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

Nope, it's not temp related.

Some chips are just better than others, that counts for both memory and GPU. Guess I got lucky on mine, but 740 is not stable in the long run, sooner or later it will crash when gaming. For gaming I'm running 690/1100MHz which for me is rock stable.

 

Mac, pornjorno, OC-freak and any others overclocking the i5's with setfsb. Can you guys confirm that overclocked cpu equals less fps in games?

Please test using fraps in games with no overclock and later in games with overclock? What I'm getting so far is less fps and odd turbo boost, multiplier behavior i think but only in games.

Don't be too scared to admit it either

 

I will as soon as I've got any fps games installed.

I can confirm the "odd" turbo boost at least. When overclocked the turbo boost rarely kicks in at all except for totally singe threaded tasks. I'm pretty sure the CPU is made to act this way.
When not overclocked it runs at 2,66GHz most of the time except under heavy 4 threaded load.

Still - it should give better game performance even when turbo boost is not kicking in, so yeah quite odd.

 

Any game will do, it seems to do it on all of them for me. Be it fps or rts etc.
I will see if old games are effected by it. Seems its not mutli threading or something like that. Stuck in either x 10 or x 20 single core.

The even at the lowest overclock at 136 FSB the issue is there for me.

 

A littel break...

Thought some of You might be interewsted in Latitude E6410 VS 3820TG regarding dimensions and screen.

The Latitude comes with a silver lid with no fingerprints visible. It makes a high pitch noise constantly, drives me crazy...

Anyways, here we go:

 

I'm having issues removing the expansion cover to switch hard drive. The middle screw was removed very easily, just fell out by turning the notebook upside-down. The other four screws are the tricky ones. I have unscrewed all four of them to the highest possible position but I just can't get the cover off. I don't want to go to hard on it and break anything, and it feels like that could happen.

Here's Hendrickson's picture: ImageBam - Fast, Free Image Hosting and Photo Sharing to see how it looks

 

There are loads of small tabs also holding the cover, so you have to use some force, use an flat screwdriver and lift up and it should come loose.

 

Thanks! Worked

 

Didn't find any way to do an exact measurement, but while just looking at fraps numbers it looks like I lost 1-2 fps in age of conan after overclocking. Went from averaging around 30fps to average around 28fps it felt.

Doesn't really make any sense why it should be like this though.

Any good programs to monitor the clock speed of each core, and make an log/curve of it? I've seen people do it with everest, but I was unable to find any such feature in everest.

 

Hello guys,

i just got my new 3820tg with the i5 450m and ati 5650.

I instantly fell in love with this little machine. Sleek looking thing

I'm going through the erecovery making backups.

So far everything is right, silent and i kinda like the screen, don't know why people complain about it.

d.key

 

Hmmm same as me then, maybe its the ram? I mean I ran over 6 hours of non stop stress testing and no errors. I wonder is since the ram is running over its recommended speed i wonder if it would do this with 1333mhz ram?

Would running higher spec ram help? ......

 

Screen seems fine to me too, about the same as the Sony Vaio Y series I'm coming from which is about the same as the Sony Vaio S a friend of mine has.

 

Mine has 1333 RAM and I'm seeing the same thing, so nope. Maybe it automatically lowers some internal timings or something when clockspeed is increased? And this again hurts gaming performance in particular? I don't know.

 

Tested on my Asus X77JA with i5-430M CPU, SAME THING after overclocking the FPS went down from averaging around 35fps to average around 30fps.

Maybe intel put some sort of protection in the mobile CPU's to make it unappealing to overclock them?

 

kiskapu, is both E6410 and 3820TG on brightest screen?

 

No, the E6410d was on 60%, sorry my bad, I can take a photo comparing 100% brightness sometime if You'd like.

 

Ok so thats it? I just put in the numbers I want run? Why isnt it showing the correct clocks form the start? Anyone knows anythin about that?

 

General Update Stuff:

My Acer has been at work now for a couple of weeks. What I had hoped to accomplish in buying the 3820TG was to have the smallest, most powerful computer I could buy, to function as a moble workstation. The 3820TG has exceeded my expectations in almost every catagory.

The display is excellent. This is an ideal size for 720p display. Of course, my graphics work involves viewing and splicing and I have no need to work on the pixel level like a graphic artist would.

The machine is solid. The keyboard is very comfortable and has a fast action. It feels like it should be weak, but in daily use it isn't. The keys are the perfect size and ideally spaced for typing. It is such an improvement over my 1410T that I almost never use it.

The GPU is nothing short of amazing. I have taken to working with it OC'd and it is as fast, if not faster than the FX1800M in the workstation I recently worked on. I have noticed no difference between the NVIDIA CUDA accelleration and the ATI stream technology, so I guess Stream is doing what it is supposto. Temps on the GPU have been very good.

The I5-450M is a far better CPU than I expected. I don't know if this is the case with everyone, but my 450M seems to run in dual core mode at all times. My GIS software seems to love it. I am extremely impressed with the power of this little CPU. The more I work with the 450M, the less inclined I am to replace it anytime soon. It runs very cool too, compared to the I7-620M.

The SSD makes the machine extremely fast and smooth. If SSD prices do come down in Q4 as predicted, I might pick up a larger unit, as I spend a lot of time jockying large data files onto an external HD. I would like an ESata port for this, but another 128GB would help as well.

The power saving program on my unit is driving me nuts. Everytime the notebook goes into power saving mode, the wireless card is shut down. I can't seem to change the basic profiles, so I guess I have to make a new profile, somehow. Anybody else have an easier workaround. I sure it's simple.

I have a few minor things to do to finish my 3820TG. I have to find a microswitch that will fit over the kensington lock opening, with terminals that will stick through to the inside, where the wires could be soldiered on. It needs to be large enough to cover the K-lock hole but not so large that it will cover the vent or the E-net jack either. It has to look good too. Anybody has a suggested product, a link would be appreciated.

I'm still trying to get a speaker. I emailed MK-Electronic and will see what they can do.

I also want to replace the wifi. My plan is to get all of these items and then open the Acer up one last time for now. I have decided to use the 450M for now and not swap in an I7-620M. It is performing so well, that I can't see replacing it.

The total price of my computer so far, including shipping, has been $1,259.00.
That is an amazing price when you consider the cost of a comparable unit like the Z12 or a mobile workstation like an M4500.

It goes everywhere with me. I thought it would stay on my desk most of the time but I'm finding that it is almost as portable as my 1410T. Found a very nice sleeve, called "Incase". I think it was designed for the 13.3" MBP.

Target has them in the US. They are very well padded and protect the Acer quite well. The Incase sleeve fits very tightly.

In all, a great little computer. It was worth all the effort to get it here and convert it.

Bronsky

Edit: and I forgot to mention the BL Keyboard. It is great in low light situations.

 

It is showing the correct numbers

When idle the clock speeds are 99/150MHz, under 2d load/slight load the speeds are 450/800MHz, under heavy 3d load the speeds are 550/800MHz by default.

You started AMD GPUtool when the ATI HD5650 was idling, and that is why it shows the correct idle clocks.

 

If you go into file->preferences in everest, and the scroll down to the logging pane you can get it to log into a csv or html file every n seconds. I make the charts in excel but you don't actually need a chart to just scan through the logs to see if anything is weird. I think rivatuner also has logging facilities that may include fps numbers.

As far as your problem, it's just a shot in the dark but do you know what your PCI-E clock is? I know OC friendly motherboards generate a separate clock for it to keep it at 100Mhz, but it used to be that it was only a ratio of bclck. If your ratio had changed to something like 1/2 and dropped pcie to 83mhz that might account for the loss.

I'd bet if you wrote the setfsb guy he'd know what was happening.

 

Ok, thanks. My head was telling me it could be something like that but Im glad you told me that it was accurate .

Question: Anyone having problems running 3dmark06? Its complaining about missing Openal32.dll or an "alcgetstring" in Dll-file OpenAl32.dll <--------- SOLVED

 

I have not been able to make the CPU OC. Probably the only way to do it is a pin mod.

Try the GPU at the next speed down on the OC. The GPU is not crashing because of heat, it is crashing because it is unstable. I was able to induce instability in the GPU at that clock speed. But, it's kind-of rare.

Edit: Saw OC's comment on the idle clocks. Makes sense.

Bronsky

 

Do the 3820TG and 4820TG have the same battery? What kind of battery life are getting with integrated graphics? I've narrowed by next laptop to the 3820TG/4820TG/Envy 14

Thanks for your help!

 

Uhm i have a 3820TG (first German version with 430m/HD5650/640GB HDD) and will visit Vancouver in september. I'll probably sell it there, so if anyone's interested, tell me.
It's stock configurated and i'll have it in use till then. Had to send it in for a new HDD earlier, so thats a new one. The screen is perfect, no dead pixels and very bright (i use an ARMR200 and can comfortably use it outside even when the sun shines)

 

Good that you like it.

My experiences so far:

Positive:
*Excellent cooling.
*Great build quality.
*Looks great, brushed silver alu look.
*Good keyboard after getting used to it (honestly!).
*Extreme performance in small package.
*Good battery runtime, with wifi enabled and 60% brightness I'm around 10hrs +/- with the 9 cell battery. Disabling wifi and minimizing brightness I'm sure I'd get the advertised 12hrs.
*Low noise, no annoying high frequency sounds ("CPU-whine" etc).
*Good prices, here in Norway the prices are (excluding 25% Norwegian VAT) ~900 USD for core i5-450M/HD5650/6 cell. 9 cell version is ~1030 USD.

Negative:
*Below average screen, I'd really like to see an LG or samsung panel used instead. Cheap LG/samsung panels are not great either, but definitively better.
*Below average speakers (Speakers on 5820TG model is 10x better).
*Included 5400rpm WD HDD performs below average for an 5400rpm HDD.
*Included broadcom wifi has low range.

To be done:
*Change HDD for an momentus XT, SSD's are too small yet.
*Change wifi to intel 6200.

 

Yes.

3820TG battery is same as 5820TG battery at least, so I see no reason why the 4820TG would use an different battery.

with 9 cell/12hr battery I'm averaging around 10hrs with typical use (wifi enabled, 60% brightness, surfing net, listening to music, having some open documents etc).

 

Yea, your description of the display is more common then mine. I get the feeling that my display is better than most and that I just seem to have gotten an exceptional one. If I were considering buying the 3820TG, I would be prepared for an average display.

So far, all of the displays in the 3820TG have been AUO units. I haven't heard of any other brands in the 13.3" size. Mine has the AUO322C The variability in these units is amazing.

Bronsky

 

hmm, just ran the 3d mark 2006 on standard settings and only got about 6k points ?

 

This is very odd then, I wonder if there is away around this? Its only effecting the GPU performance.

Maybe ovecrlocked the PCI-e lanes go back to x1, that issue again?

 

So I have a quick question, how do I check the display and wireless card's name?

When I have time I will check the one on display at staples XD

 

I can't test it atm, since I'm on vacation with limited bandwidth and haven't installed suitable fps games.

But I noticed as well that turbo boost kicks in less often when the cpu is oc'd. Did you test if the performance decrease also occurs with a few more MHz... e.g. with 140?

Perhaps the game makes use of cpu features that 3d mark doesn't use... and those produce errors...

 

WOW 10+ hours wowwwwww, seriously? I'm definitely going to pick up either the 3820 or 4820, hands down. Now the only question is, which one? Does the 3820 have a better build quality than the 4820? I know that the 14" model asus UL series notebooks had much more flex compared to the 13" models.

 

i found the issue, its the PCI-e. Its rared its ugly head again. It seems the moment we overclock the pci-e lane for the gpu goes from x16 to x1 thats why we are seeing a performance drop.

The issue is solvable i think, software related like our first hardware issue. Or maybe a revised bios would do the trick?

Maybe its a driver issue. I will try 10.5 again see if it fixes it.

 

The easiest way is probably go into control panel > device manager > (click on the monitor or the wireless card or whatever) > details tab > may need to select from top pulldown menu, either Hardware ID or device description.

Bronsky

@hendrickson - it's always something.

 

I might be interested if I haven't already bought an Envy or something else. Keep me in mind. Feel free to PM me.

 

Well looks like it's not limited to only acer this time then, since my asus does the same thing. Gonna check PCI-E lanes on my asus now.

 

updated to latest cataclyst and got 7550 point

But another question.... my AC seems to make some weird noises like whining when i get my ears neyt to it?!

Is this normal ?

 

everest still reports that it is running at x16. Even after overclocking.

Are you using some other program to check current pci-e speed?

 

Just a short test, and I haven't the problem withe the lanes.

Bclk= 164MHz -> Ati 16x

 

Seems same for me, still I loose gaming performance, instead of gaining performance when overclocking

 

Yes it is.

You hear the inductors oscillate.

 

Just tested with Anno and im not able to reproduce my camera fly to compare it with an overclocked and not overclocked cpu.

 

GPU-Z Reports at first PCI-E x 16. After touching the FSB it then reports @ x 1. So try using GPU-Z and see if it says x 16 or x 1.

 

I don't know about the 4820, but I never saw a 3820 to reach even the promissed 8hrs... About the 4820 vs 3820, the 3820 has 2 vents, thus is a more quiet and cooler machine. On the other hand, you dont get an ODD, and it seems the screen is slightly better in the 4820.

 

It 110% explains our issue with the drop in frame rates. Express lane at x1 instead of x16 and why the CPU benches quicker while the GPU not.



I think the issue is still there for ALL users not just us overclockers as on reboot, not overlocked I see x1 again. If I hit sleep and then lock back in its running at x16 again. The PCI-E x 1 issue is not fully fixed sadly.

This maybe explains why the 4820 benchmarks 3D higher than the 3820TG with the exact same hardware.....Their PCI lane is running at full speed ours isn't.

 

Hey,

I haven't got the same problem. But the frequency is not as high as the from Hendrickson

 

Getting x16 as well.

 

Anybody have any ideas on a microswitch for the backlit keyboard? I have to find a microswitch that will fit over the kensington lock opening, with terminals that will stick through to the inside, where the wires could be soldered on. It needs to be large enough to cover the K-lock hole but not so large that it will cover the vent or the E-net jack either. It has to look good too. Anybody has a suggested product, a link would be appreciated.

Bronsky

 

No I'm looking for one too, I've been asking around but I can't find any decent electronics shops around here.

On the O/C = less fps in games saga. Its just puzzling, not sure it is a PCI-e issue. Could be, more like a bus bandwitdh issue with the GPU on overclock...
Get this if i underclock the FSB to say 126FSB, I get 3-4 more fps in the tropic benchmark or BFBC2..very odd.

 

Is the benchmark free available or have I buy the game first.

Is it free I will give it a try.