Thinkpad X260 6th gen BGA CPU upgrade to 7th/8th gen

[quentincc]

Hi,
I have a Thinkpad X260 with an I3 6100U, I have experience with BGA soldering so I can replace the CPU. I know that 6th gen and 7th/8th gen share the same BGA package so an upgrade is "hardware compatible".
However I'm wondering about the bios support because it's a very special setup, unlike 8/9th gen CPU on 6/7th gen desktop board, the chipset/South bridge/PCH is "glued" to the CPU, that way if I want to upgrade my I3 6100U by an I7 8650U, the chipset/South bridge/PCH is also upgraded in the process... Sadly the 51nb forum is currently (temporary) down/closed so I can't check there.

Any idea about the process ? I guess since the package is the same, maybe the chipset/South bridge/PCH is just a newer revision or maybe only new naming, that way only a microcode update is necessary ?

Also I'm thinking maybe upgrading an X270/7th gen board to 8th gen CPU might be easier since they share the SAME architecture (Kaby Lake) but still use a different chipset/South bridge/PCH.


Thanks for the help