Hey there, I've recently gotten more and more into gaming, and as it gets more serious the demands for less lag has gotten to be more!

So here's the eMachine. I got it from a friend and he put a huge video card, a new power supply, and lots of RAM into it.

Anyway here's the link: http://www.e4me.com/products/products.html?prod=T3642

and here's the CPU I want to put inside of it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103210

I know the sockets match and everything, but I read something about how my motherboard has to support Dual-Core Processors

(Btw here is my current processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103868 )

Bump, I'd really like some insight here =/

You may have to flash the bios... As a guess I would say yes to the dual core CPU

If you want better fps for gaming I'd look into a better vga, over a cpu.

Everything marks a 5.9 in my windows test, but the processor is 4.3 rated

And what do you mean by flash the bios? how is that done?

He is right, don't listen to vista it's lying.

Flashing the bios is like updating to a newer version, hopefully supporting the CPU in question. Might I add that the AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition Kuma 2.8GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core Processor Model AD785ZWCGHBOX - Retail is a much better performer. You may want to check compatibility, but remember a graphics card will most certainly give you much more performance! I don't even know if a new processor will help at all.

Can an AM2+ fit into an AM2 socket? (Sorry I'm completely new to processors here :P)

And I'm pretty sure my graphics card is the best component in this computer.

here's the link to it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143130

I've got 2GB of RAM also.

In order to find out which processors you can use, you first need to know what motherboard you have. I think the T3642 has the Foxconn MCP61SM2MA-RS2H motherboard. You will have to verify this. If I am right about what motherboard is in there, then these are the processors that your motherboard can support:
- AMD Sempron™
- Athlon™ 64
- Athlon™ 64x2

It's not the exact motherboard, I've tried looking up the model number on my motherboard but it didnt' come up, it was like specially made for the eMachine.

Why does eMachines have to be so complicated

So does
- AMD Sempron™
- Athlon™ 64
- Athlon™ 64x2
still apply?

And so could I just get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103678 and be happy ^_^?

The eMachines motherboard is a MCP61SM2MA AM2 uATX (Gateway) The specs are nothing fancy:

Form Factor uATX 9.6 inches × 9.6 inches
Processor Support Supports socket AM2 for AMD® Athlon™ 64X2 Dual Core, Athlon 64, and Sempron™ processors
Chipset NVIDIA MCP61S
System Bus Support Up to 2000 Mhz
Memory Support Two DDR2 800/667/533 MHz SDRAM slots
Support up to 4 GB system memory
Audio Integrated Realtek ALC662 audio
Network Support Integrated 10/100 MB LAN
Add-In Card Slots One PCI Express ×16
One PCI-E ×1
Two PCI Conventional

Rear Panel I/O Ports PS/2 keyboard port
PS/2 mouse port
Four USB 2.0 ports
One parallel port
One serial port
One VGA port
One RJ-45 LAN port
Three audio jacks

Internal Headers Two 2-port USB 2.0 headers (2 × 5)
One Front panel audio header (mic / headphone)
One front panel header (2 × 5 supports power LED, power switch, hard drive LED, and reset switch)
One Floppy disk drive connector
One Primary IDE connector
Two Serial ATA II connectors (3 GB/s)
One Clear CMOS jumper
One Main Power Connector 24-pin (2 × 12)
One 12V CPU power connector 4-pin
One 4-pin CPU fan connector
One 3-pin system fan connector

If it's a different model number, then I still can't say for certain. Why don't you just contact them and find out if their T3642 suppors AM2+?

Phew, I did some really deep digging and I came up with this !

http://support.gateway.com/emachines...6232Rsp2.shtml

Bam all my questions answered! Thanks for the help everyone!

You're welcome, figured it was that model of motherboard anyways.

Crap, today I think i'm going to buy the processor but i want to be 110% sure that it will be compatible so here we go.

When it says

Processor Support: Supports socket AM2 for AMD® Athlon™ 64X2 Dual Core, Athlon 64, and Sempron™ processors

Does it strictly mean only AM2?

Or will it support this processor which is AM2+

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103678

Was the machine produced.....?

The BIOS of OEM type computers are typically not updated to accomodate later series of CPUs the way motherboards are. These Bios updates tend to track advancements in CPUs, generally untill the hardware is no longer capable of supporting the newer processors, then it's time for a new board.

Anyhoo, certain groups of CPUs are supported with the same BIOS. However it's sort of hit or miss and series of the same CPU don't always work with the same BIOS. For example you can use an Intel C2D E7300 or E7400 with the same BIOS, but the later E7600 requires an update to function.

Manufacturers sell OEM prebuilt machines with the idea they will go to their graves in pretty much the same configuration they were sold in. Emachines is a culprit here in that they sold machines with Intel 915 chipsets, boards which should have had a PCI-E x16 socket (for add-on graphics card) , yet these same boards for Gateway were shipped with the sockets removed.

It might behoove you to investigate some other manufacturers motherboard specs to find out if your current CPU and the proposed CPU operate under the same BIOS revision. This doesn't guaranty that it will work for you in your board, but I suppose it doesn't say it won't.

Gateway is showing free (?) email and live chat support, but you might need to pose as the original owner to receive this. It wouldn't hurt to ask.

AS to your earlier question, "why are Emachines so complicated", news flash, they're all really complicated. In fact, an average modern desktop has more computing power than anything that was used to track our moonrockets. The Apple G-4 was placed on a no export list due to the fact it was believed capable of being adapted for weapons use.