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

Hello timtchmd,
I didn't buy the i5-520m model, I bought the i5-450m model. I got it from a retail shop called courts at a place called funan centre. Its a IT place with many laptop stores

I think I only saw two shops with the i5-520m but can't remember which. One is at funan. Buying laptops online isn't that big in Singapore, except for Dell although they do have a few Dell direct retail stores.

 

Write an email to Acer for an Option in the BIOS.

Nice information, this is a realy nice optionfor the both port on the left side.

Was the card reader also on the IO platine?

 

Do you recall how much more expensive the i5-520m was than the i5-450m?

 

Do you know any more info on the integrated UMTS card?

Just naming it a UMTS card is not enough for me...does it have a Quadband frequency? What are the specs? Manufacturer?
How good is the reception, perhaps compared with an USB-UMTS-stick?
Also, can you completely turn it off so that it won't eat any power?

 

Huawei EM770W 3G modul,
i need also BT modul...(manufacturer model ecc..)

 

Hey Hendrickson ... I'm probably ordering my board and stuff this week. What was your model number? It might help locate a UMTS Mobo.

Bronsky

 

hey, I've been looking at this thread for quiet a while now, trying to decide on a light thin gaming laptop for college.

after researching several laptops, I've decided on the 3820tg or the 4820tg. I would much rather have a 3820tg because of its airflow&form, but because it would be much more expensive to buy in the US(~1100 with duties/2G ram), I also considered the 4820tg which is only 900 dollars.

I was almost certain of getting the 4820tg because of its lower cost, when I found the ebay listing of the i5-540m for 200 dollars. Because I'm in Korea right now, if I buy the 3820TG-334G50n with the i3-330 and swap out the cpu for the i5-540, I can get the entire thing for 950 dollars!

Although I've never changed parts of a laptop before, I did build my own computer a couple of years ago, and I can experiment with an old laptop that I was going to throw away.

any thoughts or suggestions?

 

I was actually thinking about that option, as the prices are similar here. But when I found out, that the cheaper models only have 5470 videocard, I missed that option.

BTW, finally I might be a 3820TG owner in just a few hours...

 

the 3820TG-334G50n in Korea has the 5650hd/4g ram, and it's only 760 dollars. I might buy this in a couple of hours...but I'm trying to wait to see what people think about this plan first.

 

I think if you could really get the model with 5650 then it's a terrific deal. Swapping processors is really not a big thing, you just need to buy some thermal paste beforehand.

 

I think it was between S$150 to S$200. Not worth it IMO, I recall I asked before the difference between i5-450m & i5-520m. I think it was bonsky who replied saying there isn't a huge performance increase. Do a search?

 

Make sure that it has ddr3, because I've see version with ddr2 (actually I don't know if it wasn't just a mistake) and also check if it has a bluetooth

 

I second that! If it's US$760! That's a killer price. Mine after conversion was juz under US$1000, inclusive of 7% Local tax or what you guys know as VAT.

 

The i5-520M 540M push the limit to a new dimension if you are using the new AES instruction for encrypten. Truecrypt as example.

 

Sure its,
3820TG-5454G64Nks 3G
ID: 90383718
SKU: LX.PV002.003
EAN: 4717276118532

 

Just ordered a 3820TG now, without the 3G Modem, simply because right now i have no use for it.
In case , i will buy an UMTS-stick then.

 

Good choice I got the 3G one as It has a high chance to overclock since they seem to all (so-far at least) use the overlockable clockgen. I use 3G quite a bit as i travel too free's up a USB port and 1 less thing to carry.

Speaking of which are many 3820TG owners out there overlocking or can overclock their 3820TG's?

 

From your location I see you are importing into the UK...
I am a little "anxious" in ordering from computer universe and changing the keyboard wth a uk 3810t...I presume this is what you are doing? (you found a keyboard reseller ebay?)

Could you give me a heads up with the tax applicable, I don't think it applies as in EU does it, after selecting country on the computer universe site anyway (calculates for you no?)

Would you also give specific model you ordered as there are a few available on the site and I cant see the difference...

EDIT: I believe it is for dual channel ram?

>>I understand the 5470 issue etc.

 

This has been gone over many times in this forum, NO extra tax in the EU, dozens of us here got ours from Germany. The kyeboard swap is easy...

 

I have a 3810t and the battery is not comaptible with the 3820tg.


I have found several 3820tg compatible six cell batteries on Ebay but have not purchased one yet.

 

That's true.

However, if you read his post carefully, you'd see he's talking about getting an i3-330M and swapping it out.

He doesn't say that he's originally buying a laptop with the i5-450M.

 

If you are gaming, there is little difference other than the clockspeed. If you are using the computer for a business use, the 520M + is the way to go. Plus, I would usually buy the best CPU available.

Bronsky

 

I must have missed the post about swapping out his CPU. Note that the i3 model uses only integrated gfx.

By the way, I was just reading the user guide & under the battery section. It says as part of conditioning, the user should do a full discharge & recharge cycle three times, I.e. Without the ac power. This would increase he battery longevity.

Hence did anyone follow this? I haven't for the 2nd day I'm using. I just started recharging when I saw the 30% battery left indicator

 

@Hendrickson ... is there anything other than the 3G module that comes on your unit that mine did not have. Just trying to think of potential conflicts if I order the 3G model mobo.

Bronsky

 

No, you have just a mini-pcie more.

 

Thanks Nick ... you're the man!

Bronsky

 

I've heard just the opposite on these forums (that complete battery discharge is harmful to modern Li-on batteries).

Confusion reigns across the lands....

 

Got one!!!!, just opened, 9 cell :-((

SetFSB results in a minute

 

Congratulations. At least 6 cells are available. If you don't want the 9 cell, I'm sure someone will buy it.

 

Ahhh, SetFSB Asus G73 profile, GetFSB seems to work fine! Does it mean mine is overclockable?

Parts:
WD Blue 500 GB hard drive
Atheros AR8151 ethernet
Atheros AR5B97 wifi

 

How does your display look? Is it grainy and pixellated?

Where did you order your laptop from? Computeruniverse?

 

It is not grainy, but it is a bit pixelated, it looks like a 1024x768 LCD projector from years ago, where you could see the screen grid. If I didn't have a 21-inch S-IPS monitor I wouldn't have considered this one. Bought from a local shop, was afraid of warranty issues when ordering it from Germany.

 

SetFSB capture:


Is it OK?

 

Yes 10 chars

 

Ah, well don't know where to post, so i do it here.

Without reading all the 339 pages, is there anything i need to know beforehand?

Do i really have to flash the Bios? I don't want to do it yet within the 2 weeks, where i can still return the device.

Any other major things besides the thing with the videocard for full pci-e?

Any useful tools you can reccommend besides games for benches?

 

Oh, then I gonna keep this fine buddy!

MFG date: 10/07/22
It's just a baby!

Some more info:

Memory:
Samsung
7-7-7-20@533
8-8-8-22@609
9-9-9-25@685
22nd week/2010

Video card driver:
8.713.3.3000
PCI-E 2.0 x16 @ x16

GPU idles at 48C
CPU idles:
Core #0: 35-41C
Core #1: 42-47C

BIOS:
v1.13
05/04/2010

It seems everything is the latest, including Ati Catalyst and the BIOS. No need for BIOS flashing!

 

Check you BIOS version with CPU-Z, mine came with the latest one!

 

Ok, i hope mine will come with the latest too, atleast it is the latest model out there with the i5 450M.

 

Just recieved my 3820tg and i wonder which programs and processes should i uninstall and delete? I remember that ive seen a program in this thread that lets you link all processes that are currently running, anyone remember its name?

 

There is a nice little trick, called Windows 7 installer / Clean Install option! I am doing it at the moment!

 

@zsero,

I have the same bios and memory configuration as yours. But how do I check if my PCI-E bus is running at x16? I ran CPU-Z and it just says maximum supported is x16. Under the graphics tab, it also shows my 5650 core clock i fluctuating between 100 and 300 mhz and memory clock is fluctuating between 150 and 350 mhz, is this normal?

and the windows 7 clean install option is according to the guide Bronsky wrote?

 

For GPU, use GPU-Z

Yes, just follow Bronsky's clean install guide. I am saving recovery media to an external hard drive with Virtual CD at the moment. Such a bad user interface, I am glad I will never see it after format. Check the ISO media setting, if you forget, it creates some crazy .vc8 files.

 

Hendrickson, for newcomers the first page might not be easy to understand, I think Bronsky's guide should be called Windows 7 Clean Install Guide by Bronsky and be placed at the clean install option. The german thing is just an optional part of it, it's the best writeup about windows install for 3820TG.

 

I've just placed my order on computeruniverse (I'm from the UK), and I opted for a customer returned i5-450 which was 5% off. I also did a google search for "computeruniverse aktionscodes" and managed to get a further 5 Euro discount. All in all, it cost me £685 which I'm very pleased with. Now I need to see about getting a new keyboard...

I've also noticed a few people asking about customs charges. If you're buying and importing within the EU I'm pretty sure that additional charges don't apply. It's a bit of a pointless exercise but you could always check for yourself at this site.

 

Nice site, too bad I can't find Canada/USA for "Importing to" =S

 

just get a 3810 keyboard on ebay, thats what i did. Also this is a good dvd drive and also you might need this. Also heres a wifi card

 

You won't.

According to Bronsky, they've stopped shipping to North America. I think it had something to do with Li-on batteries being shipped in airplane cargo holds.

 

Oh, maybe I see the answer above...thanks!

 

Congrats, with that CPU you should be able to get around 160FSB maybe even 169 Mhz FSB like me

 

Computeruniverse (Germany) used to ship to North America, but they don't anymore.