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Go to SolutionAurora R7, Intel 9th Gen CPUs installed
I thought some people on this forum might be interested... so I was browsing eBay and found two Alienware Aurora R7's for sale with 9th gen CPUs installed. In both cases, the seller posted photos showing the back of the motherboard's rear IO shield (which reads "R7"), and a processor diagnostic tool showing the CPU reading as a 9400F. In any event, and considering that Dell recycled the same z370 mobo for the R7/R8, the fact that eBay flippers can do it, should make it even more clear that providing an official BIOS upgrade path to allow for 9th gen on the R7 would be as relatively simple task for Dell.
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Posted August 31st, 2019 13:00
Same seller for both listings. I sent a message asking how they got it to work. I will advise of any response.
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Posted August 31st, 2019 13:00
The response:
New message from: pa_zentek (228Turquoise Star)
The Aurora r7 has a Z370 chipset... Has nothing to do with the bios.. or dell.
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/125903/intel-z370-chipset.html
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Posted August 31st, 2019 20:00
All photos require Moderator approval.
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Posted September 1st, 2019 08:00
@Zen_Tek I hope this helps.
Yes, absolutely helpful. Thank you for joining this Community and showing us the documentation. As you can tell, many in this group are very surprised, as we have been told, repeatedly, that the R7 cannot support the 9th gen Intel processors without the magic Dell BIOS update. Community users have attempted this feat, and reported failure. Now, I am certain it will be investigated further.
Thank You again!
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Posted August 31st, 2019 13:00
It's possible that a 9th gen CPU will function when installed into an R7 motherboard. Right before they became available for purchase to the public, testers had leaked screen shots of 9th gen Coffee Lake processors running on 370 boards that hadn't yet had a BIOS update. In some cases, the BIOS just reported the processor as an unknown CPU but it still worked nevertheless.
Anyway, would be interesting to hear what the seller responds with.
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Posted August 31st, 2019 13:00
Interesting, I suspect that if they do have a custom BIOS, they would be unlikely to admit it.
I thought I had read a post a while back from someone who tried to upgrade an R7 to a 9th gen, and the PC wouldn't post until they stuck the 8th gen back in. But I can't find it now so maybe I'm not remembering correctly.
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Posted August 31st, 2019 14:00
The part about the seller saying it has nothing to do with BIOs makes me wonder whether they are dishonest or just ignorant. I mean just type "upgrade Z370 to 9th generation" into google and you'll get hundreds of hits about it being all about BIOs. But, if the latter, and dell discreetly slipped in the necessary microcode for the R7, then this is really good news for people seeking to upgrade their R7 to 9th gen. Now, who's going to be the first guinea pig?
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Posted September 1st, 2019 13:00
According to an anonymous source, the following 9th gen CPUs use the same microcode as 8th gen CPUs and as such, should work with an Alienware Aurora R7 regardless of which Dell BIOS version is installed (but note, the underlined CPUs ship in two different versions and the newer version would require an updated BIOS (which Dell has not made available for the Aurora R7).)
The following 9th gen CPUs require new microcode, different than 8th gen CPUs (and, absent a BIOs update, are not compatible with the Alienware Aurora R7):
*BOLD AND UNDERLINED CPUs SHIP WITH TWO DIFFERENT MANUFACTURING REVISIONS. ONLY THE ORIGINAL VERSION IS COMPATIBLE WITH 8TH GEN BIOS.
Disclaimer: I have not tested/verified the accuracy of this information, so YMMV, and follow it at your own risk! Just sharing what I've learned.