- Introduction
- A Quick Tutorial on AMD64
- Upgrading an Existing Athlon 64 or Sempron System
- Conclusion
Upgrading an Existing Athlon 64 or Sempron System
The Athlon 64 family of processors has been around since the fall of 2003, which is long enough that some early adopters might be considering a processor upgrade. If you have a system based on the Socket 754 version of the AMD Sempron (see my article "AMD Duron Is Dead, Long Live AMD Sempron" for more information), you might also want to move up to an Athlon 64 to take advantage of 64-bit operating systems now available.
Consult Tables 3, 4 and 5 for upgrade paths to the fastest Athlon 64 FX and Athlon 64 processors available in Socket 754 and 939.
Table 3 – Upgrade Paths to Athlon 64 FX-55 (Socket 939)
Existing Processor (Socket) |
Retain MB |
Retain RAM |
Upgrade MB |
Upgrade RAM |
FX-51 (940) |
No |
No |
Required |
Required |
FX-53 (940) |
No |
No |
Required |
Required |
FX-53 (939) |
Yes |
Yes |
Not Required |
Not Required |
Table 4 – Upgrade Paths to Athlon 64 3700+ (Socket 754)
Existing Socket/Processor |
Retain MB |
Retain RAM |
Upgrade MB |
Upgrade RAM |
Socket 754 Athlon 64 |
Yes |
Yes |
Not Required |
Not Required |
Socket 754 Sempron |
Yes |
Yes |
Not Required |
Not Required |
Table 5 – Upgrade Paths to Athlon 64 4000+ (Socket 939)
Existing Socket/Processor |
Retain MB |
Retain RAM |
Upgrade MB |
Upgrade RAM |
Socket 754 Athlon 64 |
No |
* |
Yes |
* |
Socket 754 Sempron |
No |
* |
Yes |
* |
*For best performance, upgrade to matched pair of memory modules (dual-channel memory kit)