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Modder Boots Intel’s Embedded Bartlett Lake CPU on Z790 After BIOS Rewrite

The proof shows BIOS locks keep these chips off consumer boards.

Overview

  • A community modder named kryptonfly booted Intel’s Core 9 273PQE into Windows on a consumer Z790 motherboard after a custom BIOS rewrite.
  • The chip is a Bartlett Lake model for embedded use with 12 performance cores and no official support on LGA1700 desktop boards.
  • The workaround spoofed Raptor Lake during early startup, which cleared boot errors and let the system pass POST and load Windows.
  • Screenshots from tools such as CPU-Z show 12 cores and 24 threads detected, but the build cannot yet enter BIOS menus and no stability or performance results are published.
  • The test used an Asus Z790-AYW OC WiFi board with BIOS code the modder says he rewrote using Claude AI, underscoring how firmware rules rather than the socket block these parts on consumer boards.