Acer Aspire 5520 UPGREDES!! Yes MXM II

Hello,
After being blown off by Acer support they told me that "NOTHING" is upgradable in my Aspire 5520-5716... I decided to use the
MIGHTY SEARCH BUTTON!!!
RAM no brainer I now have 4 gigs not 2..
Hard DRIVE 200gig 7200rpm 16m cache..not 160g 5400 8meg..
I just installed an ASUS 8600m GT 512meg MMXII card last night!!!
(had to reflash card with an ACER Vbios)no big deal! the 8400m is the bottleneck on this system for sure!!!!!
Search this site for the retail vendor of the card... it was $139 free delivery..
Much debate on this topic..I now put it to bed!
Yes I spent some coin on upgrades ram$120 HD$200 GPU$139
I think it is worth it..and fun! All 3Dbenches I have run are DOUBLE or more than "stock" scores!!
I am now on the hunt for a cheap 2.0+ghz CPU..1.9g stock.. why not!
The heat sink on the GPU is Made for the 8600mGT MMX II!! As it fits better than the 8400m MMX I..You do need to know what you are doing for the gpu upgrade as it is easy the break stuff!! you need to swap the cooling device from your old card to the new..will try to take some pics if I see interest in this post!!!overclocking is next after I get some more thermal readings..
I have seen my unit run the upgraded GEIL ram @804mhz also..with ntune..
I have only had this notebook for 3 weeks now so I am still green as to it's LIMITS!!
Anyone else having success upgrading the Acer 5520

 

Good job. Was it a C90S card?

You should report it there. http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/

 

Yes indeed!
I posted another thread @ www.laptopvideo2go.com

 

good job man! post some pic of your work. thanks!

 

Yes! Good job! Post pictures please.

 

Pics as promised..
old card on left 8400m 128meg
newcard on right 8600m GT 512meg ddr2
I did have to find 4 different screws to bolt the cooler on.. as I could not pry the mounting brackets off the back of either card to swap them..
Vista numbers are looking better to me!
3447 score in 3DMark06

 

Congratulations Tell as what Bios did You flash to make it work. Is it bios from Acer 5920 8600m GT 512??

 

Now I'm looking to upgrade in the same way you did, I already have 4gb of ram and my hard drive is alright at 160gb...

now as for the pci slot for your graphics card...why don't I have the pins?

my acer aspire 5520 has a nvidia 7000m / 610m built into it, and that area where your new card is...well empty.... there isn't even pins...just a bunch of little flat plates and screw holes, no heat sink etc...if your interested I'll upload a pic, now I know a slot can me put there because of the mother board holes but how would I go about getting that done?

 

ThanX for the pics .

 

Heyy

Nice work...could you please PM wher you bought the card? I cant find anywhere where to buy these cards

Cheers

 

Hope you talk about this.........

ASUS NVIDIA 8600M GT 256MB GDDR3(MXM2 /C90 Card)

ASUS NVIDIA 8600M GT 512MB GDDR2 (MXM2 /C90 Card)

 

A real good job!!! Can you post the new vga bios?

 

Whare did you get your new screws from?

 

Got the screws out of an old Alpine car stereo

 

My scores on my aspire 5520-5912 for graphics card gaming performance is 3.2 with my 7000m. Yours is 4.7 even before you upgraded. I'm confused. Is there a problem with my graphics card?

 

Acer User: No! there´s nothing wrong with your graphics card. There are two versions of the aspire 5520, one comes with the geforce 8400 wich is more expensive than the one you have wich has the geforce 7000m. So he upgraded from an already gaming adequate graphics card I think. I´m getting the same aspire as you have this month. What are your vista scores on it? I´m also curious how it runs games and I don´t mean games released recently, maybe pre 2005 games. Cheers!

 

3.5 before upgrade
4.7 after
look at both pictures

 

so hmmm, you cannot upgrade the 7000m version of this? DARN IT.

 

Addman, the scores are as follows:
Processor: 4.9
RAM:5.9
Graphics:3.7
Gaming graphics:3.2
Primary hard disk: 4.8

Well, since the computer comes with a Vista, most pre-2005 games will not work. Some vista games work well on it (Resident Evil 4, NFS Pro Street) but halo 2 just doesn't function. FS2004 works well on almost full graphics, but xp
games like sims 2, call of duty 2 does not work either. I personally would recommend installing xp sp2. Don't get caught up with the nice looks of vista. It's the only way to run the games you want to run. The graphics card is the weakest link in the system but i'm quite sure the 7000m just as upgradeable as the one in this thread (Confirmation needed). Overall, its a good system that will definitely run vista games if the graphics card is changed to maybe a geforce 7850gtx up. Verdict: Good buy.

 

By the way, does anyone know if the 7000m version is upgradeable as I think that if it can be done on the other version, it can be done on this one.

 

UPGRADE UPDATE!
Installed a TL64 2.2ghz cpu..(was TL58 1.9ghz)
Easy no issues..
plug and play

 

nvm........

 

you got a 5520-5716 with a 8600mGT 512 stock???
No mine came with a 8400m 128

 

Hi,
I have the Acer AS5520-5716 and I am considering upgrading it in the near future, however, I have never updated a laptop before, if possible, can you post or provide a link to a tutorial how to open the laptop and change the processor and Graphics Card.

 

guys ... pleas help me out here...
my graphic card is nvidia 7000m... may I know whether it is upgradable?

 

I believe your GPU is built into your motherboard..
No graphics upgrade...

 

i just ordered 8600m gt for my acer 4520G with 8400M G, opened under the hood and indeed its mxm, dont know about what type, the heatsink seems smaller than your 5520, could be type 1 but what the hell ill will try it, if it doesnt work then ill sell it

 

btw heres what mine looks like

 

That is going to be a tight fit!!
The new card is slightly longer and wider..
Keep us posted on your outcome..
Are you looking for a CPU?? have a like new TL58 1.9ghz sitting around.

 

yes hope it will fit somehow, too bad my cpu is already tl-58
can you post some benchies on your machine now? cpu and 3d here or in laptop2go

will keep you posted once it gets here

 

Does the Upgrade void the Warranty on the Acer 5520?

And Where did you guys buy the GPU and CPU?

 

got mine from techforless.com but its out of stock now, the cpu is on ebay

 

I think my warranty is VOID
as a matter of fact I am sure!
Acer wants no part of what we are doing here
ask them.. LOL

BENCHMARKS..
Aquamark3
76783...15294gpu...7708cpu

3Dmark01
17564

3Dmark03
10200

3Dmark05
6302

3Dmark06
3556

these are with a clean vista32 install using the "ACER" video and chipset drivers..All performance video options no bells or whistles(AA..etc)

 

I did ask Acer about a funny keyboard lagging problem and possibility of upgrades, I got a very stern reply that
1) the keyboard problem is not recognized
2) There is no possbility of Upgrades.

 

bios update fixed keyboard lag

hmm 3556 for 3dmark06 per notebookcheck average
3296 points for stock pretty good i wonder how it scores on newer l2go drivers

 

Do you guys know if the 5520 supports DDR2 800 RAM, or Just the DDR2 667?

 

Hi guyys iam new to this site and laptops just wondering if any one knows if my 5920 with x3100 is upgradeable such as cpu and gpu. Iam not sure if it has mxm on the main board. I know the next model up has the same specs as mine but it has SiSoftware Sandra

System
Host Name :
User :
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5450 @ 1.66GHz
Speed : 1.67GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Mobile, Dual-Core
Internal Data Cache : 2x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, Inclusive, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 2MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way, Inclusive, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

System
System : Acer, inc. Aspire 5920
Platform Compliance : Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology
Mainboard : Acer, Inc. Chapala
Bus(es) : ISA PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : 1 Processor(s)
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
System BIOS : Acer 255.255
Total Memory : 1.99GB DDR2

Chipset 1
Model : Acer Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Express Processor to DRAM Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 167MHz (668MHz)
Total Memory : 2GB DDR2
Shared Memory : 8MB
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 334MHz (668MHz)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Generic PnP Monitor
Adapter : Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
Adapter : Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
Imaging Device : Acer Crystal Eye webcam


nvidia graphics any advice is appreciated thanks.

 

hmm there are acer 5920 with 8600M GT DDR3, best is to open it up

 

Can i put 8600M GT 256MB GDDR3 in my Acer Aspire 5520-302G16?

 

Can anyone tell me where I can get the BIOS upgrade that solves the Keyboard lag issue? Or is their another solution.

besides that and that the thing does not have Bluetooth (WTF?!?) I am very pleased with my Acer 5520G.

 

I got the BIOS from the EURO ACER website.
They seem to have more info than the US site..
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads.html

 

thanks
i will check it and go to the shop i bought this thing. I will let them flash the bios, their responsibility. Or is it a easy thing to do with a low failure rate

 

well, you can, but I think you'd have to have Acer's VBIOS on this card ( acer only has GDDR2, I think)

Is there a way to modify other vendor's vbios to make it compatible with their own laptop?

 

you can flash it if your laptop do post though even if there is no display\

on my case post but keeps on restarting, cant find a way to flash it

 

Well I belive that You can flash the bios 8600m GT DDR3 with DDR2 bios but there is two thing which may fail, one is that ddr3 has lower vmem then ddr2 the other is that DDR3 also has different memory lantacy times, but it can run at lower clock.

You can change lantacy times in Nibitor before flashing ddr2 bios to ddr3 (asus card) but there is no way to change the voltage however as far as I can remeber memory voltage is being set not by BIOS but by circuit on mxm board.

 

do not flash ddr3 with ddr2, someone did that at laptop2go and screen went blank after

 

He can try but first change in nibitor memory timeings as in ddr3 version. I can make a bet that guy from laptop2go didn't do that and that's why it doesn't work

 

Yes !he need to change his mem timings first

 

tvone2. good job mate and well done
so it sounds like we have our next acer tech guy on the forum.........
a gpu god

 

Thanks Hoggie..
I appreciate it...
I am a long time PC modder(over 10 years)

I am here to help anyone I can..

Acer support Blows!

can I get some rep. power???

Tony V.