Hi,
yes, still alive here, running an Alienware M17xR3 machine on Windows 10 OS. :) Years ago I somehow managed it to install GTX 880M on my machine for the price of not working audio output. Now I am using bluetooth earphones for everything with audio. That works fine for gaming and video, but unfortunately it doesn't work well with Microsoft Teams - after 20-30 minutes of video call the bluetooth connection is interrupted. It perhaps has something to do with the earphones, who knows...
Very interesting that you figured out how to install Windows 11, my machine is reportedly doesn't meet the requirements for such an update. I guess it would not work out for me neither, because the modified video card driver won't work with Windows 11 so I am not even taking chances. Besides of that I value the card reader function. ;-) For the processor - I upgraded it to i7-2960XM and installed more powerful fans. It does a good job with my only 256 GB SATA 600 Kingston SSD and 8GB RAM. So for me, the upgrade journey ends here, but I wish you success for the cpu upgrade - I think it is worth it!