Need some help with cpu stuff :)

[divine]

ok so ive been needing to upgrade my pentium cpu BUT! my motherboard is a 'Asrock Fatal1ty H170 Performance' i want to upgrade to a 'Intel Core i3 9100F Processor' but i have no idea if its compatible with my motherboard. Any help would be amazing :P

[r.linder]

No, because it requires a 300 series motherboard. (H310, B360, Z370, Z390)
It's not worth buying anyway considering it'll be demolished by Zen2 CPUs in price-to-performance for those like you who don't have an Intel 300-series chipset board.

Your motherboard only supports 6th and 7th gen Intel CPUs, from the Celeron G3900 to the 7700K. Look for used 6th and 7th gen CPUs to replace your Pentium, unless you decide to upgrade your entire platform, in which case you would want an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 on a B350/B450 or X370/X470/X570 motherboard with DDR4-3200 CL16 RAM.

[divine]

Ty, so what cpu would be compatible and around $200?

[r.linder]

Nexxy Merkz a écrit :

Ty, so what cpu would be compatible and around $200?

What currency? Your profile doesn't state your country.

[divine]

$200 Au

[divine]

Australian dollars

[r.linder]

Nexxy Merkz a écrit :

$200 Au

i3-6100 is 194 AU, 7100 is 215 AU, according to cheapest found vendors by PCPartPicker Australia. The 7100 is basically the same CPU but slightly better due to higher clock rate.

I wouldn't buy an older generation CPU brand new though, when you can find them on the used market. Takes some trust and knowing what's too good to be true, but it can be worthwhile, especially if you can find a used i5-6400 or 7400.

[Autumn_]

Nexxy Merkz a écrit :

Ty, so what cpu would be compatible and around $200?

What are you looking for?
Compatible with your motherboard?
Or whole new platform? (Motherboard, CPU, and RAM if needed (Chances are, because you have a pentium, you've got trash RAM too, so that'll need upgrading if that's the case.))

[divine]

My specs are: Gtx 1060 3gb 2x4 8gb ddr4 (forgot the brand and some other stuff for the ram i'll download cpuid)

[divine]

just need a good cpu with around 4 cores

[r.linder]

Nexxy Merkz a écrit :

just need a good cpu with around 4 cores

You would need to get a 6th or 7th gen i5/i7 to get 4 cores with that motherboard. The only other way would be to upgrade your entire platform otherwise, as i3s before 8th gen are dual-cores.

If you upgrade the entire platform, it's best to go for AMD with the Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB DDR4-3200 CL16, and pretty much any AM4 motherboard as long as it's not A320 chipset and has a BIOS update that supports 3000 series CPUs. There are cheaper X570 boards for guaranteed quality and success though.

You'd also want to upgrade the 1060 3G to at least a 1660 or RX 590, the 3GB buffer holds back that 1060 in some titles.

[divine]

idk anything about cpu's and motherboards but it says my board is socket 1151 and the cpu's are also socket 1151, just wondering why the board isnt compatible

[Autumn_]

I just had a look on AusEbay, and it looks like you can get a USED i7-6700k for about 200AUS$.
I'm not sure how that is price wise, but if you want performance, that's one way to get it; if you don't mind buying used.

[divine]

Would a Intel Core i7 3820 be compatible?

[Autumn_]

Nexxy Merkz a écrit :

idk anything about cpu's and motherboards but it says my board is socket 1151 and the cpu's are also socket 1151, just wondering why the board isnt compatible

8-9th gen CPUs use a different socket version LGA1151v2 (basically intel swapped 2 pins around, lmao.), and the chipset doesn't support older CPUs.
With a bit of modifying you COULD get an 8th-9th gen CPU working in your Z170 board, but that requires physically modding the CPU, and getting a 'custom' BIOS. It's cheaper to just buy a decent CPU for your board, or upgrade to a different platform (Zen2.)

[r.linder]

Nexxy Merkz a écrit :

Would a Intel Core i7 3820 be compatible?

No, it's an entirely different chipset and RAM support. DDR3 vs DDR4. You can't just slap any 1151 socket CPU into any 1151 socket motherboard and expect it to work, that's not how it works.

I already told you that your motherboard is compatible ONLY with 6th and 7th gen chips, so only CPUs with a 6 or 7 at the start of the 4-digit designation are compatible with your H170 board. (i.e. i7-6700K, 7700K)