Instead of spending your hard earned money, I would begin by checking all bios settings to rule out any stupid possibility.
Is this a desktop or a laptop?
If it's a desktop, then you may probably want to check for a bios update too.
Check HERE. There are two revisions for this motherboard.
You can use CPU-Z to know more about your mainboard without having to open the case. Or you could consult the manual if available.
PS - I am sure your PC is more than capable of running W10.
I already have updated the BIOS to F11 way back in 2010 when it was released. My machine is a desktop and the Gigabyte mobo is revision 1.3
I can't imagine where I might begin in trying to reveal the cause of this incompatibility message.
Your BIOS is already the latest revision, but you may have to go in and enable some settings for the upgrade app to function properly (as already mentioned speed step can drop your frequency below the required 1 GHz, or having virtualization disabled, etc etc). Running CPU-Z would show if the required features are turned on or not. Also, while I haven't seen it hindering the upgrade itself, The Gigabyte App Center has caused some wonky behavior after upgrading, you can read it yourself here:
-??? - Windows 10 Forums
What's your exact CPU? As you say that it's Socket 1156, I suppose that it's an I3-5X0 unit.
That series is old, but I'm pretty sure that it has all the features you need. It also supports Speedstep. I doubt that's your problem, but you could stop that by enabling the high performance mode in the Power control panel of Windows. If you want to be doubly sure that SpeedStep is off, disable EIST in the BIOS settings.
The only obvious thing I see in your BIOS settings is in the Advanced menu. I think that you might get into trouble if No-Execute Memory Protect is disabled. It's on by default, and you never should have turned it off. I'm not sure that having it as off would suggest to the Win 10 checker that your CPU doesn't support NX, but it might.
If your Gigabyte BIOS isn't UEFI, you can get more controls using CTRL-F1 at BIOS main screen. (Hidden options).
At least, I hope it was using CTRL key...
PS - Yup, it's CTRL-F1 for Award BIOSes...
CPU-Z report extraced below. I bought a bundle including the motherboard already overclocked to 4.00GHz. It is described as Argon Intel Core i3 and has never really given me a moments trouble. I will run through the BIOS points made in earlier replies. In the meantime if this data makes sense to anyone!!!! Be my guest as they say.
Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 2 (max 8)
Number of threads 4 (max 16)
Name Intel Core i3 540
Codename Clarkdale
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 540 @ 3.07GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 1156 LGA (0x1)
CPUID 6.5.2
Extended CPUID 6.25
Core Stepping C2
Technology 32 nm
TDP Limit 73.0 Watts
Core Speed 1333.4 MHz
Multiplier x Bus Speed 10.0 x 133.3 MHz
Rated Bus speed 2933.4 MHz
Stock frequency 3066 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EM64T, VT-x
L1 Data cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 2 x 32 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 2 x 256 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L3 cache 4 MBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
Turbo Mode not supported
Max turbo frequency 3066 MHz
Max non-turbo ratio 23x
Max turbo ratio 23x
Max efficiency ratio 9x
TDC Limit 53 Amps
Max bus number 63
Attached device PCI device at bus 63, device 2, function 1
Temperature 0 34°C (93°F) [0x47] (Core #0)
Power 0 28.44 W (Package)
Display adapter 0
Name AMD Radeon HD 6850
Board Manufacturer 0x174B (0xE174)
Codename Barts
Technology 40 nm
Memory size 1024 MB
Memory type GDDR5
PCI device bus 1 (0x1), device 0 (0x0), function 0 (0x0)
Vendor ID 0x1002 (0x174B)
Model ID 0x6739 (0xE174)
Performance Level 0
Core clock 100.0 MHz
Memory clock 300.0 MHz
Performance Level 1
Core clock 600.0 MHz
Memory clock 1000.0 MHz
Performance Level 2
Core clock 775.0 MHz
Memory clock 1000.0 MHz
At a first glance, it seems it *should* work...
My i7 has the same instruction set PLUS: AES (encryption?) AVX, AVX2 and FMA3 (whatever these mean).
A I3-540 ought to be compatible with 10.
If NX is enabled in your motherboard's BIOS, I'm at a loss to guess why the upgrade is not allowed.
One of my pc's is used by volunteers at the museum and it runs W7. It is an old 939 Athlon X2 4800+ with 4gb of ddr. I clicked on the upgrade to W10 button and immediately got a message that the CPU was not compatible. So W7 is for keeps on this machine.
Just a thought, is the problem with W7, is it genuine?
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