Question Upgrading Aleinware Aurora R4 CPU

[ltbomboy]

Hello I have been having trouble upgrading my CPU on my Alienware Aurora R4, here are my specs

Processor: Intel i7 920 2.6GHz
Memory: 32GB
Hard Drive: 550 SSD +1 TB
Power Supply:875 Watt

I've updated my BIOS to the most current version for my board which is a MS-7591 Version 1.0 with the most current BIOS being A011. After updating I attempted to install the new CPU and after restarting the computer does not display anything but sounds like it started correctly. I have not been able to find out why this is happening or that perhaps the board cannot be upgraded to a Intel i7 990x though I have read elsewhere that it can. Also I do not know if their is a setting in the BIOS that must be changed prior to installation but for now I'm out of ideas.

 

[Eximo]

i7-920?

Wrong computer model name? That motherboard was in the Aurora ALX or R3 as near as I can tell. R4 should be X79 and LGA2011.

Either way, I've only found one source that indicates the 990X was possible, and it wasn't provided by Dell. If you have upgraded to the latest BIOS and it still doesn't work, either it isn't compatible or that CPU simply doesn't work.

Not sure what you paid for the CPU, but probably not worth it. There are mid-range Intel and Ryzen chips that would have similar performance. 8 years is a long time in the PC space.

 

[ltbomboy]

i7-920?

Wrong computer model name? That motherboard was in the Aurora ALX or R3 as near as I can tell. R4 should be X79 and LGA2011.

Either way, I've only found one source that indicates the 990X was possible, and it wasn't provided by Dell. If you have upgraded to the latest BIOS and it still doesn't work, either it isn't compatible or that CPU simply doesn't work.

Not sure what you paid for the CPU, but probably not worth it. There are mid-range Intel and Ryzen chips that would have similar performance. 8 years is a long time in the PC space.

Sorry it currently has an i7-920 and the socket type is a Socket LGA1366. After some more research on the BIOS it seems after version 8 of the BIOS https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=2nm6v that they have compatibility for the 980x Gulftown but no mention of the 990x so I'm going to assume the 980x is compatible but not the 990x?

 

[Eximo]

That was what I found as well. I'm guessing the newer CPU (one year newer than the 980x) has a new stepping that wasn't quite compatible with the older Alienware boards. OEMs only support boards for so long sadly.