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

Hi!

Was wondering if anyone could help me. I've had the 3820TG for about a week now and I'm quite satisfied. But there is one thing that bugs me. I sometimes hear sound errors. Especially when I watch videos and play games. It's like the sound freezes and is dragged out for a second. Really annoying.

I noticed Hendrickson write that it may be the audio or WLAN drivers that was responsible (I don't quite remember). Tried updating both, but it didn't fix it.

I tried using DPC Latency Checker to isolate the bad driver, but I had no luck. I think I remember notebookcheck writing that the WLAN and Ethernet port caused latency spikes. But I had them even when both were disabled.

Tried updating the drivers, but the ones at Acer's support page were a bit old. Used the Driver Genius software to download the newest drivers and installed them to see if the spikes disappeared.

The spikes are smaller after all the driver updates, but they're still present. Well over the red levels.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

But will changing the WiFi impact the Bluetooth in any way?

Also, do you have Bluetooth 2.1 or 3?

 

3.0 and no. Some of the new BT 3.0 modules are integrated with the wifi but the 3820TG's are not those type of units. The 1830T's have the same units as ours and they have been able to change them with no problem. I have a post over there where we compared actual module #s.

Bronsky

 

Quick question from a newbie.

Are all 2.5" harddrives going to fit in this little guy? I've been looking at a 7200rpm upgrade and more particularly..this one

Seagate Momentus Gforce 7200.4 500GB 2.5IN SATA 7200RPM 16MB Notebook Hard Drive OEM

would this do?

Thanks

 

yea any 2.5 will fit so will segate

 

I need advice, if you were to upgrade to either i5-540m or i7-620m for same price and knowing how they O/C or not which one would you go for ?

 

I am going with the I5-540M but I don't game with my machine and it already does everything I need it to do at work. The I7-620M has been a bit of a dissapointment IMO. If you're not in a hurry, Hendrickson and I will probably have our units rebuilt in a few weeks (Hendrickson will probably be first - AGAIN! ). Why don't you wait to see how the I5-540M performs and that way, you can make your decision by comparing real data from both CPUs.

Bronsky

 

thanks! Would anyone know of any basic instructions for a harddrive swap? would I need to remove the keyboard as well?

 

On page 1 of this thread, Hendrickson has linked his post on replacing the hard drive. It is very easy and only requires the removal of the back plate, and no, you don't need to remove the keyboard. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ace...tg-new-ssd-hdd-photos-inside.html#post6311199

Bronsky

 

I had this issue, its to do with the audio stuttering when the system is under load or multi tasking. Uninstall the Realteck driver and use the windows update HD Audio driver seems to fix the issue!

Since some users with i7 that had a chipset that could overclock, when all quite on the O/C front and never got back to us. We assume it wasn't good, So I think it doesn'r overclock very good at all.

(Or I7 overclockers post us proof it can overclock nicely?)

I think I saw one user state about 140Mhz FSB or over and it crashes. So the i5 540m is the one to get i think that some M17 R2 users have managed to clock up to and over 4Ghz and stable apparently. (This was on OCZ ram however) Thats if your chipset lets you overclock!

I just got the i5 540m based on my research of the net and this forum it overclocks very nicely and with good temps. i7 620m is a bit of a disappointment in those departments. I clock my i5 450m to speeds that will completely out do a stock i7 620m so I expect the i5 540m will be very quick for a dual core mobile CPU with the increase in speed.

 

thanks bronsky and hendrickson I'll wait and see how far u can push 540m xD best of luck

also any word on i5-580m release date?

 

A few sources whispers, that the 580m will be in notebooks for the christmas gift.
But have first a look at the bios support.

 

Thank you.

+1 rep to you for your continued helpfulness!

 

Go here to get the latest info on where to get this laptop.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/501992-acer-3820tg-north-america-purchase-options.html

Most of us in the USA are currently buying it from PCHome in Taiwan. They run specials from time to time, but you have to act fast. The specials are gone in less than 24 hours! I missed the first one only to get luck and catch a second, better one, before it disappeared quickly!

 

The i5s also are more overclockable than their i7 counterparts, which means more potential bang for the buck.

 

That's interesting. It's been my experience to never update hardware drivers via the Windows Update function, but rather directly from the manufacturer's updated drivers themselves.

 

ok... I was looking at a 1400 hundred dollar envy 14 config, but after seeing the 3820tg at staples for 699... well thats a steal. Time to start the set up of it.

 

Do you really mean 3210T? Because there is no 3210T anyway.

 

What 3210T?

 

I didn't understand it either but figured it was best not to ask.

Bronsky

 

Just quoted the wrong part.

 

@Bronsky and anyone with a Crucial ssd drive:

Did you update the firmware and/or disable prefetch and superfetch or anything else? Also, I heard that IDE mode is better than AHCI for those drives?

 

hello all, I think I never asked this, but how many users use this laptop on the go? as in you travel around with this laptop often, e.g. for work purposes.

I'm suddenly realized I'll be doing that so am wondering if the build quality is up to the mark + if its sturdy and easy to use on the go (I only know batt life is pretty solid while on integrated gfx)

 

Your drive should have come with Firmware 1916 from the factory ... mine did. I have not tweaked the settings. My drive seems to be performing well.

Bronsky

@Cire I take the 3820TG almost everywhere. Far more than I expected. I thought that I would still use the 1410T as a travel unit and the 3820TG would stay on my desk most times but the typing and display are so much better than the 1410T that I almost never use it anymore. And, yes, build quality is up to the job.

 

Hmm, I went ahead and disabled defrag, superfetch, prefetch, and did a command prompt that allegedly turns on TRIM. However my WEI disk access score is still 7.3 like everyone else it seems.

 

thanks bronsky for the re-assurance. Helps a lot in my decision process.

 

Are you running intel digital storage program?

 

New Shopping List:

- Remanufactured Motherboard 3820TG/HD5650
- I5-540M CPU
- Left Speaker
- Intel 6200 Wifi
- Acer screw set
- Backlit Keyboard Switch
- IC Diamond 7 Thermal Paste

This should finish my unit.

Bronsky

 

No idea, I know I have Rapid Storage thing running though. What's that?

Also I just did the CrystalDisk benchmark:


For comparison here's Capn's benchmark using the identical SSD (not sure if he tweaked anything or not):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ace...-america-purchase-options-46.html#post6584966

Mine seems to be slightly slower writing large files but better at writing smaller files? 7 vs 11.5 is a big difference right?

I think I'll try switching to IDE, anandtech found that indilinx drives work better in IDE vs AHCI.
edit: scratch that, AHCI is better.

 

That's the intel program that is managing the SSD. I'll be interested to see your benchmarks after switching to IDE.

 

Where can I get this program? Googled it but only Intel Matrix Storage shows.

 

I meant the rapid storage program. If you have it running it should be managing your SSD.

 

yes it is good enough

 

Woah what happened to your motherboard & speaker?

 

Nothing to the MOBO ... I'm changing it to see if I can get one that will OC. It's only $130 for another one. You have to take it out to change the CPU anyway, so I might as well try.

The speaker was an experiment gone bad.

Bronsky

 

You've got to swap out your mobo just to go from an i5-450M to a 540M? I thought the i5s (and i7s for that matter) were all of the same chip architecture and could use the same mobo.

That's not the case? Or is your German 3820TG a different model from the PCHome Taiwanese models?

 

No need to swap the mobo just to change CPU.
Bronsky is taking a gamble to get overclockable mobo since current one can't do so...

 

I see. Thanks.

Can someone add a sticky to the first page describing how to test our mobos to see if we can OC them or not?

thanks.

 

I've seen that many shops in Europe stopped selling 3820tg with core i5 450m, radeon 5650 and bluetooth. Most of them are now offering only core i3 350m, radeon 5650 version without bluetooth. So, I think maybe I could buy this version (which is definitely cheaper), and buy core i5 540m processor. The problem is that I don't know whether it would be possible to install bluetooth module manually. I'm assuming that the mainboard couldn't be different in unit with 350m, so it should be possible to buy bluetooth card and install it myself. I just don't understand why they're not offering bluetooth in this 350m model? It isn't pricey, is it?

 

So I have slight problem with the 3820TG. I have the 5470 version, but the drivers/catalyst issue should be universal.

I'm trying to play games on my external monitor, but nothing scales properly. IE: any resolution I choose, its not the right aspect ratio, and the image is shifted up, so that the top portion of the game is hidden from sight.

The laptops native resolution is 1280x768 whereas my monitor resolution is 1920x1200.

I don't think it is the monitors fault though, since it used to work just fine with my previous set-up (Nvidia 9300m GS)

Anyone else having resolution issues while connected to an external monitor for games in full-screen mode?

 

Isn't the native res for the 3820TG is 1366x768?

 

yes it is.......

 

Sorry, my bad. Mixed up resolutions there. But yea, the problem still remains. I've pressing the auto-adjust button on the monitor, but it still has it ever so slightly off all the time. Its really frustrating.

Also, everytime I'm entering a game. It pops up a message (atleast on steam it does), that my video card type can't be detected etc etc. Normal??

 

I am not sure if this is the same problem that I experienced. But what I did is set both my 3820TG's and LG 22" HDTV's resolution to 1360x768 and it solved my problem. My LG doesn't have a 1366x768 resolution so I chose the closest value available.

 

What is on the go?

Is it a soft on the go -> from the desk to the sofa or in your company it is very well.

Is it al little harder -> everytime travel ist should also be okay, but be not very rough to the book.

As a backpack tourist through the USA/ Australien -> no go

 

Has the cat eat your screws?

 

I put my LG HDTV on top of a DSLR box to raise it just enough to clear the laptop's screen.

 

+1

I would like to check if my i5-520m OCs so that I can do so when some tasks demand an OC. For now, I don't see the need to OC because I am happy with my laptop's performance. It's fast when rendering pictures in Adobe Lightroom and I have no issues when playing MW2, BFBC2, and Batman: Akham Asylum. No regrets buying this as my first personal laptop. Thanks to all on this thread for recommending it.

 

I was thinking about buying in the next 2 weeks, but your post actually made me order it now, before they run out! So I might be a 3820TG owner soon! I hope the best for OCing.

Heck, is it really hard to do the clock gen pin mod?

 

I hope that I will catch up with core i5 450m also, I'm just thinking about backup plan
P.s. It's really strange, I've even seen 3820tg 350m with ddr2 up to only 4gb! How could this be?