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

I normally use the Fn buttons for that, but having an extra tool is always nice ^^

 

Yo Bronsky, we're waiting for your video! Hurry up!

Haha jk man, hope you do get a chance to share with us your new family member. Just don't neglect your other children.

 

I always thought you had to use the OEM driver first. The Catalyst drivers to not support switchable graphics on intel chipset notebooks:

Catalyst Mobility Driver

When you download these, you can overwrite the old driver and still keep the switchable graphics functionality. But it requires you to install the original OEM driver first. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

OEM meaning the drivers acer provided?

I installed latest Catalyst with switchable disabled but when enable drivers dont work anymore.. Can someone tell me how to install latest catalyst with the support of switchable graphics ? cheers

 

Yeah, the drivers from ACER.

 

Is the ram in the 3820 easy to replace?

 

Yes, there's access panel for the ram...

 

Bronsky why didn't you just pull the hdd out and shove the ssd in?

 

Please read this thread's first post, It explains how you can do it. First you have to install the ATI drivers found on Acer website, then you install the latest catalyst on top of those. It worked for me...

 

cheers mate ! xD

 

Some were having problems with the downloaded drivers and needed to access the old ones from the backup. Just being careful.

 

Any progress, Bronsky?

 

First, congratulations to Hendrickson and his countrymen on Spain's win in the World Cup. It was an extremely good series this cycle. The Cup really caught the public attention here in the US this time. It must be bedlam in Spain today.

Most of the hard work is done for now on the 3820TG. It is all back together and the clean install is done. I am trying to figure out the offline activation process. I'll write more about this later.

The automatic telephone activation did not work for my unit. Plus, I could not get someone live on the phone (dam Microsoft layoffs! ). Microsoft kept saying call back, no one is available to talk to you. I wonder why the program will not validate automatically via phone.

Anyway, that has made me even more comitted to figure out the off-line activation. Once I figure that out, I'll get the drivers all loaded up and start to tune this baby up.

I have a busy week this week at work, but will try to start posting stuff as soon as I can.

The backlit keyboard def. has more flex than the original one (or maybe its more accuate to say it has more spring). Can't wait to power it up. I think there is a coupling close to the KB ribbon that might be a good power source but need to read more.

So far, the Acer is working flawlessly. Glad to see that as I did not want to send it back to Germany. Haven't been able to do much yet though because of the set up issues. Wait will you see the pics of me taking a dremmel to my keyboard, frightening!

I'll get to the pics and all as soon as I can. Bear with me all.

Bronsky

 

But then if you take it out you'll always have the original hdd intact, to access them later..
A question, if you don't mind: how does the hdd come in terms of partitioning, is there the usual hidden partition with the system restore data or is it just one big partition? Anything else?

I would format the whole thing, fresh install w7 and then install to double boot linux so that's why I'm asking..

 

There three partitions.

The hidden Recovery, the Windows Boot partiton and the Windows "main" partition.

It can be, that you destroy the recovery function with the grub mbr. Acer seems to use a modificated windows mbr to boot the recovery function.

Just read all the D2D threads.

MfG

 

AHHH so that's why a friend's of mine eeepc got completely screwed (mbr corrupted as I later rfound out)! It took me forever format the whole thing, install w7, and then ubuntu to use its grub. After a lot of research I then managed also to rebuild the hidden partition that makes "Express Gate" work. Obviously not the recovery part though, which I find useless (do you guys find it useful?)

So yes I guess I'm prepared to screw the recovery, although it would be nice to be able to clone exactly the recovery partition which I suppose would reset the whole hdd to fabric state (does it? I never used one..), then install w7 and then ubuntu with grub (much better than the other way around).

Is there a way to clone the recovery part? And is it useful to do so?

Thanks for the info Just_a_Nick!
D2D threads?

 

I have taken a dd Image of the complete HDD, this ends with a 25GB compressed file and I am able to recovery every file and every partition.

I deleted the recovery partition, because I use TrueImage for my windoiws backups and recovery functions.

MfG

 

Oh thanks I didn't know about dd! Seems perfect, although 25GB isn't probably the smallest of the other imaging options. I'll do that. (Can you access the files into the .gz created, doeas it have folders etc.? What distro did you use?)

Thanks again. As I understand you are on linux too, did you find any issues (microphone maybe?) with the 3820tg? What distro again?

 

The dd image ist not easy to handle but secure way for me.
To read the files, you have to extract it back to the original size and than mount the partitions. I do all the work on my linux driven NAS with 6TB of storage volume. So that is not a problem for me.

At the moment I don't use linux on the 3820TG because the kernel in the distri Ubuntu 10.4 is to old to support the swichting feature of the grafikcards and have a problem with the soundcard. In the newest kernel versions seems to be a few fixes but I won't upgrade my kernel by hand at every security patch for the kernel.

I will try ubuntu 10.10 at the fall.

MfG

 

I know it's not any exciting information, but my laptop is finally shipped!!!!

 

It's exciting ... congratulations. Once it ships, time seems to stand still.

Bronsky

 

Bronksy,

I apologize if this has already been answered...

Is the unit 100% perfect? Any physical defects? Any software bugs?

My main fear is the risk involved when ordering such a high value item from half way across the world.

Any regrets after ordering from Germany?

 

From what I can see so far, there is no problem. I have not yet loaded drivers and run stress tests yet, but will. I think I have a good unit.

There is a lot of risk in ordering from Germany. I would not recommend it for most. Those of us who are, simply, would not be satisfied with anything else. There are bound to be issues, you just have to be comitted to dealing with them. Just look at me taking a dremmel to the 3810T backlit keyboard. Luckily, it worked out. (backlit keyboard installed - but not powered yet).

I love the look of the unit. It is the best looking business machine I have see yet. I like it more than the Vaio Z's that I have seen. I would prefer not to have the Acer name on the top but, since Apple did it, they all are.

Regrets? No. No regrets.

Bronsky

 

What did you use to release the four tabs on top of original the keyboard?

 

Mine shipped today as well, maybe we'll be sharing the same overseas shipping container

 

I'm going to write up the things that I did a little different from Hendrickson's mod and will put them in his thread. That is where I would start getting ideas about techniques. I use a very thin blade pen knife (dull blade) filed to a flat edge on the tip of the blade. There is probably a better tool. I also use a flashlight to see the clips so I can push them back out of the way and free the keyboard. At the same time I have a plastic card in the seam to lift the keyboard at that point (I use a starbucks christmas gift card ) . Then I just work my way around. Oh, BTW, there are 6 tabs. If you haven't read Hendrickson's backlit mod thread, you should. http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/491169-acer-timelinex-3820tg-backlit-keyboard-mod.html

Bronsky

Congratulations to you too Hardcor.

 

Where did you two order it from?

 

Assuming that your is being shipped to the States, may I ask which state or city it's shipped to?

I'm assuming that hardcor ordered his or her's from computeruniverse too.

 

Bronksy,

What brand/model HDD came with your German 3820TG?

 

It's a Toshiba. I'll get the model # for you tonight.

Bronsky

 

The HDD shoul be a Toshiba MK6465GSX.

 

FREE Over-clocking core i5 430M

 

@timi666

Which tool do you use to overclock the 430M? SetFSB?

Edit: Thanks for the FSB Screenshot.

 

Looks like Hendrickson might owe you a beer (if you're of age, of course). we appreciate the information. He's probably still partying with the rest of his country.

Bronsky

 

Just_a_Nick - setfsb 2.2.129.95

 

You have it OC'd to 2.7 GHZ? Nice. Will it turbo above that? Is it stable? The SetFSB that is being used on the I5-450M by the 3820TG users has a code from the Asus G73. Does is make a difference if you have one that is product specific or can it be core specific or is it tied to the clock gen model?

Nice stuff. Are you running this on your TimelineX 3820T?

Bronsky

 

How did you get it to OC with set FSB? I'm trying this on i3 350M and it wouldn't budge...maybe it only works on i5/i7?

 

Hi all! I just got my TimelineX 3820TG a week ago, and I'm lovin it, being 4 times faster than my desktop unit. My previous machine was an Asus N10Jc, but it was too weak to my liking (still I could play TES:Oblivion on it), and the resolution was way to low to use any professional software like resolume or PS. I have a few questions thou. The charger is heavy and bulky, a bit of a bummer the machine being an ultraportable and all. Is there a smaller charger out there? Also I just cant get the display color settings right, the reds are especially bad. Is there a calibrated profile out there? I usually don't hybernate or turn off the computer, but put it into sleep mode, and restart it once in a while. However sometimes the screen remains black for a long period, then when I close and open the lid again, it stands up instantly. Do you know what can this bug be? Finally my 6 cell battery seems to only hold out for 5 hours on no-wireless, minimal screen brightness, no CPU-heavy use. Is it normal?
Thx!

 

Bronsky
i am running setfsb (Freeware) on my 3820tg. it is stable.
The SetFSB that is being used on the I5-450M by the 3820TG users has a code from the Asus G73 - this is Shareware version, so i can not test it.

maverickar15
you must change 3 registers: №00 (29), 0F (97), 00-10 (39) like on picture

 

How \ where did you discover those registers? I'd want to try that on my SU7300, as the PLL seems to be the same.

 

bolt.pt
maybe

 

I just got the setfsb 2.2.129.95 as timi666, but I didn't got it working.

I clicked "get fsb" and dragged the arrow to 165 once, and 100 once. And then cliking "set fsb". Both times the PC froze and I had to reboot. Am I doing something wrong I r noob when it comes to OCing.

 

havsbaden
you must change 3 registers: first - №00 (29), second - 0F (97) and 00-10 (39) like on picture

when you push on in hex you can change them, then push update and then apply.

 

I3 350M doesn't take register values beyond 00-0C - so I can't modify 0F and 00-10.

 

maverickar15
do you choose ics9lprs365bglf clock generator?

 

Thanks, that worked

But then I set FSB at 141.1 and crashed my laptop . I think I must have messed up my mem and PCI frequency as well.

 

Thanks timi666 but it still froze. What settings do you recommend. I see there are two arrows; shall I drag them both? Because I have only dragged the one at the top, to 165.

 

A little update from using 3820tg i5-450 5650 for few days now...

First of all have to agree 100% with bronsky that laptop has a superb proffesional look with awesome power and great cooling.

Ive been installing some games and I tested Bad Company 2 on external 24" monitor on 1280x800 pretty mich all highest and wow that game plays great on it.

I managed to do same overclock as hedrikson 680/1050 and got over 9200 in 3dmark06. I will be checking out MW2 and GTA EFLC tomorrow, im sure they will play great.

Couple questions:

- My unit didnt come with bluetooth included, is there any way i could buy a module and upgrade it?
-The same with UMTS module, could i buy one and put it in place or there isnt a connector on the motherboard?

I have reached 93degrees on i5-450 while some session of bfbc2 which makes me think its quite high but i would like to do some o/c to see how it handles it at like 3ghz. Do i have to buy setfsb with config in it or could anyone post how and what do i do with it. (ive tried setsfb before but some refresh could help)

What are your temps with i5-450 (max) so i can compare.

-About the power brick, yes its a little bit bigger than others but its light, its not an issue as i can get almost 6hrs wifi on my bat xD

Also is 2% battery wear level safe/good? I checked it on the first day it was like 1% any way to improve it etc?

Thanks a lot and every1 enjoy 3820tg its truly remarkable machine.

 

Same as Bronsky, lvivier, and mnx24, Computeruniverse

 

You sure you just didn't turn on the bluetooth? At first I also didn't find it in the device manager, but since there was the Bluetooth sticker int he bottom I figured it has to be there. Fn+F3 solved it