Acer Aspire 8930G Owner's Lounge

Hi
I have a 9600M GS Turbocache graphics card in my 8930G i have been told that the best card i can upgrade to is a 9700M GT ....but have read on the net that the 2 cards are basically the same just different clock speeds .
Is it worth just overclocking my 9600 using rivatuner instead of buying a 9700 ?
If its worth overclocking has anyone got some sort of ruff setting to overclock the card to ? i know all cards are different but is there any safe settings to try first
Any help most appreciated
karl

 

The 9600m and 9700m use the same core and can be clocked the same, the GS only has GDDR2 memory chips at 400mhz , the GT has GDDR3 memory chips at 800mhz , You cannot clock GDDR2 memory at 800mhz , maybe 450-500 if you are lucky.

 

Well anything is better than nothing so worth trying then to see what gains i can get ? if it kills the card then i just buy the 9700 lol
cheers

 

First: Intel mobile processors DO NOT come boxed. They all are TRAY (meaning no box, heatsink or fan). That is official from INTEL.

Second: You DO NOT have to change anything on your notebook. Just swap the processor and and make sure to apply new thermal grease.

AR.

 

Cpu Mark scores DO NOT allpy to OVERCLOCKED pocessons. All scores are based on factory defaults.

Now about this:

"...Plus it rates the i7 higher than the infamous Q6600, of which we know is probably the best cpu Intel ever produced and in real world computing is as quick if not, when OC'd, quicker..."


Unfortunately, i7 IS faster than q6600 in REAL life. That i'm telling you as a current owner of watercooled OC'd 4GHz q6600 and my own air cooled i7 920 kills it in simple TURBO mode.

Peace,
AR

 

You can overclock the core to 9700gt's speed, but in real 3d testing due to memory being slower you will not be able to catch 9700gt with 9600gs.

AR

 

Hi everyone
Anybody know if the 1.14 bios has been updated; I read on another forum that acer updated the bios to fix the cinedash issue but didnt change the version number so its still 1.14. Anybody know if this is true?

 

I did read a few people update to 1.14 and the cinedash was working , so maybe , but if they did just keep the same version number it is a bit stupid of them.

 

Yes it IS true.
Acer fixed the 1.14 bios 3 days ago. Previous 1.14 download size was 900+ kb, now it is 4,403kb still 1.14. They also added x64 flasher to the archive as they had with 1.13.
Just download it again, flash, DON'T FORGET to remove the battery (for 10+ seconds) after flashing. Pop the battery back in, turn on and VOILA - CINEDASH!!!

AR

 

Hi, one would hope that of a £200 920, however, your i7 system has much more other varibles that could influence the overall speed. As I said, numbers are meaningless and I doubt very much if there is much of a difference between a quad then a dual core in everyday computing on a laptop. Even if there were, and it could be measured, it will be so tiny. Have you any scientific and impartial evidence that there will such a performance gain with this laptop?

The danger of suggesting a peformance gain is that someone will trash a perfectly good working laptop on the basis of what you're stating..
Chris

 

Many thanks for the info , very nice to know look forward to receiving my Q9000 sometime this week ...£159 delivered .

 

The guy from Hungary. Nice Ebayer, good prices. Good luck.

 

Chris, i guess we are not here to argue, but to discuss stuff and help each other. I mean no affence at all, but based on some of the things you say, like:

"... I DOUBT very much if there is MUCH of a difference between a quad then a dual core in everyday computing on a laptop. Even if there were, and it COULD be measured, it WILL be so tiny..."

"...Have you any SCIENTIFIC and impartial evidence..."

you probably never owned a quad core or even needed REAL HIGH PERFORMANCE on your machine.

One does not need to get SCIENTIFIC to understand, that for watching movies, browsing net, doing basic editing QUAD CORE or any other hi-performance processor is a waste of money. For most of the people IT IS EVERYDAY COMPUTING.

As i see, currently you own the EXACT same 8930G that i got with p8400 in it. Only I work with sequencers and studio applications with tens of real time audio and midi channels running together.

That is MY EVERYDAY COMPUTING. It all relies on PROCESSOR COMPUTING POWER.

I bought 8930G because of it's unmatched VALUE and awesome design (and the Full HD 18.4" of course ) BUT before i changed my P8400 to Q9000, working on my notebook was practically inpossible. Just launching ABLETON LIVE 8 with a blank new project was consuming 10-12% of P8400. Rendering 16-20 mixed audio/midi tracks into a 4-6 minute audio would take 12-15 minutes. Not mentioning the fact, that playing VST instruments in real time was nothing but popping sounds and freezing screens. Upgrade to Q9000 SOLVED ALL THOSE PROBLEMS, i didn't even have to reinstall anything.

If anyone wants to tell me, that those problems were DRIVER or SOFTWARE related, please save it.
I've been working with studio software for over 13 years and know exactly WHAT and HOW to use. I also build PC's since 1996. Both of my current desktops with Q6600 and i7 920 were custom built and tuned by me and run my main recording studio flawlessly.

Now about GAMING. Even though gaming does not REALLY rely on CPU, in real tests (done on my 8930g) between Crysis, Far Cry 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Resident Evil 5 i got WAY smoother gameplay and on average 10-15fps increase from P8400 to Q9000. Main improvement - no more chopping on fast turns and lookarounds and no more micro freezes during gameplay.
I'm NOT really a gamer, but a tester, so i will let the gamers decide if it's worth it.

Decoding. IF you are a "Badaboom" video converter user, which utilizes GeForce GPU (CUDA technology) on your 8930G, then it really does not matter what CPU you use.
It's obvious: 9700GT does it faster then 9600GT/GS or 9500GS (tested personally on all of the mentioned configurations).

But if you use ANY other converter (which will rely on CPU, and 99.9% of them DO), Q9000 has almost 110% performance increase over P8400 and 35% increase over X9100 (fastest mobile Dual Core on PM45!). Tested in real life by me.

What i'm trying to say is, that i'm NOT BY ANY MEANS trying to SELL anyone on upgrading to ANY kind of processors. People have different needs and resources and i respect it.

The information i provide is for the ones that are interested or looking for correct and straight answers.
I do not intend to state anything that i haven't seen, used, built or tested myself. And if people challenge my posts, first of all i RECHECK EVERYTHING MANY TIMES before i respond. If i end up being wrong or i miss something, i got no problem with admitting it or apologizing. Good example - my recent post about new GeForce drivers 195.62
Just like everyone else, i find 80-90% of the answers by reading other people's posts. That is what these forums are for (as i know).

With respect and kind regards,
AR

 

Hey good news people

I updated my bios to 1.14 and GPU temps have dropped from 100 to 80

 

sweet

EDIT:
Wanted everyone to know that I'm prou to be a contributor to the following project..
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=407071

Hopefully it makes our laptop's last longer
(btw I'm the author of the 3D-prototype)

 

Are you still getting the same scores when benchmarking your gpu, to make sure your performance has not dropped.

 

Yup 6059 3D mark 2006 score

 

You got it !! guess you have used him before ?

 

Hi,
Starsie, no were're not here to argue, however you do make assumptions. I do game alot, I also have a Q6600, which was once watercooled and, obviously, overclocked, otherwise I would have been wasting my time and money. My PC was, in the top five gaming PC's in the UK, no mean feat and one that I spent alot of time on. I was actually thinking we could discuss overclocking and watercooling one day, but maybe in another forum.

You obviously have very specific computing needs, needing specialist and targeted hardware, but that's not the case for the majority of laptop users, as you alluded to.

Personally I find it odd that you purchased an expensive laptop, then found it didn't suit your needs and then you had to upgrade it, did you not know what you needed?

I use mine for mainly internet and office work, some researching as well, as I'm a IT Network Technician for a couple of schools in my area. To me it's just a disposable item, I'll keep for about a year then go out and get another. I like Acers too and we have about 60 of them throughout the two schools, I've found them to be good value and pretty reliable, on the whole.

My gaming rig is now in my front room, I've taken out the water cooling for now and I'm running it at stock, as HTPC cases aren't always overclocking and water cooling friendly, although I might just look at that again one day. It'll play just about anything I care to throw, when I've the time, running the latest Call of Duty at the moment, none too shabby with it either...

No caps for me
Chris

 

Awesome Chris, we can discuss overclocking and warecooling (and any other alternative cooling ) just about 24/7. I'm so into it and even though i do not game alot, pushing CPU's to show extreme Super Pi scores and pulling some expta FPS out of clocked up video cards gives me some awesome adrenaline rush. Might sound a little freaky to some people, but hey, we all do weird things...
I'm also into exotic cases and beautifull builds. Will post some pics of my previous and current machines some time soon.
By the way. You were wandering why i got my 8930g, knowing that it had P8400 in it. I paid $1150 for it, brand new, in the box and with full warranty. They just came and factory Q9000 version would cost me almost $1950, 'cos it was one of the first quad core machines on mainstream market. I knew that i could upgrade to Q9000 from Ebay for around $250 and save a chunk of money. So i did !

Looking forward to some exciting discussions and experience sharing .

Cheers,
AR.

 

If anyone wants to know, to get the Acer empowering technology to run (when it says OS not supported), just find it in the start menu (its under Acer), right click the link and choose troubleshoot compatibility. In the wizard, choose recommended settings. The program then works.

 

Thanks starsie (repped)

 

Can you guys please link the ebay person you bought your Q9000 from? or PM me?

I found someone from Australia but the item condition is not stated.
I left him a message and he said his supplier said it was a demo cpu. What does that mean?
The person seems to have a very good record though.

 

Demo CPU's are either ES (Engineering Sample, not a final product) or CPU's taken out of notebooks used as demonstration units (meaning USED).

blackdragon_eu (hungarian ebayer) is one of the sellers with very good prices, free shipping and his CPU's are new. As i checked he does not have any listed now, but you can contact him through Ebay.

Also check this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-2-Qu...80QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCPUs?hash=item414b2299f8

but the fact that it was taken out of Alienware M17 is kinda strange, makes me wander what happened to a monster machine like that...

AR

 

I somehow like having ES processors. Cause those are sent out to reviewers. Naturally Intel sends the best performing chips which can overclock to fair extent to reviewers to gain favorible reviews.

There's also "Confidential" stamped on the back of these CPUs making them a rare gem.

But be careful some ES can have a core disabled or downclocked.

 

how come these two processor look different?

this looks like 2 dies
http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/Intel-Core-2...aptop_Parts?hash=item45ef9b231d#ht_2934wt_939

this one probably not actual picture?
http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/INTEL-CORE-2...ds_CPUs_CA?hash=item414b1d5baf#ht_3359wt_1165

but the 2nd one is brand new

 

the second one is not using real pic.

 

Wanted to let y'all know that with the new Notebook WHQL's,
I get the highest and most stable overclock so far they're awesome!!

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us
(here you can find all the goodies)

and this is the one I'm using for W7x64bit:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_195.62_whql.html

I tested numerous drivers... every single beta even every existing modded desktop driver to date.. and these ones gave my 2-4degrees lower gpu temps

GAME ON!

EDIT:
Myth confirmed, this driver is tha sjizzle, running Dirt2 and lots of others for non-stop 2day's *nice*

 

it would seem that ACER have pulled the 1.14 bios
any idea why??

 

It is still available on the Canada site.

 

they have pulled off the uk site for some reason
it was there yesterday

edit i just looked on the canada site and its not there also
u looking on the 8930g? as i dont see it on uk/usa and canada sites

 

Strange indeed. They have now removed support for Microsoft XP as well.

 

Everything seemed to work ok with 1.14, but temperature sensors on CPU's would not refresh under no program. HWmonitor, Everest, Speedfan...they could only read the initial temperature when you started them. After that temperature was just frozen.
I'm pretty sure they found many more problems with it, oherwise they wouldn't pull it.

And NO, Acer Canada DOES NOT have 1.14 either (neither on English nor on French langauage sites). None of the Acer sites do.

AR

 

Support for XP was removed quite a while ago.

 

Hmm should one revert to 1.13 then perhaps?

 

Hi starsie,

I meet these requirements on my AS8930G-6555 and just tried Q9000 (SLGEJ) and no luck, would not boot. Was wondering what BIOS you are running, I have 1.14 on mine but I see it is now removed for download. I have reverted back to 1.13 and was wondering if it is worth trying Q9000 again.

Thanks

 

I am using 1.14 bios without any problems.

BTW today i finally replaced my UK keyboard with US one. Works great.

 

Can someone run 3dmark 2006 on 9600m gt and post the results please ?

DOes anyone knows how to flsh the 9600m gt to 9700m gt ? its the same cards . but i dont know were and how to flash it

 

1.13 and yes, i would try again.

 

Thanks for the info. I have to go get somemore thermal paste and then I will give it another go.

 

Well I tried again with Bios 1.13 and still no luck, one thing I am getting good at is wipping these things in and out (lol). I will have to figure out away to test the CPU I purchased to make sure it is OK. Below is a picture of what I purchased, is this the correct one?



Thanks

Steve

 

I just scratched my screen but no idea how. Is it covered by the warranty?

 

@X64MAN

The pic looks alright. You need to test that CPU in someone else system. Then only you will know whether its a problem of incompatibility.

 

Yup, it's the one. Find a way to test it, 'cos it's definately a genuine OEM Q9000 on the pic.

AR

 

i hope the q9000 processor works as i was going to fit one , but the seller (ebay )has messed me about a bit so dont think i will be getting it now ...are they definately compatible is the key question or what is the fastest processor out that i could fit that is 100% compatible ? all the info that STARSIE gave us is exactly the same as my system ...plus have read someone elses post giving the specs of his 8930 quad and the motherboard spec is the same as mine ....so i presume it should work ..
any help most appreciated
karl

 

Sorry if this has been asked before, but when I play audio files in media player or arcsoft I lose the sound for a split second. There is definately nothing wrong with the files as I lose the sound in different places when I play the same file. i am using realtek driver version 6.0.1.5969. Anyone else had this problem.
Thanks Paul

 

try there updated drivers see if they help
there up to 6.0.1.5983 now which is R2.38

 

-any idea on the broken screen issue?

I was liyerally doing the hoovering, I came back to fin a mark on Laptop? I didn't touch it, nor clos it. At first I thought it was some weird stain but it is definitely a crack. What can I do about this?

http://www.techsupportforum.com/har...-aspire-screen-cracked-no-aparent-reason.html

 

shakennstirred I updated drivers to R.38 and played audio without loss of sound but I can only play in stereo.When I go into configuration it only shows speakers left and right no 5.1.

 

If you installed the drivers over the old (bad) ones you will (mostly) get those kind of issues. You have to COMPLETELY uninstall ALL audio drivers from the Control Panel, then go to Device Manager, right click on your sound card, click Uninstall and check "Delete driver software for this device" and ok. After reboot go ahead and install R2.38.

By the way, R2.38 - most stable and clear Realtek HD driver i've ever installed. It's almost 20mb larger than previous versions. Must be some extra work they've done to get rid of pops and stutters.

AR