[SOLVED] Upgrade a AMD Athlon II X4 640?

[jsteedley]

Upgrade a AMD Athlon II X4 640?
I have an old home-built [2010] AMD box, here's a component list:
AMD Athlon II X4 640
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
12GB ram
ASUS M5A97 R2.0
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250G
ST3500418AS
some other HDDs
Any serious suggestions sincerely appreciated.
Sl0j0n

 

[Calvin7]

CPU Support List shows what's compatible as well as the BIOS version required.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/HelpDesk_CPU/

You can pick up a Phenom IIX4 955 for $25 on eBay or a new FX-8350 for $65.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284&Tpk=N82E16819113284

Most AM3+ FX CPUs support 1866MHz memory with two modules. You might want to get that too.

 

[jsteedley]

CPU Support List shows what's compatible as well as the BIOS version required.
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/HelpDesk_CPU/

You can pick up a Phenom IIX4 955 for $25 on eBay or a new FX-8350 for $65.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284&Tpk=N82E16819113284

Most AM3+ FX CPUs support 1866MHz memory with two modules. You might want to get that too.

Hello, "Calvin7";
Many Thanks for your comment.
I have 12.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (11-11-11-28). What advantage would I see from the ram you suggested?
Thanks in advance for your comment.
Slojon

 

[TJ Hooker]

What do you use this PC for, and in what way is it not performing adequately?

All of the CPUs that would work with that mobo are pretty weak by today's standards.

 

[jsteedley]

Hello, "TJ Hooker";
Thank you for your comment.
I don't game, or render, just online, word processing, etc. My mobo was lightning struck 2015, so I upgraded it then but since I kept the ram & CPU it's not a high performance board (ASUS M5A97 R2.0).
I had to reinstall windoze 7 last April, partly because it was so slow, balky, & kept hanging. Comparing my Athlon II X4 640 to a FX-4300 isn't going to make a huge difference, only about 25-30% improvement, at best.
All I want is to speed it up some, & hopefully get it to stop the random freezes it has, usually when I've got a lotta' windows open.
Next year, when 7's support dies, I'm planning on a light-weight Linux install, so I'm not looking for any huge improvement but I want this box to last another 2-5 years before I have to look at rebuilding it.
Thanks again.
j

 

[Calvin7]

12.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (11-11-11-28)

That seems to be some kind of random 1333MHz memory you have. 1333MHz is used with AM3 CPUs.The FX AM3+ CPUs use faster memory so it would probably cause cause slow or poor performance with that model of CPU.