Is there anything stopping an upgrade from W3580 to W3680?

[wonderspark]

I was looking at the Intel specs on my stock chip from Apple, the W3580:
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=39723&processor=W3580&spec-codes=SLBET

I noticed this spec sheet, which seems to be nearly identical, except 6 cores, 12 MB cache, and 32nm lithography instead of 45nm:
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=47917&processor=W3680&spec-codes=SLBV2

I thought I read about something preventing one from getting the other CPU and plugging it in there, but now I can't find it.

What keeps this from being possible? It even appears to be the same price.

 

[beto2k7]

the microcode.

 

[Hellhammer]

There is some microcode difference thus it isn't. In PCs, it requires a BIOS update but Macs obviously don't have BIOS and Apple doesn't offer a firmware update that would allow this

 

[Techhie]

What keeps this from being possible?

On PCs, it is only possible with a firmware update for the motherboard. Because Apple will not provide the necessary microcode for this to happen, it won't be possible, although technically the CPU fits as you mentioned.

This has been mentioned many times, try using the search function next time

 

[wonderspark]

Ah, thanks guys.

I found the long answer I was looking for in post #14 of this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/929349/

"Microcode" was the tip-off I couldn't think of, but I wanted to know the long, technical reason it wasn't possible. Again, thanks!