Questions with CPU and motherboards

[swchoi89]

Hi,

I purchased the below:

Gigabyte 970A-D3 AMD970 ATX AM3+ DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 2PCI RAID SATA3 USB3.0
1) Now, how do I know which CPUs will fit in this? For example, I know FX-4100 bulldozer will because it says AM3+ but does it mean that AM3 processors won't?

2) FX-4100 vs Phenom II... I've been hearing that Phenom surpasses FX-4100's performance. If that is the case, which cpu do you recommend that fits with the above? Vid card is Radeon 6950.

Much appreciated!

 

[swchoi89]

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=58645&vpn=HDZ975FBGMBOX&manufacture=AMD

Just found this link. I guess this is equivalent to the 3.6 Ghz speed but much better?

But it's a AM3 Socket.

 

[voyagerfan99]

According to the Newegg product page, your board supports the following processors:
FX / Phenom II / Athlon II / Sempron 100 Series

AM3+ boards also support AM3 chips, so you can basically use any of the supported chips that are AM3.

 

[claptonman]

http://www.gigabyte.us/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3908

So yeah, all those are supported. Right now I'd go with a Phenom II, like a 960T like I have. FX series aren't all that they're cracked up to be, but in the future, they might get better so you have the option to upgrade.

 

[swchoi89]

Sweet! thanks for the clarification!

So based on the board that I already purchased (AM3+), I guess the phenom II is a better choice than FX-4100 right?

 

[voyagerfan99]

Sweet! thanks for the clarification!

So based on the board that I already purchased (AM3+), I guess the phenom II is a better choice than FX-4100 right?

The FX-4100 (In red) scored slightly higher than the 960T (bottom of the image), but not by much.