.pcliquidations.com/p73290-dell-optiplex-3020-sff
 

DSzymborski

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I wouldn't bother with an FX4xxx or FX6xxx with a Phenom II 975 in there. The Phenom IIs were really nice chips and people had a ton of success overclocking the bejeesus out of them. I'd only swap out if you could get a 95W 83xx chip and for just about free.
 

thedoublej

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That's where this PC came from, old CAD machine that they were going to throw away when we went to VMs. I also got a 4790K that they were going to throw away, so you can guess who's system that ended up in.

The Phenom does great, but won't run Apex Legends, which she wants to play with my brother and I online.
 
That's where this PC came from, old CAD machine that they were going to throw away when we went to VMs. I also got a 4790K that they were going to throw away, so you can guess who's system that ended up in.

The Phenom does great, but won't run Apex Legends, which she wants to play with my brother and I online.
I would look into any issue an FX 4xxx-8xxxx may have with Apex before you put any more effort into that system. you may be better of just buying a used i5/7 and motherboard on ebay.
 

Karadjgne

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It's the SSE3 restriction, but also behind that is SSE 4.1 that's also necessary for Apex Legends.
"Piledriver" Family
  • FX-4300 series
  • FX-6300 series
  • FX-8300 series
  • Opteron 3300 series
  • Opteron 4300 series
  • Opteron 6300 series

Any of these will work best for the AM3+ chipset.
 

thedoublej

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4130 wouldn't boot, couldn't even get the screen to turn on, something was very wrong with it. One pin was missing, I straightened the bent ones, but they were spaghetti when I got it, PO forgot to twist the cooler free from the chip before he pulled up on it and yoinked it out of the socket on a severe angle. Ebay here I come.
 

kanewolf

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4130 wouldn't boot, couldn't even get the screen to turn on, something was very wrong with it. One pin was missing, I straightened the bent ones, but they were spaghetti when I got it, PO forgot to twist the cooler free from the chip before he pulled up on it and yoinked it out of the socket on a severe angle. Ebay here I come.
There is a 3.0 and a 3.1 version of that motherboard. The posters above linked to the 3.1 version. THAT version does support FX CPUs. The 3.0 version does not show support for FX CPUs. You need to verify which motherboard version you have.
 
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