[actnj88]

Hello everyone,

I recently began upgrading a computer I bought a few months ago, an HP Pavilion a6417c, which came with the MCP61PM-HM (Nettle3) motherboard. When I began looking into buying a new CPU, I checked the online motherboard specs on HP's website and it said it supported AM2 and AM2+ processors, leading me to believe there would be no problem in upgrading from my Athlon 4800 X2. Now, after getting everything installed in a new case (better airflow), new BlueOrb II CPU cooler, BFGTech 550w PSU, and everything else needed to make this new CPU feel at home, I'm having some trouble. Before with the 4800, I was able to play Crysis on fairly high settings at 1680x1050 resolution, keep in mind this is also with a GeForce 8800GT 512MB video card. 3DMark scores and performance were also pretty good. Now, however, performance seems to suffer when running under high load (i.e. Crysis) or when multitasking (used to be able to run two instances of World of Warcraft at once, now it's almost unplayable). I know this isn't the video card, as I never had trouble before, and because in 3DMark the graphics tests passed with flying colors while the CPU tests were horriffic (10 FPS or lower). My question is, is there any way to find out if my motherboard doesn't support the 125w Athlon 6400 X2? That's about the only thing I can think of, unless Newegg shipped me a bad CPU. I'd call HP's support hotline, but it's too early and I can't stand their customer support methods. Thanks in advance guys!

Justin

Edited by actnj88, 31 January 2009 - 08:01 AM.

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Nobody has any suggestions?

[actnj88]

Nobody has any suggestions?

[Nicolet]

A wild guess:
I'd say the problem is power, what was the power drawn by the old processor? and by the new one?. Try cpu-id to check the exact name for the processor and look it up on AMD's site, if the difference is too much, I'd check if the power supply is enough for it, these processors scale up depending on usage and therefore consume a whole lot more power with heavy loads, that may be crippling it.
It's just a wild guess, I could find specs for your Mobo's power limitations. Hope it helps
PD: Cpu-id might give you some more info on the motherboard's specs, look them up as well.

[actnj88]

Thanks for the tip! Yeah I ended up finding out that the stock motherboard only supports CPUs up to 95w, and seeing as how my 6400 X2 is a 125w processor, that should explain the problem, right?

[Nicolet]

Too bad for you, even though it shouldn’t be too hard to sell a CPU you just used for a few hours, and now you know what to check when upgrading processors.
Glad I could help

[actnj88]

Actually it works out to my advantage. I just ordered a different motherboard since I have enough extra parts sitting around that my dad is willing to give me a couple hundred bucks to build a basic system to have at home for the family to use, that way I can keep my new CPU, won't have lost any money, and we'll have an extra computer at home.