Question Socket FM2+ replacement

[Frierfly]

There was a lightning strike very close to my house and most of my telecom equipment got fried, to include a couple of 8-port unmanaged switches and the ethernet port of the GA-F2A88XN-WIFI motherboard in my rig. I need to replace the motherboard, which is a socket FM2+. Is it worth picking up another socket FM2+ board, or should I move to another socket and replace the CPU?

 

[drea.drechsler]

... Is it worth picking up another socket FM2+ board...?

Probably not for several reasons.

First is that socket FM2 is obsolete and very low performance so not really worth investing in replacements unless for a curiosity. Being obsolete replacement hardware for it can be much more costly if looking for new and very risky if bought used.

Second is that you really don't know (yet) what else is faulty. It's easily possible the processor and memory, maybe even PSU, is affected. That just makes it more expensive to attempt returning it to service.

A better idea, and probably more economical, is move up to a socket AM4 board and processor. They're pretty economical even with memory. You can get a Ryzen 7 5700G processor which is an APU that includes the GPU. Both CPU and the iGPU in it will be much more powerful than any APU you had on your FM2 board. You will have to replace memory, though, as it will use DDR4, not DDR3.

 

[Frierfly]

Probably not for several reasons.

First is that socket FM2 is obsolete and very low performance so not really worth investing in replacements unless for a curiosity. Being obsolete replacement hardware for it can be much more costly if looking for new and very risky if bought used.

Second is that you really don't know (yet) what else is faulty. It's easily possible the processor and memory, maybe even PSU, is affected. That just makes it more expensive to attempt returning it to service.

A better idea, and probably more economical, is move up to a socket AM4 board and processor. They're pretty economical even with memory. You can get a Ryzen 7 5700G processor which is an APU that includes the GPU. Both CPU and the iGPU in it will be much more powerful than any APU you had on your FM2 board. You will have to replace memory, though, as it will use DDR4, not DDR3.

I'm seeing articles saying that AM4 has been replaced with AM5 and that there likely won't be CPU upgrade paths on AM4 after 2025. Is it worth skipping AM4 and jumping to an AM5 board for the CPU/APU upgrade path?

 

[drea.drechsler]

I'm seeing articles saying that AM4 has been replaced with AM5 and that there likely won't be CPU upgrade paths on AM4 after 2025. Is it worth skipping AM4 and jumping to an AM5 board for the CPU/APU upgrade path?

Yes it is as AM5 makes for very powerful system. But keep in mind that even though the current 7000 series CPU's that work on AM5 have an iGPU it's a very weak one that's only for basic video. There are no AM5 APU's (with gaming capable iGPU) at this time so the transition will be much more expensive from the FM2 platform as you also have to include a proper discrete GPU in the purchase.

AM5 also uses DDR5 memory and the motherboards tend to be much more costly. So while it's definitely the more powerful platform it will be much more costly moving to it.

AM4 isn't exactly dead. Even if AMD doesn't release new processors for it there will still be the ones they currently have. So going in low cost right now (with a 5700G, for instance) you'll still have the option of upgrading to a very good gaming processor (5800X3d) and high-end discrete GPU for a top-end gamer on the same motherboard/memory.

 

[Frierfly]

Yes it is as AM5 makes for very powerful system. But keep in mind that even though the current 7000 series CPU's that work on AM5 have an iGPU it's a very weak one that's only for basic video. There are no AM5 APU's (with gaming capable iGPU) at this time so the transition will be much more expensive from the FM2 platform as you also have to include a proper discrete GPU in the purchase.

AM5 also uses DDR5 memory and the motherboards tend to be much more costly. So while it's definitely the more powerful platform it will be much more costly moving to it.

AM4 isn't exactly dead. Even if AMD doesn't release new processors for it there will still be the ones they currently have. So going in low cost right now (with a 5700G, for instance) you'll still have the option of upgrading to a very good gaming processor (5800X3d) and high-end discrete GPU for a top-end gamer on the same motherboard/memory.

I'm currently running an AMD Athlon X4 870K, so pretty much any Ryzen 5 or better is a vast improvement.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I'm currently running an AMD Athlon X4 870K, so pretty much any Ryzen 5 or better is a vast improvement.

Ahhh...so you also have a discrete GPU with it. I assumed it was one of the APU's since that was optimum configuration for FM2. So you need to also determine if the GPU was damaged in the lightening strike. But that may be irrelevant since it may be just as low performing as the Athlon and not a good pairing with anything on AM4 or AM5.

So your options are many, limited mainly by the budget you establish. AM5 is indeed the most powerful, but it will be the more costly path to take. Just keep in mind that if you're starting at a low end for economy AM4 has just as much upgrade path as AM5 with the processors that AMD's already released for it.

 

[mcdonnell155]

Bit of a longshot, if you're only web browsing, FM2b is still very fast. Definitely upgrade if gaming, I have fastest 860k with DDR3 2133 tight timings and it's very slow in games.... playable but sandy bridge for like $50 on ebay is twice as fast with no overclocking... lol...