TigerDirect and the incompatible packages!

Lateralus180 · 12-21-10, 10:08 AM

My dad wanted me to build him a media PC for our TV. It was to cost no more than $800, would have a decent processor, a sizable amount of RAM, and a large hard drive for music and movies. I wanted to get him an AMD Phenom dual core clocked over 3.0 GHz simply because he wouldn't need 4 cores on a media PC and the down-clock/price tag would be a detriment. He had asked me to piece together a shopping list but his impatience grew and he made one himself. One of the items on his shopping list was a bundle that included an Asus M4A88T-M motherboard and an AMD Phenom II X4 920. I'll provide a link below:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...01519&CatId=14

I wish I'd have looked at the specs before he bought the thing! Tiger Direct sells a bundle that includes an AM3 motherboard and an AM2+ processor. An AM3 processor is backwards compatible(?) with an AM2+ motherboard but an AM2+ processor absolutely does not fit in an AM3 slot!

But wait, the story gets worse..

When building the computer at my kitchen table, I assumed the bundle was compatible. I didn't bother to check the sockets. After a few failed attempts to align the pins on the socket grid, I couldn't get it in. Flipping the processor over, I saw three bent pins. This was when I checked the socket type on the motherboard and the processor socket and saw they did not match.

My dad went to our local Comp USA / Tiger Direct warehouse down the street and tried to explain to the techies that they were not compatible with eachother. Three of these guys insisted they were. They tried to fit it in themselves, and after a few attempts they lowered the locking arm and claimed it fit, and that we were wrong. My dad opened the arm and showed them bent pins. He informed them the socket types don't even match according to their web site but they still seemed to deny it. They eventually offered to return the bent processor for an AMD Athalon X4 of all things..it was more powerful according to them. Right.

I think I'll stick to Newegg, thanks.

EarthDog · 12-21-10, 10:18 AM

Ehhh, I thought AM2+ CPU's can go in AM3's...

thideras · 12-21-10, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthDog

Ehhh, I thought AM2+ CPU's can go in AM3's...

This is what I thought as well. The whole point behind the "+" in "AM2+".

EarthDog · 12-21-10, 10:33 AM

Well...maybe not?

Quote:

Today's processors reviewed are Socket AM2+ processors. Here's where things get a little tricky, try to follow me:

AMD AM3 processors will work on some AM2+ motherboards (780/790 chipset).
However, older AM2/AM2+ processors will not work on AM3 motherboards because AM2 processors lack a DDR3 memory controller.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ph...-review-test/4

thideras · 12-21-10, 10:36 AM

Shows how much I know about AMD!

Cheator · 12-21-10, 12:43 PM

The reason behind it is the AM3 chips have a DDR2/DDR3 controller, while the AM2+ chips only have a DDR2 controller, so they aren't supposed to work in AM3 boards.

EarthDog · 12-21-10, 12:44 PM

It would work with an AM3 mobo with DDR2 on it, right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ED&PageSize=20

MattNo5ss · 12-21-10, 12:50 PM

I think you guys are looking at it backwards. AM3 CPUs work in AM2+ mobos with DDR2 RAM, not AM2+ CPUs in AM3 mobos.

EarthDog · 12-21-10, 12:53 PM

Then why DDR2 AM3 boards? Those need AM3 chips to work since they have both DDR2 and 3 controllers on them?

MattNo5ss · 12-21-10, 12:55 PM

You can use DDR2 or DDR3 RAM with AM3 CPUs. So you can buy a DDR2 AM3 mobo so you don't have to upgrade your RAM. That's what I'm thinking.

muddocktor · 12-21-10, 01:03 PM

Yep, I agree with Matt in the post above. That way it saves a bit on upgrading for the end user.

EarthDog · 12-21-10, 01:06 PM

Excellent guys. Thanks for the info. Now, that sucks that happened to the OP. Im shocked. Looks like they should have thrown in the M4A77D instead.

Lateralus180 · 12-21-10, 10:45 PM

It's not a big deal really, we have everything worked out and set up. I doubt they'll take the package down though!

12-21-10, 10:08 AM	Thread Starter #1
Lateralus180 Registered Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Illinois	TigerDirect and the incompatible packages! My dad wanted me to build him a media PC for our TV. It was to cost no more than $800, would have a decent processor, a sizable amount of RAM, and a large hard drive for music and movies. I wanted to get him an AMD Phenom dual core clocked over 3.0 GHz simply because he wouldn't need 4 cores on a media PC and the down-clock/price tag would be a detriment. He had asked me to piece together a shopping list but his impatience grew and he made one himself. One of the items on his shopping list was a bundle that included an Asus M4A88T-M motherboard and an AMD Phenom II X4 920. I'll provide a link below: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...01519&CatId=14 I wish I'd have looked at the specs before he bought the thing! Tiger Direct sells a bundle that includes an AM3 motherboard and an AM2+ processor. An AM3 processor is backwards compatible(?) with an AM2+ motherboard but an AM2+ processor absolutely does not fit in an AM3 slot! But wait, the story gets worse.. When building the computer at my kitchen table, I assumed the bundle was compatible. I didn't bother to check the sockets. After a few failed attempts to align the pins on the socket grid, I couldn't get it in. Flipping the processor over, I saw three bent pins. This was when I checked the socket type on the motherboard and the processor socket and saw they did not match. My dad went to our local Comp USA / Tiger Direct warehouse down the street and tried to explain to the techies that they were not compatible with eachother. Three of these guys insisted they were. They tried to fit it in themselves, and after a few attempts they lowered the locking arm and claimed it fit, and that we were wrong. My dad opened the arm and showed them bent pins. He informed them the socket types don't even match according to their web site but they still seemed to deny it. They eventually offered to return the bent processor for an AMD Athalon X4 of all things..it was more powerful according to them. Right. I think I'll stick to Newegg, thanks. __________________ Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower Asus P6TD Deluxe X58 Motherboard Intel Core i7 930 Bloomfield D0 @ 4.0 GHz 1.38v 2x ATI Radeon XFX 5870 1GB CrossFire 6GB G.Skill 1600 MHz DDR3 1.64v 8-8-8-21 Corsair P128 CMFSSD 2.5'' Thermaltake W0319RU 850W PC Pictures Here!
	QUOTE Thanks

12-21-10, 10:18 AM	#2
EarthDog Senior PITA Member Overclockers.com Editor Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Stuck in Maryland...	Ehhh, I thought AM2+ CPU's can go in AM3's... __________________ Should I R0 my SSD? / SandyBridge / Ivybridge Overclocking Guide / AMD Overclocking Guide / Power Supply Guide SSD Reliability/Write Endurance / JOIN THE BENCHING TEAM! / Bulldozer Overclocking Guide / Forum Etiquette Want to see your writing featured on the overclockers.com Front Page? PM me, I can help! "We have more information and more ways of accessing it than ever, yet seem increasingly less inclined to do so."- Michael Wilbon
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12-21-10, 10:36 AM	#5
thideras Banned Neckbeard Moderator Premium Member #3 Join Date: May 2006 Location: South Dakota	Shows how much I know about AMD! __________________ Desktop: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H \| 3570k 4.6 GHz \| 32 GB GSkill Ares \| GTX 570 \| 180 GB Intel & 2 TB total \| Arch Linux and Windows 7 Main server: 37 TB raw disk \| 2x Opteron 6134 \| Asus KGPE-D16 \| 48 GB RAM \| LSI 8708EM2 \| CentOS 6.2 VM Server 1: Dell R510 \| 2x E5645 \| 128 GB RAM \| 4x 300 GB Velociraptor \| Xen Cloud Platform (XCP) VM Server 2: Dell R710 \| 2x E5645 \| 288 GB RAM \| 8x 300 GB Velociraptor \| Xen Cloud Platform (XCP) "That's not overkill, or a lot. That's just thiderastic." -txus.palacios Current projects: Rackmount Overkill (New) \| 30/45 hard drive server Articles: Rack Mounting 101 \| Dell Perc 5/i Throughput Benchmarks Past projects: Software RAID \| The Dragon Case My Website *Want to talk directly to all* the moderators at once? Call the Mod Hotline!**
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12-21-10, 12:43 PM	#6
Cheator Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Ottawa, Canada	The reason behind it is the AM3 chips have a DDR2/DDR3 controller, while the AM2+ chips only have a DDR2 controller, so they aren't supposed to work in AM3 boards. __________________ Optimus (Main): Antec P180, Asus P5Q-E, E8400, 4 GB G.Skill PC8000, ATI 4850, Seagate 320gb, Antec TrueControl II Teletraan I (htpc): Asus M2N-E, X2 4400+, 2 GB DDR2, ATI 3450, Sapphire Theatrix, 1.25TB storage, Antec SP2 400w Galvatron: Asus M2NPV-VM, 4200+ X2, 2GB DDR2, ATI 2900xt, Seasonic 500w Tracks: Acer AS5920, C2D 2.1ghz 45nm, 3GB DDR2, Nvidia 8600m GT, 250gb hdd Gears: Asus Eee PC 701, 1 GB DDR, Win XP My Heatware! "Duct tape is like The Force. It has a light side, a dark side and it holds the universe together." - Malpine Walis
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12-21-10, 12:44 PM	#7
EarthDog Senior PITA Member Overclockers.com Editor Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Stuck in Maryland...	It would work with an AM3 mobo with DDR2 on it, right? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ED&PageSize=20 __________________ Should I R0 my SSD? / SandyBridge / Ivybridge Overclocking Guide / AMD Overclocking Guide / Power Supply Guide SSD Reliability/Write Endurance / JOIN THE BENCHING TEAM! / Bulldozer Overclocking Guide / Forum Etiquette Want to see your writing featured on the overclockers.com Front Page? PM me, I can help! "We have more information and more ways of accessing it than ever, yet seem increasingly less inclined to do so."- Michael Wilbon
	QUOTE Thanks

TigerDirect and the incompatible packages!

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Tech Hardware

12-21-10, 12:50 PM	#8
MattNo5ss b4n4n4 dr4g0n d00m3d m0d3r4t0r Overclockers.com Editor Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: AL	I think you guys are looking at it backwards. AM3 CPUs work in AM2+ mobos with DDR2 RAM, not AM2+ CPUs in AM3 mobos. __________________ i7 3770K \| Asus Maximus V Gene \| 4x2GB Dominator GT DDR3-1600 6-6-6-20 \| eVGA GTX670 SC \| 50GB OCZ Vertex 2 \| SeaSonic SS-1000XP i7 2700K \| Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 \| 4x2GB G.Skill Eco DDR3-1600 7-8-7-24 \| eVGA GTX680 \| 256GB OCZ Vertex 4 \| SeaSonic X750 E8700/E6750/P4 631 \| Rampage Extreme & EP45T-Extreme & Commando\| Whatever I Can Find Laying Around... O/C Author Profile \| HWBot Profile \| Heatware (89-0-0) \m/ OverClockers mATX L33T Club \m/ Projects: Copper-Framed, MDF Station \| PVC-Framed, MDF Station \| Custom Cascade Cart/Case \| Untitled TJ07 Build
	QUOTE Thanks

12-21-10, 12:53 PM	#9
EarthDog Senior PITA Member Overclockers.com Editor Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Stuck in Maryland...	Then why DDR2 AM3 boards? Those need AM3 chips to work since they have both DDR2 and 3 controllers on them? __________________ Should I R0 my SSD? / SandyBridge / Ivybridge Overclocking Guide / AMD Overclocking Guide / Power Supply Guide SSD Reliability/Write Endurance / JOIN THE BENCHING TEAM! / Bulldozer Overclocking Guide / Forum Etiquette Want to see your writing featured on the overclockers.com Front Page? PM me, I can help! "We have more information and more ways of accessing it than ever, yet seem increasingly less inclined to do so."- Michael Wilbon
	QUOTE Thanks

12-21-10, 12:55 PM	#10
MattNo5ss b4n4n4 dr4g0n d00m3d m0d3r4t0r Overclockers.com Editor Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: AL	You can use DDR2 or DDR3 RAM with AM3 CPUs. So you can buy a DDR2 AM3 mobo so you don't have to upgrade your RAM. That's what I'm thinking. __________________ i7 3770K \| Asus Maximus V Gene \| 4x2GB Dominator GT DDR3-1600 6-6-6-20 \| eVGA GTX670 SC \| 50GB OCZ Vertex 2 \| SeaSonic SS-1000XP i7 2700K \| Gigabyte G1.Sniper M3 \| 4x2GB G.Skill Eco DDR3-1600 7-8-7-24 \| eVGA GTX680 \| 256GB OCZ Vertex 4 \| SeaSonic X750 E8700/E6750/P4 631 \| Rampage Extreme & EP45T-Extreme & Commando\| Whatever I Can Find Laying Around... O/C Author Profile \| HWBot Profile \| Heatware (89-0-0) \m/ OverClockers mATX L33T Club \m/ Projects: Copper-Framed, MDF Station \| PVC-Framed, MDF Station \| Custom Cascade Cart/Case \| Untitled TJ07 Build
	QUOTE Thanks

12-21-10, 01:03 PM	#11
muddocktor Retired Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: New Iberia, LA	Yep, I agree with Matt in the post above. That way it saves a bit on upgrading for the end user.
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12-21-10, 01:06 PM	#12
EarthDog Senior PITA Member Overclockers.com Editor Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Stuck in Maryland...	Excellent guys. Thanks for the info. Now, that sucks that happened to the OP. Im shocked. Looks like they should have thrown in the M4A77D instead. __________________ Should I R0 my SSD? / SandyBridge / Ivybridge Overclocking Guide / AMD Overclocking Guide / Power Supply Guide SSD Reliability/Write Endurance / JOIN THE BENCHING TEAM! / Bulldozer Overclocking Guide / Forum Etiquette Want to see your writing featured on the overclockers.com Front Page? PM me, I can help! "We have more information and more ways of accessing it than ever, yet seem increasingly less inclined to do so."- Michael Wilbon
	QUOTE Thanks

12-21-10, 10:45 PM	Thread Starter #13
Lateralus180 Registered Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Illinois	It's not a big deal really, we have everything worked out and set up. I doubt they'll take the package down though! __________________ Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower Asus P6TD Deluxe X58 Motherboard Intel Core i7 930 Bloomfield D0 @ 4.0 GHz 1.38v 2x ATI Radeon XFX 5870 1GB CrossFire 6GB G.Skill 1600 MHz DDR3 1.64v 8-8-8-21 Corsair P128 CMFSSD 2.5'' Thermaltake W0319RU 850W PC Pictures Here!
	QUOTE Thanks

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