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

Hey MarcMTL.

Since you're a fellow i3 core 370m user, what have you been getting as your 3dmark06 score?

I'm just curious. I've heard that you can still over clock to over 9k but I've been hitting 8700 stable.

 

I'm very interested in i3-370m also. Seems everyone blows the turbo boost as the next best thing as sliced bread comparing the i3's even tho bronsky said his overclocked to 3 ghz.

ps. cant anyone run the ffxiv benchmark for me( link).

 

To those with the i3-370m: How hot does it get while gaming? (intense games, not solitaire/flash stuff)

 

stock = 1663
OC'ed = 1995

The last score is in the top range for low performance =/

 

thanks for that, I appreciate it! 2000 not bad!

 

hmm, i went on a 2 week vacation and now i'm back in Taiwan. still thinking about AS3820TG. it appears i3-380m 2.53ghz is now available in Taiwan although most are still selling i3-370m 2.4 ghz. the price difference is about $50. seems like i should buy extra memory instead of the extra mhz's... what do yall think?? i5-460m cost ~$120 more than the 370m. i don't think that's worth it at all.

 

Hey Ghetto, you should go visit the Taipei IT fair going on at the WTC. The prices are pretty much at $760 for the i3 370m, but damn the RAM is cheap. If you pay attention, stores occasionally would sell the demo units for way cheaper. I got mine at NTD $18000/US $ 600 and spent $105 on 2x4GB of DDR3 1333. (It does mean living with 350m instead though...)

 

so 23000nt for i3 370m 2gb right now at the show? i guess i'll have to make a trek there to get the best deal. online at ÅS¤Ñ©ç½æ--²³æ¡B¦nª±¡B§K¶O¡B¦w¥þ it is 26100nt for i3 380m w/4gb ram... 18000nt for 350m is that new in box? that's a good savings. do plan to oc it? thanks buddy!

 

Hi, try this step. Right click on the desktop>click graphic properties>Click graphic on the top left>click powerplay. Make sure it's on maximize performance. I had this problem before, and it fixed by doing the step mentioned. good luck.

 

Thanks, someone posted this earlier and that was the issue, it solved the problem.

Thanks though.

 

Got the machine in today, has a LG screen LGD023F, 6550M default clocks seem to be 600/800. WEI 5.9 because of HDD and RAM, others 6.7-6.8.

I'll post screens later.

 

3dmark 11 is out! Mirrors:
Download Futuremark 3DMark 11 v1.0.0 | techPowerUp

 

I finaly managed to get overclocking to work on my unit. Still strugling a bit to reach a deasent clock, so far I have experienced BSOD and the system just cutting out on me. I barely get to a clock of 2.6 before BSOD occours

 

OH!
Is it like 3dmark06 n u can run it as many times as u want or is it like vantage and u gotta pay up?


edit:
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/31320

so my drivers aren't supported?

 

same here.

5-8 fps mostly on the benchmarks at 700/1000.

seems like a more desktop oriented test.

 

It's normal. Scores are calculated so that 5000 would equal an average fps of 25. Mid-range cards usually score about 1000 at the time the benchmark is launched. I had the same story with Mobility Radeon X700 bought in 2005 and 3DMark06.
I remember people used to say it's nonsense and it shouldn't be that demanding but that benchmark is not meant to please you but to set standards so the idea is that even higher end cards struggle.
Good news is that 3DMark 11 is not memory dependent like 3DMark06 is- it newer showed in the games yet you gained 300points for every 100MHz of OCed memory. Now you gain like 20points for 100MHz- it's less even relative to lower score.

 

I am satisfied with the score I guess.

But when you ran the basic version did it just stay in the center of your screen?
It did for me...
Also, we need acer to update the 3820/4820tg drivers soon

 

Yes it did stay in the center- I'm pretty sure it's a bug on Futuremark's part.
I remember that the first hotfix for 3DMark06 was available before I even knew it had been released so I would expect a hotfix in two or three days.

 

Is anyone OCing with Setfsb and experiencing out of sync audio in game?

 

It switches the screen into 1280x720, that what makes the black box. If you switch your screen to 1280x720 before you start 3dmark 11 everything is fine.

For me, I'm still at P1360 but I'm trying hard
And a big + for a finally objective nVidia vs ATI test. If you look at the leaderboards the results are much closer to the actual gaming performances than before.

 

zsero, does ATITool work in windows 7?

 

One of the sides of my LCD housing for the 3820tg is loose.

I don't have a copy of the service manual, but it looks like the TOP half has gotten loose and is now resting over the bottom half, but the TOP half is the one that has this lip that should go below/under the bottom half.

It extends from mid-half all the way down to the hinge, and I can't force the bottom half over the TOP half's lip without causing dents into either layer. Any help?

It looks sorta like this....


|
| aaaaaaa(Top Half)
\
a/ aaaaaaa(Hook/Lip area)

|
aaaaaaaa(Where the lip should hook into the bottom half)
|
| aaaaaaa(Bottom Half)

 

Its easily taken apart, take it apart to the hinges and screw anything you can tigher? It would be helpfull if you could get a screenshot of it. Heres a dissasembly pdf file( link)

Iv never seen a hinge problem on this model.

 

So i've had my 3820tg for a couple weeks now and as much as I love it I have questions about the display.

I feel when i watch youtube videos, they arent as clear as my old laptop (2006 Dell i6400 15.6'' 1280x768.) The dell can only handle 720p smoothly but it looks much more clear than 1080p youtube videos on the 3820tg. Ive tweaked some display settings but it still is not as clear. Is this the display itself or just a result from a smaller screen?

 

The artifact scanner runs fine. The device access part doesn't work, but you couldn't use it anyway, as it's for older hardware.

For 3dmark, I've settled with P1384 points. 760/960. Anything higher gave me either slower results, or froze the system.

 

My system has only managed a score of P1292 after a lot of tweaking and overclocking, atempting to breach 1300 later today.

 

That's not what I meant. My black-boxes look a bit bigger than that

 

I've got a question for 3820tg gamers here. Could my FPS be affected by CPU and hard drive performance? I mean most of the games play very smooth (Like MW2 multiplayer at native res 2xAA and everything high), however Bad Company 2 plays smooth in some areas but struggles in other (especially in multiplater). I dont play on huge servers (max 24ppl, moslty 20ppl). I have noticed that my cpu is 100% all the time and i know the game is very CPU consuming.

So am I right to assume that my CPU isnt powerful enoguh ? (I have i5-450m) and my HD is 5400rpm.

 

HDD is not to blame- almost everything is loaded to RAM before the game starts besides you would see terrible slowdowns and HDD diode being lit up constantly if it was HDD. As for the CPU it's very likely- it's not that the CPU is too weak though- it's just this type of game.
Even before it was released there was talk on the net how it needs (and supports) quad cores CPUs.

 

Same with mine.

 

Yep, get the same message about the drivers. crazy clocks you've got though!
I score P1055 out of box.
Result

 

For bad company 2 you may need to do a number of things least of all dropping the resolution to 1280x768. You probably could benefit from using all your memory so a program like gamebooster2 would be in order before running the game. Also overclocking the gpu/cpu with programs like rivaturner/ccc and setfsb for the cpu will help. Sometimes you can find reigstry fixes for certain games that help out your multiplayer, be on the lookout for those as they can decrease lag etc...remember bad company 2 is a very demanding game. Alot of people online use sli/xfire setups that will literaly throw your character into a flop when your online on a server.

1. overclock cpu/gpu
2. gamebooster2
3.change in-game settings for optimal play(resolution and AA)
4.Use a registry fix(use at your own discresion(just change it back if it dosnt work for you))
Step A: Start -> Run -> Regedit
Step B: File -> Export -> whatever location you want to keep registry backups.
Step C: Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile
Step D: The entry for network performance throttling, default value is 10; set it to FFFFFFFF hex (willl look like 0xFFFFFFFF to the right of the entry)
Step E: Reboot(this worked with m11x so it might with this as well)(here is the thread( link))
5.check bad company 2 forums for tweaks etc...

ps. anyone used the warranty in the US from acer on the 3820tg from canada? Hows it work out? You have to send it to canada to have it fixed?

 

wow thats a lot for this! Will def check it out xD

 

Can anyone provide steps as to how they OC'd their cpu using setFSB?

 

All warranty work done in the PanAmerican region is done at the Temple Texas repair Depot.

Bronsky

 

Did you read this thread kto( link).

 

Yes, but I want to if anyone is doing anything different. I can overclock using the G73JH profile but the audio in gaming becomes out of sync...

 

And OC'd CPU should not be used while 3D gaming. It causes a reduction in FPS. I would game with only the GPU OC'd and use the CPU OC for other tasks.

 

sorry kto about your audio problems, I didnt know. Hopefully they will come up with something so the cpu overclockers can benefit with gaming. Iv never seen anyone mention audio problems with oc so I just assumed it was ok for gaming. I will overclock my 13-370m and test it with gaming when I get my 3820tg and tell you how it goes.

 

Guys is it worth to pay £50 more for i7-640m over i5-580m? The difference seems minimal unless 1mb cache helps in anything?

Any1 tried doing o/c to 580m ?

p.s - ebay price for 580m is £148 and 640m - £198

 

The 580M will outclock the 640M and draw less power. Hendrickson has his 580M OCd to 3.8ghz but of course you can't use that power in games. I would probablly still go with the 580M.

Bronsky

 

That's what I had too! Just switch desktop resolution to 1280x720 in Catalyst before you start 3dmark.

 

Yep my i5 580m overclocks nicely and out preforms a stock i7 640m. Like Bronsky, I recommend the i5 580m too. Great CPU

 

So is it i5 580m for 3820tg best cpu we can ever get for gaming or is there a better option ? Any chance for i7 Q cpu's? What is the max. cpu to install? Thanks.

 

Id like someones opinion on that to, I swear you read my mind asking about whats best for gaming. Weird lol! As far as the quad core 720/820 etc... those I don't think make very portable machines so I doubt we would see them in an 13.3 inch. Who knows tho, the new xps 14 has them except the case is an inch and half bigger...

 

1. As overclocking produces weird effect when gaming, you should run games without overclocking.
2. So if money no object, buy the fastest processor what you can afford.
3. Quads don't work in 3820TG.

So it's: i7 640M, i5 580M, i5 540M and so on...

 

Zsero is correct. While the I5-580M is the best all-around GPU, for gaming, the overclocking speeds are unusable. That would make the I7-640M the best gaming CPU you can put in the 3820TG.

Bronsky

 

Thanks a lot for your views and opinions One more question, any1 managed to oc i7-640m so far? If yes how far does it go ?;]

 

Well I wish i7 720 or 820 would have fit on my lappy, but it seems impossible now. Any bios update will be helpfull for Q cpus ? And is there a wattege limitation on 2core i7s? Thanks.

 

For i7 640M the ram clock is 1333mhz, as for i5 580M stock ram speed is 1066mhz am I correct, so gaming performance will increase I suppose from ram speed?