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

^ yeah i'm refering to the bios discrete mode. When on switchable, you can control the brightness manually but shortcut keys won't work. On discrete, it doesn't even show the brightness bar.ü

 

This should be interesting
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I'm not sure if anyone can answer this for me but my 3820tg is only able to do GPU overclocks if I change the setting in bios from switchable to discrete. Does anyone know why that is?

Also just to note, I have flashed the bios to 1.19 and I am currently using the 6550m drivers. In 3Dmarks06 the driver is recognized as 6550 instead of 5650 (like how it is when the setting is switchable).

 

What do you mean by only when on switchable? ATI GPU tool doesn't see the GFX or system crashes when OC'd?

 

I think it might be able to. But your gonna have to lower the settings a bit.. it's a demanding game.

 

Switchable as in both the integrated and discrete vid cards are detected whereas only the discrete will be detected. In both settings ati gpu too will still see the gfx. 3Dmarks06 scores are considerably different when the setting's on discrete than when the setting is on switchable.

 

So I think I may have solved my i7-620m heat problems (sort of). I had been having problems with my i7 throttling while running prime 95 because temps would hit 99C. Temps in games such as battlefield would get temps up to about 95-96C. This was after re-applying arctic silver 5 to the proc twice. Well I've come to the conclusion that its my heat pipe cooling mechanism at fault. Tonight I rotated my laptop 90 deg (don't ask me why) and now temps in prime 95 are hovering around 81-84C. Yes, I literally lifted the laptop and have it sitting rotated 90 deg to the right (having the CPU heatsink and fan blowing upwards.) I'm assuming the huge change in temps is due to the fluid within the heat pipes now being able to sit up against the cpu cooling surface. I'm not sure why this fluid wouldn't have been able to sit up against this surface previously. Either way I'm probably gonna end up having to rip my laptop apart again and try to bend the tubes on the heatpipe so that the fluid will flow down to the cpu surface. This has really been bugging me so I hope this works.....

 

Hi, just purchased a 3820tg-3022 from staples (i5/5470). I reformatted and did a fresh install for win7 however i'm finding it hard to find the bluetooth driver. Does anybody know which one it is? because on the acer website there's 4 versions!

 

Double check if yours have bluetooth module in it.. Coz some has it and some do not. It's either a broadcom or atheros bluetooth module, when you figure it out, download the appropriate driver from the site Service & Support

once downloaded, press fn+f3 once then it will automatically locate the hardware and install the software, then install the downloaded driver.

 

So I did a clean of the two fans as recommended following the Disassembly guide instructions. Right now, GPU temps at load are around 85-90 max, down 15 degrees, while Everest says the fan isn't even getting up to 100% speed yet. The CPU hasn't changed much, still around 85.

Are those acceptable temps? I haven't fully tested to my liking yet, but it seems to be a significant improvement already. There wasn't actually much dust kicking around the fans inside, but the GPU fan had a whole row of gunk lined up against the vent leading outwards.

 

Interesting...

I usually experience max temps of 81/84 C, once I've lifted the notebook looking at it's bottom and suddenly the fans were spinning so fast I've never heard before - and haven't since then - then I put back the noteboook on the desk, the fans lowered their speed in a couple of seconds, HW monitor showed a max temp of 94C.

BTW, how hot Your GPU got?

 

Look at the stickers on the bottom of your computer. There is one that tells you what kind of BT module you have.

 

glad to see 6550 performing almost the same as 5650 xD there is no need for me to upgrade for such minor difference ;]

 

The Article seems to confirm that there will be an HD 6570 GPU offered in the Acer 3820TG. So, it look like that picture from China was misprinted when it indicated an HD 6670 but still, the 3820TG might be getting a successor to the HD 5730. The base 3DM06 score is about 500 points elevated. Still not enough for me to even think about replacing my unit. I really think this configuration will last a couple of years for me. It does everything I demand from it and doesn't even hint of a struggle.

If I was buying new, however, I would have to seriously consider the HD 6570 GPU if it was reasonably available. None of the German Retailers have shown the HD 6570 specs yet and they have the other two on their sites (6550 and 6370).

Bronsky

Edit: New keyboard has shipped and my memory ships on Monday. By the end of the week, my upgrade will be complete.

 

Is it possible to overclock i5-430m ? getting PLL ID Error with Asus G73JH Generator.

 

This might be helpful. http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/513560-possibly-overclocking-unclockable-3820tg.html See if you have the "0" or "1" is the right position from the test on the first post.

Bronsky

 

I know I am annoying with this question but which bluetooth module should I buy? I didn't really got an answer before.

 

I have to say, I though that the heat pipes were simply a bi-metal heat conductor. I was unaware of any fluid in these pipes., even less that there was a full thermodynamic carnot cycle going on inside my laptop. You (and wikipedia) have me impressed. +rep to you sir.

In that case, this does sound like a faulty heat pipe. I can play BFBC2 for hours on end, CPU OC'd to 2.8ghz and GPU 650/900, and my temps hover around 80c gpu, a bit less CPU. (Ambient ~22c). This should be fully under warranty by Acer.

 

Has anyone tried the new Acer-videocard-driver yet?

Well, performance-wise the 6550 is the same as the 5650.
Overclock the 5650 a bit and you have a 6570 ...

 

Finally installed the 640gb 7200rpm HDD and did a clean install of Win 7 via usb key. ABR activated everything, I registered the thing with Acer, and seems all is well. The entire process was a breeze thanks to all of the information from this thread. Thanks to everyone for all the info!

 

WOOHOO finally got mine, i3, 5650. LU computers, Eric was very helpful, I'm in South America so postage wasnt easy or fast but Eric was very attentive the whole time.

I dont want the 64bit windows though (too many compatability issues that annnoy me), so I want to fresh install my 32bit W7 Ultimate, just one question before I do this: is there any driver issues I should know about before hand? And I know its almost certainly been posted already but doesn anyone have a link for all the drivers I will need for a fresh install?

Or will W7 automatically detect what all I need like it did for my last lt? Thanks!

 

Interesting find to share with you guys. I don't know if I'm the only one who dislikes that annoying beep when the powercord is inserted into the laptop, but here's how to disable it:

-Right click tasbar Speaker icon
-"Playback Devices"
-Select Speakers, then Properties
-Levels tab, then Mute "PC Beep"

No more annoying beeping. All other sounds will be as usual, only the beep is muted.

 

Thanks MarcMTL, a very useful tip

 

You will have a problem with the Acer-AMD 64Bit Drivers. Somebody was running a 32bit version. I don't how he loaded the Acer Video drivers.

Bronsky

Edit: BTW, looks like we won't have to wait for CES for the anouncement of the first Sandybridge laptop: it's HP's DV7. https://h10057.www1.hp.com/ecomcat/hpcatalog/specs/provisioner/05/XE378EA.htm

 

Congrats with your notebook!ü

There shouldn't be much problem doing clean install to either 32bit or 64bit windows 7 as they are both supported by 3820tg. Do you have the installation disc and drivers at hand? If yes then you shouldn't really worry. Just follow the on screen instructions, make sure to not delete the 20gig partition for D2D recovery just in case (but your choice of course if you wanna have more space, i deleted mineü)

When windows 7 loads the first time, the drivers will not be installed automatically, you have to load them one by one. You can check on device manager the hardwares that need drivers to be installed, they are marked with a question (?) on side of its name. From there, you can locate for the driver for each, be sure that you use the x86 version of the drivers. If you don't have the appropriate drivers, you can easily download them from acer's website, and be sure as well to choose the correct operating system which you have installed on your machine. :-D Good luck and have fun!ü

 

Unfortunately I've already opened up my laptop and replaced essentially everything with new parts (hard drive, memory, CPU - i7-620m, wlan). I don't think they'd honor the warranty at this point....

 

Does your i7 still throttle? Have you tried swapping back the stock cpu? Might be the proc itself or the heat pipes failing..

 

I haven't tried throwing the stock CPU back in yet, I'm getting kind of tired of pulling my laptop apart and putting it back together. To be honest after what I experienced with the temperature dropping almost 20 degrees by simply rotating my laptop leads me to believe that there is a problem with the heat pipe and not the CPU. If the CPU was simply "too hot" the heat pipe assembly wouldn't be able to cool it down to about 81-84ish C in any orientation at all. I've contacted acer support and as of right now I just replied back to their standard set of questions they have to ask you any time you have a problem. Hopefully they'll decide to replace the heat pipes.

 

Sometimes parts fluctuate with a given amount of circumstances over time and all that jazz. Letting things settle over time can sometimes change things like burn in time and stuff. Your case probably isnt the case though but there is many different cooling options when it comes to mods and other things.

Hope you get what your looking for out of it though either way!

 

Yes I am still alive. But I have to do a lot of work at the moment and I'm only rushing through the thread.

PN me, if there any important question.


I have see the fan control utility for an while, but there was not a file for the 3820T(G).


Best regards

 

Like I was thinking, exact same chip, just with a different BIOS. The only difference is the frequency. Even the PCI-ID is the same!

Having said that, they might be better overclockers.

 

Woah!!! I was looking all day for a possible GPU fan control, as mine only works well with 1.13, but with that one it produces strong bursts about once every 5 minutes. With 1.17 and 1.19 it can go into infinite sine-wave loops, and stucks.

Did anyone has any progress in making the ini files for 3820TG? I hope our machines have the same controllers.

 

OK, this is as far as I came with the registers:

131 - brightness level 0-9
135 - brightness level 0-255

Reading works, but writing doesn't. It actually changes the data, but nothing is happening.

There seem to be many random fields, which change even if I don't do anything. First we should write a list about the "useless" fields, then we can start comparing the interesting values.

 

anyone have a link for the larger battery? Are the batteries the same thing with the hd graphics and ati models? Shipping to us too?

Id like to get a larger battery when I get it, any stats or comparison between the two?

I found this 200 pages back

 

im thinking of getting this laptop tomorrow. will it play 1080p movies hooked up to a tv, even though the laptop cant fit 1080p on its screen?

 

absolutely.

 

Acer has the 1.3 hdmi supporting resolutions of up to 2560×1600 which means any external monitor able to display up to its maximum will work. The display on the laptop resolution hasn't anything to do with the hdmi output.

Check a thread like this though as there are many discrepancies. DVI and Display port can use the external monitors/TV native resolution while hooked up to the laptop though. Check here for reference. VGA can only support resolutions of up to 640x480 in 16 bit color so that wont use your TV's native resolution im pretty sure, some one correct me if Im wrong since Its not my money im using to figure out what works with what but any who lol!

PS;anyone know where some one in US can buy a 9 cell 3820TG battery from?

 

wait wut? VGA can only support up to 640x480?
I don't think that is correct.....

 

VGA can support resolutions as high as HDMI or DVI. It really depends on the monitor or TV.

 

did tests with OCing the 5650 with my i3 370m and got these results playing Starcraft II

Default clocks
Medium - 62 fps average
High - 42 fps average

oc'd 650/950

High 70 fps early game (averaged 45-50 fps during big battles ~140 units on screen)
Ultra 30fps early game

yes i know I should have used the same settings but it runs on high amazing after being oc'd

 

The 3820TG supports only up to 1920x1200!

 

OK, I found the brightness level and CPU fan and GPU fan levels using RW Everything:

131 - LCD brightness: 0-9

135 - LCD brightness: 0-255

160 - CPU fan:
128 = stop
129 = level 1
130 = level 2
131 = level 3
132 = level 4

163 - GPU fan:
80 = stop
81 = level 1
82 = level 2
83 = level 3
84 = level 4




If you want to write something into, I've put it here:
Paste2: Next Generation Pastebin - Viewing Paste 1114473

We just need to find the manual control registers!

 

Although the HD 6570 is the same chip as the HD 6550 it not only is slightly over volted and clocked higher, but may come with 1GB of DDR5 on-board (not DDR3 as in the HD 6550). https://h10057.www1.hp.com/ecomcat/hpcatalog/specs/provisioner/05/XE378EA.htm Maybe the performance boost is a bit more than we thought. To be sure, not enough to make me sell my unit and wait for one of these to show up on the US, but is an interesting improvement to the 3820TG.

Bronsky

 

OMG this makes me wanna sell my notebook...

 

You couldn't get one of them if your life depended on it. That HD 6570 is still largely vaporware and has only been glimpsed in Mainland China. Even PCHome in Taiwan doesn't have the new GPUs yet. Germany will have them in time for CES but none of the retailers list the HD 6570 as an option.

I'm wondering if anyone will be marketing a 13" ultralight unit to compete with the 3820TG. There is really no competition on the market. HP seems to be the first manufacturer to be comitted to Sandybridge mobile CPU's, maybe they'll revamp one of their 13" units by adding a decent GPU. A NVIDIA GT 435M or better would be nice.

Bronsky

 

But if you look at the 3dmark results, you see that they are not more faster than 500 points. And if you take it into account that they run 10% faster by default clocks and only do 500 points more in the 7000 range, they are actually slower clock-by-clock.

I think HD5650 is just not a chip which would really benefit from DDR5.

 

Looks more like a weakness with Acer's driver than the GPU. I would think that someone will eventually develop a driver to take advantage of the faster clocks in the HD 6570 GPU and the increased bandwidth of the DDR5.

Bronsky

 

I'll pass on the 17.3" screen

 

Thats what I thought. The only difference is analog and digital right?

 

Just showing the specs on the HD 6570 and the fact that Sandybridge mobile CPU's are probably going to be in models soon after CES. Looks like HP will be getting into them.

Bronsky