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Bios Update Area-51 R5 Gen9 CPU Upgrade Support, R4 = NONE!!
51 R4 Owners get no support & have been tossed under the bus
51 R5 Owners do get support: if you purchased an X299 SkylakeX 7800x - 7980XE, you can, now or later, move up to Sky-X BasinFalls Refresh Gen9 CPUs in all flavors, like 9800x - 9980XE
File Link: Bios Version 1.0.0.1029, 2.0.0 >< & see Drivers / Downloads
File Name: Alienware_Area_51_R5_2.0.0.exe
Enhancements: This update supports the following processors:
- Intel Core i7-9800X
- Intel Core i9-9820X
- Intel Core i9-9900X
- Intel Core i9-9920X
- Intel Core i9-9940X
- Intel Core i9-9960X X-series Processor
- Intel Core i9-9980XE Extreme Edition Processor
R4 Part# HJ5Y7 (MS-7A87 V1.0)
R5 Part# N4R4N (MS-7A87 V1.0)
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Why no support for R4? Why would they dead-end your motherboard?
Given that R4 R5 boards are both MSI MS-7A87 V1.0, they should be so similar as to be functional equivalents: a cosmetic difference as opposed to a board-level. This is a disgrace, of course, & represents the 1st Area-51 motherboard to ever be dead-ended (if u follow the AMD Threadripper R3 R6, those two motherboards are also headed towards a dead-end, have not received Bios firmware to run newest chip like 2950x; this too is a disgrace)
On Dell FTP, R4 R5 appear to share (past) Bios Version names (1.1.10)(1.1.16)(1.1.17)
***New Version 1.0.0.1029, 2.0.0 'breaks' from traditional 'naming convention'
New Bios download page states 'compatibility' between them
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Posted February 8th, 2019 16:00
I have the info u requested & will tender it once I know how, but surely you can PM engineering without need of it, if not to satisfy your own curiosity for us over whether R4 (HJ5Y7) boards can apply this firmware update or not, while a part of me expects I should wait a week or less to see if one publishes separate as would be normal & even expected. My question was posted for the benefit of the R4 community. Please advise
@Amstel I knew you'd reply into here, lol
The lack of a Bios firmware update for R7 owners is troubling, given the vanilla Dell XPS received one way back in November
R6 owners have a Z270 board which Intel will not support, no one supports it & no one can upgrade to Gen8 or Gen9 for that reason (not without a serious mod!)
R5 Z170 owners were refused a Bios update from Dell however, a situation we don't want to see repeated for R7 owners, time will tell. I'd give up hope when March ends & April begins ...
Tweet out to the GM or Mr Dell through Twitter, as I explained in 'Area-51 R3 Threadripper, GEN 2 BIOS update ???'
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Posted February 10th, 2019 14:00
@Amstel I knew you'd reply into here, lol
The lack of a Bios firmware update for R7 owners is troubling, given the vanilla Dell XPS received one way back in November
R6 owners have a Z270 board which Intel will not support, no one supports it & no one can upgrade to Gen8 or Gen9 for that reason (not without a serious mod!)
R5 Z170 owners were refused a Bios update from Dell however, a situation we don't want to see repeated for R7 owners, time will tell. I'd give up hope when March ends & April begins ...
Oops. Didn't realize the Aurora R6 crowd was "out of luck". I was under the impression they were on a 370 chipset as well. Mea culpa. As for the lack of updates for the Aurora R7; indeed it is troubling. I've already determined that purchasing this Dell was a mistake. I should have heeded my gut and just spent the tiny bit extra and built a rig from the ground up. When I bought my Aurora R7, it was during a period when it was cheaper to purchase a turnkey solution then source parts separately. What I didn't realize was just how proprietary the whole thing is... even the UEFI is a travesty with it's complete lack of controls or monitoring.
Dell should at the very least provide UEFI firmware updates that can permit the end user full control over the system, plus use updated processors granted the chipset permits. They can even insert a disclaimer stating that use of such firmware would invalidate one's warranty if it's installed during an active warranty period. For those of out of warranty, it shouldn't matter. Instead, they lock you into the Dell ecosphere for life - or at least try to.
Regardless, glad to hear that Area-51 R5 users have options. Hoping that Dell does the right thing for the Aurora R7 owners.
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Posted February 10th, 2019 14:00
@Alienware-Eimy wrote:
Hi @Cass-Ole,
We'll get you the info straight from engineering. Send me your service tag on a PM.
Hi @Alienware-Eimy ,
Since you're feeling generous, can you please ask engineering what gives with BIOS support for the R7's and 9th gen Intel processors also please?
Thank you!
amstel78
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402 Posts
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Posted February 8th, 2019 12:00
I hope they also issue a BIOS update for R6 and R7 owners to utilize 9th gen Intel processors.