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Comment by ninkendo | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone honestly upgrade CPUs? I’ve built machines with upgradability in mind for decades but I can’t say I’ve ever actually done it. Every time I want to upgrade, inevitably enough time has passed that there’s a new socket out and I have to replace the motherboard anyway.

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I've done it, just this last weekend infact. Went from a Pentium G3258 nicely overclocked at 4.5ghz to a 2nd hand 4670k overclocked to 4.2.

But if you are thinking of upgradeability of CPUs you are much much better sticking with AMD, who don't change their CPU socket every couple of years.

Well, they effectively changed the socket this generation as AFAICT you can't use new CPUs on any of the current x470 mobos.

Actually, with a BIOS update, the new Zen 2 CPU's are indeed compatible with most x470, b450, and even 300 series motherboards.

AMD recently responded on reddit that they don't want to fragment the market so they just make zen 2 not compatible with old boards. That was after announcements by board manufacturers about compatibility on their boards.

Looks like I was for some reason confusing pcie 4 compatibility (which will not be supported even on top end mobos) with cpu compatibility. Can't edit the post though.

You can put new Zen 2 cpus into old 370/470 boards, except the weakest ones. Maybe they will change socket for Zen 3.

> Does anyone honestly upgrade CPUs?

Purchasing decisions are not always rational, many times they are just emotion driven. The fear of missing out is hardwired into our brains.

I've only done it once before with an early Pentium, I believe from 133 to 300 MHz? I plan to do it again with my Ryzen 7 1900 as soon as the 3000-series hits the market.

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