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

nvm.........

 

My temps now with the IC diamond 7 are around 3-4 degrees cooler than the old paste Acer used. idle temps are around 41-43 degrees. Ambient temps are around 28 degrees.

The i5 540m QS is a little bit of a disappointment. I expected to overclock it somewhat higher than 156Mhz. At least over 160, I guess that was unrealistic of me.

Maybe my i5 450m is just a really good one that has amazing overclock capabilities . I'm not sure if I should remove it and re-sell it or just leave it there. Its a bit of a mission to replace the CPU and I don't want to have to do it all again....

I doubt the better ram will make much difference in the end. Still I have a slight doubt as I've seen i5 540m's running on OCZ or G.Skill ram over 4Ghz..Unless those 3-4 users all over great CPU's

Whats the maxium overclock you i7 owners get? Can one of you at least let us know for the record. As it seems the higher stock clock = less overclock room. Makes sense of course.

 

Hendrickson, all the processors are produced on the same wafer (from the same family)



Some of them are better, some are worse. If there is a huge demand for slower processor, they must have to sell even the better ones for example as a 450M. As it doesn't make sense for Intel to use a different line just for 450M, it's possible that they are the same as 500 series but with disabled features (I hope someone has facts about it.)

So, if 80% of the processors on a wafer could run as a 580M, but there is a huge demand for 450M, then Intel has no other choice but to sell them as 450M. That's why we get processors running up to 3.4 Ghz.

 

If you don't use ePower, the Windows power settings take over. The GPU will act exactly as you say. Except, when you switch from power to battery while the unit is running, the GPU may stay on and you may need to manually switch it. I hear that you can't switch from DGPU to IGPU on power but haven't tried. Don't know why you would.

I wonder if you can't make the IGPU run all the time by manipulating the windows power settings in a custom profile. Again, I haven't tried it. I don't see any problem with having the DGPU selected when the unit is plugged in, so I haven't tried to mess with it. I do know that the IGPU won't switch to DGPU even under power if there is a program running that is using the GPU. So you could leave a window open and prevent the switching if you really wanted to.

Bronsky

 

Just received the 3820 from Germany, at first start (in German) everything was working fine.

At the moment a clean Seven (US) is installed. However my WLAN card is not detected, it is impossible to turn it on by FN + F3.

When I want to install the atheros drivers for WLAN, the installer tells me that de card is unpluged or disconnected.

I don't know what to do.

PS : before doing a clean install I didn't burn any restore DVD as I thought all drivers should be working on ACER's website...

 

Excellent point. I was just curious from a theoretical, options available viewpoint. To your point, there would be no practical advantage to staying on the IGPU (except maybe for conserving power and possibly lowering one's electric bill by "thinking green").

 

I'm going solar so I guess I'd be saving the sun.

 

Make sure you are loading the drivers with power plugged in. ePower can turn off the lan and wifi cards. I've posted my backup drivers in this thread. Look at the first page and you will see a link to my article on buying a german unit. The link to the drivers are in there. Good luck.

Bronsky

 

Hmmmm. Lots to think about. The 540 still marginally outperforms the 450 right? If so, I would leave it.

When you were gettign the amazing scores on your 450M we discussed the possibility that you had a particularly good CPU. I wonder if the replacement being an engineering unit has anything to do with it? Lots of food for thought.

Bronsky

 

Thanks Bronsky, I tried broadcom drivers and... It worked perfectly...

 

If you're a perfectionist, you may not be satisfied until you swap the CPUs. I know I wouldn't be!

 

The trend I'm seeing is 3820TG's that are purchased from Taiwan are using Atheros drivers, whereas those purchased from Germany are using Broadcom.

It would be nice to see some global consistency from Acer on the drivers and parts front.

LOL!

 

Nick,
It's taken me a lot less time to adjust to bottom posting than I'd thought it would. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

banker will probably laugh at me, but I've got a confession to make... I've gotten myself the PCHome i5 450m/5650, 3820TG model when they had the sale... and I returned my Ideapad Y460. What can I say, I wanted to live a life with no regrets

So far, so good - I received it Wednesday morning and only had time to play with it last night. The amount of junk installed is amazing (they had BOTH Norton and McAfee programs installed... and I've got like 90 processes running out of the box). I saw no issues with the display - it looked amazing.

The only trouble I had was trying to feed the display through my 27" Asus monitor via HDMI... the output image does not fill the whole monitor, I've got this black rim around it, and all the text looked shrunken (not smooth)... Will play around with it some more tonight after I do a fresh install - heard it was an issue with ATI cards and drivers.

I have to say this thing looks BEAUTIFUL compared to the Y460. It also has a more solid feel, and far less keyboard flexing when you push down on the palm rest.

As a side note... I just ordered a customized Sony Z for a relative (i7 620m / 128Gb SSD) / 6gb Ram / Nvidia 330m), and will get to play around with it. Would anyone be interested in a side-to-side comparison with the 3820TG?

 

I would definitely be interested in seeing a side by side comparison of those two machines.

 

@Bronsky:

On my 3820tg, the wifi card power savings options stay unchecked switching between ac and battery.? I tried to find out the version of epower but I am not sure where this information is, but I definately see no change in the wifi card's performance on battery.

 

Leave it for now bronsky, Maybe think about a i7 640m? Not sure if the chipset supports it being so new. I think maybe this i5 450m I have here is a really good one. A keeper maybe. Not sure if the QS sample has something to do with it, it might.

There is still that slim chance faster timing ram could help.....I remember from my Pentium desktop days getting poor overclocks normal cheap ram. Using the better stuff I got a lot more Mhz from the chip.

Be interesting to hear from some i5 520m users what they can overclock too. Hopefully not mute like the i7 overclockers that never got back to us

I know...Looks like the i5 450m might be going back in and the i5 540m back on ebay. I will wait and see, its a shame I don't have any better ram to test it with.

 

Yesterday I joined the 3820tg team
My daughter had a Asus UL30vt and I was going for the UL30jt when her screen died. Long story, but Acer (Bronsky) won me over

It's almost perfect. Only the known issues with this version:
The screen
No USB 3.0 :-(
Small harddrive (easily fixed)

I'm a little worried of the keyboard. When I eat my sandwiches I'm a little sloppy. But I have to get a USB vacuum cleaner, haha.

Haven't got rid of any crapware. What do you do? Reinstall Windows 7 or just remove unwanted programs?

The keyboard, mouseplate, speed, battery, looks is wonderful I believe.
Got it for a reasonable price 1000$ in Sweden. Was earlier 1200$.

Just wanted to share my joy.

 

Could you run the same benchmarks you did in the first post, as well as overclocked 3dmarks, and post results? Screen shots not needed, just want to see the gain for the trouble and cost.

Also, has anyone benchmarked the lower end i3's with 5650 the same way as original post by Hendrickson for comparison (including overclocked results of both cpu and gpu)? Since that is all that is available at this time, it would be nice info to know how much of a real hit it takes going with the i3 vs the i5. Searching for i3-350m, 330m, 350m etc, does not show any test results.

 

Nemein,
I will NOT laugh at you. I would have done the exact same thing. Besides, you were kind enough to point out the best sale PCHome as had to date to me. Thank you.

Look at pages 5 and 8 of this thread. You'll find a solution to the black rim around your external monitor picture. Basically has to do with the ATI Overscan Correction feature.

My 3820TG has basically no flex. It's just like the HP Envy 15 2nd Gen's keyboard (no flex as well). I've used laptops with flex before (MSI GX640), so I'm familiar with what to look for.

I'd like to see the comparison with the Sony Vaio Z, even though I know it won't be an apples-to-apples comparison.

Congratulations on getting the 3820TG. You'll be glad you did. I am.

PS: It was Bronsky's postings about the 3820TG that convinced me to get it , so thanks Bronsky!

 

I can't believe the number of people who eat over their notebooks. I will work with a cup of coffee nearby but I'm a bit of a clean freak when it comes to the left side of my desk (the Acer's home).

Congratulations on the 3820TG.

Bronsky

 

I'm doing the motherboard swap anyway and will change the thermal paste at the same time. I repaired my speaker by soldering the wires on the terminals on the back of the socket. Believe it or not, it bothers me just knowing that it's not perfectly factory. Coupled with the chance that I will get an OC'able unit and my desire to change the thermal paste anyway, I think swapping the motherboard is worth it. I would guess that the odds are 50-50 or better. Seems to me that most units are OC'able.

The question now is do I change the CPU or just upgrade the paste? Your 450M seems to have legendary OC'ing ability and so far, I haven't seen any of the faster chips get close to its abilities. Add to that the fact that the 450M in my unit seems to handle everything I have thrown at it so far and hasn't skipped a beat, (I had it side by side with a MBP 13" the other night and my neighbor was astounded at how much faster it was than his machine. He wants one now and has been asking me how to order from Taiwan. ) I am really questioning if I need the extra power. If not for the AES protocols, I probably would stay put, but we have access to certain MilSpec data that uses AES encrypted files and greatly benefits from the accelleration of the Comm Suite. Given your results with the 540M, I am wondering if an OC'able I5-520M would do just as well as a more powerful unit.

For now, I think I'll take your advice and stay put. I will do the motherboard swap and at least know if I can get my unit to OC. If the new motherbaord is not OCable, I will probably wait for the new Arrandales to come out and, as soon as Acer starts putting them in the 3820TG, swap in the most powerful unit I can get in there. I really want this 3820TG to have power comparable to the best dual core mobile workstations.

I read somewhere that there was going to be a 640M and 680M. I guess I'll just wait and see.

If the new motherboard does OC, I think I'll wait and see how these OC'ing questions are resolved before taking the motherboard apart again. If the I5-520M 3820TG's become available on PCHome and seem to OC well in a factory unit, i would be tempted to sell my unit and buy one of them. That means I would have to do the backlit KB mod again.

Bronsky

 

LOL! That would be a record 3 backlit keybord mods then for you!

 

i bought this laptop after reading this thread over and over again. and yet i was suprised of the gaming performance. but im having huge fps drops on bc2 on explosion (my desktop computer had poor avg fps but managed big explosions better 8800gt, dualcore), so i decided to update my ati drivers but i read that some of you had some problems updating them. so is this the right way to do it?

shouldnt i first clean up the old drivers and registry? (of course i would update to the latest drivers 10.7)

also i found a dead pixel close to the middle of the screen calling to acer support on monday.

 

@Bronsky. It seems my suspicions are correct. Ram timing have a huge part to play in overclocking. Using CPU-Tweaker 1.5 I have adjusted this stock Ram's timing a bit higher than stock. And guess what. I can break into the low 160 Mhz range without a lockup!

On stock RAM timing 160 or over = instant lock up. However tweaking the timing to I can run 6-8 Mhz more in FSB. Proves my theory I think, that we might need the OCZ or GSkill ram to overclock nicely. On chips with higher stock clocks. I7 overclockes should take note and adjust your ram and see if the new timing let you OC more?

If only I had some OCZ 1333Mhz 9,9,9,9 24 ram about.....To test. I will continue to tweak the ram and see just how high I can clock now.

 

See page 5 of this thread on the proper ATI driver update procedures.

 

I'm positive its down to the ram timings for overlocking on the i5 540m I'm now sitting on 166 FSB Something I couldn't do on stock timings just a few hours ago. I reached as far as 176 fsb!! almost 4Ghz turbo and it finally crashed on prime32 test.

Glad i remember we can infact change ram timings inside windows.

 

Hey guys,

Two questions:

1. All of you seem happy with your 3820TG with i5-540m & ATi 5650 GPU, but would you still be happy with it if it were an i5-430m & ATi 5470 GPU?

2. From the look and feel of the build quality and internal components of this laptop, would you say it is much more durable than some other unreliable Acer products in the past? What kind of warranty would you personally want to have on this laptop?

Thanks !

 

1: Depends on your needs. Since I like to use it for gaming as well... the HD5470 would be too weak. HD5650 is the winner, and the reason this laptop is ahead of the competition.

2: I haven't had much problems with acer computers..... but it surely feels better than previous acer models, even though I didn't have problems with previous acers. Here in norway warranty doesn't matter much, acer gives 1 year warranty, but by norwegian law we get free repairs up to 5 years for anything that is expected to last longer than two years The law only cover manufcturing faults of course, not wear issues/battery/self inflicted issues.

 

1. Definitely no. Since one can't upgrade the dedicated GPU, one may as well get the variant with the most powerful one when the opportunity presents itself.

2. This is my first Acer. Based on the 3820TG, I could see myself getting another one, although if an ASUS had the same specs, I'd rather get the ASUS (just personal preference). I'd want the standard 1 year warranty.

 

Alright sorry for asking but this thread has gotten so big, i am really interested in this laptop but seeing as you have to import it i have no idea on how to go about doing so...

I would like some information on how to order or the easiest way of doing so, and preferably the least cost possible, If somebody could PM me details on doing this i would be pleased and thankful, there are just to many pages to run through to find this out and you fellow members seem nice and helpful so it's worth a shot asking!

 

By the time I'm ready to do my motherboard, you'll have this worked out. RAM issue sounds interesting. One of you I7 OC'ers should see if you get better results by tweaking your ram. Does this mean that the I7-620M might be stornger than we have observed or will the extra cache still bog it down?

What is the timing that you adjusted to? Over 1066? I'm mystified how the dual core arrandale can use it, since it doesn't support ram timed at greater than 1066. Must be something that SetFSB does. Hmmmm ... Could increasing the amount of ram have an effect too?

Keep breaking that ground. I'm right behind you.

I can't seem to get an order placed with Shark Technology Ltd. I'll try again today.

Bronsky

 

Get the HD 5650!

The 430M works fine here, don't know how the 450M performs compared to it in real life though.

The build quality is OK, not a rock, but OK, not to mention the looks, eyecatching no matter silver or black lid.

 

Hello everyone. Today I got the PCI-E, I soldered to the MB of my 3820, I have to try and put the wifi card. But it does not work. Premise that it is well settled, I then also noticed that the device manager there is only one PCI-E listed. So I guess I did a job for nothing. What could possibly check? The bios of those with two slots is the same or different?

 

Just thinking, I could be, that a resisitor is missing to say the chipset that there are two pcie slots.

 

@ bronsky got my switches today. All most all other either to big or two small to solder! Will try and work with what Ive got.

I'm going to try some faster timed OCZ ram and see if that lets me reach good CPU speeds. Otherwise sell the OCZ ram and i5 540m and put it all back to stock and leave the unit as it is for 2 years till i sell it and upgrade.

 

Wish I had the time to learn how to solder better. Last time I tried was in college. I think I set of my door room smoke detector....

Or maybe it was my girlfriend and her curling iron? Yes, I'm going to say that was what did it....!

 

The terminals on the 6.7" switches must be really small. I figured they would be a bich to solder. I wish I had one of those jewler magnifiers. But, do those little switches fit in the kensington slot?

On the ram/gpu, I'm just going to order my parts for the motherboard and speaker repair and wait to hear about your success getting the 540M to OC. Otherwise, I'm with you, reassemble the unit and use it for the next couple of years. Anyway, I'll be getting a 9" HP tablet in the fall that I can take apart.

Bronsky

 

could anyone help me out with the post above?

 

I have never overclocked a computer before but intend to try to overclock my Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG-5454G64n (LX.PXZ02.004) with SetFSB and did a donation and then got the following mail:

Hi Mattias-san, Thanks for your donation.

1. Could you tell me your SetFSB ID number?

2. The SetFSB informations
a. the motherboard(/PC) name ?
b. the chipset name ?
c. the clock generator name ? (If it is possible)

The SetFSB ID number I obviously got, but I got no clue what the name on the motherboard, chipset and clockgenerator are. Anyone know?

I got a second question as well. Has anyone in here got the 9-cell model and have you found a nice case? I also wonder if anyone knows if you can keep the computer without the battery in a ZeroShock III case without damaging the computer?

And also, is it hard to change the wifi card to an Intel 6200 AGN?

 

Not all lines may be routed to the PCI-E connector. I know some 3G modems use the USB lines on the connector, and if Acer didn't plan on using other cards on the connector, some PCI-E lines may not be routed to make the layout easier.

Bronsky, when you swap motherboards, can you take a close-in picture of the unpopulated PCI-E connector on the old motherboard? I would like to see which lines are routed.

 

no problem.

 

This is the place to look for purcahse information on the 3820TG if you're in north America. You have to import one from Taiwan.

Bronsky

 

Just tell him you have an Acer 3820TG with an I5-450M. You can run a diagnostic if you DL the program. He will tell you how to do it. It will give you the PLL numbe rof tell you that you have an error. That will tell you if your unit is OC'able.

Bronsky

 

Hi all,

just joined the forum after buying a lovely 3820TG - mainly on the strength of the info I found in this thread
Got the machine yesterday and I am wondering if I'm doing something wrong or if I have a defective unit.
Problem is, I only get about 4 hours of battery time on a full charge using the intel graphics, "power saver" power plan, almost lowest backlight setting and wifi on.
During those 4 hours I was mostly downloading stuff, browsing and uninstalling some of the junk software that came preinstalled.
Haven't uninstalled the acer power management software btw.

So - how does the configuration look on your machines you people who report great battery life ?

Oh - my machine is an I5 with a 5650...

Would really like to get this sorted - if I'll be returning the machine for repairs there really is no point in proceeding to install a fresh windows 7 etc...

Cheers

 

hmm - it is now reporting 5 hours 30 minutes left after about 30 minutes usage. I guess battery life is just very dependent on disk and wifi activity ?

 

Both ports have a pcie lane. I have tested it on the UMTS model.

 

bronksy thanks for the reply but i am only finding things on the 3820T, not the TG model.
I know i will have to import it (i am in the US) but i do not know where to start when it comes to doing that.

 

For some reason, i cant get the full resolution on my samsung 20" monitor. Its plugged in via VGA and its really annoying me now. It shows a black border on one side and i cant get the full resolution of 1680x1050 to display on the ATI graphics card. It seems to be fine on HDMI so I dont know whether it can just be the cable itself or what.

 

I've been busy prepping my 3820TG, thanks to everyone's help in here, and running a few benchmarks.

I'll report on them soon.

Just wanted to say how much I really love this laptop. I had the HP Envy 15 2nd Gen and I liked that laptop. I also had the MSI GX640 and really liked that laptop. Had a Dell 710m and an HP 7000zd or something way back when, and ... ehhh.....

This is the first laptop I've owned that I can honestly say that I love. I would not have bought a laptop without a warranty if I thought there was a chance that I would not have loved it.

And I definitely wouldn't have done the unimaginative and uninspired action of using it as my avatar.