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

I thought looking at spec sheets, the 3820TG came with Bluetooth 2.1 already inside. Are you sure it's not there?

 

It seems like the canadian version, the 3820TG-7360 dosent have the bluetooth module included. At least mine dosen't or it damn well hidden.

 

I'm just wondering if you had to do any sort of language or setting switch after.. Thanks!

My Canadian model from Staples with the HD5470 has one.

 

I got the one with an i3 370m and 5650 and I can't find any bluetooth options anywhere in windows. On the laptop box it says that there is no bluetooth module.

But, check I look under device manager -> networking -> atheros AR5B97 properties -> Advanced, there is a "801.11 Bluetooth High Speed" set to enabled.

Not sure what's up with that.

 

Well, if you hit Fn + F3, is there a launch manager popup with settings to enable/disable WiFi + BT? If not, your model probably doesn't have it then.

 

It just disables/enables wifi, no other options.

I'm installing the Atheros bluetooth drivers from the acer website to try it out.

edit: nope, not working.


Which internal bluetooth module would be good here?

 

No BT on the canadian model. I put in the one from my old laptop and it works fine. I'll get you a part # when I have my 3820TG apart next.

 

where'd you get your keyboard from? ebay?

 

I saw this one on eBay. New Acer Aspire 3820T 3820TG 4820T 4820TG Keyboard - eBay (item 200539311019 end time Dec-03-10 13:30:47 PST)

Unlike the other ones, this one is actually a legit version of the keyboard with all the right hotkeys printed on. Can't justify spending $50+ on it though.

 

It's $30 and shipping is free. This other one is identical, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=310265692783 costs $15 but they charge another $10 dollars to ship from Hong Kong.

Bronsky

 

Yes, you can flash what bios you want.

 

Thanks you!ü Quick question, how do i make the bluetooth enabled everytime i boot? I seem to have started using it quite often so i think i should just enable it every start up. I tried looking for the device through regedit but with no luck. Hope you can help me.ü TIA!

 

Here's another option, though I can't vouch for their service or quickness yet. It took over 24 hours for my order to go from "awaiting fulfillment" to "awaiting shipment" and now that it has finally changed to "shipped", I still don't know what company is shipping it (hopefully not UPS), much less have a tracking number. They've also been completely unresponsive to a phone call and two emails regarding the shipping.

On the other hand, I have the piece of mind of knowing I'm getting a legit keyboard, no funny stuff, but at this point, who cares given all the other nonsense.

 

Run it as a task at startup? That should work.

Bronsky

 

Okay i'll try that. Thanks Bronsky!

 

Tried running it as a task but i can't find the executable file for bluetooth anywhere.. Is there a way to modify dritek launch manager using regedit? Cause when i hit fn+f3, the wi-fi is always turned on, but bluetooth isn't... I want them both turned on upon start up

 

Staples Canada has the i5-430/HD5470 version on sale again. $650.

A great deal yet...so close to Sandy Bridge..

 

omg i was going to buy it @ bestdirect.ca for like $728, i check today and it is $733! lol... now the lowest price is @ LX.PV102.288 | Acer Aspire AS3820TG-374G50nks Notebook | Canada's best price

for $732.99

 

Is this the kind of internal bluetooth module I should be looking for?

Acer 5620 Notebook Internal Bluetooth 2.0 Module 4pin on eBay.ca (item 120475806091 end time 25-Nov-10 17:00:23 EST)

Or I need a mini pci-express that is a WLAN+Bluetooth combo?

 

Can anyone test blackops on their laptop and tell me if they get the artifacts I have been talking about? I want to know if it's specific with my laptop and should RMA it or not.

 

I'm having a really hard time finding out information about how to get an internal bluetooth module installed into the 3820tg-7360. I just bought one 3 weeks ago and have been following this thread intermittently and I can't find anyone that has a part # or model #.
Does anyone know if the Broadcom module from a 3810t will fit in the 3820tg?
2.1 Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T bluetooth module track# on eBay.ca (item 140428347132 end time 13-Dec-10 04:10:23 EST)

I looks like we need a separate bluetooth installation thread. It'd be nice if someone with a 3820tg-3022 (Staples model) can take pictures and get a model #.

 

well i played it with 700/1020 oc on my 3820tg with no problems, um i remember getting some weirg grapical glitches before the patch came out. Have you tried other games to see if same happens?

 

Actually I just tried the Resident Evil 5 benchmark version and it crashed at about 56% and started to give some texture glitches (flickering, black boxes at some places), but no red/black artifacts.

I'll run furmark for 30 minutes see if I get the same thing... Do you have other tools I should use?

 

Taken from the 3820TG service manual. Their might be other modules that are compatible that I'm not aware of

Foxconn Bluetooth BRM2046/BRM2070

 

Are you overclocking? It shoud be able to run RS5 benchmark with regular clocks with no issues.

 

No, all stock clocks, nothing overclocked. Default bios, default clocks, just updated drivers to 10.11 but I had issues also with 10.6

I am currently running furmark for the last 10 min and it's peaked at 80 degrees, core: 550Mhz, memory 800 Mhz and I do not see any artifacts.


What the hell?


edit: after running furmark for 20 minutes (no artifacts at all), I tried resident evil benchmark (dx10) again and it immediately froze. Then I tried dx9 version and it went farther but still got artifacts and it froze at around 20-30%. This time I got the exact same artifacts that I get in Black Ops (red lines, black boxes, etc...)

 

I changed to Discrete in the BIOS and still the same thing. I think I will RMA it. Good thing I found that out 2 days after receiving it.

Or if someone has a suggestion on what else to try. Update bios maybe?

 

Hmmmm. That manual looks familiar.

Bronsky

 

I have a Broadcom BT module in my 3820tg, I believe its a 3.0 variant. Let me know if I can provide you with more info regarding this.
I wouldn't mind opening the case and have a look at the numbers on the card, if that would somehow help you?

It is as nordic version however, don't know if that is of any help?

 

The 3.0 varient is the one to use.

Bronsky

 

Okay, everything is in. I had to pull the old USB board that I put in my new 3820TG and wire the UBS board that came with the canadian unit. My old USB board had a burned out USB port (dam water damage). Everything is back together. At the last minue I bent the F11 key. It works but it looks odd. For sure, I'll be replacing the keyboard. The crooked key would drive me nuts after all this work. That should be an easy replacement.

Now I'm going to clean up all the drivers so I can see if I can get the CPU to OC a bit higher.

Bronsky

 

Anybody looking for a 120GB SSD, Intel for $195 after $35 rebate . http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...-194-95-after-rebate-amazon-ends-11-30-a.html

Bronsky

 

Still a little too much money for me but looks like a good deal.
How is the performance of this particular drive?
Whats the normal size of a win7 install with updates and everything btw?
It would be cool to get a few programs on a SSD and have everything else on a hdd.

 

Windows 7 is about 13GB. If you have 4GB RAM, set virtual memory to maybe 1GB (you really don't need much if at all), and if you hibernate, that's another 4GB, so easily under 20GB even with a dozen common apps (i.e. anti-virus, GIMP, Adobe, 7-zip, CPU-Z, etc). I found a 60GB SSD is more than adequate once you install Office, and maybe a couple other "power" apps, including data (pictures, data files, etc). That leaves a decent amount of room for games.

 

I got to say I'm still impressed with this notebook. Just got Two Worlds II (after giving up on Gothic 4!) and its running smooth @ 1080p amazing graphics. I thought this system's GPU wouldn't handle it. Ie like 15 fps or something. No its running around 25-30 fps at 1080p and above 35 fps at low resolutions.

This is with ultra high details (default) and the physics on medium.

My 3820TG is still surprising me...

 

64bit right?

Yea 60GB seems like a good size.

 

Just curious, but can someone tell me what 3DMark06 they get with the i3-370 and 5650 at stock clocks? I see that with overclocks and i5 people get around 10k, just want to know how much lower the i3 and stock gets.

 

So I'm not the only one. (I first missed this message, dated from before I bought the laptop)
For the moment we have 4 persons saying this screen "LGD023F" could cause eyestrain and 1 half-satisfied.
Here - Here - Here - Here - Here (half-satisfied one)
2 persons who didn't have trouble with it.
Here - Here

For my part I'm pretty sure this screen is the cause of my problems.
I conviced myself that it was not, I used it, and then the problems are more present.
For now, I will store this laptop for a week, without using it.
If all become fine with my eyes (what I hope), there could be no other possible cause of my problems.

Possible cause :
I think some LGD023F could be very cheap screens, bad calibrated, causing "Led Flickering" at a level not persceptible for us, but persceptible for brain/eyes.
I never had this sort of symptom before, I never been anxious about screens before (I even kept an Acer 22" screen with 2 dead pixels, I'm not that punctilious). I would not do a bargain about nothing. (In first place, I was very happy to get a LG screen instead of a deffective one as we seen in first parts of this topic)
I've got a "SZ" laptop with LED screen wich is not affecting me at all.
Apart from that, I'm very very pleased from the laptop, It has outstanding performances for his weight/price, and one of the most important thing it is a really quiet unit. If I have to choose something else, I don't know what could I buy... ( Vaio Z ... But not that quiet, less graphic power... which are important for me)

At the end of the week, if problems stops, I'll contact Acer to see if they can do something for me (waranty ?). If not, I'll be forced to resell it (not a good solution, if the new owner have same symptoms) , maybe I could contact computeruniverse to know if they can check the screen before buying a new one.

All this story coming at a very bad time, I've installed all my applications on it, it will delay some of my work ... :/

Well ... Bad luck this time. (expensive bad luck)

 

I also have the LGD023F screen and the headaches it gave me were also rather unpleasant, but in my case it was the result of using it at the lowest brightness and at not optimal viewing angles. If I'm looking at it straight I don't have such problems, just doing so is harder than it seems...~

 

Module itself will fit. But cable in this lot (8pin) - won't. You need 4pin cable for this one (4810 model has such but with different pins mapping than in 3820).

 

Sounds pretty damn nice! I still envy that i5-580m
Are you running the 5650 @ stock or is it still OC'ed?

 

Both CPU/GPU overclocked, the i5 580 sits in dual core turbo mode @ 3.50 ghz and my 5650 is overclocked to 705 and 1100. Stable as a rock I did over 2 hours last night and no artifacts, display driver resets or locks ups. This is back on bios 1.19

Only 1080p lag is outside when you have mutliple enemies. But its still playable. Lowering the res to 1600 x 900 kills any lag. Also I just turned the psychics to medium so the lag should be less outdoors at 1080p.

Max temps were 76 GPU and the i5 580 got up to 81 degrees. Pretty good i would say.

 

I have all of the drivers updated now and the max OC I can get out of the I5-540M with my current configuration is 28%. Base clock is at 3.08ghz and turbo goes to 3.66ghz.

28% is not too shabby. I get a memmory stack failure at speeds greater than that, just like I was getting in my old unit at speeds near that with this I5. I had been concerned that the CPU had been damaged by the water but it seems not.

I think I'll be upgrading to 8GB Ram as a finishing touch. Maybe I can get some more clockspeed out of the 540M. I love this configuration ... it is blazingly fast. I bent 2 "F" keys (3 & 11) on the KB and it bothers me so I'll be replacing the keyboard as well. Then I'm done.

I'll be looking for memory deals on Black Friday. The coupling I installed on the BL KB is a converted desktop fan coupling. It is fairly large. If I'm changing the keyboard, I would like to upgrade the coupling. Anybody have a suggestion for a 2 pin connector that has decent sized terminals for soldering? Who is a good supplier in the US for small ubiquitous parts like that?

Bronsky

Edit: This is interesting ... when I back off the FSB setting, I get a lower base clock but the x23 turbo gives me a better top speed. I'm already stable at 3.688 and think I'll tweak it over 3.7.


I can get it to 3.74 but it is clearly not stable at that speed. I miss having the bottom slide, it was easier to adjust settings to squeak a bit more power out of the CPU. For now, I'm running perfectly stable at 3.688.

 

I had 8GB in this unit for a while, but really I did not notice the difference Bronsky. Only when I had chrome tabs and firefox 3 tabs open. Working in Paintshop Cs5 and dreamweaver did I see it come into play. No low ram warnings. But really all I need to do is close chrome or FF. Also the odd thing is with the 8GB WEI jumps to 6.6 or something on the ram.

I get a ram stack error bluescreen also, when I push past 3.80 Ghz turbo or blck of 152Mhz.

I might get the 8GB more but for now the OCZ 1333 4GB seems good.

 

When I make a System image disk, should I also make a system repair disk as well?

I burn it to an external HD, can it then be burnt to a disc later?

 

8GB is recommended anyway for our GIS editing software and we use CS5 as well. I can probably get a set fairly inexpensively this week if I can find a decent black friday sale.

It's really nice to have this 3820TG back up to workstation capability.

Bronsky

 

Well in your case you have software that uses that 8GB so you can justify it. I can't really. The issue was my 8GB didn't let me clock as high for some reason. If I remember correctly i couldn't get past say 140 BLCK

So also be aware that you might have less OC

 

In my race for speed, that would not make me happy. It's funny, I've ordered an HP 500 slate which is powered by a lowely Atom Z540 at 1.86ghz. I've already read that the Z540 can be OC'd to 2.5ghz. The tablet is fanless, so that might be somewhat of a challange. It is a disease of sorts.

Bronsky

 

what video drivers do you use ? Also did u use atiTool to scan for gliches/arfitacts ? Impressive scorores there Hendrickson. Only wish i could o/c my gpu to these clocks.

 

I'm using the 10.10e modded ATI driver. Very good, apart from the brightness keys not working. I used a Furmark to check for artifacts and gliches. Also testing in games to see if the clocks would causes any lock ups or GPU driver reboot.

Combination of the both is how I have settled with 705 GPU and 1100 RAM.

@Bronksy, good luck. That HP slate looks nice. I just can't stand that non standard screen res. 1024 x 600...bah. Needs at least 1024 x 768.