Hello, I have An Asus Motherboard. ASUS P5GD1-VM Mainboard based on Intel 915G I am looking to upgrade to a diffrent CPU. I had Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail in mind, but I am not completely sure if it is compatible. The socket is 775 on both, so I assume compatibility. Also, is this a good processor for gaming? Thank you. - Devnull
Have u tried Asus website....? They are most likely to know.....and maybe offer to sell you an updated BIOS. Compared with the cost of a processor, the Mbd is relativly cheap, so maybe consign this one to light duties, with a faster, better one matching your new processor! Maybe too in the light of yr new demands you will find an even better reason to buy a new Mbd.....and then sell yr last processor with the Mbd...that way you get a bit more value back and the Buyer knows the two go together OK. If u are an overclocker, you might consider AMD are bringing out a variant on the AM2 socket which allows the processor and memory voltages to be adjusted - I've never over-clocked, but understand this feature is useful for those that do.....I haven't read similar with Intel, but it will be soon enough. The big issue IMHO is the amount of RAM these boards will address - as well as flash memory and these new dual-HDDs which are both RAM and HDD combined to reduce seek delays....within the life of yr next Mbd we shall see solid-state HDDs at least for the OS and fast applications, such as games.
Core 2 is typically going to be supported on 965 and 975-based boards. There are also some 945 boards that were designed for Core 2, but those are the exceptions, so pay attention. The 915 is a few years old, and I don't believe Intel has any intention of really pushing motherboard manufacturers to promote it. As for why certain motherboards support it? Besides BIOS microcodes, the VRM spec must be up to date to support the latest processors.