Acer TimelineX 3820TG Owners Lounge. Info, benchmarks, tweaks, mods and upgrades

The old paste will come off with denatured rubbing alcohol. I use coffee filters to clean and tint the surfaces because coffee filters don't leave lint on the surface.

When everything is perfectly clean, put a small amount on the edge of a credit card (I use a folded filter edge) and work it into the surface and then give a light rub to take any exess off. then apply a rice grain sized blob and spread it over the surface. Then, in a single motion, put the heat sink in place and lock it down. The object is to put just enough on the surface to bridge the gap between the surfaces and transmit the heat from the cores.

Good luck. I'm probably putting my I5 in next week.

Bronsky

 

I have not seen the Acer driver yet. I have seen the new HP driver and it clearly says support for the HD 5650 as well as the 6xxx series. Do you have a link? The US site still has the old drivers.

Bronsky

 

thx mate! xD

 

The german page has also the old one an there is not a new bios.
The last one is the version 1.17.

 

this is funny, it was there in Acer SG, now it's gone from the html page, but the download link still valid. if i have not downloaded the new drivers and new BIOS 1.19, i will think that i must have been hallucinating.

i m still using stock driver (worry lost brightness control) and default BIOS (worry about fan speed)

anyway, not sure why they pull it off the web, may be it's not ready, so lets just wait till it get official then...

 

Thanks! Will try.

 

Links are broken. BTW, not sure that 8.741 is the newest one. Actually one can download 8.760 (Catalyst 10.8) from TravelMate's 6594G drivers download page on acer.com.

 

The new drivers and BIOS can be found here:

ACER Driver Download Page

But I won't try them out until I see a changelog.

 

it's back there again! from Acer Singapore web site. however, i think Acer once again leak info which they are not suppose to leak!

Supports AMD Radeon HD 6370M/6550M Graphics ? AFAIK, there were only 2 cards introduced in the 6000 series; HD 6870 & 6850

3820TG moving towards 6000 series???

 

Its on the Danish site as well. And yes, with the bios supporting 2gb memory and now display drivers supporting 6000 series, it really is a strong indication that the 3820tg will receive a hardware upgrade. Guess the question now is when?

 

Is this normal ? My battery indicator while the notebook is not plugged changes a lot. For example it says at 62% that I still have 3 hours and some more left. And then if I check it one or two minutes later it says that I have 1 hour 30 minutes left or viceversa. ¿?

Also, could anyone point me towards a good partition tool for Windows 7 ? I want to divide my C: drive into two, one with 100gb and another with the rest. But the partition tool that cames with windows only lets me reduce the C: drive to 350GB even after doing a defragmentation... :S

 

It is normal. Windows calculates remaining time using instantaneous discharge rate.

Commonly this mean that there are some unmovable files at that locations. Probably System Restore or similar. Try to turn off System Restore and delete Restore points, then reboot in Safe Mode and try to defragment again. then try to reduce partition while in safe mode.

 

Thanks for replying, I will do so later today

 

It has looked like Acer would be moving toward the 6xxx series for quite some time. The two cards supported in the new driver are fairly low powered GPUs. It would be nice to see the HD 5650 replaced with an HD 6730. Since many of us are already running our GPU's at speeds faster than the current HD 5730, there should be no problem implementing them.

I would be surprised to see any changes to the Timelines before January and CES. At that point, Acer can update the motherboard in the 3820TG, add a SandyBridge CPU and an HD 6000 series GPU.

Anybody install the drivers yet? Is it 10.10? My Acer is at work so I'll probably give it a shot when I get in.

Bronsky

BTW, I just noticed that the 13.3" Travelmate 8372 is finally available in the US. Any idea of who is selling them?

 

How much of a step up is a Radeon HD 6550M compared to a 5650? If they do add a USB 3 port I think I would have to seriously think on getting one

 

I can't find anything on it. My guess would be that it would be less powerful than the HD 5650. I think I read somewhere that, other than the high-end CPUs, the 6xxx series is a rebranding of the 5xxx series CPUs.

Bronsky

 

According files' and package's versions this is 10.6

http://developer.amd.com/drivers/ccc/Pages/default.aspx

 

The 6xxx are tweaked and more efficient 5xxx series GPUs (on the same process size), but aside from that they're also putting a marketting spin on the naming conventions. The 68xx recently released are actually a step up from the 57xx and not the 58xx cards. I'm not sure if this will also carry over to the lower-mid range cards or the mobile cards, but I think it's something to consider.

Regards,
nux.

 

But it says on release notes of 10.10

The following notebooks are not compatible with this release:
* Any notebook launched after this driver release
* Switchable Graphics enabled notebooks using Intel® chipsets.
*Toshiba® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for
driver support for these notebooks)

Are you sure this release is suitable for our machines ?

The important question is what is the correct way upgrading ati driver in these machines ?

 

You were confused by my question. I was talking about the new Acer drivers that are appearing on different sites. I was wondering if they are 10.10. Apparently, they are not.

I am using 10.10 ATM but you are correct, they are note fully supported. That is why I do not recommend them. The brightness controls are disabled when using 10.10. But the full version of 10.10 supports parallel processing so I am seeing if the driver does as well.

Bronsky

 

Don't overclock your GPU with the BIOS 1.17.

Just after one hour Two Worlds 2 with the GPU @600/1000 I reached GPU temps around 93°C.

It isn'really cool.

 

I couldn't resist the temptation and installed the new video drivers on ACER's site on top of the old drivers. Here's what it says on the info screen on CCC. I don't know if the numbers mean they are based on 10.10 or a previous set. Can anyone tell?

 

Another note about the new drivers: Brightness keys work OK. Switching to Intel graphics works OK, switching back works OK. I haven't found any problems at all so far.

 

for those who have installed the i7-620M, what temps are you seeing at full load? When I switched my proc out to an i7 I also used artic silver 5. When running prime95 the proc reaches 100 deg C within about 10 min and begins to throttle. After playing BF bad company 2 for about 15 min the proc reaches around 95-96 deg C, which is dangerously close to the 100C throttle temp. I haven't noticed any throttling in battlefield yet. Has anyone else experienced temps this high?

 

i dont own i7 but wanna ask how bad company 2 runs on your i7? Do u o/c your gpu?

 

The driver number is Catalyst 10.6, not 10.10. Somebody going to run a 3DM06 with these?

Bronsky

 

It actually runs pretty well. Like I said I haven't noticed any throttling in game (yet). My GPU isn't overclocked.

 

I'll let someone with an I7-620M or 640M answer you but when I had my I5-540M in the 3820TG, my max temps, even OC'd to 3.6ghz was 93C. Those temps seem high to me. I wonder if you have a good connection between the CPU and the heat sink?

Bronsky

 

forgot to mention that my i5-450m goes up to 96 in bad company, (throttles in black ops at 100c!) like bronsky said it might be heatsink or bad thermal paste.

I'll be taking my 3820tg apart in next few days (once screwdriver set gets here), applying new thermal paste (ic diamond) on cpu and gpu, as well as cleaning vents. I'll run temp tests before and after this process and will let u know about the results there mate.

 

I hear that Black Ops has issues with Dual Core CPUs. You getting any of the spikes I'm reading about? I also hear that it really stresses CPU's and temps are spiking wildly.

I'm still happy with MOH and will probably wait to see if Treyarch fixes these issues soon. I'm kinda of tired of Activision publishing unfinished crap. MW2 was a complete waste of time IMO.

Bronsky

 

I bought yet acer 3820tg than I tested all sytems.. this my scores...

cpu 2d scores

max mhz

CPU-Z Validator 3.1

super pi 1m
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9555/pi1282.jpg

super pi 32m
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6897/pi32m.jpg

pifast
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1128/pifast.jpg

wprime 32m
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/1082/wprime32m.jpg

wprime 1024m
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/2179/wprime1024m.jpg

pcmark vantage
Imageshack - pcmarkvantage.jpg



ATI HD 5650 SCORE'S

3d mark 2001


http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6315/2k135k.jpg

3d mark 2003 = 28257
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/290/2k318k.jpg

3d mark 2005 = 18375
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5625/2k518375.jpg

3d mark 2006 = 9028
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/9344/2k69k.jpg

3d mark vantage performance
http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/5503/3dmarkvantage4669.jpg

aquamark3= 119849
http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1853/aqua1198k.jpg


INTEL GMA HD MOBILE 3D SCORE'S

3D MARK 2001
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/939/2kk12.jpg

3D MARK 2003
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6972/2k3.jpg

3D MARK 2005
http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/7224/2k5e.jpg

3D MARK 2006
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/7259/2k6n.jpg

3D MARK VANTAGE
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/3082/3dvantage.jpg

AQUAMARK
http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/8467/aquah.jpg

 

I can't run the defragmentation tool while on safe mode. Still I disabled hibernation, deleted every restore point and disabled system restore and I just got 1gb more while trying to reduce the C: drive

Any more ideas

Should I format everything and re-install windows to edit partitions during instalation ?

 

Highest temp my cpu (i7-640m) reached while playing MOH or BF2 was 80C and 63C for GPU (no OC). Idle temps are in the mid 40's. Using MX-3 thermal paste.

 

You need to use a third party software that allows you to schedule a resize job and does it at boot time- thus making all files movable.
I had to do the same thing on mine however I can recall the name of the app- it was a free one though and worked like a charm.

 

Where is the best place to buy this from?

 

cool thx for the info. when you applied the thermal paste did you use the "surface spread" method or did you just apply a small blob in the middle of the chip? In retrospect I think I used the wrong method to apply the TIM, i just placed a rice grain sized blotch in the middle of the chip.

 

yeah its pretty bad, well i would play for 10-15 and if there's loads going on it skips for like 30sec then brake and then few minutes same etc. Im just playing through campain, story is pretty good, multiplayer is ment to have some annoying stuff like spawn etc but i dnt think ill buy it untill all is fixed and my 3820tg lets me play over internet.. ehh still have that freezing issue when playing multi its the weirdest thing cause i just been reaching 100c on cpu plus o/c gpu on black ops and didnt get a single hard reboot freeze :/. Im definatelly sticking to bad company 2 and new vietam map pack. BFBC2 just give the best fps experience around and lets just say COD series ended on cod4 and maybe WAW but its boring now. I bought MOH on steam but then again i cant play it cause of the freezes ;(

 

Hey ... I'm thinking it's time to put the I5 and the new BL KB into my 3820TG.

Warranties ... we don't need no stinkin' warranties!

Bronsky

 

OK, i've finally decided to update to BIOS 1.19 and the new Acer Graphic driver. i am a little disappointed that Acer still using only Catalyst 10.6. but i updated it anyway... there are some result:

3dmark06 before: 7531
3dmark06 after: 7566

JustCause2 before: 36
JustCause2 after: 37

I am suspecting that the temperature of GPU increased a little, but i have no proof of that. at normal browsing, it is still around 48 Celsius like previously. may be it'll make a difference if i OC, i m not sure.

 

Hi guys, do you know of a good tutorial on how to install windows xp after windows 7 on same hard drive but on different partition? I want to have both OS running on my 3820tg. The problem is whenever i boot with the windows xp cd, it gets stuck on the message 'setup is loading files (pci ide bus driver)...' it stays there for a long time and never changes. Looking at the dvd drive, the disk doesn't seem to be spinning. Prior that, i changed the bios setting on sata from achi to ide as i read somewhere that windows xp installer does not have support for sata yet. Man this is driving me nuts, xp is such a pain in the but i gotta get it working! Thanks for your help!

 

It is possible to install Windows XP with AHCI. You need to do an 'F6 Install' (google it) with the appropriate drivers off the Intel site.

You can't however have XP in IDE and Windows 7 in AHCI, unless you want to go in the BIOS each time you boot to pick the controller interface.

It is possible that something is wrong with your Windows XP installation CD. Try to use a different CD if possible or make sure that your CD drive is properly functioning. The symptoms you are describing are not those that one would if it was AHCI or IDE related.

Good Luck

 

Hey,

Where do you buy mobile CPUs? I saw some people here buy some i7 cpus. I saw some on eBay, is it the only place to get them? Are they supposed to be OEM only?

 

The Core i7 version was launched today in korea. 750gb hard drive 4gb ram hd 5650 and costs about $1250 US

cjmall.com offers it but I dont have translator for this site and if anyone does please let us know if they offer international shipping!

 

Hmm. This could be pagefile as well.

You can try 2 options:
1. try to shrink partition while in safe mode.
if #1 doesn't help:
2. Download some 3rd party free defragmenter and run it in safe mode. I recommend MyDefrag since it has nice preset "move all files to the beginning of drive". Also you can run "analyze" preset and check what exactly the files are at the end of the drive.

 

3820tg to receive GPU upgrade soon?

"Currently the TimelineX 3820 ships with either a Mobility Radeon HD 5470, or a 5650, both of which are fairly entry level models from AMD. The new drivers and BIOS are suggesting that we'll be seeing models with either an AMD Radeon HD 6370M or an AMD Radeon HD 6550M"

SemiAccurate :: Acer leaks a pair of Mobile Radeon HD 6000 models

 

Thank you Marc! I appreciate your help a lot.

 

Can I ask why do you need this ? If it is for something "not that important" you could also try using a virtual machine of XP from Windows 7.

 

Hello, i am Daniel Joachims from Germany i have a Acer timelinex 3820Tg-5454 with 640Gb Hdd. Very Nice Laptop. But i have a Problem. I have formatted my hdd and installed a New Os in it. Win 7 Ultimate 64Bit. Before i installed The New os it Run ob the old Windows from Acer. Then the Acer was in battery Mode and i Press the p-Button. The screen Goes Black and it Switch to the Another grafic Card nö Problems then Press the p-Button and it goes back to the Intel grafic Card wonderful !. My Problem is it ob the New Os then i Press the p-Button the screen dimm down then Press the p-Button and the screen dimm up but the grafic Cards isnt Switch to another. In the BIOS is the Option "switchable" used. All Acer Drives are installed the Acer ePower and the Launch Manager are installed. BUt no function to Switch the grafic Cards by Press the p-Button in battery mode. Why? Thanks! PS: my english is Crazy

 

Hello, me and my friend just got a 3820tg each. We would like to connect it to two external screens but the HDMI and VGA connections are to close together to connect both at once.

How should we solve this? Are there perhaps slim VGA-cables avaliable somewhere?

Thanks,
Poseidon

 

well you could cut a and bend that bit of the connector on hdmi side, alternatively try this:

Make your own VGA cord of CAT5 cable!