XPS 730x, accessing CPU

Not down in the centre but at the tip. That would be down and out as shown in the service manual here. I have to wonder why that picture looks somewhat strange compared to the service manual though. My hunch is that your picture shows the parts of the heat sink assy. and the CPU lever is on the other side. The end of it looks like a hook in a way.

good to see a 730x user posting here.

I am wondering why OP wants to remove the chipset cooler to upgrade cpu?

In order to upgrade to i7-980X cpu, remove 4 screws of the 730x tower air cooler by using long stem Philips screwdriver.  you cannot see the screw top easily as they are deep inside the four access holes.  just try to hold the screwdriver as straight as possible through the holes to engage the Phillips head of the screw.

If OP had removed the small chipset heat fan assembly on top of the chipset cold plate, it is better not to dissemble further but reinstall the small heat fan assembly back. 

OP pic shows the CPU heatsink has not been removed.  I wonder whether OP is confusing CPU cooler with chipset heatsink.

in pic below, chipset heatsink is the small black fan heatsink assembly mounted on a heat spreader using two screws with thermal pad sandwiched in between, which usually dries after 16 years and need some work to detach. 

But there is no need to do this for cpu upgrade.  If too much brute force is used to detach chipset heat sink, it could damage the chipset and ruin the motherboard.

to the left is the cpu socket LGA1366.  A big tower cooler was mounted on it by 4 screws.

Yes, correct call!  I got the CPU out today and replaced it with an i7-980x.  I've checked, and it is compatible. The system has enough power to support it.  However, when I restarted the computer with the new CPU installed, the computer started for a second, stopped for a few seconds, and then started up again.  The fan was louder than usual (which I think makes sense since the 980x draws more power.  Unfortunately, the screen stayed blank.  I replaced my old CPU and restarted the computer to ensure I didn't damage any components while working on it, and it is working fine.  Any ideas?  The new chip may be damaged as I had to buy it used.  It was stated that it was in very good condition and working, so who knows?  On a side note this is just a fun project so I know I could replace motherboard, etc. but for now we just want to upgrade the CPU.  Thank in advance!

Okay, that makes a lot of sense.  Also, I received a recommendation to update to a hybrid Alienware A11b BIOS to run the 980x. However, I have also read that 1.0.5 can handle it.

And yes agreed!  I bought this computer new so its been with me a long time.  GPU is upgraded, RAM is upgraded, after the CPU I am sure there will be more to play around with!

Found this in the reddit forum regarding the A11. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/730x/comments/8q434u/comment/hi61n20/

Yes that is the one. I think I will post it to make it a permanent archive copy.

It mentions using AFUWINx64 to back up the BIOS.  I've never used that application, anything I should know?

it is a standard application from American Megatrends/AMI the big bios maker.  the flash was validated by 100s+ users.  just follow it carefully and you should be fine (do read the warnings though).

I can't seem to find it on the website anymore.  Any chance that anyone has a good download link?

direct link

https://730x.github.io/files/bios_DellXps730xBios_A11b.zip

inside zip there is another zip file amibios, inside that you will find Afuwin

Perfect, thank you!  BIOS is backup, time to try and install the A11

Anyone else get stuck here?  I reset the CMOS and rebooted.  Pushing F2 doesn't seem to do anything.  When I push F12 just to see if it will work it recognizes the entry and switches to "Entering Boot Menu" and then stays there.