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

Thanks, is there a way to do this without using external utility ?

 

Any suggestions for an external cd/dvd player? Never had one before. I heard they are a lot slower, is that true?

 

The data transfer is limted by the speed of USB 2.0.

 

ok, so I will just get the cheapest, good rated one on newegg. ty

 

No that's not true. There are two types of external drives- the one that look like they've been pulled out of a notebook ( slimtype) and the ones that look like they come from a desktop ( half-height).
Slimtypes are as fast (or rather as slow) as the drives you find in all notebooks meaning x8 DVD read/write and x24 CD read/write. External half-height drivers (the desktop-ish ones) are as fact as what you find in a desktop meaning up to x20 DVD read/write and x48 CD read/write.

If don't need to carry it around buy the bigger and faster one and leave it at home. If you don’t need to carry it go for a slimtype that is much smaller and can be powered by USB.

 

Gee ... I wonder how my motherboard is coming along?

 

Your 3820TG went in for service?

 

This is my second 3820TG. I had the first northamerican unit, imported from Germany. It was damaged in a job-site accident when sampling bottles broke, soaking my notebook. I think the mainboard was fried. I took the motherboard out and sent it to China where Shark Technologies is seeing if it can be repaired. Rather than wait, I ordered this I3 model (my old unit was paid for by the consultant's insurance company). I'm getting ready to swap in all the good parts from my last unit (backlit KB, I5-540M, bluetooth module, etc). My old unit had an awesome AUO display that I am considering swapping in this one, but I'll wait on that until I know that the old motherboard is not servicable.

Bronsky

 

2 days after i recieved my 3820TG, i switched the HDD to a Corsair F60 SSD.
That has the same sandforce 1200 chipset like the OCZ vertex2 but vertex looks more popular to me here.

I was unable to reach the advertised speeds, even with the ATTO benchmark wich is the SF-1200 controlled SSD-s "factory advised" benchmark.
I've searched, and found this disease of the Core i series that it moderates the SSD speed, when its idling or nut running at full speed.
After some reading and tweaks i've found out that i can completely disable the turbo with some regedit, and my i5-450m ran always on 2.66Ghz(turbo) and ATTO showed that it reached advertised speeds.

But because of the glue effect, video performance is lowered by about 15-25%, so that made this tweak useless.

The user experience is still very snappy wiothout the tweak, but in some hungarian SSD benchmark i've found some exciting stuff:
SF-1200-s advertised 285/275 Seq. R/W speeds is only about 130, but because SF-1200 compresses data before sending, and this ends up like speed boost in data transfer[/B]. If the data is already compressed (iso,media) the compression is unusable, so nothing "285/275 MB/S R/W" like advertised. That pisses me off a bit. Thats like a car which is advertised as the worlds fastest car, but after you buy it, it turns out that it accelerates to that fastest speed only when its already going with almost that speed, so only 1km/h accelerate is needed. (the previous "fastest car" is pushing him )

Prohardver guys found out too that CPU performance impacts SSD speeds, and there is a huge difference between program startups, and copying time if the CPU is overclocked (they use an i7 monster 30% OC'd).
Here is the last page of the article, with a little diagram ot the OC-s boost. No hungarian needed to check, but rest of the article is in hungarian.

So the thing what interests me, anybody with a SF-1200 controlled SSD (vertex2,force) who could benchmark the SSD performance with a fairly OC'd i5. I cant OC mine yet, because lack of SETFSB, time,and want.

 

Very cool stuff...and now you've got two batteries for 16 consecutive hours of power on the road

 

+1

I find it hard to believe that this is a common occurrence for our laptops? Or do most owners here have the same problem?

I find it especially prominent using microsoft word 2010 when right clicking for the context menu or ctrl+s to save. Running only microsoft word 2010 as well, nothing else taking up the resources...

 

Yes, it's possible. Google for this utility from WD: RE2GP Idle Mode Update Utility

Basically, you run it from the command prompt and can disable those functions at the firmware level. Needs only be run once.

I think it's one of these issues that not all notice.

 

Hi guys,

I got this laptop with i3 and ATi Hd 5650 yesterday. The laptop looks good, however, I've got a dead pixel on the screen. It isn't that noticeable, but it's in there if I watch it closely. Anyway, would a dead pixel become worst in the future? Should I just return it and ask for a new one? I kinda lazy to deal with RMA thingy. Please give me some advices.
Thanks in advance.

 

If it really doesn't bother you then it's fine.
But it could also be a sign of an inherent problem
that will increase during more usage.

Another matter is, since you spent that amount on money,
why should you endure something defective. You paid
hard earned money, you deserve a product that is not defective
and that you're fully satisfied with.

Definitely check with that company's return/exchange policy.

Good luck!

 

Most likely just a defect with your panel. But, as Cykotoxik said, since it's a new PC, you should have it exchanged with the seller.

I believe Acer requires 3 or more dead pixel for it to be replaced by them. However, try with your seller as they might have a better return policy for new purchases.

If the pixel is black, it's surely dead. However, there is something known as a stuck pixel (fixed RGB color) which can sometimes be fixed by gently applying pressure on the pixel with your finger.

 

Nothing to see here....

Move along

 

I have received my 3820TG today, updated drivers to 10.10, played Black Ops a bit on it but after a few minutes I get some random artifacts (red/black lines and squares). Could it be the drivers or a faulty 5650 or whatever...?

 

More likely black ops is faulty. It is having problems on dual core CPU's I hear.

 

Yeah maybe. I tried the intel burn test and it ran succesfully at around 75 degrees, and I am running Furmark right now and it seems to be at 80-81 degrees and no artifacts are showing on screen.

I'll try disabling A.I and see if it happens again.

edit: I tried, and still the same thing. Black and red artifacts... grrrrr.

 

Yes, if it's not a dead pixel but a stuck pixel, try the technique Marc suggested.

Here are some more techniques to fix a stuck pixel.

How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor - wikiHow

If these methods do not resolve the problem,
I highly suggest contacting the seller for an exchange.

It's totally unecessary to endure something that is defective
on a laptop you spent lots of money on,
especially a dead/stuck pixel on your screen. A screen you'll
be staring at for many hours.

If you fixed a stuck pixel, there's a possibility it can reoccur on the same location,
or other areas, and a sign of inherent problems with that screen which will get worse.

So, it's definitely your choice to just take that chance and keep it
or take advantage of that seller's return/exchange policy and get a replacement.

Good luck!

 

I've heard the same and I find it very weird that the most used type of CPU's are having problems. Quality control is lacking or something...

 

Activision has sucked for a long time. Company was at its creative peak with COD4.

Bronsky

 

Okay beaches ... I5-540M, Internal Bluetooth, New IC Diamond Paste job and Backlit Keyboard. The Acer is back together and running okay. I need to work on the drivers a bit but everything seems to be fine. Instead of soldering a new KB in this unit, I swapped my old USB card that was prewired. Rigged up a coupling to disconnect the keyboard if I ever need to (not planning to ever open this notebook again ).

Too tired to test anything out yet, but it is amazing how much faster the I5-540M is. I've really missed the backlit KB too. I'm happy again. Clockgen on this unit is ICSV53197BL1030MAL0934878.

Bronsky

 

Where did you get your i5-540M from?

 

from ebay ?

 

Yea. It's an OEM. I had it in my last 3820TG.

 

hey timeline guys. does catalyst 10.11 (and 10.10) break your brightness hotkeys too (while on the ati gpu). 'cause for some reason it does that to my envy

 

incompatible with 64bit operating systems, can't locate the 64bit version, theres only a diagnostic tool for 64bit.

 

Sure does.

 

Thanks. I disabled it and only time will tell if the issue is gone.

The page specifically tells you that you have to run it in DOS..

Install Hiren's BootCD onto a USB drive, copy the utility over, and run it via DOS Command.

 

Hi, I've noticed that while on Intel HD Graphics the brightness flickers a bit from time to time. I have the stock drivers, does anyone know if this has been fixed on some new version of them or is it an screen problem ?

 

Driver issue. Don't worry about it. It's only really noticeable (at least for me) on the lowest brightness settings.

Also, for those that are disabling the idle3 timer for their WD HDs, just be warned that I've started noticing the sound of the HD spinning. I'm going to change it to five minutes and see if the noise is gone.

EDIT: No more weird noises after changing it to five minutes.

EDIT2: Still stutters in gaming. Some people say it's an ACHI issue. I'm reinstalling my drivers for it and trying again.

EDIT3: Changed the idle3 timer, and updated ACHI drivers. Still stuttering.

EDIT4: Screw it. I've already enabled the idle3 timer to the max it can go without disabling and getting the weird noises. Took up Apex86's advice of using quietHDD, and so far on default settings, no stutters.

 

@bernie: should I update drivers ? is this resolved on newer ones? It's not somethig that I'm really worried about but if it can be solved then why not ?

 

Update your VGA drivers to the latest one released on November 9th on the Acer site. Those ones will update your Catalyst to 10.10 as well as your Intel drivers.

 

In front of me I have two 3820tg, one with SSD and one with the stock 5400 rpm drive. I'm going to to a comparison video and put it on youtube. Any wishes what I should include? I was thinking about boot, shut down, program installation and startup of programs.

What else could I include?

 

The update on the Acer site show the driver 8.741 but the catalyst version is 10.7 .

 

where do we find catalyst 10.9 ?

 

There were no Mobile Cats 10.9- a PowerPlay issue caused them to be pulled back just before the release.

 

On google you can find mobile catalist 10.6, 10.7,10.8 and latest 10.10 on ati site

 

Was able to get the I5-540M up to 3.657ghz stable on WPrime 32 on my first OC'ing attempt. Unstable after that due to memory dump. I'm concerned that I may have the polarity reversed on the keyboard so I'll check that tonight. Still have not loaded the driver for the broadcomm BT and I'm uninstalling 10.10 for now to see if I can increase the speed/stability buy using the Acer Driver and an updated bios. I suspect that a memory upgrade is indicated. Anybody see any great black friday sales on memory, let me know please.

Even still, I think your record will remain in intact Hendrickson. Improvements from here are all incremental. I would guess that 3.7ghz will be close to my max speed. It is nice to have the I5 up and running. I've missed the power and speed.

One thing is odd. The I5 seems to run about 4-5C cooler in this notebook than it did in the last one.

Bronsky

 

cooler ambient temp by a few degrees? as winter is coming...depending on where you are.

 

My ambient temps are 20C all year round. heater - heat pump - air conditioner (home and office).

Bronsky

 

Good news Bronksy, sounds like maybe your thermal paste job was better this time round? Or you running a different bios?

I'm sure my Wprime32 and superpi times will be beaten soon.

 

I'm still running 1:13. I'll be playing with the settings to see what I can do.

Bronsky

 

I realized that I am still running the 10.6 drivers (8.741.1.6-101021a-107242C-Acer) even though I switched to Discrete, applied the 10.11 drivers from the AMD website and the installation said Complete, without any errors.

How do I get them updated to 10.11?

 

Update the ATi driver through device manager ?

 

Oh. It won't update with the regular ati updater?

I'll try to do it through the device manager then...

And also, in the device manager, it shows up as "AMD Radeon HD 6550M"

Just tried, it says that the optimal driver is already installed.

In the device manager it shows up as the driver version "8.741.1.6000"

 

Did you choose "Have disk" and browse to the C:\ATi until the "Display" folder to find the .inf ?

 

This is the path I chose:

C:\ATI\Support\10-11_mobility_vista_win7_32-64_ccc\Bin64

Maybe version 10.11 is not compatible?
I'll try 10.10 when I get home (school network is really slow on peak hours)

Also, I just did a search and there are no .inf in the C:\ATI folder at all...

 

10.8 ?