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

That's really nice!

I've did like 3-4 drain tests so far, but only managed to get 4,5-5 hours when browsing with 30% brightness (have to admit during all drain tests I was searching for all kind of goods, so never spent more than 2-3 minutes on the same page, without opening another window, so it was quite an intensive browsing, should that affect battery life?).

Office work with WLAN off drained the battery in 6 hours 15 mnutes.

My battery shows a wear level of 5% (sometimnes 4%) with a designed capacity of 6600 and an actual full capacity of 6320.

What can be the problem?

I'll wait with buying a new notebook, I'm satisfied with the CPU, I'm not an overclocker, it's the screen that could be a bit better, especially colors, blacks are a bit grayish, first I'll search if anyone has done a calibration profile, maybe that could improve the colors a bit.

 

First install the Acer one. Than you can install the new AMD 10.8 without Bios change. The AMD must be the active card of course.

The Acer one is just needed to get a save solution to switch the graphic cards.

 

The profile is in this thread just search for it. I haven't it on the hdd at moment.

 

Thanks. But since im updating the previous Catalyst driver (10.7?) with the new one. Nothing else needs to be done except from changing the bios settings, installing and then setting the bios again?
I though i read that this no longer was needed with the new 10.8 driver. But figured it was better to ask. Maybe im missunderstanding something here

 

Here is my write up of OC'ing with the SLG505YC264BT clockgen. http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/513560-possibly-overclocking-unclockable-3820tg.html After writing it up, I think I understand the PLL's instability a bit better. The program creator could make this a perfect clockgen for my series of PLL (which he claims was not OC'able) by simply adjusting the CPU/Ram speed ratio on the upper slide. Setting the lower slide is no problem (I was reading it wrong for awhile ). I think I was right, that the clockgen is not perfect and has some inherent instability. But, it's close enough to get some performance increase and holds out hope that these PLLs can eventually OC to levels like others see with their I5-450Ms.

Bronsky

@Hendrickson - this might be something to pin to the first page or reference in your OC's guide.

 

Do a right click on you desktop and switch the AMD to active state. That is all you need. No option in the bios must be changed.

 

I think it is the 64bit drivers.

Installed Windows 7 OS in 32bit version, and Atheros found 7 networks near me with good to excellent signal. Tested great!

Next, formated and installed Windows 7 OS in 64bit version, and now Atheros only sees 4 networks, with only one close by as excellent.

 

@just_a_nick
That seems a bit easyer indeed. Haha.
Im guessing the method i reffered to before is for a clean install of W7 on the device, and not for upgrading the catalyst drivers.
Thank you for cleering that up

 

What are people using for a displaying temperatures in a simple tray, (single icon), loaded at startup?

Also, anything in the tray for fan control, like speedfan did?

Thanks.

EDIT: found the posts about 1810 Tray. anything like that out yet for the 3820tg?

 

Im getting an error while trying to install the catalyst software suite.
Its telling me that this version of the graphic card is not supported. Hmm.
What am i missing?

 

its gadgets that scan ur speeds for ur gpu and cpu its pretty neat here is the link : OrbLog Sidebar Gadgets

open the link with google chrome and you can translate the page to the language u prefer cheers hope this helps

btw there are many more gadgets but i gave you those because i find they look neat!!!

SL.

 

Hi all its official i am a proud owner of a acer 3820tg-3022 now this is the canadian unit sold at staples( bureau en gros in french) this unit comes with the ati hd 5470 @ 512mb dedicated. core i5 430 2.26ghz. i did a couple furmarks and i cant say i was pleased with the results but then again its not only for gaming so im satisfied.

As for the games i have tried i only had a chance to try CODMW2 and it ran very smoothly except for when there is extensive smoke , otherwise the game runs very nice, i will be trying more games later on and ill give you guys some feedback.

In terms of overclock im sorry but so far its not possible since im getting the pll error in setfsb if anyone knows a mod or another method to acheive higher speeds other then the turbo boost (comes with the lappy) i would be glad to know and would be forever greatful

the turboboosts runs pretty well at 2.53ghz but u have to check your power options and set everything on performance and not battery life.

Gpu wise i overclocked it to 650/1000 and notices that its very stable there so im not gonna change anything.

if theres any questions about that specific build please let me know and ill see what i can do for you

cheers!

 

Don't know if you read this yet. http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/513560-possibly-overclocking-unclockable-3820tg.html I would be interested to see if your unit will OC with the instructions in the thread.

Bronsky

 

thanks Bronsky i will give it a shot asap!

 

I guess it might be due to I installed 10.8 by changing to discrete mode then back to switchable, resulting not able to switch back and forth in switchable mode.

 

anyone having problem with cpu is contantly locked at 2.66ghz (i5 450m) 133mhz busspeed with 20x multiplier i think i had this problem for sometime by now and a problem with my hd 5650 gpu pci-e gets 1x in switchable mode and 16x in discrete mode and it smells sometimes like some component is fried or someting and has increased noise from fan then before.

 

Thanks! I've found the ICC profile file (Általános.icn).

 

Edit: dummy post.

 

My monitor is still factory stock ... let me know what you think of the profile. If it's any good, I'll use it.

@Hendrickson - this should probably be linked to the first page as well. Sorry to be making work.

Bronsky

Follow up: the I5-540M, the switches, the IC Diamond 7 and the speaker are all in transit. The motherboard should ship tomorrow. With any luck, I could be doing this over next weekend. I think the speaker will be the last to arrive. By then, I should have everything back together, ready to snap that unit inplace as soon as it gets here.

 

No manual fan control for 3820TG is available. For tray icon, you can use anything, like CoreTemp.

 

So is there any point installing the newest 10.8 graphics-drivers? I heard it caused some problems when switching GPU's. I got 10.7 now.

What are max clocks people have achieved?
My clocks are now 735/1150 and ive played CODMW2 for 2 hours with no problems. Temps maxed out at 89C and when i lifted the back of the laptop with a cd, temps didnt even get near 89C, more like 80C.

 

He's talking about the proper installation procedure for a new driver, not just simply switching from dedicated GPU to integrated GPU.

Here are the steps:

1. Install stock VGA-ATI driver (from your backup drivers/programs CD). Or it should already be installed on your laptop.

2. go to BIOS. On the second tab, switch the Graphics option to Discrete.

3. Go to Windows OS. Install the updated ATI driver OVER you current ATI driver. DO NOT UNINSTALL the current driver. Doing so will prevent your from switching between dedicated and integrated GPUs. You have been warned!

4. restart laptop. go back into BIOS and change the Graphics option back to Switchable

5. Go to Windows OS. Check device manager to ensure that your new ATI driver is there by seeing what version number is there.

 

710/1110. Max temp 82*C with ambient temp 28*C.

Yours runs much faster, but also much hotter as well. Guess you'll fry your GPU before me, LOL!

 

Make sure you are installing the notebook ATI driver, not the desktop driver.

 

That does not sound too good. The only time I want to smell something fried is when I'm at Kentucky Fried Chicken!

 

@Bronsky

u getting i7-620m or 640m or still debating with 540m ?

Anyone tried o/c 620m whats the max o/c that was possible? I remember ppl having problems with high o/c cause of the extra MB cache.. just wondering

 

Yes...........

 

Acer, and most other laptop makers, intentional design battery wear into the Li-ON batteries. It increases the longevity of the battery if you cannot charge it to 100%, but at a slight expense to the battery life in hours when you are not on AC power.

Using BatteryBar, many of us see only 1.7% battery wear. I do not know what you are using to measure your 5% wear.

 

I hate the stock Atheros WiFi card. It's great if you use Linux, but otherwise, I prefer what I switched to in my signature.

 

I really like my 3820TG. It may not be the fastest or have the best overclocks, etc., but I don't have flickering screens, gridlines on screens, components smelling fried, etc. It's like the Intel X25 G2 SSDs - they may not be the fastest SSD, but they're the most dependable.

I'll take dependability over speed or flashiness any day!

 

I hope it's not just me but, the laptop seems to get a lot of freeze spikes when i play demanding games.

Usually the screen freezes for a second or two, this also occur when i play with stable fps.

Does anyone have any experience how i could fix this ?

 

Is the graphikcard OC?

If have the same problen, when the driver is reseted.

 

I was abit too optimistic about 735/1150 working stable. I works well with CODMW2, but when i use ATITOOL artifact scanning, highest stable clocks without artifacts are 740/1045. I noticed if I lower core clocks I can raise memory clocks without getting artifacts. So for what should i go? Maximum core or memory clocks? Which benefits me the most with games?

 

Thank you for the reply.

No components have been modified, except the GPU and Audio drivers.

 

Absolute power corrupts absolutely ... I would go for the core power.

Bronsky

 

Bump. Anyone? :-\

 

If you have an western digital harddrive this is normal. To fix it;

Use QuietHDD quietHDD to disable APM and AAM (misc page in quietHDD options). Should help a lot. I have to admit I went for an seagate momentus XT 7200 rpm hybrid HDD myself, never looked back

 

device manager --> monitor --> properties --> details --> select Device ID or something like that in the dropdown menu.

There is your model number, which should also identify the manufacturer.
So far AU Optronics (AUO122C or AUO322C) and Samsung (SEC3030) panels has been found in the 3820TG.
So far it seems the AUO monitors vary greatly in quality.

 

Thanks. I had been looking there already but didn't find none of those ids.

If it's in "Hardware Ids" property, then mine is a LGD023F.

 

Then you are the first to report having an LG panel in your 3820TG as far as I know. Not that it's surprising since Acer/wistron probably buy whatever they can get at the lowest price.
No idea about the quality of that particular panel/model, but LG is among my favourites for laptop panels in general.

 

Hey,

have got the model with the p6200?

 

Hey OC Freak - would you look at this thread and let me know if you have any ideas on how to adjust the Ram timing in the clockgen? Is there anything I can do? http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/513560-possibly-overclocking-unclockable-3820tg.html

Bronsky

 

What part are you referring to? Can you be more specific?

 

I was referring the CPU but the P6200 seems not to be on market today.

But was CPU does you have?

 

thanks a lot that really seemed to do the trick, it's so much more comfortable without the spikes

 

Ok... it's an Intel Core i5 450M 2,4GHz.

 

Best regard.

In china is this display in the models with the p6000.

 

You really wrote what I feel too! I returned one because of the display issues, and I could return my actual one, but I don't think the others are really better, I would just buy a Samsung panel in a few months and replace it myself. Samsung panels are said to be really better ones.

 

When I did 3dmark06 the demo with the two lightning balls was freezing all the time. Once every 5 seconds it stalled then it became faster again. I really hope it's not like this when gaming, or else I will say goodbye to all ATI love and switch to a Asus K42JV. Have been an nVidia user all my life before, they never made the best hardware, but their driver is really much more polished then ATI's one. Actually nVidia employs more software developers then hardware developers. I think it's quite a serious thing in a case of a chipmaker company. On the other hand almost every single 8 series nVidia card I know about has failed after two years. And a 7950 in my friends Dell M1710 too.

 

Find max core clock with stock memory and max memory clock with stock core using ATITool artifact scanning. Then you can lower the combined frequency till it's good. 10 minute artifact scanning was sufficient in my case.