Upgrading Inspiron N5050 to i7-3540M?

I was recently given an Inspiron N5050, and I'm exploring upgrade possibilities. Memory and SSD upgrades are incoming, of course, but in this topic, I'm specifically interested in determining the best CPU this laptop can support. I think it's the i7-3540M, but I'd like some independent confirmation.

The motherboard model is DELL 01HXXJ. The motherboard chipset is Intel HM67 (Cougar Point) [B3]. It is currently running an Intel i3-2370M @ 2.4 GHz.

Dell says that the best processor they officially support for this model is the i5-2430M, but we all know that Dell underestimates this kind of stuff. Here is a thread where someone got an i7-2620M working on an N5050.

Now, I figure, the N5050 supports Socket G2 (rPGA 988B). All of the processors tested with it have a TDP of 35 W, so quad-cores are kind of out of the picture. But the i7-3540M is the most powerful i7 dual-core with a TDP of 35 W. Its bus speed is a match with the tested processors, and everything else seems to match up. My only concern is the lithography. All the tested processors have a lithography of 32 nm, while the i7-3540M is 22nm. Unfortunately, I don't know if this makes a difference.

Can someone pretty please share their experience and tell me if my reasoning is correct so far? Can the i7-3540M work with the N5050?

 

Unfortunately according to this it seems upgrading to IVB is a no go.
Considering its cooling system is just enough to cool a 35W processor, I don't think dropping a quad is good too.

Best to fit an i7-2620M if you really want to upgrade, though the performance difference isn't huge. Your i3 is still fast enough to do a lot of tasks.

One good thing though, is that it can take 16GB RAM.

 

Thanks for the lead! I think you're right. I looked into bios mods for Ivy Bridge support, but it's too deep a rabbit hole to explore currently. Sounds like the HM67 firmware would need to be modded too. djjonastybe would be the best person to ask about the possibilities. IMO, it would be a great learning experience, but it's not worth the time.

Looks like i7-2640M is the best 35 W CPU that's compatible with the HM67 ( ARK, CPU-Upgrade). I'll buy one and report back on the results for general reference. Fingers crossed!