Questions about my motherboard (AM2) and AM2+ processors

[Gwen Morse]

I have the Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition Motherboard, with an
AM2 socket.

When googling for information, I found that with a bios upgrade it
"should" support AM2+ processors. However, I also read in at least one
message that would still treat it as an AM2 chip. I'm not very
hardware saavy, and I'm not certain if that's true, or what it really
means. Does it mean that if I buy a quad-core cpu it will only use two
cores? What potential problems are there with upgrading to an AM2+
chip with an AM2 motherboard with updated BIOS?

Also, I love this motherboard, but, the layout is a little bad for my
case. I can't plug my cd/dvd drive into the IDE slot and still fit the
slide-in cage that allows me to plug in extra hard drives. When
checking online, I also found SATA cd/dvd drives. Do these function
just like regular IDE drives, except that they plug into a SATA plug
on the motherboard? Are there any concerns using a SATA cd/dvd drive
instead of IDE? I know installing Windows XP was tricky until I
slipstreamed the SATA drivers. If I have to boot from CD in the future
using a rescue disk, is it likely to cause a problem?

Gwen

 

[John Doe]

I have the Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition Motherboard,
with an AM2 socket.

When googling for information, I found that with a bios upgrade it
"should" support AM2+ processors.

Do the BIOS upgrade before buying a new CPU.

According to the product page: "The motherboard supports AMD socket
AM2+/AM2 for Phenom FX/Phenom/Athlon 64/ Sempron/Athlon 64 X2/
Athlon 64 FX/ processors with 2MB / 1MB / 512KB L2 cache, which is
based on 64-bit architecture."

Usually the product page understates the mainboard's abilities.

However, I also read in at least one message that would still
treat it as an AM2 chip. I'm not very hardware saavy,

Lots of Internet message authors are not very hardware savvy either.
Sometimes their problems come from personal technical deficiencies
instead of the device they are talking about.

Also, I love this motherboard, but, the layout is a little bad for
my case. I can't plug my cd/dvd drive into the IDE slot and still
fit the slide-in cage that allows me to plug in extra hard drives.

I know installing Windows XP was tricky until I slipstreamed the
SATA drivers. If I have to boot from CD in the future using a
rescue disk, is it likely to cause a problem?

Good question.

 

[Man-wai Chang ToDie (33.6k)]

I have the Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition Motherboard, with an
AM2 socket.

When googling for information, I found that with a bios upgrade it
"should" support AM2+ processors. However, I also read in at least one
message that would still treat it as an AM2 chip. I'm not very
hardware saavy, and I'm not certain if that's true, or what it really
means. Does it mean that if I buy a quad-core cpu it will only use two
cores? What potential problems are there with upgrading to an AM2+
chip with an AM2 motherboard with updated BIOS?

Go to Asus' site, check out the specification of M2N32-SLI. If it could
support AM2+, the spec (updated) would list it.

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[Gwen Morse]

Do the BIOS upgrade before buying a new CPU.

According to the product page: "The motherboard supports AMD socket
AM2+/AM2 for Phenom FX/Phenom/Athlon 64/ Sempron/Athlon 64 X2/
Athlon 64 FX/ processors with 2MB / 1MB / 512KB L2 cache, which is
based on 64-bit architecture."

Usually the product page understates the mainboard's abilities.

I just wanted to post an unpdate. I updated the bios, purchased the
am2+ chip, and installed it. The system functions pretty much
flawlessly for my cousin (I upgraded it for her).

Gwen

 

[John Doe]

I just wanted to post an unpdate. I updated the bios, purchased the
am2+ chip, and installed it. The system functions pretty much
flawlessly for my cousin (I upgraded it for her).

Feedback about how things turned out is oftentimes missing in a helpful
thread. Thanks.