Dell Latitude E5420 CPU upgrade

I will use GC Gelid Extreme thermal paste (its one of the best cheapest ones).
I was potentially thinking on using Kryonaut, but I already have Gelid Extreme on hand.

As for Acer making Helios 500 R2... 3700x and maybe 3900 as both are in 65W TDP range (though the Helios 500 cooling could certainly handle 105W TDP CPU easily - alas I don't think Acer would try it).
And 5700XT... perhaps. Vega 56 was 210W TDP while 5700XT has 225W TDP.
However Acer could likely bin it down to 120W-135W TDP like they did with Vega 56 and keep it within 5-10% of the desktop part (much like V56 in Helios 500 was).

As for why the Helios 500 R2 wasn't released yet... possibly because it took several months (almost half a year) for Asus and Acer to release Zen desktop replacements. They may be waiting to see how popular those components are and could also be waiting for prices to come down (for themselves obviously).

It would certainly make my choice a LOT easier and would provide a really great boost in overall performance/efficiency over the original Helios 500 (which is no longer selling in UK) if I knew Acer was going to make it.

However, we don't even know if Acer will make a revision with Zen 2 and Navi (and use same/similar cooling).
I hope they do... but if so, they either need to only have 2 RAM slots in the mobo, or 4 of them like now... but all 4 should be on the easily accessible side of the laptop (which doesn't require full disassembly).
And an unlocked BIOS would be nice (or at least one with no RAM speed limitations like they placed them on this Helios 500).

 

i7-2720QM arrived (with 2 slightly bent pins no less - enough to obstruct the CPU going into the socket), so I had trouble putting it in until I managed to correct the pins.
I did consider returning the CPU because of the bent pins, but since I managed to correct them and CPU is running fine now... is there a possibility of this causing some problems in the future if I have no plans of removing the CPU from the socket?
I don't think there should be, but I'd appreciate other people's thoughts on this.

Used GC Gelid Extreme, was quite painless to apply etc.
System fired up and works without any problems.

I DID notice the 2720QM iGP is running FAR smoother now (in a few online games i play daily) in comparison to before.

Temperatures appear stable thus far (a bit cooler vs i3 actually), but I have yet to put this thing through its paces, and the i3 had an OLD thermal paste application on it... so GC Gelid Extreme might take a bit of time to cure and temps to settle down further.

The fan still shuts off when CPU isn't noticeably in use... so that carried on nicely from i3 (looks like the HDD was initially contributing to higher temps in the system, so upgrading to the SSD was sensible in regards to system snappiness, temperature, etc.).

The only thing left to upgrade is the RAM (to 16GB), but that will have to wait a week or two.
Already the laptop feels its a lot more capable... and a sensible temporary replacement I can use for college until I can find a Helios 500 Ryzen/Vega to buy again once my refund comes through, or wait for Zen 2/Navi revision.