M17x R3 CPU Upgrade

Alight gentlemen,

My cpu has gone bad for some reason in my laptop and Dell want to charge me 295.00 to renew my warranty and then charge me for parts so a grand total of over 700.00 to replace my cpu. I basically said very nice and colorful words at the tech and hung up and decided to do a little digging around. I have found 2 cpus that I want you opinions on.

Should i go with the:
2960xm

or

3820qm

The 3820qm is compatible with this laptop ( here is the link to this post)
"I just got out of a meeting with some techs from Alienware and I have confirmed the the following three Core-i7 gen3 processors are compatible with our mother boards!
i7-3720 QM
i7-3610 QM
i7-3820 QM
system requirements are the same as current:
most recent chipset from Dell
most recent BIOS update from Dell.
The CPU will be plug and play. The socket for the M17xR3 motherboard is the "FCPGA988"
The 3rd Generation of processor I7-3820QM,2.7 Sockets Supported are "FCBGA1224 & FCPGA988" "

Hope you guys can help.

 

Did dell say why the 3960xm and the other processors won't work? I don't understand why only those Ivy bridge processors would work. Also, the 2960xm will be very good, as long as you can keep the temps down.

 

If you want an XM CPU get the 2920XM. It's cheaper and OC's just as well; as such it's a better value.

 

I read that article. I knew the support reps at Dell were full of View attachment 85645 . More power to the Alienware reps who solved the mystery@!@ If you can, go with the 3820QM. I've seen it perform beautifully in CPU intensive situations (gaming, Photoshop) just as well as my 920XM has. You should only need an extreme CPU if you plan to run 3D intensive games at full FPS. IMHO, not worth the price unless you absolutely need it. You should be pleased with the 3820QM's performance. Ask around, plenty of people here will attest to that.

 

Hi guys,

Just a quick input you might want to keep in mind, I did a little research and asked around after I read that an Alienware rep told you that your system supports 3rd gen processors, and I think that the chipset that your motherboard has (HM67) doesn't support 3rd gen processors, check out this link:

Mobile Intel® HM67 Express Chipset

 

But the specs on the 3820qm says that it is compatible with our socket and our socket is the hm67 right? The FCBGA1224 is the new IVY bridge processors

 

The socket is compatible, yes. However it is my understanding that the firmware does not support Ivy Bridge in the R3. I know it didn't when Ivy Bridge came out so unless there's been an update it is not possible to my knowledge.

 

has anyone confirmed if this is actually true?

 

17x R3 won't support Ivy bridge, that's true.

 

The M17x R3 motherboard does NOT support Ivy Bridge CPUs. These include all CPUs with a naming scheme 3xxx. I know this because I have tried, other members have tried. The best you can do is the 2960XM but a 2920XM is a better investment. It is the same chip as the 2960XM but with different clock speeds which is mitigated with overclocking anyways.

The Dell reps the guy over at the other forum contacted must have been smoking some heavy stuff because it doesn't work. Even NBR's most respected Alienware Rep Luis says it won't work.