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

Hi everyone,

I am a new owner of a 3820tg.
I am just wondering how come my battery life seems so wrong?

I have just reformatted the OS to a windows 7 professional 64 bit and installed a Seagate XT 320gb hard drive. The hard drive that is almost compared to a SSD and I'm getting a battery life of 3 hours when i have it on power mode and configured the graphics to be on power saving.

Shouldn't I be getting high 6-8 hours when in this power saving mode?

Also last question is how come i see people having 6.7 rating for graphics when doing a system scan for ratings. But i'm only getting a 5.0? I am following the guide left on page 1 on how to install the graphic drivers.

Any help will be great!

 

Hi,

I'm just about to get my 3820tg, but I have a question.
How are fans doing in minimal load ? I mean if they are completely off until some breakpoint when they kick in, bring the temp back and restart the cycle or are they pretty much always in slow mode (I guess there are at least two speed levels)?
If the later, then are fans ever completely off ?

 

Did you install the intel VGA drivers first and then the Acer ATI drivers? Did you change the bios setting from switchable graphics to dedicated? It sounds like your AIT drivers are not installed properly and you're dedicated GPU is on all the time. That is why your battery life is so bad. At least that is my guess.

Bronsky

 

oh i switched it around.
I installed the Acer ATI drivers first and then Intel VGA. Then i boot into BIOS and changed it to dedicated. After that I boot into windows and installed the ATI catalyst driver 10.8

also does epower suppose to work? i have it installed from acer website but nothing runs from it. It's not even in the tray.

last question.. once again sorry as I'm trying to get fimilar with this laptop.

It says it can only use 3.68gb of ram?? shouldnt this be able to support up to 8gb

 

this is depressing.. i thought reformatting to a better windows OS version will change things.. now its worst. In power saving mode with Intel HD and all other settings down. I'm getting only 2 hours and 15 mins!?

I installed the graphics according to the first page.
I don't have any major apps that are on that could use up the battery.
e.g. Firefox, msn w/ webcam.

I have ePower installed but it doesn't work!? Is there a special version for Win 7 professional 64 bit??

Can someone help me?

 

I have 8GB in mine.

re: the power consumption - try batterycare

 

When you go to device manager and look up display adapters, do you see both the Intel and the ATI adapter?

How do you know ePower does not work? The version of windows should not matter.

If ePower is not properly installed, you have to manually switch the GPU from ATI to intel IGPU. Otherwise you will have 2-3 hours of batteries only.

Do you have launch manager installed?

Did you save all of your drivers before doing a clean install?

Bronsky

 

The fans are actually very well programmed, unlike most of the laptops out there.
- If the computer is running on Intel graphics, the fans are almost totally off, the right one is always off, and the left one is only on when really needed.
- When on ATI graphics, the fans are louder but its really quiet.

They have at least 5 or 6 settings and they are nicely configured (I mean the ones I would set, not some stupid factory setting). I spent the last 5 or 6 years looking for quiet PC components and quiet notebooks and I think that my 3820TG running on Intel GFX is one of the most silent computers I have ever used.

 

Switching in 10.8 is broken (ok, some of us had some strange combination of installations and BIOS tinkering what made it work on their machines)
0. Switch back to default BIOS settings.
1. Uninstall all ATI and Intel drivers.
2. Reboot when needed.
3. Install stock Acer 10.6.

What does say 3.86 gb RAM? What does your Control Panel / System says?

Do not use ePower (I mean uninstall it), nor any other Acer app, except Launch Manager.

 

Sorry Bronsky, I don't ususally say that, but it's wrong. ePower is not needed for anything, it's the display driver doing the switch. My windows have never even seen ePower and automatic switching works perfectly.

I don't even see why is ePower useful, I mean it can swich off peripherials, but or 3820TG has absolutely no peripherials. No IR port, no optical drive, no 2nd HDD, no keyboard light (heh), only a single card reader and maybe a ethernet port what could be switched off. Don't use it, it just makes things complicated.

I am quite sure I could run a totally minimalistic reader's battery test and get over 9 hours on my stock battery. I can go as low as 7000 mW when idle, what would mean 9 hours (ok, that's extreme).

 

my switching of graphic cards work perfectly. When I unplug the laptop it will switch over to the Intel HD. Then once plugged back in it will go to ATI. I do see both Intel HD and ATI drivers installed.

I have launch manager installed and ePower installed. But theres no configurations window for the ePower?

The drivers I install were all from the Acer website.

Well on Systems. It says 4GB installed and 3.68gb useable.
But this is 64 bit. I'm sure it should be able to support all?

Update: I'm going to do what you say. I will reboot and go BIOS as defeault. Then uninstall all the drivers and redo them but will install 10.6 instead.

 

Interesting. I do not have ePower installed, but my graphics switches automatically as you described.

 

well i just did the graphic driver install. I wonder if it will change anything. Will have to see.

what i did.
Uninstalled ePower

Rebooted and changed to default settings in BIOS
uninstalled intel and ATI drivers
rebooted
installed Acer VGA ATI driver
rebooted
installed Intel HD driver from Acer
rebooted
went into BIOS and changed to discrete
Installed catalyst 10.6 ATI driver
rebooted
turned back to switchable

and its where i'm at now.

 

what is your hdd rating? I have a 7200.4 momentus 320gb , instead of my stock 5400rpm 320gb I want to use this but ı am afraid of the 7200 rpm hdd will get my battery life shorten. Has anyone replaced hdd with a 7200 rpm one and what is the battery life time now?

 

Hey guys,
sorry to interupt the conversation, I just needed to mention that I just picked up this beauty in Canada (the 5470 version) and I gotta say, it's pretty beastly. After having spent about a week with an HP DV-6, I have to say this thing is heaps better. I love taking the power cord out and seeing 6-7 hours on my battery bar with a discharge rate of ~ -9000mW.
I had read numerous reviews saying the display was of iffy quality, and I can't disagree more. The resolution and the quality of the screen, again comparing to the HP I had, are much better! There is such a huge difference in a 1366*768 res on a 13.3" and a 15.6". The smaller screen makes all the difference in the world.
This thing is without a doubt a little tank. I can't wait to really test drive this thing and put it through its paces.

One question for everyone. On the 789 uio jkl m keys are blue numbers. I had assumed these were to be used in conjunction with the Fn key to act as a sort of number pad. These numbers appear on another laptop I've used (a Dell) and it did in fact work like a charm. However, when I try to use the keys + Fn key, nothing shows up. It doesn't seem to work as a numpad. Do any of you know why this might be? I'd love to resolve this issue as having that functionality would be amazing! Thanks in advance!

So happy with this laptop!!!

 

How is the 5470 for gaming?

 

I just got the laptop earlier today and I've spent the day at my girlfriend's house. Needless to say, I haven't had a chance to spend a lot of time with it just yet. I plan on playing some SC2 tomorrow. Another user reported being able to play at medium settings with high textures without any slow downs. I hope for the same results. I'll report back tomorrow

 

Well from the 5400rpm 500gb that it came with. My new hard drive which is the Seagate Momentus XT boot time came from 50 seconds to just 23-26seconds. A normal SSD should be able to do it in 20seconds top. My applications load much faster and almost everything else. Battery life... Seems to have shorten but its the question of would you rather have performance? or more power saving? Each user is different.

 

Gaming is superb. It's able to handle almost anything at low-mid settings. SC2 looks amazing on high settings.

 

medium settings work well sc2. how are you playing on high setting with 5470

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear. You do _not_ need to install Intel, its for 3820T models. Intel for the TG is included in the Acer 10.6. You do not need to install anything else for graphics, just Acer 10.6. No need to do anything in the BIOS, just leave it on switchable.

Actually, you should have stopped here:

 

Ok, i'm back. I read a bit more and found how to edit original ics9lprs365bglf clockgen with 29, 97, 39. Here is the result
Sadly, as you can see current values aren't read correctly Guess it is over with ics9lprs365bglf.

I also found http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/513560-possibly-overclocking-unclockable-3820tg.html where Mr. Bronsky described another way to oc cpu in 3820. I ran a diagnostic scan in setFSB.

I have 1 as 6th bit so i need hardware mod to get setFSB to work in this way. Unfortunately, i'm not familiar with such things so i dont want to do it. Do you know any other methods which i can try? I wonder if someone can send me g73jh clockgen so i can try oc with it.
Thank you for your support.

 

Where can one buy the i7 620m processors, i cant seem to find them anywhere! And it would be nice to upgrade the processor with kindans excellent guide!

 

tried ebay?

 

Thanks! laptopmonkey on ebay has a good selection of mobile processors!
INTEL mobile i7 640M 3.46GHZ - $319. Seems like a good price!

 

Whats wrong with this? You just need to experiment with the numbers, try using 29 3f d8 or 29 35 d5 or 29 95 38 and so on.

I don't give anything about that, my machine has also a 1 at this position and it oc nicely. You oc it to 2726 or is your base? So try changing the 97 to 96 and so on to find a stable max oc.

 

Any more result for solder an extra PCI-e port? Or the BIOS use cannot recognize it?

 

Not sure if the notebook will support the CPU. But its the same family..So maybe it would. Why not get one and try it?

I made an offer on one of the 640m's when he had offer and he wouldn't even go down 10 bucks. His counter offer was 2 dollars cheaper!!

Cheaper here: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Intel-Core-...GHz-/250685901685?pt=CPUs&hash=item3a5e0b4b75

 

This bit is important in other method of ocing described by Bronsky in linked thread. Go back and read if you are interested. No, 2726 is not my base it's just effect of changing these values (29, 97, 39) in a diagnosis tab. When i click set fsb button my computer is constantly frozen. I guess it's because even after that tweak setFSB can't recognize current settings correctly.

 

How can you do this? What can we do to extend the battery life?

 

Could you post your 09h registry in PLL disgnosis showing a "1" in bit 6? If I have something inaccurate on that thread, I would like to change it.

Bronsky

 

I have read this thread from bronsky and i don't understand why this bit should be so important, maybe there is another bit at your unit important. I think there are two opportunities when setfsb freezes, first one is you use values that are to high for your processor, second one you use the wrong clock generator and need to try out other.

So here are my base settings: http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/3257/baseset.jpg

PLL Diag: http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/845/plldiag.jpg

OC: http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4166/i5430oc293.jpg

OC CPUZ: http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/6396/cpuzdt.jpg

Wish you good luck with your try and error.

 

I hope you don't mind but I'm posting these values in my other thread. Could you show us a picture with the SetFSB in control mode with your OC settings?

 

You can do it freely. But just notice it is an early 430m 3820. So maybe we can get some more informations about these bits. I would be highly interested in this.

Control Mode: http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1513/controlmode.jpg

 

The 5470 version might be acceptable to play most games, but when you can get the 5650 (which is about 5 leagues better) for just a bit more money its frustrating not having the option in the UK of buying the 5650. I feel like im being cheated, so I cant buy this thing until I can somehow get the 5650. So annoying!!!

 

I totally agree with you Feiyue, I've been looking around for a 5650 model in the UK, but have now given up; it's really soured me on Acer to be honest, I cannot understand why the UK has been singled out for sub-par models.

Infuriating, because it's a near perfect laptop and I'd buy it straight away if I could.

 

The UK and the US as well =P

Only available in Germany and Asia it seems.

 

Though it is disappointing not being able to easily purchase the 3820tg with the hd5650, it's not the end of the world (in my case). I'm installing SC2 right now and I'll be able to comment later on this evening. Probably nothing too specific, mainly relying on how I feel the game is running

EDIT:

Anyone have anything to say about the numpad issue? If I could get it working I'd be a super happy camper!

 

Hi I just did a clean install on my computer and was wonder how do I create a backup image of my computer.

 

Macrium Reflect Free, or DriveImage XML, or Paragon something or Windows builtin.

 

I can't believe you qbas. You have just overclocked yours to 160 BCLK, but why don't you read back and use something like CPU-Z? Your unit _is_ actually working with the G73 profile. You are $5 far away from a perfect, supported, slider way overclock, and you just go and bang your head into a wall. Why don't you just go and click the donate button?

 

I wrote about it about 10 pages ago, if you cannot find it I go and look for it.

 

Does this mean 430Ms are OCable?

 

I tried it today (oh, my last keystrokes before packing mine for repairs), and it works like it does it on IBM/Lenovo machines.
1. You click Fn + Numlock ON
2. type normally
3. Fn + Numlock OFF to go back to normal typing.

If you ask me, this method is absolutely "painful", I don't know who was the one who invented it and that why all manufacturers need to follow it. Fn + numbers would be just soo easy. Maybe there is an app which could remap Fn + keys, but I don't know about any.

 

sorry, late in replying.
max brightness? hmm I hardly use my laptop on max brightness, the glare is too much for me. But I'll try it on that setting and see if what happens.

By the way, my screen is a AUO322C. Maybe yours is a bad display card and a bad monitor?

 

Hello, I use driveimage xml. Do a search on it, I posted a link for it and some instructions.

 

I will know it when I get my computer back from repair. I sent it today. I don't know how to identify the motherboard, but my screen had slight marks because of the keyboard, I will recognise if they changed it.

I never wrote max brightness. For me it happened at level 6 or 7 mostly (level 1 being the lowest possible)

 

Has anyone look into ways of controlling the fan? Even on power saving with integrated graphics and low brightness, the fan hum is very discernable, not exactly something I'd call silent.

 

nevermind.. i guess it was virtual box running windows XP that cause me to not be able to switch graphic cards... but after turn Virtual box off.. it works. Surprising...

 

I think the binary bits are actually numbered 76543210 not 87654321, so the 6th bit is second from the left, where you have a "0"