whats the difference

[Drak55]

Just wanted to know whats the difference between AM2 and AM2+ and is and AM3 worth it?

 

[trents]

With AM2+ CPUs the HT speed is a little faster and there is a split power plane between the integrated memory controller and the CPU cores, making it more energy efficient. Neither of those amount to much in real life usage, however. AM2+ cpus will work fine on an AM2 board as long as the bios recognizes the AM2+ cpu. You may need to update the bios to accomplish that.

 

[QuietIce]

The HT Link speed will really only matter for Crossfire/SLI systems and a little bit with single high-end graphics cards. HT 1.0 (AM2) is rated for 1000 MHz but most boards will run 1100 without a problem. HT 3.0 (AM2+) will run up to 2600 MHz depending on the CPU (but the highest CPU/HT Link speed I've seen is 2000 MHz stock - most are 1800 stock). It looks like a big difference but the reality is that single graphics cards can't possibly swamp even 1400 MHz. True dual PCIe x16 can use up all of 2000 MHz and maybe a tad more under extreme conditions.

Most (but I don't think all) AM2+ boards have the split power planes as trents noted. Not sure about those real cheap AM2+ boards ...