3820TG Owner's Lounge - Part Two

Should I be concerned with these temps?

This is after a few hours of light gaming....

http://i.imgur.com/Qx1vU.png

Edit: also why does it say HD5650, when I have a HD6550 in this?

 

You shouldn't be too worried. After all, my idle temps are usually 50+ degs, which needless to say is too high. With hardcore gaming (Crysis 2?) my temperatures increase to max 105 degs, which is waaay too high. I'm looking for good thermal paste in my country now

 

Acer3820TG ordered from memory express!!!

Product Name Qty Unit Price Price


Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG-6829
Core i5-480M
4GB DDR3Ram
500GB
13.3in
Radeon HD 6550M
Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit
New

Sub Total $729.99
Warranty $0.00
Shipping $0.00
GST 5% $36.50

Total shipping weight: 10.0000lbs
Total $766.49

I'll receive it in a week normaly

 

Congrats to you!

I saw the price total, $766 and thought to myself, 'wow, so $766 CDN would be about $700, $720 USD. That's great!' Then I checked today's exchange rates. $790 USD.

Clearly I haven't been to Canada in a while.

 

Acer AS3820TG-6829, Notebook - Intel Core i5-480M 2.66GHz, 13.3" LCD, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, AMD Radeon HD 6550 1GB, No ODD, Wireless BGN, Bluetooth, HDMI, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium | Canada Computers

Canadian 3820's for 700 CAD, if anyone's still looking.

 

yeah but
"Online Availability: Instore Purchase
Due to limited stock or special conditions, this item is available for instore purchase only."

if you are lazy like me, memory express is the best deal in canada (no shipping fees)
at least, from what i've found

 

The US Dollar isn't worth a dam these days. When I bought my 3820TG last September the rate was $1.05 CN to $1 US. The dollar has dropped like a stone since then.

Bronsky

 

I'm not lazy, I'm just nowhere near Canada..

Even if they do ship globally, which I assume they don't, I'm looking to avoid customs and taxes..

Traveling to the UK in a few months, but I'm not sure I can find it there for the same price range as that in Canada.

 

You won't find one there with an HD 6330 GPU. They all have the lower powered GPU. A 3820TG is still a bargain at the regular Canadian prices. Maybe NCIX will have a sale again before they're all gone. Last year, the new Canadian Timeline models started arriving in late June/July.

Bronsky

 

There's also this-
3820TG-484G75Nks

It's the European/German model with a 6550, i5 480 and a 750Gb drive, but it costs $300 more than the Canadian version...

Let's hope the price drops in the upcoming months..

 

We have the same models here as you over there, both CPU and GPU wise.

 

Where'd you get yours, and for how much?

Is there a anywhere you can get it at, or close to, the Canadian price?

A UK store would be best, but I'd settle for anywhere in Europe.

 

I got mine for €580 + VAT. VAT in Sweden is a sickening 25% so I paid €725. I got mine on a sale but there are still one shop that sells 'my' model for €780.
Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG - Inet.se

UK is allways expensive for some weird reason. Swedish prices tends to be quite a lot cheaper even though UK has 'only' 20% VAT.

 

I can't wait for my 3820 get here.

What's the best way to test if the hardware is ok? I heard some bad reviews about Acer's cooling system so I want to be sure there will be no overheating problem... Would run a 3dmark while checking the temps be ok?

 

I think you will find that the 3820TG's cooling system is more than adequate!

 

I was talking specifically about the UK. Unless Acer changed its inventory there, they only imported the 3820TG 5470 and later the 6xxx version of that card. Is that different now?

You must have heard that about one of the other timelines like the 4820TG or 5820TG, both of which have single sink/fan cooling systems. The 3820TG can run all day with the CPU and GPU fully overclocked playing the most demanding 3D game and will still make ice.

I've had a 3820TG for going onto a year now and nothing on the market has tempted me to change. Even the new, so called ultrathin units like the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 are not enough of an improvement over my 3820TG to make me seriously consider replacing my unit.

Hopefully something better will come along before next year since my company has a mandatory 2 year notebook replacement policy.

Bronsky

 

some people said their CPU temp was around 96 degres (stock), I just want to be sure ^^

 

My stock I5 had temps of 93 (mid 80s after ICD7) and 94 when OC'd. Max temp for the I5 is 105C. The 95C is still 10C under max temp. It's fine. It could run all day at that temp. I have never had my computer heat throttle and I use it in very demanding situations over clocked at 3.66 ghz.

Bronsky

 

After I pulled apart the laptop and reapplied the paste (I think I used NT-H1, don't remember), I'm loading at 85C @ 3.4GHz on the i5-480M. The stock paste is crap though, I definitely recommend replacing it. It dropped my 6550M's temps by 5C anyway.

 

580 EUR seems more reasonable.. If you happen to hear of any other sales let me (us) know..

Thanks.

 

i foud a seller on ebay who seems to have some i3-370/5650 to sell
Acer Laptop 13.3" i3-370M 4G 500G Win7 (AS3820TG-7360) on eBay.ca (item 250817864256 end time 09-Jun-11 00:17:06 EDT)
refurbished, 610 CAD with shipping to the US, it looks like a good deal

 

Stickied this on the first page.

If Acer is still selling these after the 3830TG release, these units could seriously compete with the new units.

Bronsky

 

The page says about the warranty,

WARRANTY
Acer refurbished laptops carry one year standard warranty from Acer (USA/CANADA).

Didn't Acer US begin not accepting warranty claims from models bought out of the US? I'm extremely hesitant to buy anything refurbished but if Acer US will honor the warranty and eliminate the need to send it to Canada, then that's a plus in the right direction.

 

The warranty issue was with a unit bought in Taiwan. Canada and the US are the same region to Acer. Units bought in canada can be registered in the US and sent to the Temple Texas depot.

Bronsky

 

Hi, please, just quick one - what to install to get GUI (or HUD) for switching between wi-fi and BT ? I somehow lost it, probably some mis-uninstallation. Thanks.

 

I think the seller sell the same laptop here in NBR find his topic in The marketplace

 

Ive read the cooling system is awesome on the 3820, but how loud is it?
I've seen the tweaks, but I'm wondering if it's possible to reach a near silent state when I'm at the Windows desktop. Thank you for your answers in advance.

 

It's silent on the desktop, especially if you have an SSD installed (no HDD noise). Most of the time my fans don't even run. In gaming, it's just a whisper.

 

Download launch manager from Acer's website here.

Keep in mind that it will only work for windows 7 - though I doubt you have any other OS installed instead.

Hope that helps

 

do you think the small power adapter from the new 3830t will fit our 3820tg?
(the one on the left)

Spoiler

 

I bought this model that have 320 gb hdd and 3 gb ram with core i5 2.53,

I hear a high pitched voice from left-top side , this sound is not like fan or hdd sound,

I did a clear install with last drivers, but it is still buzzing.

how can I fix the problem, I installed realtek v2.60 driver. what do you advise?

 

Sounds like interference static from the left speaker. I have been fighting the same issue on my unit. It seems to be a hardware fault and I finally unplugged the left speaker. I suspect the circuit that switches the input from the ATI/Realtek audio to the speakers. I will dig into the matter a bit more once time allows.

 

I had my 3820TG with the i3 for sale here for $550 CDN. But I just sold it tonight on OCN.net

It's against TOS in forum market places to advertise on a forum and ebay so I didn't bother with ebay. I also wanted to return to the community so I had the thing for sale on my two most frequented forums, even though I'm not here every day I enjoy it here.

So yeah, I had mine for sale but I'm not the seller on ebay.

Oh wow... This wasn't on shopbot.ca

cheers!

 

Sorry my mistake

 

Heck, I wasn't even sure fi you were talking about my sale thread here. I just assumed.

 

hi guys, this is my first post here, I'm from Italy but actually I'm in India for business. I got this laptop and since the first time I have a problem with the video: the brightness level continuous to change, I'm not talking about the energy saver, there are some changes of brightness and I don't know if the laptop has a sensor to adjust automatically it or it's a defect. I tried several times to uninstall and reinstall the graphic drivers but no luck. Do you have any idea? Is it just my case? thank you for your help, I don't know where else I can look to solve this thing.

 

Would love to re-apply some paste on mine too.

Did you use Arctic Silver 5?

Anyone have a guide on replacing the stock paste?

Thanks!

 

There is a more recent version of Launch Manager here.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "energy saver." Did you check the default Windows power schemes' setttings? Or is the brightness changing without even unplugging/plugging in?

I've moved away from using Arctic Silver 5 in recent years just because there are better pastes out there now that perform the same or better and don't have such a long cure time. I used NT-H1 on mine because that's what I had lying around.

As far as applying TIM goes, it's the same as any other application on chips without an integrated heatspreader (IHS), here's my mini-guide:

Follow the service guide to disassemble your laptop - http://203.150.225.245/UpAndDownLoad 1/presentation/Disassembly/Aspire 3820T_3820TG.pdf (you don't need to take off the screen and some other things, you'll see when you get in there). Clean off the old paste; I picked off large chunks and then used a tissue with 95% isopropyl alcohol to take off the last. Wipe again with a lint-free cloth with 95% isopropyl alcohol. Apply a thin layer to each chip, covering the chip entirely. Keep the thermal pads on chips that came with them, like the chipset and the video card memory, as thermal paste won't make that gap as efficiently. Replace the heatsinks, press down firmly but gently and swivel each heatsink slightly as it goes on/once it's on to compress the paste and remove any air bubbles. Finally, put the whole laptop back together. The entire process shouldn't take long and is relatively easy if you're used to working on computers. If this is your first, definitely take your time, go slowly, and pay attention. Good luck!

 

From what I remember, it's a setting in the Intel IGP that needs to be disabled to turn off the variable brightness.

 

I am having problems with my touchpad recently. Which driver and what version are you guys using?

 

Well it seems the Lenovo X1 is going to be out soon and it has a 1366x768 13.3" IPS LCD. Who is going to be the first to get this panel and put it into a 3820TG?

 

It is no IPS Panel, it is just a TN-Panel.

Source: AnandTech

 

Well that sucks

I bet it's still better though lol.

 

New beta hybrid graphics drivers. As far as I can tell, it contains Catalyst 11.5, graphics driver version 8.85.6 and Intel graphics driver version 8.15.10.2302 or 8.15.10.2372, depending on which one is installed as there are two folders with different Intel driver versions.

Disclaimer: As Alien9 (the maker of the hybrid drivers) has stated, it's a beta version, so the driver may not be entirely stable. I'm going to test the drivers and report back if there are any problems with it. Download at your own risk.

Update 1: For my system, the driver version for the Intel HD Graphics was 8.15.10.2302. If I'm not mistaken, the driver version 8.15.10.2372 is for Sandy Bridge systems with the second-gen integrated graphics, but I cannot confirm this.

Update 2: Graphics switch fine, driver seems stable.

One problem I noticed is that after install, the automatic install system will attempt to delete the installer files but on my system it fails to do so, instead hanging with the progress bar almost at 100% but just stuck there, constituting 25% of my computer's CPU usage. You can safely end the automatic install system via Task Manager and simply delete the files manually.

 

Hmm.. Has anyone on here changed out their screen for something other than the LG/AUO/otherone potluck?

 

I dont understand why people are hating on the 3820TG's screen so much...
Both mine and my brother's TG have fantastic screens, maybe we got lucky?

 

Yea ... i had 2 good ones in a row. Mine were both AUO 322C models.

Bronsky