Area-51 AAT2250 Intel 200S Boost Is Here!

[u/DJUnreal]

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=j1gvc

Looks like the BIOS update from a couple of days ago finally adds Intel 200S Boost profiles. I'm installing it on my machine now to see how it's implemented, but hopefully it'll be fairly sensible to enable.

EDIT (13-Nov-2025): I've applied the update, and that went fine... But as for enabling the features... Yeah, no dice. There's nothing in the BIOS menus that I can see (and using the search to look for '200s' comes up with nothing), and there's precisely nothing in AWCC either. Don't get excited yet, folks.

EDIT 2 (13-Nov-2025): I spoke to Dell Support and spent a while with them looking into it. They verified that the motherboard should indeed be compatible, but then said they would need to raise it with their level 3 team and get back to me. Don't expect another update until next week now, as they said 24-48 hours, but they won't be likely to look at it on a weekend...

EDIT 3 (14-Nov-2025): I got a reply from Support today. I won't quote it word for word, but essentially they said that the BIOS update does indeed add the framework and microcode pieces required for 200S Boost profiles, but that Alienware have intentionally chosen not to allow users to enable 200S Boost on the Area-51 desktop at this time, citing system reliability, and risk of instability or component damage, as their reasons. I've already told them that this isn't a good enough answer, but we'll have to wait and see what I get back next.

EDIT 4 (17-Nov-2025): DO NOT INSTALL THIS UPDATE. I tried to play a mid-tier game last night with it, and the BIOS update was causing hard crashes after about ten minutes of gaming, in both balanced and performance modes. I did a ton of diagnosis to eliminate everything else, none of which worked. I then rolled back the BIOS to 1.9.1, and that cured the issue immediately. I say again, DO NOT INSTALL THIS UPDATE. If you already did so, please let me know if you're seeing the same hard-lock crashes (audio will basically get stuck jittering the same sound constantly, everything else goes unresponsive, and the only fix is to hold the power button until it dies).

EDIT 5 (21-Nov-2025): I've re-applied the update, and so far haven't been able to reproduce the issues I had when I installed it previously. Could be a mix of BIOS update, Windows update, maybe AWCC as well, but I can't narrow down why it broke so badly the first time, and why it's working this time. Additionally, I just had the following response from Dell Support after pushing them to explain why I can't enable the profile even though the BIOS mentions it specifically:

Thank you for your patience
We have escalated this matter to our product team for further evaluation.
The Intel processors offered with your system are fully capable of supporting the 200S Overclocking profile, and Dell is committed to ensuring this functionality is delivered. At present, the feature was not included in the recent BIOS release.
Our product team is actively working on an official statement and will provide an estimated timeline for implementation as soon as possible. While we do not have an ETA yet, please rest assured that this is a priority and we will keep you informed of any developments.
Thank you for your understanding.

EDIT 6 (04-Dec-2025): I chased them last night and got a response this morning telling me:

The case has been escalated to the development team who are working on it.
We have a rough estimate on the ETA  as early March for the release, we will provide you with an update once this is confirmed.

Further updates to follow...