Acer Aspire 8942G Core i7 Owners Lounge

SSD is really cool...
that brings the most!

 

^^

i have never ever experienced a ssd. do i fit one and install windows on the ssd? with the 500gb one as general storage disk?

 

Find out quietly at length about the correct setting of an SSD on the Internet.
If you can install Windows and all programs on the SSD.
Photos, videos, etc. on the slow HDD.

 

I have 820qm coming my way hopefully tomorrow or next week and already received ShinEtsu thermal compound as advised by kizwan ! I will let u know on the temps once I test it out !

8gm 1333 ram would be nice plus it's pretty cheap and easy to install ... Ssd don't have one yet

 

Please take some photos if you install it yourself.
Live ones are so much better than any service manual.

 

That is correct.
Pictures often explain more than a thousand words.

greetings from germany

 

Hey Guys !

Quick Update : i7 820qm ES has been installed along with the Shin Etsu thermal compound "as suggested by Kizwan". I am making a short photo guide on how to do so without even dissasambling the machine as we speak. I am also testign the stability of the pc in terms of temperature with prime 95 as we speak also. First observations:

1. Process was plyg and play, had to reboot and for some reason my ati driver wasnt working the first time the system booted. After reboot cpu driver was installed and ati driver was up and running.
2. My idle temperature of all 4 cores were right from start between 29 - 33, as i am writing this the maximum ii reached while prime95 is running is 75 on cores 1 and two, cores 3 and 4 are max at 73
3. And this is more of a question. Bit worried here: the THRM sensor reported right from boot that the idle temperature is 41 degrees, which is about 10 degrees higher from my old i3 330 CPU , as im writing this the reported maximum temperature is 74 degrees. Is this anything out of ordinary. shouyd i be worried ?

Hope this helps and short guide is coming up ! Cheers !

 

Cheers!

 

Here is a General Guide. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ace...2g-cpu-upgrade-general-guide.html#post8055576

 

Hi ^nox,

I find the THRM temps, idle & max, are normal.

 

BTW, the max THRM temps (74) is when you running prime95, right? ES processor sometime have faulty sensor. If CPU core temperature look OK, I think you can safely ignore THRM temps.

 

Hey kizwan

Thanks for the info ! Yeah CPU temps seems ok , I fired up some crysis 2 to see what the GPU temp change is gonna be and my GPU temp also increAsed by about 5 - 6 degrees which makes sense as this CPU runs about 1ghz more than my old i3 330m.

The thermal sensor is the only one that is bugged or bit high . And yes the 74 is while under stress in prime95. I am using CPU ID monitor but I might try a different software tomorrow and bench it again

I'm glad those temps look safe !

 

Remember, you're comparing i3-330M (dual core, no Turbo Boost & max TDP 35W) with i7-820QM (quad core, Turbo Boost & max TDP 45W). i7-820QM temps will a bit higher but good thermal compound such as Shin-Etsu can make it run cooler. This way we can enjoy our quad core processor.

74C during stress is normal, in fact I think it is low (mind you, I live in country with hotter climate - so 74C on stress will make me smile ). So, comparing Shin-Etsu with other thermal compound you have use before, what is your verdict?

 

@^nox

Thank you for your great guide!

 

You are definetelly right ! I can't wait to run few more benchmarks to see the full picture/profile . But man I'm surprised the CPU runs cooler idle than my old 330m ! As far as I can tell right now the compound is definetelly worith buying , I mean the temp increase was only minor considering I have 2 extra cores and about 1 ghz of extra speed ! Definetelly recommend and thanks for recommending it to me

Btw I peeked under the heatsink one last time to make sure it spread evenly and I saw that the compound spilled over the chip on the sides a bit do you think I applied too much of it or is that ok ?

Al the best

@searcher Im glad it helped now you gotta help me mod my fan speeds

 

If it just spilled a little bit, I don't think you put too much though. I think that is OK.

 

Great ill keep testing and post more results tonight

 

Hello ^ nox,

Fan Mod is perfectly suitable for you here:

Fan control utility - optimized ini for an Acer Aspire 8942G Core i5 and i7!

Cheers

 

Thanks Searcher

This is a bit strange. When i monitor my tmeperatures through CPUID Hardware Monitor my temps are about 30 - 33 idle but usign RealTemp my temps are 40 - 44 idle ? Kizwa could you tell me what temps do you get with those 2 different software ... Im nto sure which one to trust now , ive always used cpuid hardware monitor now im not so sure... and 40 - 44 idle seems a bit high, perhaps i might need to put less thermal compound on it ...

 

Please check TJMax in hwmonitorw.ini (C:\Program Files\CPUID\HWMonitor). i3-330m TJmax is 90C while i7-820QM TJmac is 100C. Make sure TJmax in hwmonitorw.ini is 100C. This means THRM temps when under stress test using prime95 is 74C + 10C = 84C. That still look alright though considering you're stressing the CPU. Also the Shin-Etsu X23 curing time is around 100 hours. You didn't get optimum result yet.

 

Hi Kizwan

You were right the ini had it set for the i3 at TJmax 90. I changed it to 100 but not till after this batch of results, but you can see the RealTemp monitor which has the correct values for cpu, I also added the GPU temp although i didnt stress it while i was stressign the cpu.

Idle Temps


Prime95 2Hours Stress Temps


I know that idle temps dont matter so much its more abut the stress temps that we should be concerned about. As you can see max it reached is 77 degrees celsius but it actually leveld off at 71 - 73 i think thats pretty good ! Gpu leveled off at 56 -56.5 degrees celsius. And the thermal at 71

I will wait as you suggested for the curring time to finish i got about 70 - 80 hours more to wait. I will do more benches then to get the full picture of the Shin Etsu and its thermal capability !

As i am watching the adjsuted HWmonitor now my idle temps are 38 - 43 is that ok ? I mean thats about 10 degrees more than my old i3 , i know it draws more power but it actually runs at lowers speed as the i3 was clocked at 2.13 and the i7 at idle is 1.73 ghz sorry if this s a redundant question

All the best and hope this results helped !

 

If you already made the correction in the HWMonitor .INI file (TJMAX=100), the idle temps 38C - 43C does look good. According to Intel Core i3-300 mobile processor series specification update, i3-330M LFM frequency is 933MHz (TDP at 35W) which means it should idle at 933MHz. ( i7 quad core: http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/320765.pdf ) i7-820QM LFM frequency is 1.2GHz (TDP at 35W) which means it should idle at 1.2GHz. i7-720QM LFM frequency is 933MHz (TDP at 35W) which means it should idle at 933MHz. So, comparing yours & mine (i7-720QM), I think your result is OK considering it idle at 1.2GHz.

P/S: I think we should continue at you thread ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/623150-acer-aspire-8942g-cpu-upgrade-general-guide.html ). It much easier for me to read & reply.

 

Hello kizwan,

can I have a ATI 5870 GDDR5 in the Acer 8942G fit?

greetings from germany

 

<strike>You can't fit ATI 5870 desktop graphic card in 8942G but you can connect ATI 5870 desktop graphic card to 8942G. Does this notebook have ExpressCard slot? How many mPCIe ports available?</strike>

 

kizwan, the cards in the link were MXM ones removed from Alienware laptops.

 

Oh! Sorry, my mistake. I didn't check the link before. I thought he was referring to my eGPU.

@searcher?,

Aspire 8942G doesn't use MXM card. The discrete graphic card on Aspire 8942G is integrated to the motherboard.

 

Thanks guys!

 

Hi can anyone tell me if I can swap my i5-430m for any of i7 mobile processor?
I'm not sure cause on my socket says rPGA989 and i7 uses i think PGA989?

 

The answer is, Yes, you can upgrade to any i7 mobile processor. See here (upgraded from i3-330m to i7-820qm) for an example of successful upgrade.

 

thanx for quick answer

 

Hello Erik0,

wow, you have an i7-920XM!!
Can you please make a benchmark?

with 3DMark06

My Index:



What do you have for an index?
What are your temperatures at idle?
What are your maximum temperatures in the stress test?

Cheers

 

I've deleted 3DMark06, but you should be able to find the benchmark by CPU I expect.

Attached is my index & my 'winsat mem' score to show my memory is indeed fast, but as it is only 4GB, I'm being robbed by WEI I think.

Can you post your winsat mem?

I don't even have time to do my expenses yet this month, let alone overclock etc.

This laptop will be up for sale the second Intels 22nm CPUs launch if anybody is interested...

 

Hello ErikO,

winsat mem of you is extreme!



Here is mine:



What are your temperatures at idle?
Also run games with you with the i7-920XM much liquid?
Too bad that you can not run 3DMark06...
Here you can find my 3DMark06 benchmark.
Here is a very expensive test yet.

Cheers

 

3DMark06 - apparently they won't show an 'ES' CPU anymore. Bending-over to Intel no doubt...

Here you go:

Your result has the following problem(s) and will not be shown for example on leaderboards: • Processor is not recognized (What is this?)

Version: 1.2.0
SystemInfo Version: 3.21
05/12/11 00:15:13
Id: 16280143

Score:

8931 3DMarks

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 video card 3DMark06 benchmark test score


Intel(R) Core(TM) CPU X 920 @ 2.00GHz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor clock
2839 MHz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Physical / logical processors
1 / 8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# of cores
4

Graphics Card


Graphics Card

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vendor
Acer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# of cards
1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SLI / CrossFire
Off
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory
1024 MB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Core clock
0 MHz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory clock
0 MHz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Driver name

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Driver version
8.881.0.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Driver status
FM Approved

Graphics Card (Secondary)

General

Operating system
64-bit Windows 7 (6.1.7601)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Motherboard
Acer SM82-CP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory
4030 MB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Detailed scores

3DMark Score

8931 3DMarks

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SM2.0 Score

3353
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HDR/SM3.0 Score

3658
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU Score

4009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GT1 - Return To Proxycon

26.32 FPS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GT2 - Firefly Forest

29.56 FPS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU1 - Red Valley

1.31 FPS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU2 - Red Valley

1.96 FPS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HDR1 - Canyon Flight

35.53 FPS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HDR2 - Deep Freeze

37.62 FPS
Settings
Default settings used
Yes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Width
1280
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Height
1024
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-Aliasing
None
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texture Filtering
Optimal
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VS Profile
3_0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PS Profile
3_0

 

Thank you!
What are your temperatures at idle?

 

You might find this helpfull

How to make an external laptop graphics adaptor | News | TechRadar

Cheers,

 

Thank you!
I'll stay with the internal graphics card.



Do you know where to get the ATI 5850 MXM to buy?
Is that your report ^ nox?
So I can not exchange ATI 5850?

Cheers

 

Hi Searcher,

No I just found that thread, i might give it a go when i feel like my gpu cannot handle the current software.

BTW i dont think you can plug in an MXM card to the 8942g see the following thread : Acer 8942G Examimination

all the best

 

@ searcher?, I already told you that Aspire 8942G doesn't use MXM card & the discrete graphic card is integrated on the motherboard. Aspire 8942G motherboard doesn't have MXM port.

 

Well Gents,

Some possibly interesting benchmarks for you...

Today, with my Intel X25-E having only 6GB left, of 60 usable GB, I purchased a Patriot Wildfire 240GB SSD for an astounding $500 usd.

Meanwhile, the X25-E can be had for around 1/3rd less if you shop around.

With only a SATA-2 (SATA-300) interfaces on our motherboards, the Patriot was simply not able to prove its worth, and the X25-E smashed it in performance, save for the last few writes that atto has shown.

But most read / writes our computers perform are the small ones as far as I have learned...

Each drive was an exact image of the other when running these benchmarks, and the bench was taken on the non-booted drive each time, to reduce 'Windows' r/w being a factor.

Of course if I had SATA-3 (SATA-600), the Intel X25-E would have been beaten.

Oh well, makes for an interesting 'storage drive', wouldn't you say?

See attached...

Just trying to save somone money out there, if they don't have SATA-3...and are considering a SATA-3 SSD purchase.

Have a nice day...

 

Replace with the ATI 5850 works here!
Do you know where can I buy this?





Well, the laptop was open in the wrong place here:

Acer 8942G Examimination

I'm a little confused

Thank you!

i7-920XM/ATI 5850 >> What are your temperatures at idle?

Please give me an answer at last ...




This is my temperature ( ACFanControl - Acer 8942G):



What thermal paste did you use?
I use this.



Cheers

 

@searcher?

That's a blunder on Acer's part. They do not make photographs again if they are using a similar or identical chassis- they just use old photos.

Another possibility is that pre-production unit had MXM modules and they decided to cut costs.
Anyway- there's no MXM in this laptop, sorry.
In fact MXM is absent from all contemporary Acers.

 

Oh, ok thank you!
Good to know.

Cheers

 

Now that my CPU upgrade is complete I am thinking of replacing my current 5400rp drive with a SATA 7200rpm drive and adding in an SSD drive. MY question is does the acer 8942g support SATA 2 interface ?

Thanks

 

Yes, it does support SATA 2 (3Gb/s) drive.

 

As usual the white knight comes Thanks Kizwan !

 

Please see my benchmarks on the previous page.

Yes, SATA-2, NO - SATA-3.

My $500 SSD, is no better than a 2yr old SSD here.

I suggest Intel X25-e 64GB.

 

@searcher?

Does this help you?

 

Thanks Eriko SATA2 it is then ! Very informative !

 

Hello Erik0,

thank you, that helps me a lot!
Amazingly low temperatures for a i7-920XM!
What thermal paste did you use?
What do you have for an AC adapter (name)?

Cheers