I believe the R7 motherboard is a Z370 so it should work with 9th Gen CPU's. Dell don't like to say if different generational parts will work together as they don't test them.
Sometimes it comes down to BIOS support rather than a socket incompatibility. It's possible that the newer BIOS version allows the 9th gen to be plug and play. I haven't messed with Alienware desktops for many years though. I would suggest asking in the Desktop section of the forum.
No you can't upgrade it to 9700. You need a bios update which Dell has not released. Or it has, but unfortunately the bios update was put in the "R8" (also on z370 aka R7 + bios update). It was basically a sales/marketing decision to roll out R8 in lieu of allowing the update on R7.
ejn63
10 Elder
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30.7K Posts
0
June 8th, 2020 16:00
It looks like for the R7, the answer is no.
https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/Aurora-R7-upgrade-to-i9-9900K/td-p/6180735
(the supported CPUs are listed in the later messages).
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
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1.7K Posts
0
June 8th, 2020 21:00
I believe the R7 motherboard is a Z370 so it should work with 9th Gen CPU's. Dell don't like to say if different generational parts will work together as they don't test them.
Sometimes it comes down to BIOS support rather than a socket incompatibility. It's possible that the newer BIOS version allows the 9th gen to be plug and play. I haven't messed with Alienware desktops for many years though. I would suggest asking in the Desktop section of the forum.
r72019
6 Professor
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5.3K Posts
0
June 9th, 2020 09:00
No you can't upgrade it to 9700. You need a bios update which Dell has not released. Or it has, but unfortunately the bios update was put in the "R8" (also on z370 aka R7 + bios update). It was basically a sales/marketing decision to roll out R8 in lieu of allowing the update on R7.
YBear
3 Posts
0
June 10th, 2020 21:00
Cannot believe. Call me if I buy an alienware anymore.
speedstep
9 Legend
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47K Posts
0
June 10th, 2020 22:00
As of today (12/19/18), below are the November 2017 Aurora-R7 validated OEM CPU =
YYVN7 Intel i7-8700K (Coffee Lake-S, 6 core/12 thread, 95w, 12MB cache, FSB 2667MHz, 3.70GHz up to 4.70GHz)
7TMX7 Intel i7-8700 (Coffee Lake-S, 6 core/12 thread, 65w, 12MB cache, FSB 2667MHz, 3.20GHz up to 4.60GHz)
CGRD7 Intel i5-8600K (Coffee Lake-S, 6 core/12 thread, 95w, 9MB cache, FSB 2667MHz, up to 4.30GHz)
X85H0 Intel i5-8400 (Coffee Lake-S, 6 core/6 thread, 65w, 9MB cache, FSB 2667MHz, 3.20GHz up to 4.00GHz)
00N9G Intel i3-8100 (Coffee Lake-S, 65w, 6MB cache, FSB 2400MHz, 3.60GHz)
Motherboard VDT73, Pegatron part number 69-2M117726P06
As of today (12/19/18), below are the November 2018 Aurora-R8 validated OEM CPU =
PTJR2 Intel i9-9900K (Coffee Lake-S, 8 core/16 thread, 95w, 16MB cache, FSB 2667MHz, 3.60GHz up to 4.70GHz)
7TMX7 Intel i7-8700 (Coffee Lake-S, 6 core/12 thread, 65w, 12MB cache, FSB 2667MHz, 3.20GHz up to 4.60GHz)
0PW4K Intel i5-9700K (Coffee Lake-S, 8 core/8 thread, 95w, 12MB cache, FSB 2667MHz, 3.60GHz up to 4.60GHz)
7WP08 Intel i5-9600K (Coffee Lake-S, 6 core/6 thread, 95w, 9MB cache, FSB 2667MHz, 3.70GHz up to 4.40GHz)
X85H0 Intel i5-8400 (Coffee Lake-S, 6 core/6 thread, 65w, 9MB cache, FSB 2667MHz, 3.20GHz up to 4.00GHz)
00N9G Intel i3-8100 (Coffee Lake-S, 65w, 6MB cache, FSB 2400MHz, 3.60GHz)
Motherboard R3FWM, Pegatron part number 69-M10GD10A01