I'm looking to upgrade my processor without changing the motherboard. I know the processor was not soddered so the instillation shouldn't be too hard but I am not very tech savvy when it comes to figuring out where I might find compatibility issues. Currently im running on a AMD Athlon II X4 635 at 2.9 GHz. I know I need to stay with a four core AMD if I dont want to switch mother boards but is it possible i could go from having an Athlon to a Phenom (looking at the Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz)? Any recommendation possibilities would be appreciated! Thanks guys

Now I did post this exact topic not to long ago but naturally (as fourms ussually go) i only got responses like: oyu dont need it, you processors fine. Well when your running ableton with about eight synths and using its tools to post process another seven instruments live, you need a bit more power and i would rather make a large leap than an incrimental one because who know what we want to try next! Please if i could get some actual help it would be greatly apreciated. We play at the urban stampeed (our local venue) in two weeks!

I'm looking to upgrade my processor without changing the motherboard. I know the processor was not soddered so the instillation shouldn't be too hard but I am not very tech savvy when it comes to figuring out where I might find compatibility issues. Currently im running on a AMD Athlon II X4 635 at 2.9 GHz. I know I need to stay with a four core AMD if I dont want to switch mother boards but is it possible i could go from having an Athlon to a Phenom (looking at the Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz)? Any recommendation possibilities would be appreciated! Thanks guys

thanks man, it was the ram. I didn't figure it out myself though. I had to take it to geek squad who reconized that the motherboard I have is a **** to insert RAM into. It took each of us some strong force to push the cards in but after it worked. Thanks for the input!

Just put in a new PSU and now, none of the video card outputs are displaying a video signal (but there is no signal through the on board meaning its being sent through the card right?). During instillation, i did take out the RAM cards since they were in the way buy they are definitely in correctly now. When I turn on the computer, all fans run and everything lights up correctly, just no video.... I have yet to reseat the card which I'm about to do but could there be anything very wrong that could be done during a SPU installation causing the problem? Thanks!

Just put in a new PSU and now, none of the video card outputs are displaying a video signal (but there is no signal through the on board meaning its being sent through the card right?). During instillation, i did take out the RAM cards since they were in the way buy they are definitely in correctly now. When I turn on the computer, all fans run and everything lights up correctly, just no video.... I have yet to reseat the card which I'm about to do but could there be anything very wrong that could be done during a SPU installation causing the problem? Thanks!

I'm looking to get a new PSU for a new GPU (Radeon HD 6850). Currently I am running on a Bestec ATX0300D5WC (only 268W max) and from what I can gater, I would be able to use ATX12V because they are backwards compatible. I have this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256061) in mind because it has the recomended power suply of 500W for the new card and it has great efficiency with strong reviews.

My question is if I am overlooking anything that could damage my computer. I remember hearing that power suplys can destroy motherboards but the fourms say otherwise. Is there any kind of compatability for PSU's that I need to search my computer before buying?

Ill be up all night watching this and hope to get some quick help so I can get this shiped soon if posible! Thanks for any help

So can I expect to play close to max settings? I feel like it may not be posible to tell untill the game comes out but there has to be some way to have a good guess if you understand all the random computations the GPU can make....

And before I start getting messages about understanding if it fits and power supply, I do know that it is compatable with my system!

After running on a Radeon HD 5450, I finlay decided it was time to upgrade (specifically for Deus Ex, the Witcher 2, Brink, you know...). I wouldn't mind just having my games run with medium settings and no more than a 720p resolution since I use a TV as a monitor. Currently, im looking at getting Sapphire's Radeon HD 6850. Really this is an attempt to get some nice visuals out of the Witcher 2 which is dropping soon. Is this card adequate?

I'm running on Win 7, AMD Phenom™ II X4 is my processor, 6GB of RAM. Knowing that these things have an effect on hardware performance for games is about my limit in understanding the technical aspect of processing power although i am cruising the Internet and slowly learning!