How transferable are CPU's

J

James.CPU

New Member
If I have an AMD A10 processor and hypothetically want to change it for an intel i7, is that doable or does the new CPU need to be an AMD aswell?
 
Intel CPU's are not interchangeable with AMD CPU's. You would need to buy a new motherboard that matches the socket of the processor you want.
 
Intel cpu's will only work in Intel sockets and AMD cpu's will only work in AMD sockets. Socket is the name given to a port or connector on a motherboard in which a cpu is installed. This does not mean that all AMD cpu's will work on all AMD sockets and the same goes for Intel. For both AMD and Intel, different cpu's are designed to work on different sockets, although sometimes multiple sockets may support the same cpu. There are so many different sockets and cpu's with different support that its hard to give a black and white answer.
This is important, if you are considering buying a new cpu then look on the manufacturers website and find out for sure what socket it is designed to work in. Once you have found a motherboard that uses the correct socket for the cpu you want, then you need to check the cpu support list on the manufacturers website to make sure the cpu is compatible with that particular board.
 
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also watch out for a little thing called " TDP" , Thermal Design Power. not gonna go into what it actually means but the CPU & M/B should have the same TDP rating. Did a noob thing on one of my first builds, got a CPU witha a TDP= 125w & the M/B rated @ TDP=95w wondered why windows did instant reboot when a load was put on. read on a forum my CPU basically ran TDP 75w at lower clock speed & 125w at high clock. Matched CPU & M/B TDP's an been happy ssailing

CPU Database has good specs on CPU's TDP. M/B's may have to go to manuf. website for info
 
JerseyJames said:
also watch out for a little thing called " TDP" , Thermal Design Power. not gonna go into what it actually means but the CPU & M/B should have the same TDP rating. Did a noob thing on one of my first builds, got a CPU witha a TDP= 125w & the M/B rated @ TDP=95w wondered why windows did instant reboot when a load was put on. read on a forum my CPU basically ran TDP 75w at lower clock speed & 125w at high clock. Matched CPU & M/B TDP's an been happy ssailing

CPU Database has good specs on CPU's TDP. M/B's may have to go to manuf. website for info
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That's why you just look at the supported CPU list for the motherboard :rolleyes:
 
You also can't swap any AMD CPU, it needs to be the same socket and the motherboard needs to support that specific generation.
 
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