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

IC Diamond 7 lowered my temps by 10C. I used Mx2 and it wasn't close.

What is the price difference between the 580M and the 460M? If you're doing the work anyway ... unless the price was significant, I would go with the faster CPU. This issue was debated when the I5-450M was available in the 3820TG. I went with the 540M and there was a slight improvement in the frames for MOH. Plus for some games like BC2, CPU power is key. Why go through all that work, risk voiding your warranty and not put the most power you can in there?

I would order this one from China. The shipping costs to Europe should be similar to the US cost. http://cgi.ebay.com/New-US-keyboard...10?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item4aa68bf006

Bronsky

 

thanks. but the picture doesn't look like my original keyboard.

 

Found some Diamond 7, thanks.

As for CPU, there's about $30.00 difference between a 540M and a 580M. If there's no difference in gaming between the two because of a GPU bottleneck at least it should give me a higher windows experience rating.

Is generic memory alright? I read before when it comes to laptops memory is memory and it's not as large a factor as memory in desktops. I found 2 cheap
Corsair 4GB sticks I might pick up.

 

It should give a slightly higher WEI rating (2.53GHz vs 2.66GHz), but you would be much better off improving the two bottlenecks for WEI, namely hard disk and memory (mine score 5.9 on both, whereas everything else is 6.7 and above). But, do consider that WEI is not meant to be a benchmark so don't set too much store by it.

As for generic memory, it is perfectly ok unless you plan to do some heavy overclocking.

 

I plan on throwing out a few bucks on the machine but the 200 needed for even the cheapest (Canadian price) SSD is a bit much. I think I'll need the 500GB for programs on the machine alone. I was thinking about getting a 7200 HDD but I think I'm better off waiting until some larger SSD's become a little cheaper. I understand the HDD bottleneck but financially just need to avoid it for a bout 6 months.

Although I'm still undecided for the CPU. 580 is tempting but no one here has one. Most here know more about CPUs then I do and have gotten 520's and 540's. No one's really come out to say "Yeah, the 580 will give you two or three extra FPS" besides jerg who kindly mentioned the 580 is probably slightly overkill for the laptop specs and gaming. Damn, I hope I don't sound like a jerk, not trying to be rude.

 

Games typically depend more on your GPU than CPU. Getting a fast CPU won't make a difference because it will not be used by the game too much in the first place. The GPU plays a much larger role in gaming than the CPU, so you don't really need to splash out on a 580. A faster CPU will be used on stuff like video editing/conversion, but not a lot on games AFAIK.

 

The 580M WILL squeeze out a few extra FPSs depending on the game. Two popular games which will definitely benefit are Starcraft II, and Battlefriend: Bad Company 2, because they stress the CPU as much as they do with the GPU. However, for the gazillion other titles out there, the improvement will be minimal ( < 1 FPS mostly) because the CPU will never be pushed to the absolute limit with both cores turbo-boosting at maximum clocks and still not able to streamline the data across.

 

my win7 WEI score is 6.7

cpu 6.8
memory 6.8
graphics 6.7
gaming graphic 6.7
harddisk 7.4

everything are stock mhz

core i7 620m
8gb ddr3 ( adding more memory really increased the memory score)
hd5650 stock no overclock
harddrive is ocz vertex2

 

Looks about right. Quad-cores (both AMD and Intel) get 6.8~7.0 CPU score in WEI (probably calculates pi or something), and SSDs get over 7 usually. 5650 stock always gets 6.7, 6.7, overclocking it to ~700mhz/1000mhz will bump those up to 6.9, 6.9. And memory score is plain dependent on how large it is, given it's DDR3.

Of course, WEI doesn't mean jackshmitz about a system's real-application/game performance.

 

As nice as an i7 would be to save money I'll get an i5. Although searching e-bay I find the best deal is on a 580M. Anyone else know of any online stores instead of e-bay with reasonable rates feel free to share.

I know the WEI is bollocks but it's the only scoring I'm somewhat familiar with as I never did get too heavy into benchmark software.

Thanks for posting your WEI rx78. For some reason I thought you'd be hitting 7's with your system (not that it matters, I just assumed). Also fellow forum members I hate to mention crysis but how is it running on your machines? I realize it's as old as the hills but I never did enjoy it on my old desktop and would like to get a bit further in the game. I'm wondering how it looks.

EDIT: Hey jerg, thanks for "The 580M WILL squeeze out a few extra FPSs depending on the game." I enjoyed the bold.

 

Hey all, any answers to this?

Hey all, I have had my 3820TG for a couple weeks now and I am curious. Is there a way to leave the touchpad and wifi OFF, even after restarting the computer? Seems like every time I turn my computer on, I have to turn off the wifi and the touchpad again.

Thansk!

 

None that I know of. You could just disable it in Device Manager, but it is more of a workaround.

 

mmm... fyi... my i5-460M @ stock clock gets me 6.8 too...

Graphics 6.7 @ stock
RAM 5.9 @ 4Gig
Hdd 5.9 @ WDC 750GB drive: WD7500BPVT-22HXZT1

 

My WEI looks like this:
6.9 - Processor [i5 M480 stock]
5.9 - RAM [4GB stock]
6.7 - Graphics & Gaming [10-12_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl]
6.8 - HDD [with SSD KINGSTON SNVP325S2128GB]

Also, could you check your AC Adapters [the power brick] and tell me if you hear any sounds from it; mine, when charging, makes a crack noise, similar to a hard disk drive working?!

 

Wow! The 480M gets a higher WEI than my 540M.



Oh ... no noise from either of the 2 power bricks I have for my Acer.

Bronsky

 

I though I made a mistake, but I didn't:


The sound from the power brick is most noticeable if you put your ear close to it.

 

its not supposed to sound like this. you should RMA it...

the last time a power adapter sounded like this for me was my mobile phone charger, it worked for quite a while but died all the same

probably have to do with Clock speed.... 480M has a higher default clock speed than 460M and 540M which are both 2.53Mhz parts

 

Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820T/3820TG BIOS recovery (by prikolchik)

This guide was posted because Acer Technical Support refuses to admit that BIOS recovery is possible on this laptop. This guide should help unbrick your system after an unsuccessful BIOS flash. Knowing the correct steps to take will make BIOS recovery a breeze.

By following this guide you take all the responsibility for whatever stupid thing you do. This guide is specifically for Acer Aspire 3820T/3820TG (and possibly 4820T/4820TG) with Phoenix BIOS. This guide could work for other Acer model with Phoenix BIOS, but you will need to supply your own BIOS.WPH. IF YOUR BIOS IS NOT PHOENIX, THEN THIS GUIDE IS NOT FOR YOU.

BIOS Recovery
An interruption during a BIOS flash procedure (e.g. a power outage) and flashing incorrect BIOS will both cause the system to become unbootable. You need to access and execute the boot block program to reboot the computer and recover the regular BIOS firmware.

Observe the following when performing a BIOS recovery:

• Make sure the battery pack is installed and AC adapter is connected to the system during the BIOS recovery and BIOS flash procedures. BIOS flasher checks to make sure that both are present.
• The Crisis Disk should be prepared in a system running the Windows XP 32-bit (preferrable) or Windows Vista OS. WILL NOT WORK ON WINDOWS 7
• It might not work on some USB storage devices, but might work with on others. It is recommended to use brand name (Kingston, SanDisk, etc) USB flash drives as opposed to no-name ones.

Creating the BIOS Crisis Disk in Windows
1. Prepare a removable USB storage device with a capacity size greater than 10 MB. Note that all data on the USB storage device will be cleared during the creation of the Crisis disk.
2. Set up a system running the Windows XP (preferrable) or Windows Vista OS and plug in the USB storage device into an available USB port.
3. Decompress the Crisis Package Source. ( CRISIS DISK - Phlash16_v1.7.0.18_DiffSize Download, mirror1, mirror2, mirror3)
4. Replace BIOS.WPH with correct BIOS for your system. (one included in the archive is v1.13 for 3820T/3820TG)
5. Right click on WINCRIS.EXE and then select Run as administrator.
6. From the drop down list choose the correct drive you want to create Crisis disk on. WARNING: Make sure you choose the correct USB storage device or you might end up formatting the wrong one.
7. Keep the default settings and then click Start button.
8. When the pop-up warning dialog box appears, click OK to create the Crisis disk.
9. Click No if you do not want to create another Crisis disk.
10. Eject and reconnect the USB removable storage device, and make sure it contains the following three files:

• BIOS.WPH
• MINIDOS.SYS
• PHLASH16.EXE

11. If the three files above are not present, try creating the Crisis disk using a different USB storage device or try creating it on Windows XP.


Performing a BIOS Recovery
1. Turn off the system.
2. Disconnect all the peripherals. Make sure battery (charge of at least 30%) and AC adapter are both connected.
3. Connect the USB storage device containing the Crisis Disk files to the system. You can use any USB port.
4. Press and hold the < Fn> + < Esc> keys (this is the BIOS recovery hotkey), then press the Power button.
5. Keep holding < Fn> + < Esc> for about 10-15 seconds. The USB drive access LED will flash for 2-3 seconds as it is recognized by the system. Then it will flash for about 4-8seconds as the system copies the BIOS in the RAM. The BIOS recovery process begins and the screen should remain blank. It takes about 60-90 seconds to flash the BIOS. When the process is complete the system will automatically reboot.
6. If the system does not reboot after 5 minutes, press the Space-bar or any other key. If this doesn't help, close the screen lid and wait until the system goes into Standby mode. Then open the lid and wait until computer turns on or press Power button.
7. Disconnect the USB storage device from the system.
8. If the recovery procedure was successful the system should POST. If unsuccessful, repeat the steps with a different USB storage device.
9. If the system POSTs, then perform a BIOS flash procedure to update the BIOS firmware to the latest version. Refer to Running the Flash Utility section below.

If after many tries you cannot seem to recover, then please look for other recovery methods specific to your model. And in the worst case, you are going to have to send it to Acer.

Running the Flash Utility
This describes how to update the BIOS to the newest version. Personally, I prefer flashing by a different method: creating a DOS bootable USB flash drive with HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

1. Rename the BIOS file to "XXXXXXX.FD". (It is unknown whether the name actually matters, so keep it as "JM31113.FD" for 3820T/3820TG.)
2. Copy the "XXXXXXX.FD" file to a bootable USB device containing the Crisis Recovery disk files. Refer to section Creating the BIOS Crisis Disk in Window above.
3. Turn off the system and make sure both battery and AC are plugged in.
4. Insert the USB storage device containing the renamed BIOS file and the Crisis Recovery disk files to any USB port.
5. Press and hold the < Fn> + < Esc> keys (this is the BIOS recovery hotkey), then press the power button.
6. Release the < Fn> + < Esc> keys after POST.

This guide is based on the official Acer Service manual SG_Aspire_3820T_3820TG_04282010.pdf page 77.

 

Hey - I'm just about to order this laptop since my old HP is dead and have given up. I was just wondering about a few things.

1) Does anyone know of some sort of docking station for this unit.I tried searching the thread but found no real answers on it.

2) I might've asked about this before, but, what would be your recommended SSD to apply to this laptop. I'm looking for something around 120gb or such. I might consider more since i recently got a little more money to spend.

3) Edit: Found a Zeroshock IV at http://www.gearzap.com/zeroshock-iv-advanced-laptop-case-13-3.html and ordered that instead

Thank you!

 

then why he has higher score then my 620m which also has 2.67ghz default clock
while his turbo to 2.93
and mine go 3.3ghz
and mine has more cache

why mine get 6.8 and his get 6.9

 

super good stuff man! :laugh:

oohh... good point. forgot to check the 620m. i'll leave it to the pros..

 

Hi guys. Found a Corsair SSD Force Series 2,5" 120GB for good price. Is it a good drive for my 3820tg? Or should i look for a OCZ drive?

 

I have a OCT Vertex2 250 GB. If you have any questions, write me a PN.
I don't look every day inside the forum, still busy at work.

 

1. I dont believe there is a docking station as there is no port on the bottom of this laptop. There has been some mention of this in regards to no eSata and USB 3.0 expansion for this notebook.

2. I think this is up to you, I know some people on this forum have an OCZ Vertex 2, others Crucial C300 and some might have the Intel X25 in theirs. It's really a matter of preference as to what you want out of your SSD I think. Take a look in the SSD Thread and just go from there.

 

Edit:

Sorry caught an old account. Justanick and Just_a_nick is the same person

 

Has anyone noticed this? In page 71 of the service manual, there is a full diagram of all the workings of the 3820TG and in the top left corner, there is a diagram with the words "Clock Generator" and the value "ICS9LRS3197AKLFT". However, there is no such value in SetFSB. Has anyone tried overclocking using this value?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ace...-info-benchmarks-tweaks-mods-upgrades-32.html

someone mentioned it initially... but the conversation faded off....


btw.. license fee for setfsb has just gone up to 800yen.

 

I love my 3820TG, but the Lenovo announcement today caught my eye:

Thinkpad Edge E420 available in April:

-Choice of new Sandy Bridge i5/i7
-14", 4.1 pounds, 1" thick
-ATI Radeon 6630M
-Room for optical drive

Starting at $749

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s and E420s unleashed, glossy lids and outdated processors left behind -- Engadget

probably not good enough to replace my 3820TG if no 13.3 option, but close.

 

6630M? now that is a new part number that has never been seen nor announced before. i wonder what the specs are...

another specialty of the 3820TG is the design. Dual heatsinks that seperate the GPU and CPU work wonders under heavy loads

 

Looks good but I think they'll include comparable ranges of 3820T and 3820TG in the E220s and E420s. The lowest end at $749 probably closer to the 3820T with integrated and around $900+ for any with a 6630M. I don't think they'll be as good of a bang for your buck as a solid 3820TG

All just guesses though for I'm still a big notebook noob

 

just got activation code from Abo-san for SetFSB.
friendly person. he will ask for your motherboard specs and setFSB screenshot to check if it is OCable before providing you the key.
good guy

the "Asus G73JH" clockgen works great for me. i think i read someone went up to FSB 168 much earlier in the thread. did anyone go even higher?

i'm at 160 at the moment. rock steady. now considering to push the limits... hehee

 

Hello there,
I recently bought the 3820tg-464g75nks and have the following problem:

The right fan is running constantly. not at a high speed but still annoying. Did anyone else experience this as well? and is there a solution for that?

I checked my bios version and it seems to be the current revision. But I uninstalled a bunch of acer programs which were installed. Does one of them manage the fan control?

Many thanks in advance!

 

Can you share some links that give more info about this? These are two games I play a lot so I'm very curious as to just how much more performance we're talking

 

Hello 3820TG owners. I was wondering if anyone of you would take a look at my thread and answer a few questions regarding the 3820TG; mostly wether it will soon be outdated or not. This is what I wrote ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/543256-laptop-13-inch-sc2-study-2.html):

Hello again. After some thinking I've almost settled on the Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG. Im still a bit reluctant to buy as I dont know yet what will come out of the CES mentioned by veon1 earlier in this thread. And when those laptops will be available here in Denmark. I really need to buy a laptop soon and just want to make sure that im not buying something thats soon outdated. Anyways here is the best "specced" 3820TG version that I found in Denmark. 1250 Dollars is that good value for this system?

Intel Core i5 460M / 2.53 GHz
4 GB
500 GB - 5400 rpm
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
9-cellet Litiumion

Also I wonder if the 9 cell battery will stick out and annoy. I could get one with a 6 cell battery instead, but it isnt much cheaper.

 

as far as i noticed, nope. none of them controls the fan.

oh... and Dohnut81...

you can go to
Power Options --> Change Plan Settings --> Change advanced power settings

go down to "ATi Graphics power Settings" (available only if running with high performance GPU)...
and set it to "Maximum Battery Life". The opposite of "Maximum performance"

it should still run fine. it just ramps its speed less aggressively.

as long as your dedicated graphics card is activated, the fan will spin.. even a little just to keep the air flow to cool it.

if you don't need the graphics power at the moment, you can go to the "Switchable Graphics" (desktop, right click.. or start button CCC to load catalyst control) and switch it to "Power Saving GPU" which is integrated graphics.

High Performance GPU = some right fan
Power Saving GPU = no right fan

 

the 9cell will stick out. Click the below for the 5820TG review. The batteries are compatible across TimelineX series
http://morrisoft.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/aspire-timelinex-5820tg-7357-review/
just imagine it on the 3820TG

as for waiting.. it is a never ending wait. there is always sometime better that is 'upcoming'...
and for notebooks, there is always a question of, what will they change? ... for the better or for the worse?
heeh... no matter how new or hot is your notebook, it will be 'outdated' within 3months in one way or another

i'll leave the Value questions to those who knows better of the market conditions in your area.

 

Hello there... I just bought this awesome laptop with the i3 processor from Visions.ca for $658 cad and I must say it's a hell of a deal for the money.

 

Thanks for the response. Yeah its kinda hard to predict the future I guess. But some estimation of wether 1250 dollars is well spent for this machine should be possible for someone who knows more I guess? Since this thread started january last year the 3820tg is already 1 year old right?

 

Thanks ChasePack!
Switched to integrated graphics and the right fan slowed down to an acceptable level now. It is still running though... and this is during office work and surfing the internet ( no videos or heavy flash content). I think something isn't 100% right here... will investigate further.
cheers

 

Run CPUz Hardware monitor while the unit sits at work and let us see the temps. What bios are you running? Did you install ePower? Lets see if you have a temp issue and if not, you might want to do a factory restor or, better yet, a clean install.

The Timeline Series is ending. Acer is rumored to be replacing the 3820TG and 4820TG with an .8" thick ultralight Sandybridge unit. The speculation is that the new 13" unit will not have a dedicate GPU. Sandybridge CPU's have enough built-in graphics power to perform most graphic intensive tasks short of 3D rendering or gaming. If this is true, would you consider that an improvement?

I would wait to see what Sandybridge brings and then consider your options. I would suspect that your retailer will have 3820TGs for a few months yet. BTW, if that price includes VAT, it is probably an acceptable price for that model. I paid ~ $850 US when I imported my I5-450M model from Computeruniverse and that did not include shipping and any VAT. I think the VAT added 17% to the price and shipping could add another $50. You sure you want a 9 Cell unit ... that battery is truly ugly.

Bronsky

 

I've been looking a long time and haven't seen anything with this much graphics power for such a low price.

Also, I've ordered a 3820TG with a 6-cell but I'm looking for a 9-cell. If you do decide on the 3820TG and you get the 9-cell maybe we could look at some sort of trade arrangement?

 

New sandy bridge is here. BTW it sucks hard IMO

 

I have 2 - 6 cells. It would be a lot easier to get a spare one of them. BTW, I read someone say in another thread that MK had let its Domain Expire. Nonsense. MK is one of the largest Acer parts suppliers in Germany AFAIK. . Willkommen bei M.K. Deutschland - Original ersatzteile für acer,canon,compaq,hp compaq,fsc,fujitsu-siemens,hp,hewlett packard,ibm,lenovo,lexmark,samsung,brother,kyocera,laptop, Notebook Akku,Notebook Ersatzteil,Notebook Ersatzteile,Notebook Zubeho

Bronsky

 

@Bronsky
Have the latest 1.19 bios installed and ePower's Tray and event running. Don't think it's an temperature issue ( see hw monitor below ). Will try a factory reset first. thx!
http://img251.imageshack.us/i/hwmonitors.png

 

I'm tempted to ask if I pay the difference would you buy a nine cell and trade? I don't even have the laptop yet so its not like I have a" slightly" used 6cell. It would be brand new, unused 6cell. Which should be fine. I think 6 hours is the norm with a 6cell.

 

Ill have to think about that.

 

Hi!

Bought 3820tg-5454g32(i5-450, 4gb, 320gb, hd5640 1gb, 6cell)
a couple of days ago. Paid 7800 swe.kronor, around 6300 danish krona, 1100 dollar. I would not pay 150$ extra for some extra MHz and some Gb since the harddrive is a slow 5200rpm disc urging to be replaced with a SSD drive. Spending the extra cash om a fast ssd is money bettet spent. And like someone above wrote, there will always come a newer/bettet laptop.

 

Yea ... the temps look good across the board. I would guess that ePower is the problem. After a factory reset, you might try disabling ePower and see if that solves the problem.

Bronsky

 

hmm... when you were using the High performance GPU, you mean the fan is furiously pumping out air even when the computer is idling and doing absolutely nothing?

yea.. possible software issue there as Bronsky says. if not... its hardware. one at a time

SandyBridge itself may play SC2 in LOW settings. just maybe.
i play SC2 with my 5650 on Medium to High settings. no issues at all

I can get at least 4-5hrs is possible with a 6-cell surfing net with wifi running in integrated graphics mode. even with dedicated graphics running, a full charge can last me about 4hrs flat. i just do anything i need.

this is just using with default settings. i haven't really gone all out to try and see what is the longest i can get out of the batteries

a 9 cell should net you 6-8hrs at the very least~

the 6 cell fits exactly to the laptop shape.

one thing i noticed though... they don't seem to charge all that fast... a couple o hours to charge a 6-cell?
what do the rest of you think?