# AM3+ CPU with AM2 Motherboard



## Binksie (Jun 3, 2012)

Hello,

I have a relatively old computer, that I've been meaning to start upgrading, since I've never upgraded the CPU, I figured I would start with that. As a result I dove into murky waters, what with sockets and everything of that nature.

I currently have an AM2 motherboard. As far as I understand it after surfing around, AM3 CPUs are backwards compatible with AM2 Motherboards. But does this also apply to AM3+ (AM3b) CPUs?

I assume this requires update of the BIOS to work, however, aside from it being AM2, I have been unable to identify my Motherboard. Even in Everest it comes up as having an unknown name, but, it does show Its ID to be "11/01/2006-NF-MCP61-M2N-NM-00". The computer was bought as a Packard Bell 8614 iXtreme, and is called iXtreme (PT.U14-PV.U14) on their webpage. BIOS updates can also be downloaded from there, timestamped 2010/02/25, which seems a bit old to me, being more than 2 years old. Is this going to cause me trouble?

I'd be thankful for any help.

Best regards,
Fredrik


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Not all AM3 CPU's will run on AM2 boards, the board will have to support it, and the bios.
On a OEM board(a board in major brand PC) will most likely not have a bios update to support new CPU's because the manufacturers use a custom bios to limit options and reduce support costs they very rarely if ever will pay to write and compile a new bios for new cpu support they are never going to sell in a new PC.
I haven't seen any AM3+ CPU's on AM2 boards I do not believe the have a DDR2 memory controller in them.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

The individual pins of an AM3+ processor are a larger diameter than that of the AM2/AM2+/AM3 procs. An AM3+ proc will not physically fit into the earlier socket unless forced, and I expect it would be damaged if so doing.


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