Regards, I need to consult on an Ideacentre K410 desktop model: MTM-11681CU. This model has the factory preinstalled Windows 7 Home and brings the i3-2120 Dual Core 3.3Ghz processor which I understand is Sandy Bridge microarchitecture.
The query is about updating the maximum CPU that my machine can support and is compatible. According to the hardware manual of my PC says that this model can carry two types of processors: the one I have is i3-2120 and the i5-2320 which is Quad core but is 3.0 Ghz. In the same manual later is the same machine, the K410 but that brings pre-installed windows 8. This brings different processors than the one I have, but I am interested if the i7-3770 that brings as an option this last machine would work to which I have. Looking for information and found that the one I have is Sandy Bridge as I mentioned earlier and the CPU i7-3770 is Ivy Bridge. Check the manufacturer and there is no BIOS update. My question is this i7-3770 processor would work on my pc that comes from the factory the i3-2120 that is Sandy? I would like to upgrade the CPU from my pc to the Max that I can support, but I will have to settle for the i5-2320 ...

Thanks for your help.No BIOS update and manual that suggests i5 then i7. It would be a expensive mistake to GET an i7 and not be able to use it. One suggestion i have is if you know of anyone who has a i7 equal to or lesser than the 3770 to pop into your system and see if it will boot on it or complain or not boot at all. Some issues you can run into if it does run on a i7 is heat as well as the voltage regulators might not be to spec to handle the power needs of the i7 which can cook your main board.

I have a different build that warns that it only supports a 65 watt TDP CPU, yet I was able to get it to run on a 95 watt TDP CPU when testing. I went back to a 65 watt TDP CPU to not cook it as for I have one of those IR heat guns to measure temperature and the VRMs started to run hot so I TOOK the 65 watt maximum as an actual maximum and backed off pushing the light weight motherboard too hard. The BIOS in this case SUPPORTED the better CPU, but the motherboard was manufactured specifically to only handle up to 65 watt CPU's.

The safest BET would be to go with the i5 that is listed.

One other surprise to worry about is the system recovery media for that system might break with a different CPU detected in it. Some system recovery software if there is a hardware change such as non-original build CPU installed, you might find that when you go to reinstall the OS from the recovery media that it complains that it cant install to the system. So you will want to retain the original CPU in case you find yourself reinstalling it to perform a clean build and then removing it and placing the better CPU in it after OS reinstalled clean which generally it then just requires a reboot after new hardware detected message which is the different better CPU detected and it wants to reboot with the settings for the better CPU.