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

But did you benchmark the E or the M version of Intel? I would guess that you were more interested in enterprise grade SLC products, which are totally different category. I would buy Vertex 2 over Intel G2, but only because its much cheaper where I live and a bit faster than Intel 160 GB. Don't buy Intel 80 GB, that one is slower.

 

Sorry to hear that the drivers are causing you this much trouble, however, I didn't experience a single problem installing them.

Guess you gotta ask yourself before installing, do I feel lucky?

 

I would really suggest you to read some of the SSD articles over at AnandTech, as they provide some really nice insight to the different controllers used in the different SSD's. Personally, on Windows 7, I would go with a SandForce drive any day (like the Vertex 2). High performance, low price, low write amplification and I have yet to read about instability problems.

 

Hello,
I've noted in this thread, there is 4 sort of screen's panel for this notebook :

-SAMSUNG
-AUO2
-LG
-AUO1

In decreasing order of quality (if i refer to the posts here)

I've got the LG one, the quality seems ok, viewing angles ar bad, but I could accept that ...

This LG panel seems to be "retroligthed" by many LEDs all over the screen.
My old SZ2XP was a LED one too, but the light came from top and bottom of the screen (but quality was very great).

What bring me here, is, since I'm using this laptop, I've vision problems.
I don't wear glasses, I 've a perfect view (until now...), but for one week now I've a loss viewing with the right eye, contrasts problems, and the dark seems darker than usually.

I don't want to wright a complaint about me, but I'm wondering if this screen panel could be problematic for the vision ...
It's the first time I have such problems and it coincides with the use of my new 3820TG

I'll edit this post with some informations about LEDs later this week...

 

New driver installed perfectly fine for me. I was using the old Acer ATI driver and just installed the new one over it.

 

Interesting ! But how do we find out which panel do we have in our units ? I would like to know mine too.

 

Device Manager --> Monitors --> Generic PnP Monitor --> Details --> Hardware Ids

Mine however, is an AUO332C, not really sure if that is considered an AUO1 or AUO2 ?

 

Thanks mine seems to have LG too.. I guess I am among the unlucky with this...

My eyes turn red after using this a hour or too. But I still never had headache. Comparing to the widescreen 21'5 I used at home this little 13'3 LG makes my eyes much more tired in a little time.

Trevize's eye problem made me suspicious about this device.. I think it is a VERY important matter.

I am using the device one level brighter than the lowest brigthness level. I don't like mich brightness.

And about another health point... Whenever I shut this PC down and take the cables off... After touching the so called black aluminium panel where it is written ACER I feel a strong static electric.

The next thing is writing in laptops in general gives the pains instead of writing on a desktop PC because your body and your hands are so close to all the hardware inside notebook. I guess that way we receive more electrical energy directly into our bodies. Generally when I compare myself using a notebook and a desktop PC for same amount of time. I feel myself much more tired after notebook usage. Receiving small amounts of electromagnetic energy causes tiredness in the body and pther effects from what I know.

 

I think my display of the Acer 3820Tg is bright, but he can a little bit more bright up.I think the contrast and the view angle is not so good. Coming weekend i show my "display id" and post that.I will starting a mod for the LED converter at this Display i post it Here then it finished.

 

What is the purpose of modding the LED converter?

Bronsky

 

Then i work in outdoor the display is to Dark for me. In normally room's is the brigtness ok.

Daniel

 

Hmmm , I confused myself. What is the best screen for this machine? Is there any way I can get the best screen, or is it all luck of the draw?

Thanks

 

I had the chance this week to work with a SonyZ11 side-by-side with my Acer 3820TG. It was very interesting. I was using the Sony to run parallel modeling simulations. The results were imported into Excel for comparison organized into tables and a report created on each unit.

The Sony was an I5-540M model. I forgot how nice it was to work with an I5. As much as I like the little I3 in my unit, I came to the conclusion that I need to reinstall my I5 into my new 3820TG. Now back to the comparison.

The first thing I noticed is that the Sony was much smaller than the Acer. I was really surprised at the difference. The Sony feels more like a netbook than an ultralight computer. I think it is more portable than the Acer. I was really taken by its size. Add the additional weight of the Acer and it feels like a much larger and clunkier unit (although the measurements are closer than they appear).

The display on the Sony was obviously superior to the Acer. There was none of the pixilation that you can see on the Acer's bargain basement display. What really surprised me though is how much I disliked the higher resolution. This unit was a 1600 x 900 resolution. I think I actually prefer 720p on a 13" unit. I'm glad I didn't get that envy 13 now. I really don't know why anyone would get a FHD display on the Sony.

The Sony keyboard was solid as a rock. There was no movement in it at all. Nevertheless, I don't think it is that much easier to use. There is something about the large Acer keys and the short throw of the keys that makes them very easy to type on (I have the backlit KB which I think is superior to the stock unit). The Sony keys require very accurate typing to get-up any speed. Maybe I am just used to the Acer but I can type much faster on it. The Sony had a backlit KB which just reminded me how much I missed my old one.

In all, the Sony is a very nice little notebook. If the prices were closer, it would be a much more difficult decision comparing I5 to I5 units. The more powerful GPU on the Acer is still a dominating advantage. At more than twice the price of the 3820TG the advantages of the Sony are not worth the extra cost. I would still pick the Acer, even with all of its shortcomings.

Bronsky

 

It is entirely random. I bought my unit from a distributer that had delivered to LG displays in a row and I got an AUO. Don't worry about it. When you get your display if you don't like it, return the unit.

Bronsky

 

Thanks..you are a ridiculous wealth of knowledge, thanks.

It is such a pain to return things for me, busy, live overseas most of the time.

Think I am going to order from LU computers or maybe NCIX.

NCIX does not take credit cards and a cash deposit or paypal freaks me out. What recourse do you have as a consumer if things go bad? I use pay pal on small items, guess I will have to do some reading :-\

 

I have the same problem as Daniel - I can switch modes through software, but the P-button does not work. I installed Acer's ATI driver and Launch Manager. What else do I need to get the P-button to work correctly?

 

is it possible to roll it back to 1.13? can i just run the BIOS 1.13 to roll it back? i m suspecting the new BIOS make my GPU a little hotter...

 

It's hard to qualify what makes of displays are better than another. What I consider a grainy display (AUO) might be considered crystal clear by another person on the forum.

Just be aware that there are some display issues. Really though, it's not that bad.

 

Thanks for putting it into perspective.

 

Thanks for the report zsero!

It's already downloaded, and was waiting to be installed, guess it'll take eternity .

 

Today i upgraded my lovely machine with an i5-580 Retail. Now it's so amazing fast.

Had some problems with this damn screw from the wlan card. Took some time until i pushed the wlan card hard and i broke the screw nut. But after that all went smoothly. It's fully working but i will get a new one anyway.

I looked at this nice Processor Upgrade Directions PDF from Kindan. I found it much easier to to open this black tape which holds the wlan antenna cable rather than putting the cable through it.

 

Please forgive my lack of knowledge here and the fact I'm not really up-to-date on this thread...the 3820TG thread is getting long, lol.

So the processor is upgradeable...
Is the i3 you get from Canada upgradeable to an i5? to any i5?
If so, where do you purchase the i5 and where is more information about it?

Also, is there anywhere on the forums that upgrade and mod information for the 3820TG is consolidated?

Thanks in advance,
-Gary

----------------------------
side note...this thread is starting to pull me away from buying a MacBook Air (I don't need OSX) to ordering a 3820TG from Canada

 

I think all machinces can be upgraded with Dual Core processors. Quadcores aren't possible, the bios doesn't support it. So the maximum you can buy will be an i7-640m. But it wasn't the right choice for me because it lacks in the overclocking.

Possible retailer for europe you can find here: CPUs/Intel Mobile | Geizhals.at EU

The best informations you can get in this thread, but nothing consolidated, just pieces everywhere.

 

Hello,
I have fixed the problem, but i have the OS 8x reinstalled lol. Not so funny. Also i have installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit on a clean HDD. (Bios 1.13) then i installed the newest ATI Radeon drivers from her Website. Installed with power supply. Then ask to restart abort this. NOT Restart then i installed the ACER! Intel driver and Chipset driver. Then restart your system. After restart installe the Acer ePower and the Launch Manager Restart your system and then goes! you can Only switch the graphic cards then your Notebook run on Battery.

Best regards, Daniel

PS: Then you installed the Intel driver over Windows Updated or the newest driver from the Intel Website. The switch funktion have not funktion. I testing reinstalling from ePower and Launch manger after the update intel drivers.

 

Hey all,

Thanks a lot for all the info in this post. I got my 3820TG yesterday, installed a fresh Windows 7 professional 64-bit, and after playing around for a good 6-8 hours with drivers, facing many of the same problems as some of you (gpu wouldnt switch, couldnt install install drivers, got an error when , I reinstalled 1 hour ago, and everything works perfectly. Here is what I did right after installing windows 7 prof 64bit:

1. install chipset drivers, reset
2. install the AHCI driver, reset
3. install AMT & turboboost, and then install VGA driver FROM AMD! - new one up on the acer driver download, from the 9th of november (3 days ago). This was my #1 biggest issue on the previous install, as I messed around with the ATI one from 9th of june. RESET!
4. wlan and lan, touchpad - and then reset
5. realtek sounddrivers, launch manager, reset
6. epower
7. to install bluetooth, I turn on bluetooth with FN+F3, and then the driver.

Now my GPU switches when I use the P button, everything is just smooth. No issues.

Hope this is to help to other new owners out there.

Best,
Morten

 

Hey Thanks for the Tutorial. but what you meen with "reset" i think "restart of the System" ?. And what is with the Intel HD graphic drivers?

Best, Daniel

 

Using USB flash boot it should be possible.

 

Did you just reinstall your windows 8 times to end up with one which has ePower installed? There is no way to properly uninstall that ePower...

And why did you reinstall windows? Why not just use system imaging? Every time I install a computer:
1. I save it as fast as the setup finishes and I configure some windows settings.
2. Then I save it when I feel that I've installed all the drivers and everything works.
3. Then I save for the 3. time when I installed the basic daily programs.

It needs some space on an external USB drive, but this way you never loose more then one step if anything goes wrong.

 

You should have left ePower out too. You will see it one day.

 

It's part of the ATI driver.

 

Just set my 5650 to 650/950 and ran cod for about two hours. GPU reached 81C which I understand is fine. But my CPU cores reached 84C and 88C respectively. Isnt that a bit high?

 

i think u r fine there, how long have u got your 3820tg for ? Well mine i5-450m goes up to 102c now when playing (it throttles) and gpu up to 87or 89. Thats with 700/1020 clocks (maximum O/C possible on my gpu) with no arfitacts. I'll be cleaning the vents and putting new thermal paste this weekend so ill let u know what are the temps like. IDLE temps - CPU- 50 to 55, GPU- around 50c .

 

zsero what CPU do u have and what max clocks can you get on your 5650 (without arfitacts) ?

 

does the turbo boost activate automatically or do i have to configure it somewhere?

 

Am I the first to report a 3820TG with the HD 6550m?

Bios Dedicated. Uninstalled drivers from display manager. Installed latest from Acer. Now it shows up as the HD 6550m instead of HD5650.

I know, a glitch, but cool nonetheless.
When Bios is set to switchable it shows as the HD5650, but dedicated shows as HD6550 everytime.

EDIT: 3dm2k6 scores increased slightly, from 9200 to 9228 when set at 645/1100 with stock clocked i5-460m.

Drivers work great so far, and I highly recommend updating to these latest Acer drivers.

 

I plan to change the WD blue scorpion 5400 rpm with WD black scorpion 7200 rpm... do you think it would make a performance increase, is it logical ? Or should I just leave the blue scorpion. If it wont make a great difference I plan to just not touch blue scorpion though it is slow...

What about power consumption ? Would 7200rpm consume more ?

 

Congratulations. These 2GB graphics memory are really interesting. Need to test this out.

 

No ... they are fine temps for an I5.

 

I wasn't going to update but now i know that I can get a free upgrade to a 6xxx card without spending a cent.

 

The line below that 2 gig memory says:

Memory Type HyperMemory

Which is what all the ATi drivers for my 3820TG have always shown.
1 gig dedicated, and much more as needed via Hypermemory.

 

My GPU runs with stock clocks 71 Degrees Celcius..
with 666/1050 (macros satanic clocks) 72 Degrees Celcius after couple hours of playing.

So surprisingly not much difference... I tried once 700/1100 and system collapsed...

I saw in the i3 370m processor... 73 Degrees Celcius as highest temperature...during playing games... not throttling happened... but it is almost winter... can be the case... we ll see that in summer... my city gets to 33-35 degrees

Starcraft 2
Civilization 5
Dragon Age
and so on...

 

All of you with GPU overclocks over 650/950. What bios version are you running? Curious to see if 1.17 is causing GPU issues.

 

how do we check the bios version in windows ?

 

I had it for about two months. Mine idles at CPU 44C and GPU 48C, but I cannot seems to O/C my GPU as much as you can. I'll do some more testing though.

Just bought some Arctic MX-3 for my old computer (had to perform the oven trick on the GPU) so I might just crack up the 3820 as well. I am not to confident about disassembling laptops, so I'll only do it if it is likely to make any real difference. I'd be happy to hear your results.

Do you think I can go higher without compromising the life span? I'd really like to get some more fps out of this little baby.

 

Hey guys,

Is your GPU(ATI) cooler fan on while switched to the Intel GPU?

Mine is... It isn't too noisy, however it is audible at night and I find it quite disturbing and got that feeling that it wasn't always like that.

 

The HD5650's cooling si suficcient enough. No matter how I long I push the GPU, woth or without the cooler it maxes at 69-71 C with GTA IV/Fifa 11.

It's the CPU that can get hot.

CPU-Z for example. (Mainboard tab)

 

how much better is the gpu supposed to be in the newer model coming out next year than the one in it now?

 

Mine is OFF.

 

As much as I understand there's no official info about the GPU update.

My guess is that it should be at least on par with the HF5650, maybe a bit faster, only time will tell, good luck with the waiting game .

 

There are many people here, with various years of experiences with
various LCD screens, that have written positive reviews on the AUO screens
in their Acer laptops.

Being a tech, I spend hours daily with looking/staring at
various LCD screens. I'm quite picky on LCD screens
I'll be staring at for personal usage. The AUO screen in the Acer I have,
does not exhibit the graininess you mention.

The graininess you claim in your AUO LCD can be from a random defect
or bad batch (something that happens with all LCD manufacturers/models),
and not a problem with all AUO LCD screens in Acer laptops.

Your generalization that AUO (or other manufacturer) LCDs in Acer laptops
have display issues is an imprecise assessment.