Upgrades for Gigabyte M61PME-S2

[Edo]

First of all I am very glad that I have found this forum and that I will interact with other people that use Gigabyte products.
Now to the point,for some time now(2 years to be exact)I have been using Gigabyte M61PME-S2 motherboard and even though it 's a a low range(and old)motherboard it served me well so far with the current hardware configuration:
Chipset :   nVidia GeForce 6100V
Processor :AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2,71 GHz
RAM:3GB DDR2 800MHz
Hard Disk:Western Digital 500 GB
Graphics Card:Radeon 4670 512MB DDR3
Monitor:Samsung Sync Master,maximum resolution 1440x900
PSU:Seasonic 520 W

Now,what I want to do is to upgrade my computer with a new CPU and GPU,and since my budget at the moment is around 170(I know it is not much)i have found that the Phenom II x 2 555 3,2 GHz and Radeon 5770 1 GB DDR 5 would be around that price range and a significant upgrade(especially since I play games at resolution  1440x900).I have found on the motherboard's official site that it supports this CPU (even though it will result bus system speed decrease but wont affect CPU speed)and that with a certain BIOS update it could work.At first,I was thinking to upgrade it with the Athlon II X 3 445 3.1 GHz but as far as I can tell my motherboard does not support it(feel free to correct me).
Now,what I would really like to know is,has anyone actually done this(put AMD3 CPU on AMD2 motherboard)and of course did it work and is my RAM  DDR 2 800 MHz compatible with that CPU?
Any help that you guys can provide would mean a great deal for me and I apologize for the fact that my English is not that good,but I hope that you did understand the majority of the things that I was trying to say,thanks in advance!

[malum]

Your ram should work as far as I can tell.

I personally do not have experience using an am3 in a AM2 motherboard.

Hopefully someone else here can give their advice on what is your best option for upgrading.

[absic]

Hi there,

The Phenom ii X2 555 CPU will work on your motherboard but remember to update the BIOS to F5B before you install the new processor. You can download the BIOS from here: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2755&dl=1#bios and I would recommend that you use QFlash to run the update. If you are not sure of how to use QFlash then please check here: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2441.msg13929.html#msg13929.

As Malum has already said, your RAM should work OK with the new processor and should run at it's rated speed without problem.

I don't think there should be a problem with running a 5770 Graphics card but there have been a couple of instances where a newer GPU on some of the older motherboards, have not worked properly. If you do encounter a problem with this then you can always contact Gigabyte as it can often be fixed with a BIOS update.

[Edo]

Thank you guys so much for the help!I really appreciate it,and I can finally upgrade my computer .

[absic]

Good luck with the upgrade and don't forget to let us know how it all goes.

And, if you should happen to run into any problems, you know where to come for some help. 

[Edo]

Thanks again,I just forgot to ask you do you think should I go with this Phenom or Athlon II x 3 455 cause it turns out that I can actually use it for my motherboard.I mean,if a CPU has more cores does it instantly make it better,btw, nice Galaxy Quest quote there .

[absic]

Hi again,

ah, Galaxy Quest, as a long time Star Trek fan I just loved that film and it always makes me laugh but, not many people realise the quote is from there! 

Although having an extra core can help in certain applications if it was my money I would go for the Phenom ii X2 555BE as it is a better CPU overall. Being an unlocked processor it makes it easier to overclock, if you want to get a little extra speed from it, which can be important when gaming. It will serve you better in the long run to and, if you decide to upgrade your motherboard in the future will probably be a better long term investment.

[Edo]

The movie was very good if not great and I 'm a big Star Trek fan myself !I thought that Phenom II was a better solution and I have heard about the core unclocking thing I just hope that in case that I will need to do that,those extra cores will be stable.

[absic]

I'm not sure if your current motherboard will allow for core unlocking as I think it only became available from the series 7 motherboards onwards. But, as I said before, if you upgrade your motherboard in the future, then this is something you can look forward to trying.

[Edo]

Yeah I know,I was thinking the same thing, but I don't think that I will need to do this probably until 2013.

[absic]

I like your philosophy and if it ain't broke, does the job that you want, why spend money to fix something that works OK.

The locked cores on the 555BE will still be there in 2013 and is an option that you can explore when the time and money are right as upgrading to a new motherboard will also involve upgrading the RAM.

[Edo]

Upgrading RAM is already on the way since it is very cheap at the moment.The thing is ,I still use Windows XP SP 3 and as you know it 32 bit systems do not recognize more than 3,25 GB or something  like that but I will probably go for Windows 7 64 bit since BF3 does not support XP.Forgot to ask ,is it me or  is that F5B BIOS update a beta version and is that going to be a problem?

[Edo]

Do I have to make my USB bootable in order to work when I try to update the BIOS?

[absic]

No, you can just format it as FAT32 and then copy the BIOS update file onto it. Make sure you plug the USB stick in before you power up the PC and it is better if you can use one of the USB ports on the backpanel rather than from a port connected to one of the motherboard headers.

[Edo]

Ok ,I checked and it is FAT32,thanks again.