Abit AW9D-Max LGA 775 Intel 975X Question

Hi folks,

I want to upgrade the existing CPU on my mobo which is the Intel ‏Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 GHz. The manufacturing technology is 65nm.

I want to purchase the Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33GHz but the manufacturing technology is 45nm. Does this make any difference for this mobo? I want to go with the E8600 because I believe it gives me the best bang for the buck for this aging LGA 775 mobo. I also just got into playing Microsoft Flight Simulator X, and I want to make sure my CPU will not cause me any bottle-necks. Thanks.

For some reason I can't get to the Abit site to check on the BIOS versions, but you need to check if your BIOS version will support 45nm. With my Giga, it wasn't until F6.

I found this link in 1 article, it should be the support page for your board. A couple things I read didn't sound like your board was having much luck with the higher FSB, but the newest I saw was from late 2008, so things might have changed.

http://www.abit.com.tw/cpu-support-list/mb/intel_p965_ab9_series.htm

I think you are partially SOL with that Abit mobo and support for Wolfdale. According to this page, there is no support for quad core 45 nm processors. It does show support for the C0 stepping E8400 and E8500 processors, but only shows "testing" for the E0 versions of the E8400, E8500 and E8600 Wolfdales. Since any new E8400 or E8500 processor you buy nowadays would most probably be an E0 stepping, you might be better off looking at used processors to find the older stepping that it shows support for.

Hi Headstand and muddocktor,

Thank you for your help. I think what I'll do is find a Core2 Duo Processor E6850 (4M Cache, 3.00 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB), which will still be better than my E6600. I really don't want to go the entire mobo route, so for now, this may be my best alternative.

Hi gang,

Before I upgrade my E6600 processor purchase this new Core2 Duo Processor E6850 (4M Cache, 3.00 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB), will the existing RAM be sufficient or would I have to upgrade it as well? The Ram used in my PC is what's in my sig, which is, G.SKILL 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Thanks.