AMD processor

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my friend gave me his desktop to make it faster. i took it all out and dusted everything off. He has 4 gigs of ram so i dont think thats the problem so im thinking its the processor. he has an amd athlon x2. im not up to date on amd processors so, is this a good one, and which ones are better
Athlon X2? That's ancient, like debuted in 2005 ancient. Unless his mobo has an AM2+ socket he's not gonna be upgrading his CPU. And honestly, I'd suggest upgrading everything anyways.
ok how can i tell if i can upgrade it
What's the exact model of the CPU?
amd athlon x2 thats all it says
http://shop.amd.com/us/All/Detail/Processor/AD651XWNGXBOX?SearchFacets=category%3AProcessor

is this a good one?
Sure, but like xander said, you'd have to change the motherboard, too.
Eh, going from an X2 to an X4 on the same line of processors isn't going to be a substantial difference unless the software he uses makes good use of multiple cores and scales well.
honestly i dont know that much about amd so the best thing to do is upgrade the mother board (which i know nothing about so what would be a good one if i need to upgrade?) and what would be a better proccessor than athlon
which i know nothing about so what would be a good one if i need to upgrade?) and what would be a better proccessor than athlon
It all depends on how much your friend is willing to spend.
i think like 150 - 200
This looks like an OK combination in that price range, I think:
http://shop.amd.com/us/All/Detail/Processor/HDZ550WFK2DGI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131827
Before buying anything, though, you should ensure that the memory is compatible with the new motherboard. Basically this means checking that the types match (you don't want to plug DDR2 memory to a motherboard that only supports DDR3), and that the motherboard supports the frequency of the memory.
In this case, ASUS says
4 x DIMM, Max. 16GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1333/1066 Hz ECC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
(There's a typo. It should say MHz, not Hz.)
For example, my memory runs at 667 MHz, so I couldn't upgrade to this motherboard without buying new RAM.
ok so before i get anything i need to make sure that his current ram sticks are compatible with the new mother board and that the motherboard is compatible with the desktop?
@Helios Are you sure your memory runs at 667 MHz? is that before or after you include the double data rate? 667x2 = 1333 MHz, I can't find a stick of DDR3 RAM @ 667 MHz, although there are DDR2 versions, I think the lowest DDR3 clock speed is 800 MHz(or 400x2).

Aramil, if you don't understand about hardware just tell your friend that, you're much better of saying "I don't know how to upgrade it, sorry" than "I tried to upgrade it and it doesn't work, sorry".

AMD MOBO means you need an AMD CPU, and vice-versa for Intel, now each motherboard supports a specific kind of CPU socket, for example some intel sockets are 775, 1155, etc. I'm not sure about AMD myself but reading the posts the AMD sockets seem to be AM2/3/4 etc.

if you upgrade the CPU and it has a different socket that isn't compatible with the Mobo, then you also need to replace the Mobo, and vice-versa.
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Well, it seems I bought it so long ago, I even forgot what kind of memory it was. It's DDR2.
This thing runs so smoothly, I tend to forget it's almost five years old.
i have a new problem now. so i needed to get a driver for the cd rom and decided to use driver forge but his current windows os wont connect to my wifi so i moved it to where i could plug in an ethernet cable. then it just stopped working. i took it apart again and put it back together but it still wont turn on. what could be the problem?
You mean, the second you plugged the ethernet cable in while the computer was turned on, it instantly turned off? never heard of that happening before, and now does it boot with the ethernet cable unplugged or just not at all?
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no i thought i was plugging into the right port but the port was too small and while i was trying to get it to work the computer just shut off. the power supply works cause the green light comes on when i plug it in. but nothing else happens
what green light? so the computer doesn't turn on? or does it? you're not being very clear, it's possible if you tried to force it too hard you damaged either the motherboard or the cable, if its the cable it won't work and if its the motherboard the computer might not boot, I don't understand where this green light comes in, if a motherboard is damaged it won't boot so no power is sent to any ports so no 'green light' should be on anywhere.
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I think he means the LED on the motherboard inside the case, that comes on to signal it's getting power from the PSU.

Some possible causes I can think of, in no particular order:
* When you were trying to plug the jack in, you somehow shorted out the port and this burned part of the motherboard. I'm not sure if this is even possible, to be honest. I guess it would depend on the particular port. Sure signs of a burnt motherboard are blown capacitors.
* Your cleaning disturbed a carefully balanced ecosystem of fans and dust bunnies. A fan got jammed and whatever component it was supposed to cool overheated. A likely culprit in this case would be the CPU or the memory.

You probably should stop messing with it now and take to a shop to at least get a diagnostic. Perhaps it can still be saved if it's something that was going to get replaced anyway.
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