Acer Aspire TimelineX 5820TG Review + discussion.

Added few 3820TG vs 5820TG images

 

A few 5820TG vs 3820TG tests (specs are same, HD5650/i5-450m).

3dmark06 stock speeds:



5820TG scores 7602



3820TG scores 7483

3dmark06 at 720/1100MHz GPU speeds:



5820TG scores 9545



3820TG scores 9443

I noticed especially that CPU scores were lower for the 3820TG, so I did an quick test with passmark as well.



5820TG got an overall score of 2735.8



3820TG got an overall score of 2623.9

So with same specs, same (or at least very close) drivers the 5820TG performs slightly better, for reasons unknown. Both computers are running the default acer win7 install. I have installed intel turbo boost driver (I don't know why, but I feel the CPU performs sligtly better after installing it), latest wireless driver and ATI 10.6 suite on both.

 

thank you for testing,

it is strange that when I use ATI card, but no gaming, just using it for writing and reading PDFs, the battery time is only about 2 hours (with 6cell battery)...

 

I got a question about memory usage with 5820TG and windows 7 64 bit. Hope it's ok that I use this thread.

I own a 5820TG, i5-430m, HD5650 (Ati driver 8.692.1.0), 4gb DDR3 ram, bios 1.15. Upgraded with all windows updates.

The thing is my computer have 4GB of ram. But under "my computer" it says only 3.68GB can be used. The same in windows task manager. Why isn't all 4gb's available?

Is this a bios problem or related to windows? In bios it says I have 4gb, and also in cpu-z it shows 4gb of ram.

Any suggestions to what causes this?

 

the intel graphics reserves some for own use, and I guess the ATI card might also reserve some, so yes 3.68Gb is correct. Some time in the future it might even make sense to upgrade RAM on this computer.

 

Ok, so it's nothing wrong then. Tnx for the reply mate

 

Are there no way I can get the computer laying "flat" on the table due to the 9 cell battery?

 

You can take out the battery while leaving it plugged in. But that's it.


Or maybe buying a smaller battery?

 

According to your review the load fan noise is quite loud but is it annoying if you say play without headphones? I just returned my HP Dv6 because it had a faulty fan control (or so I think by asking others that had the same specs) and would love to not get the same annoying noise while gaming.

 

Can't hear the fan when using headphones. It's not that loud compared to the competition, it's just louder than I'd prefer it to be.

 

Do you find it annoying if just playing without the headphones? Hard to compare with them on since I don't know how high your volume is etc. Thanks for the fast answer. The laptop only cost 7999 SEK on Komplett (saw you were Norwegian ) so it's a great deal it seems. Temperature seems to be a little better than 4820TG and since I will mostly game on the laptop when I am away from home without an external screen I don't feel like playing on a 13" screen even if it has better cooling. Really hard choice though.

 

Handa: I play modern warfare without headphones and I have never been annoyed with loud fans. I dont think the loudness of the fans should be a cons on this computer, maybe the cooling isnt the best, but still I have NEVER ever been annoyed by the noice of the fans. And I push my computer to the edge.

 

Anyone else exp.ing problems when not using powersuply? Some times by computer just freeze when i watch a movie without using cable. I have to restart it by holding in power button. I even got 2 bluescreens, but they dissapered so fast I only noticed it said something about my USB driver. Wierd USB driver causes crash.

Anyways, anyone else have this problem? And know have to fix it? Will ofc try to find new USB driver later today, hope it fixes it.

 

Try to remove all your USB-connected hardware (if you have any) to see if it still happens.

Also to make it not automatically restart on BSOD do this;

Right click My Computer and go to properties. Go to the Advanced tab and under Startup and Recovery go to settings. Under system failure uncheck Automatically Restart.

 

Nice, thank you for both suggestions! I have now figured out that it only crashes with my external HDD. So I will just copy the legal films from that drive to the computer when the power supply is on.

 

how do you know if the screen was samsung or auo? can you find out from the box when when you're buying it? thx.

 

No, you will need to check it internally.

 

If you can turn the unit on at the store, go to Device Manager > Monitor and will see PNP display. Click on that icon and you will see a 3 tab window. Click on the details tab and change the drop down menu to Hardware ID. The brand and model of your display will be in the lower window.

Bronsky

 

Hello OC-Freak,

Can you provide the link on where I can buy a Acer Aspire TimelineX 5820TG? I been looking and can't seem to find a place. Much appreciated.

Gerry.

 

just bought this laptop.. having a bit of trouble burning recovery discs.. i've gone thru two verbatim -R's now.. the first one got stuck @ 46% verification.. the second one got stuck on 38% =\

also, what is the "System Reserved" partition for?

 

Hello,

Can anyone provide a link on where I can get a Acer Aspire TimelineX 5820TG?

Thank you,

Gerry

 

Sure, here: Komplett.no

If you live in norway that is If you want purchase links, you might want to state where in the world you plan to buy it. It's available in alot of european countries and several asian countries.

 

Thanks OC-Freak. BTW, that was a great post. Now I really want to get one. It doesn't look like they have anyone selling it by the state side...

Gerry

 

how did some people managed to get HW Monitor to show the 5650's temps?

 

OC-Freak, great post, thanks vm for your help with this laptop.
I bought it last Friday and so far I really like it as it offers a good combination for work&Games. I loaded MW2 and Mass Effect2 and they run like a dream, also Starcraft 2 plays great all max out. I have some questions if you are free.

You get a nice boost from OC. Do you think that if I OC the computer to the 700MHz core / 1000MHz memory boost, I can get an stable gaming and keep that as a standar set up? Or you think that after OC for sometime it will damage the GPU?

Also, did you use any particular software to do the hard drive partitions?


I couldnt load the ATI 10.7 drivers when using switchables graphics so I changed it to "discrete" in the BIOS and I feel that all the games play much more smooth with the 10.7 drivers. Any other tip for 5820TG users?

 

OC-Freak, great post, thanks vm for your help with this laptop.
I bought it last Friday and so far I really like it as it offers a good combination for work&Games. I loaded MW2 and Mass Effect2 and they run like a dream, also Starcraft 2 plays great all max out. I have some questions if you are free.

You get a nice boost from OC. Do you think that if I OC the computer to the 700MHz core / 1000MHz memory boost, I can get an stable gaming and keep that as a standar set up? Or you think that after OC for sometime it will damage the GPU?

Also, did you use any particular software to do the hard drive partitions?


I couldnt load the ATI 10.7 drivers when using switchables graphics so I changed it to "discrete" in the BIOS and I feel that all the games play much more smooth with the 10.7 drivers. Any other tip for 5820TG users?

 

Unless I am mistaken (don't have the laptop myself, I just lurk all TimelineX-threads ) the GPU will downclock when you are not using it so unless the GPU get's really hot when you have it overclocked then there is no danger of damaging it.

 

I only overclocked the GPU when playing games that needed it, rest of the time I ran stock speeds. Normally I've not found any longevity issues with overclocking as long as it's within reasonable limits, and temps doesn't get too high.

 

Then you are mistaken It doesn't downclock when overclocked, only when running stock speeds.

 

so you have to manually change the clock speeds everytime you end playing games? the only program to do all this is the AMD GPU Clock Tool v0.9.26.0 For HD 5870?

 

By the way, Í was lucky and got a sec3030 samsung monitor which is good and crisp, but I really think it lucks a bit of colour and contrast when playing some games (Mass Effect 2)
is there any tweaking that you can do with the ATI card so the colours feel a little bit more vivid? Any idea how to do this?

 

Can anyone help me with the cooling problem?
i've seen a lot of asus's with the same problem but nobody have a clear solution nor do Asus pay atention to this.

5820TG:
On battery and idle, it happens to turn fan at max speed for a few minuttes and then back to normal. this happens every ~10 min.

I guess its like it want to cool it down fast and then wait 10 min till it get hot prox. over 45degrees and then giving it max fan speed again?

This is NOT suitable for classes. Im going to uni and want to use this in the classes but the sorrounding people will get annoyed really quick when the fan start.

-> yes, ive aldready contacted asus, but no answer.

any help would be appreciated.
I guess it would be easy to update away since it just need an ajustment of power from mobo to fan.

Thanks in advance!

 

i've had that happen to me.. an update of the BIOS fixed it (from the factory 1.04 to the latest 1.15)

 

I am really happy with the laptop, but I think it lucks a bit of colour and contrast when playing some games (Mass Effect 2)?

Anyone else if you can modify that with some ATI program?

 

I did that update yesterday but no luck here, it still gives full Throttle on idle!

 

Hopefully my 5820TG gets shipped tomorrow and I get it before the weekend. Will post benchmarks etc if I do.

Does Acer have any setting for turning off the fan when the temperature is low and if so try turning it off, sounds like it just goes max when turning on and it keeps looping because the temperature is just at the minimum for turning on.

 

That is quite normal, I had it on my 5820TG as well, but it didn't bother me.

What happens is that when CPU temp reaches 45C the fan spins up, not full speed but fast enough to noticeably hear it, then it slowly ramps down and stops. Then again when temp reaches 45C it does the same thing over again.

 

I've just installed the new Catalyst 10.7 drivers on my 5820TG. But when I check the status in device manager my card is identified as "HD5600/5700 series" (Same in CCC). Not HD5650.

Is this normal for the 10.7 drivers?

 

Yes,

the model 5650 belongs to the 5600 serie.

 

freecb can you turn on your private messaging please?

 

No settings from Acer, they kinda ignore it i guess, i've tried all the 'hacks' i could find for acer but none of the is working with 5820TG.

sadly.. still looking for solution.

 

Write to the acer support again and again. Simple get on Acer's nerves day by day with a few user, punish the support fpr the bad fan control implementation.

Do it. Only posting in a forum doesn't help anybody.

 

How do you guys find the monitor? do you think that the colours are a bit washed out on the SEC3030monitor?

 

i'm satisfied with mine.. and i'm using this along side a Dell 2209WA (IPS panel)

 

well they don't really want to answer this question thought i got answer of another within 3 days..

Trolling here to see if anyone got a solution

 

Yes I did understand that However it should be listed as a HD5650, and not as a card in that serie, dont you agree? I mean I never saw my GTX280 card got listed as Geforce 200 series before...

I've got an issue now with Starcraft 2 , which I am currently playing. My card will not be recognized by the game, and I have to manually set things up to high, including correct screen resolution for my comp. I have to do this to improve it's performance, cause the default settings from SC2 when it can't identify my card is really not playable.

Cant help that I suspect this identity problem with correct card in my device manager maybe causing this. But of course it can also be a fault done by Blizzard.

Any ideas?

Turned on.

 

well it does get listed as HD5650 with the acer drivers.. but it shouldn't matter anyway

thanks mate.. seems to be still disabled though

 

Can you get this in the US yet? How much would the 5820tg weigh with the 6 cell compared to the 9cell? What do you guys think the 5820tg vs 4820tg pros and cons are?

 

I am playing SC2 at max at 40 fps. You have to go to BIOS, set up to Discrete an update to ATI CCC 10.7

 

Done all that m8. Still Sc2 not rec my g-card. Got bios 1.15 by the way. Good thing it works for Y then.