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

Already did the email thing ... no better information. They all just say it is in the delivery phase . It was in the delivery phase a week ago. I think I'll give them a call next week if I don't get it today or there is no attempted deliver over the next 4 days (office is closed for the 4th Holiday).

SSD was shipped from Newegg yesterday, UPS says it will be here today. Congrats on the 4810TG. What a great deal that was ... a computer wrapped around an SSD.

I'm working on my sailboat this weekend anyway so I doubt I could have spent much time on the Acer, even if it did come. Next week will be better.

Bronsky

Edit: More interesting infromation from the Service Manual. Here are the different display panels used in the 3820TG. Any of these have better specs than the others? Now that i think about it, it would probably not be too hard to swap a 13.3" matt display from the Travelmate 8372.

AUO
• 13.3" WXGA Glare B133XW01
• 13.3" WXGA Glare B133XW03

LG
• 13.3" WXGA Glare LP133WH2-TLA4
• 13.3" WXGA Glare LP133WH2-TLL1

Samsung
• 13.3" WXGA Glare LTN133AT18-A01

 

Nice info there Bronsky.

Also, I'm here to bring some bad news. I've recently just contacted computeruniverse to see if they have other shipping option. They told me that theey only offer 1 shipping option to the US and it's going to take 3-4 weeks. Now I'm seriously considering on ordering mine either by tonight or tomorrow.

 

Because i don't want to wait for Asus to get their notebooks out (which could last for ever ). I decided to get a 3820 with better specs. I ordered today and because i live in Germany i will have it tomorrow. That's efficiency
I'm sorry for you Bronsky, that you have to wait such a long time.

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!

@s3k7m5 - congratulations!

I'm not sure I believe that anything takes 3-4 weeks to ship, even to the Moon. My best guess will be a bit over 2. It has only been a week and it is listed as in the final phase. Could they possibly put this thing on a boat rahter than a plane?

Actually, I'm not really concerned about shipping times. I'm just getting tired of typing on this little 1410T. When it gets here ... it gets here. I have 135 pages of the Service Manual to finish anyway. It's interesting reading.

Bronsky

 

You should all make a trip to Germany. I bet you would get a big group discount at the travel bureau.
I'm considering my own Acer 3820 shop. Buy them here in Germany and ship them with a fast option to the US.

 

I am also sad, i bought mine exactly one week ago and it still hasn't been shipped

Because i wanted the UMTS version they had to ask for it to theis supplyer, they did't have it in stock.

 

Delivery via DHL took two weeks almost for me and I live in Spain. Germany to Spain isn't that far when you think Germany -> USA....

 

Hey,

is there a tool to disable Intel Turbo boost?

Yes I know what I am asking.

 

TMonitor: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

 

When you got tracking information, was it vague stuff like I have been getting?

Bronksy

 

whats the link to the service manual ??

also do post if the german warranty is valid in US after you get your machine

 

I thought he brought the service manual. It's like a hundred something pages long.

 

Hey at all,

after a few mails with the author of SetFSB is it possible to overclock the CPU of the Acer TimelineX 3820TG. Two pictures are attached.






MfG

 

wow, great stuff!

Were you able to do some extensive thermal testings?

I'm looking forward to invest my first 500 JPY

 

Would this work for the 4820TG? It also has an HM55 motherboard. I would love to overclock my Core i3 to i5 speeds.

& how much is 500 Yen in American Dollars? haha. SetFSB is shareware with the newer version.

 

can anyone try to establish the frequencies of the model i5 520m and see how they behave heat results

very good news!

 

Is this your Acer? The CPUZ shows 2 different CPUs and the wrong socket. Odd! The OC speed is nice improvement. Why does it show the Asus G71 in the bottom pic? Did they have the same CPU? I remember discussing this with somebody who had a friend who had OC'd the G71. Hmmmm. Wonder if this will work with the I7. You giving it a try Ant?

Bronsky

Edit: @alyafan 134 pages to be exact.

 

I get the same information about my i5-450M from CPU-Z. I think they'll fix this with one of the next versions.

Just donated the 500 JPY (~5$) to enable overclocking

 

Yes I do liitle thermal testing.
You can drive the fsb cery easy very high @ the moment I use 160MHz to test. But the real problem is the throttling of the cpu at nearly 100°C.

You need to test the combination of your game or software and the temperature of your CPU. As long as you are under 95°C you can overclock a little bit more, but the max frequency is limited by the temperature. Or with other words by the throttling

At 2,7 GHz with prime95 FFT test and furmark: CPU ~96°C GPU ~85°C GPU not OC

Just try it 500 Yen are around 4,5€ it is not expensiv. Sorry, I am not an american and don't pay with dollars.

It's my Acer. Yes the version of CPU-Z is buggy. The Asus G71 seems to use the same clock gen but now one has open the unit to be sure about the real name of the IC. I have only a name in the service paper. And so it is called at the moment Asus G71.
To overclock the system the cpu is not importend, only the clockgen. The clock gen tells the CPU haow fast it has to work.
It will work with an i7 in an 3820TG.

You need the lastet version. The really last version. My one is called 110b. The other version was buggy and let freez the system.

 

yeeo, another Canadian lurker here just posting a recent update for that i5-450M model from computeruniverse. ordered mine pretty much the same time as Bronsky and recieved this update on the shipping:

01.07.10 15:36 Shipment was processed at parcel sorting hub.
01.07.10 16:53 Shipment was processed at destination sorting hub.

if I am being optimistic, 'destination sorting hub' should mean it's already somewhere in Canada. This was after recieving the same status of:

21.06.10 18:29 Shipment was processed at parcel sorting hub.
21.06.10 23:30 International shipment was processed at export sorting hub.

 

Well, I've been busy clockin' a bit!

My 3820TG is a i5-450 (2.4Ghz) with the 5650 Gfx. Haven't found max stable levels yet, can get a few more mhz out of it for sure.

Currently I'm at:

CPU: 3140 mhz (157mhz x 20)
GFX: 650/1000

Ambient temperature is 23-24c.
Max CPU temp seen: 85c
MAX GPU temp seen: 77c (looping in 3dMark, probably 3-4c more in a "proper" gamer over a long period of time based on my previous experience with this unit at stock)

I'm very impressed with the cooling solution of this thing.

Screenie


CPU-Z is glitchy for this CPU it seems, I expect it will be sorted out eventually. Orthos doesn't show real speed but rather stock. Don't quite get what SetFSB is all about when it comes to showing clock speed either, oh well, appears we're cutting edge with these 3820s

Mac

 

Awesome !!!

Mama Miaaaa with this 3820tg

good test and impressive temps M4cr0s

3820TG OC ED vs Alienware M11X... ACER KICK A.S.S M11X... up in orbit bye bye alienware..

3820TG WINS!!! xD

 

Time to hit the sack, but an update first. Appears I can get the CPU stable with temps under 88-90c max load at somewhere between 3.3 and 3.4Ghz (165-170Mhz FSB). Acceptable clock given the circumstances I'd say It's so I start thinking this chip could go far on water cooling and with better memory! Don't really know if it's the memory, the chip or maybe even the powersupply of the laptop that's stopping the clock either, but most likely it's the memory.

Good night!

Mac

 

Yep ... that looks great. Yours was shipped 2 days before mine. Sure looks like it's in Canada. That gives me some hope too. So, how far are you from a major port of entry? Also looks like it went airfreight. I was concerned that they would put it on a boat. dam - looks like you could have it any day.

 

I would love to see a 3.4ghz and OC'd 5650 run 3Dmark06 to see if the Acer can break 10K. This is an impressive little machine. Wish mine would get here already.

 

@M4cr0s

I don't think it is stable at any game, which is up to date.

Just the first problem is, that Orthos just use 2 threads but you have 2 real Cores and 2 HT "Cores", this means you need at least 4 threads. A better solution is 5 or 6 threads.

On the other hand you used the turbo boost multiplier 20x (170 MHz * 20 = 3,4GHz), because youre are only uses 2 cores. The real multiplier ist 18 with 4 used threads.

And the temperature of the cpu is a function of frequency and the used programm or game.

 

I'm on the west coast which is bad, but fairly close to a major airport so I can be hopeful at least. If it has already reached the west, then I can probably expect to see it arrive at home tomorrow. It's also a nice fluke that Canada also has DHL - doesn't really detract from how painful the wait is though...

So far I've only prepared a power adaptor for the german 3820tg, might pick up a momentus xt soon.

 

siiickkkk this thing just keeps suprising me, such a power. Question why is it showing i5-520m on yours? so does it mean i5-450m is just as powerfull as i7-620m ? man thanks a lot for this!

 

what are your 3dmark benchmarks, M4cr0s?

 

Can you turn off Turbo Boost in bios on this model?

 

Nah I don't think I will. I don't have 500 yen to spend.ü unless you send it to me for free!ü otherwise, I'll wait for you to do it. Haha

 

I roger that, not 100 % familiar with the i-series of Intel CPUs as this is my first one (still stuck with a c2d in my main box) and their properties, although I've been clocking since the days of the Pentium 1s.

As to stability and so forth, for "simple" heat tests 10 to 30 mins in Orthos gives a very good idea of the temperature roof regardless, but clearly in a setup such as this one can expect a few degrees more due to the nature of the chassis and cooling solution plus the core thing (I was mistakenly thinking this i5 was a good old fashioned dual core ). Point is, I haven't got it over 90c yet, no matter how hard I've pushed it. Realistic long term stability takes a while to test and I haven't got that far yet. I'm sure I'll find values that I can live with while still getting an acceptable performance boost.

Thanks for your constructive input!

Mac

 

I haven't broken the 10k limit, but need to test this properly. Would be fun to do it, but it don't seem to happen. The CPU clocks yield only very minor boosts (I'm quite surprised) in 3DMark it seems. Only a disappointing few hundred points from stock to the 3.4ghz clock. I might be doing something wrong, or there might be something wrong somewhere though.

Mac

 

Thanks finally you got somewhere! I had no luck with him and he was just being a damn pain and told me we could not overlock our 3820TG. Good to see you have sorted it all out. Time to overclock mine as far as I can. Lets see how high I can push this little i5 430m

 

Oh dear, no go for me.

I'm getting PLL ID error when I select the clockgen AsusG73JH. Is this maybe only working for i5 520ms?

Can anyone with a i5 430m model give this a go and see if it works for them?

 

My CPU is a i5-450 and it works. Strange that it doesn't work for you. Thought that was mobo specific?

Mac

 

I guess my motherboard is different somehow? Do you have the model with the 3G modem?

Or bluetooth 3.0 ?

 

No.

And seven letters more for the foren software

 

Hi all!

I have now used my 3820TG for 3 days and I must say that I'm really impressed

I plan to upgrade it with a Momentus XT as soon as they are available, and then I plan to install a fresh copy of W7 to get rid of all crap there is in it at the moment.

Temporarily I have been trying to inactivate the Windows Media Player hotkey functions when I FN + Play/Paus or swich song. Because when I listen at Spotify and use those hotkeys, WMP seems to start some times, and sometimes Spotify doesn't respond or only play the song for 1 second before pausing again (when clicking play as the song is paused). I have noticed that it responds in different ways depending if you have the Spotify window up or closed, so sometimes I have to open up the window.

The thing was that I went into the Control Panel to inactivate WMP for good. So I did that, restarted the PC, and when using those hot-keys while using Spotify will now instead of starting WMP, it will open a small window that says something like "Warning - You are trying to open a dll-file...". Then I click "open with" and then "You can't open the file: shell32.dll"

ImageShack(TM) slideshow

So It didnt really go as I planned. One problem leads to another I found a guide to remove the dll-file, however, I dont have right to do it, although I'm admin. And I don't know if it's even the right thing to do

 

I have the version with UMTS, 3G and the 450M.

I think Acer is switching the parts to the cheapest one.

 

Ok so if someone with the i5 430m can download setfsb SetFSB_HomePage the latest version and see if you can select the AsusG73JH clockgen... I can't

You don't have to pay for this, just to see if it detects the bus speed.

 

You have written with abo?

Can you add the diagnostic capture here? I will write him tonight.

 

He doesn't listen too me. Sure here's my capture, thanks.

 

Others have said that the 3820TG is a very quiet machine. Do you agree? How's the fan behavior when you do normal tasks like browsing and youtube? And when gaming? I am curious about this, since it has 2 fans.

 

It's really hard to notice the sound while browsing or watching youtube. You have to put your ear like 2 decimetres from the fan to hear anything.

I have not played yet but while testing the PC with 3DMark06 the fans started working more intensive, which of course resulted in more noise. But they are definitely quieter than my previous laptop.

 

Mine's w/o the 3G-modem, but with BT 3.0 (Broadcom). I find it hard to believe they use different mobos (isn't the point of several models on the same base saving money for one?), but anything is possible I guess.

Mac

 

Maybe a revision when they added the bluetooth 3.0 ? Whats the best way to ID our motherboards to see if they are different?

CPU-Z reports mainboard chipset intel ID 0044 Rev 12 if that helps?

 

I'm not sure, Everest Ultimate gives no useful info, motherboard name is simply "Acer Aspire 3820", I'd say a clear indicator to the fact that all 3820s share the same mobo. However my chipset is revision 18 and not 12 such as yours. That's probably down to nothing else than different production batches. Besides, this is chipset and made by Intel. As I understand it clock generators are made by the mobo manufactorer itself, that is, more likely branded by them. I might be wrong though.

Mac

 

Acer is known as a company which buy a lot of pieces on the spot market.

Let us say the buyed 10.000 of Hendrickson Clockgen and if they running out of stock, Acer just buy the cheapest clockgens with the same specs again but doesn't look at the model number or company.

All the same happens with the HDDs, optical drive, display and ...

It' s a way to keep the models cheap for the end users.

 

Im not getting SetFSB to work either. I downloaded "shareware" instead of "freeware". It has to do with that? Using i5-450.

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9665/20100702113542.png

As you can see I can't click "Set FSB"