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

Oooh, all right. I ran it 1280x768. I will try native resolution then

 

On the website, displayed in the middle in caps:
"We sell only genuine original laptop screens. No generic. No fake"

Who trust?

Apple is the king of custom/proprietary/locked hardware/software, so my guess is that you may have better luck with any other PC builder.
Have a look at Sony, they may be the only one to have 13" screen with higher resolution than ~720p.




Quick question to who installed an Intel 6200/6300 Wireless card. Did you added a third antenna? How did you connected?

 

Some obvious clues;
The child producing screens 12h/day in a chemical fog does not cost so much => laptop screens are quite cheap

The technician in our country with his insurance and social cares replacing only 4 screens a day
=> expensive

 

Obvious question I think : When I open AMD GPU CLOCK, I have 99.99mhz in engine and 149.97 in memory according to "get clock info".

Is it normal ? I have to set manually the frequencies of the card before OCing it ?

 

The clocks that you are experiencing (100/150) are there to save power until you run something more graphic intensive. Also make sure PowerPlay is disabled in CCC. You should notice that if you run something, such as a game, and then open AMD GPU Clock Tool, then the clocks should be the clocks of this laptop (550/800). Also, you don't need to enter these clocks before the OC clocks. You can simply try out the OC by entering the values you wish to try.

 

Thx !

Ok It works well. I tried a little OC : 650/900 - 8477 3Dmarks.

I have just 3 questions :

1) What are the max SAFE temps for the CPU and GPU ?
2) When the notebook is OC, is it possible to use Powerplay which would reduce the clocks when not ingame (even if it is overclocked with amdgputool) ?
3) Switching from Intel GPU to ATI GPU keeps the OC ?

Thx

EDIT : Currently @ 710/1030, seems stable.

 

I did a clean install the first time I got it. For now I'm not preocuppied with the random BSOD's. Most of the times were after having it turned on for more than a day after all. I just wanted to know if there is a way to know for certain what could be causing this...

anyone ?

 

Wouldn't there be different power requirement and connection issues anyway with IPS vs TN?

 

I thought the Macbook is using TN ?

 

I dont actually know.. I just assumed Apple would use a higher quality display.

 

1a) My CPU never goes above 70C with high GPU overclock. Anything above 80C would start worrying me a little, althought it's not damaging.
1b) Max SAFE temp would be mid-90s, for a short period of time. Sustained 90C+ may be a bit too much for the GPU to handle in the long run. Some more powerful laptops routinely reach such temps though and manage just fine.
1c) When I first got my 3820tg, I was running a FurMark temp stress test with an 850/1050 OC and protective foil still on the unit. Reached 101C, nothing happened. It didn't even throttle. I stopped the bench immediately of course.
Now with 800/1000 and a laptop cooler I don't normally go much over 80C. Anything below 90 is fairly safe, although the lower the better of course.

2) GPU tool still shows high clocks when not displaying 3d, but temps go down to idle 40-50C so I assume PowerPlay works with OC enabled.

3) No idea, never use the Intel GPU

You say 710/1030 seems stable. Have you verified this with ATITool? It will give you an error when you first start it but the Artifact Scanner option works. If you run it and see any yellow lines or dots, the OC is not stable. Benchmarks / games won't necessarily show it.

Good luck! Remember to always have HWMonitor on when running games with an OC.

 

Has anyone tried to run Unigine Heaven 2.1 Benchmark? When using the AMD graphics, I can't get it to run in full screen mode no matter what I do (keep getting an error along the line of "Appdata: Can't set screen resolution..." - no matter what resolution I pick. Fullscreen works with the Intel graphics however.

I'm also interested in seeing what panels might be compatible with the 3820tg. However, I don't relish tarring apart my new notebook just to find out. I assume that's the issue most people are having if they are considering a panel upgrade.

 

Intel® Core? i5-460M Processor (3M Cache, 2.53 GHz)with SPEC Code(s)SLBZW, SLC22

The max safe temperature is Tjunction (Tj). This is why Intel shut down processor when it reach this temperature to prevent any damage (105C for most Arendale mobile). ~5C below Tj, the processor throttle to reduce temperature increase.
That being said, lower temperatures are always better (stability, life span...).

For GPU it the same story, but I do not know Tj for mobility Radeon. Anyway, GPU usually handle high temperature better than CPUs.

 

Hi, what is PowerPlay and why must it be disabled? Also, where can I find "CCC"? Thanks.

 

PowerPlay is to downclock your GPU when its idle and back to normal clocks when under load like gaming...
You shouldn't let it dsiabled as the clocks will stuck at the normal clocks even though it does nothing..
CCC is Catalyst Control Center...

 

@Spartan82 : Thx for all the hints !

I have pushed my Card 830/1050 but it reached 96° only with AtiTool.
I am now at 775/1000 but it still reach 95° with some time on AtiTool, it's annoying to be limited by the temps
I'll try to find the best way to have a good oc GPU and temps below 90°.

 

MSI Afterburner shows my 6550 clocked at 600/800 with no option to increase. Anything I can do to fix this? Thanks.

 

True, but make sure that it is set to 'maximize performance' rather than 'maximize battery life' as if set to the latter, it will undervolt to 0.9V instead of 1.0V

 

Go to the folder with msi afterburner /enter MSIAfterburner CFG file and change 0 to 1 @ EnableUnofficialOverclocking

 

contacted abo-san to know if my 3820 is OCable with G73 pll... hoping..

guys, i've reinstalled (clean) win 7 but there's a "controller PCI simple communications" driver not found issue in my hardware proprieties...
how can i solve???

 

Interesting, even though I have it set to maximize performance, GPU-Z tells me that it's still undervolting to 0.9V when idle. Is that not supposed to happen?

Unless the "VDDC" reading isn't what you are talking about...

 

Can someone link me to the drivers needed after a clean install? I saw them posted on this thread awhile back but can't seem to track down the exact page.

thanks for the tip about the gpu.

Never mind I found most of them.

 

How to set to 'maximize performance' if you disabled it? Since that option will be gray-ed out...

Its this one if I'm not mistaken
http://global-download.acer.com/GDF...p3=ASPIRE 3820TG&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_7

 

After playing COD:MW2 on an external screen 20" with 1024x768 no AA my max temp in HWMonitor is always atleast 89C for CPU and 74C for GPU (no OC). Seems quite high to me. Would you agree?

I also have this problem with random 0.5-1 sec freezes after say 20 min of gaming. Today I noticed the sound stutter in windows when playing music too. Nothing else running. I dont think this is a good sign.

 

done.. thank you...
but something has been recognized, something not... uff!!!
don´t undestand the reason, all driver and apps should be in DRVAPP dvd that i´ve burned with acer e-recovery...

 

Try use quietHDD ?

What's left not recognized ?

 

i´ve posted the code on google and it seems to be the bluetooth module....

 

found it, was the bluetooth module....
the file that you linked me a couple of post ago, is in the dvd DRVAPP done with e-recovery or i have to search it in google (or installing it manually directlyfrom file) every time i reinstall win 7???

 

Its from Acer driver website..

 

aah not from DRV-APP dvd... great...

a doubt: if i disassemble my lappy where i have to search to find the CLOCKGEN chip??? (ICS maybe)
opening the HDD-RAM window???

 

I've noticed that when i pick up my laptop while it's on, sometimes the cpu fan will come in contact with the casing. I'm going to go ahead and assume this is normal seeing as how everything is packed in so tightly. It has only done it twice and both times were when I picked it up with my hand directly under the fan.

 

is it possible to upgrade the cpu to a sandy bridge processor? or do they use a different socket type? Will it need a modified bios if it can fit the socket?

 

It's definitely not possible. That would require the new chipset which is embedded into the mobo.

 

It's normal. I had it also 2 times.

 

Why is my roommates 4 year old Mac getting better wireless signal than my 3820tg? Ive got the Atheros AR5B97 in mine. I'd say his old Mac's wireless has a good 15foot range advantage over mine.

 

Hey guys, I've been lurking around for a while now reading this topic.

I recently sold my Olympic edition 1810t, which served me well for the past year or so.

So I finally decided to get the 3820tg with 6550 as I wanted a portable powerhouse aside from my gaming pc. Everything about it is awesome, except the screen. I've read many people had complaints regarding the LG as it was too washed out, and to my disappointment, I got an LG lcd screen, and it looks washed out . Even at full brightness, the contrast of the LG is nowhere near the contrast of my 1810 from what I remember.

To any of you 3820 owners, when you turn your laptop off, does your LCD look a little green when you hold it up against light? I just found it a little awkward, as my 1810's LCD was black when it was off.

(Off topic, my laptop came from NCIX)

 

Alright, after installing steam, some benchmarks, and all my temp programs.. I've got plenty of information to share.

First of all, I was wrong about this monitor. It hurts my eyes and I can't seem to get the settings right for it. I will definitely be replacing the monitor in a few months. But, for the money and the rest of the specs, this is still an awesome laptop. Does anyone know any tricks to making it look better? It's too bright and washed out.

Stock Temps

i5-480M: 38c Idle - 84c (Maxed out using Prime95 and LinX)
6550M 600/800 Stock: 40c Idle - 74c (Maxed out using Crysis and Kombustor)
6550M 725/1000 OCed: 59c Idle - 93c (Maxed out using Crysis and Kombustor. 93c too hot?)

Benchmarks

3DMark06 Stock: 7907
3DMark06 OCed: 9276

3DMark Vantage Stock: 3660
3DMark Vantage OCed: 4475

3DMark11 Stock: 1101
3DMark11 OCed: 1326

GTA IV:
Graphics Settings (At these settings, the game is kind of choppy regardless of OC.)
Video Mode: 1366 x 768 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: High
Shadow Quality: High
Reflection Resolution: High
Water Quality: High
Texture Filter Quality: Anisotropic x4
Night Shadows: Off
View Distance: 25
Detail Distance: 31

Stock: 28.18
OCed: 35.43

Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 240GB SSD Upgrade:

 

Hi there.

Your GPU temps are quite normal. 74C stock is just about right. CPU temps however are high compared to what other are reporting, including myself. My CPU runs 15-20C cooler than yours when playing SC2 for example.

Some things to look out for:

- Have you got your lid closed when using the external monitor? I've found that my temps go up quite a bit with the lid closed so I keep it slightly raised when gaming - also to make sure the screen doesn't suffer any damage from all the heat coming out.

- Do you keep the back of your lappy raised? It helps airflow a lot. I keep mine on a Zalman netbook cooler, cooler fans are off most of the time but more airflow underneath is always good.

Hope this helps.

Very similar to the temps I was getting with the laptop on a flat surface and no laptop cooling.
Normally I keep it raised using a Zalman n2000 cooler with fans on about 50% and 800/1000 OC. Goes up to about 83-84C Max.

Official Acer/AMD drivers for 3820tg and the 6550 seem to lower temps a few degrees as well. Either try that, raise the back of the laptop a bit (helps airflow, lowers temps), buy a notebook cooler or reduce the OC .

Long story short, such temps with an OC and no additional cooling are to be expected. They won't damage your laptop in the short term, but may imact its lifetime.

 

Because it is as big as a tank and probably has a bigger antenna lead. The Atheros is the best of the Wifi cards in the 3820TG. The Broadcomm is terrible and the Intel is only so-so.

Bronsky

 

So its just down to antenna lead length? Not the actual wireless card? Could I install a extension?

 

Well, generally notebooks have the wifi antennas looping around the panel inside the bezel, so I don't know where you would extend it too?

 

There is no room to extend the antenna without crossing leads or doubling it back on itself. Both of those will degrade signal. There is just so much room in there. Your friends unit may also have the Intel card with 3 leads but there is no place to put that in the Acer either AFAIK.

Bronsky

 

$360 for OCZ Vertex 2 Series SATA II 2.5" SSD 160GB good?

OCZ 160 GB SSD 2,5" S-ATA II TRIM/GC Vertex 2, Max Read/Write 285/275MB/sec - Netshop

 

Take a look on the 25nm problem with the OCZ vertex 2.

 

Anyone have any issues when using skype or google talk/video chat?
I talk to my girlfriend via my computer to her computer or phone, and she hears static and poor call quality on her end when im talking to her on her laptop or phone. I can hear her fine, crystal clear but I feel the issue my be something on my end.
I am calling from Hong Kong to California.

I have a 3820tg and have tried tweaking settings, disabling hardware and reinstalling drivers with no avail. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Try this...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...enice-x3-sf1200-2-5-240gb-sataii-mlc-ssd.html

 

Just got the 3820TG with the Staples deal few weeks ago and have been lurking here for a while.

Used the 3820TG to play a SD video streaming via WiFi off a NAS server and video was choppy every once in a while. Previous experience with an AO752 never had this problem (could easily stream 720p and some 1080p with AO752 as well).

Anyways, I confirm problem was with WiFi even though I had close to full bars. I confirmed I had the latest Atheros driver from Acer website. But I googled specifically for Atheros AR5B97 driver and found a higher version than on the Acer site. Installed and was able to play SD video via WiFi without any choppiness. I forget where I got the driver from, but just do a google search and compare versions.

Hope this helps.

Barf

 

Search for Atheros AR5B97 9.2.0.113.0

I "think" this is the version I installed.

 

I have this issue too. I presume you mean with the built in microphone. When you plug in a headset its fine though. I have the 3820tg and my mother actually has an acer 5742 and the same is to be said for both of them. There are some new Realtek drivers out but Im not sure if they make a difference. I think it is a windows thing though because as far as I remember I tried it on Ubuntu Skype and it was better....oh the woes!

Edit: Ok you made me go back and look at it again. I've only tested it from pc to pc within my house but it seems better. So right click the sound icon in the taskbar and then recording devices. Click microphone, then properties. Click levels and more than likely you will see your microphone is boosting by 20db. That seems to be the problem. Set that to 0 and put your microphone volume to full. Set skype to change the volume automatically and hopefully your problem will go away! Thanks for giving me the kick to look again!