Aspire 7720G major upgrade

Just wanted to post my Aspire 7720G upgrade adventure. The machine came with Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.00GHz, GeForce 8400M GS (256MB DDR2), 2GB Samsung DDR2 @ 667MHz and Western Digital Scorpio HDD 160GB. At this point my 3DMark 06 score was 1818, I was using Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I didn't write down subscores for Windows Experience Index at the time so I don't know for sure but the base score was about 3.8, a little low if you ask me. I replaced nearly everything there is to replace:

T7300 @ 2.00GHz => T9500 @ 2.60GHz
GeForce 8400M GS (256MB DDR2) => GeForce 9600M GT (512MB DDR3)
2GB Samsung DDR2 @ 667MHz => 4GB Corsair DDR2 @ 667MHz
Western Digital Scorpio HDD 160GB => 2x Corsair Nova SSD (60GB + 128GB)

I'm using the latest 1.45 BIOS (MXM Edition)

So, from very low score of 1818 in 3DMark 06 I now have 5875 3DMarks and a Windows Experience Index of 6.2, CPU & Memory both have a subscore of 6.2, Graphics & Gaming graphics have 6.4 and Primary hard disk scores 7.3 (Windows 7 Ultimate x64).

The biggest upgrade are the 2 SSD's, Corsair Nova series are great, native support for TRIM in Windows 7 and a fast Indilinx Barefoot controller, with my old Western Digital Scorpio retired I now boot into OS in about 15 seconds.

And that's about it, I can also say that if you're not sure wich GPU is better, 9600M GT 512MB DDR3 or 9650M GT 1024MB DDR2, go with 9600M GT. I tried both of them and 9600M GT is a little faster, mostly because of DDR3, 9650M GT however runs a bit cooler (55nm), but my BIOS didn't recognize a single MB of GPU memory. Also, if you want to upgrade your CPU, don't go with Extreme series, I tried Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 @ 2.80GHz and it just couldn't work on higher clocks than 1.2GHz, probably because of the 10W larger TDP, my socket couldn't provide enough power for it.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.


UPDATE (11. 26. 2011.)

Successfully replaced the old 1440x900 LCD with a brand new 1920x1200 (WUXGA) LCD. It's a cosmetic update but a must-have, everything looks so sharp now.
Bought a new battery, 5200mAh - 11.1V, and installed a Bluetooth 2.1 module which I didn't get with this notebook, it was just bugging me to have a Bluetooth button with no function

 

Nice upgrade I would love to get a few SSDs for my laptop just too much money :/

 

A little too much right now but they're worth it, no more waiting after a simple mouse click, everything loads instantly.

 

I was just wondering how you managed to fit two internal SSDs in...is it possible to have two internal drives on that laptop?

Edit: the reason I'm asking is I have an Aspire 5920G, I'm wondering if it has space for 2 hard drives.

 

The SATA caddy in my laptop has two slots for 2.5'' disks, one was free. You would have to open it up and see for yourself, but I think most of the Acer models have two slots.

 

Which GPU driver did you use to get the 9600m GT to work?

I tried it on my 5720 but it wouldn't recognize.

Had to settle for a 8600m GT. Maybe it's the bios difference between 5720 and 7720?

 

I used 257.21 with modified INF file from laptopvideo2go.com. I had the same problem in the beginning with my original 8400M GS and later with 9600M GT. For some reason the driver doesn't recognize certain mobile GPU's although all of them are supported. As far as I know, with modified INF file any card will be detected during installation.

 

Nice upgrades you have there, I did more or less the same. I still wonder should I pull the trigger on SSD. Well I know that I should, but I wonder which one among the bunch and they are quite expensive right now (I'm looking for good ~120GB one). BTW what happened with your X9000? Was it an ES, or OEM one?

Sorry mate, we have only one HDD bay, but you can always make the HDD storage using an optical bay caddy conversion If/when I get a SSD I'm planing to do it.

 

Oh, cool! Thanks for the link, I might try that!

 

Put every upgrade aside, the SSD will literally bring life to your notebook, you will loose the feeling that you're working on one. I didn't know what to buy also but it had to be the one with native TRIM support and without that JMicron junk controller.

It was OEM and in perfect working condition, CPU-Z detected it without any problems but the multiplier was "stuck" at x6 giving it a max clock of 1.20GHz when it should be at x14 (2.80GHz). BIOS also recognized it as 2.80GHz CPU but since there was no BIOS update for a full year at the time (and still no new releases from that point) I couldn't be sure what was the problem. I tried reinstalling Windows, tried XP, Vista and 7 with no luck. I contacted Acer and they told me that the motherboard doesn't support that CPU, they didn't explain why but I think it's probably because of the higher power consumption needed for Extreme series. It was actually stupid of me to have Extreme series CPU in this Acer model since there is no chance of overclocking it (BIOS options are so limited) but maybe this experience will help out someone else. Eventually I sent it back due to incompatibility issue and took T9500, at that point I was sceptic at any future upgrade, but everything turned out more than great.

 

i have a 7720g with g80 8600m gt and t7500 sometimes it runs too hot actually i am typing this from now i really like the look and build of it but the 2 grills of the gpu vent has melted and others are soft and weakening i really want to throw the 8600m gt and downgrade to g210m is it possible?

my battery sometimes works sometimes doesnt so i removed the 8 cell battery and running on ac power directly but for the last 5 or 6 days sometimes it shuts itself down even though its not running hot even the power button doesnt work sometimes after 5 to 6 tries

should i get a new battery and adapter? where can i get original ones are in there in ebay?

the 7720g is 2yrs old+ 2 days i think its time to ditch and upgrade
i am really waiting on sandy bridge but i think my 7720g could last that long min 6 months any suggestions?

 

If you want your laptop to go on use a weaker card in it for example a 9300m g it makes hardly any heat under load and can be overclocked well. As for the battery and charger, if you don't use your laptop anywhere but home just get a new charger. Try ebay or acer website.

 

I've got a Acer Aspire 7720G running Bios v1.45. It came with the Radeon 2300HD.
I bought the 9650M GT but when i installed it the bios i says that the card has 0mb memory. Can anyone help? I tried installing a new drivers from laptopvideo2go.com but no joy. Can anyone give me some more tips?

 

I don`t think it is very important since windows recognizes graphics memory...

 

The same thing happened to me when I tried 9650M GT, but I agree with Arminator, as long as Windows recognizes it, it's not a problem. Probably just a limitation of BIOS.

 

That is only happening because the bios on the card isn't a Acer one so the bios can't read all the information about the card. I would go far as saying thats normal as it wasn't made for this laptop

 

I see. Probably a new 130W PSU would've help or/and using ThrottleStop to alter the multiplier, one can only wonder. It's worth trying, but the X9000's price is "a bit" too high, I would much rather spend the money for a SSD.

 

I downloaded version 191.07 from laptopvideo + the corresponding inf file.
the first time it crashed within 3 seconds. The second time I loaded up Win 7 i got as far as doing a windows experience test. The 3d part went from 1 to 6.3, which was nice but then it crashed a few seconds later.
Can anyone recommend a stable version to use with my set up (Acer aspire 7720G + 9650M GT?
oh BTW to Riddhy916 have you checked maybe your laptop for dust? That could explain why it's getting hot

 

I agree. Maybe the new PSU would help but now I can only guess. I tried so many throttling software available but with no help. SSD rocks, go for it my friend!

 

Did you try latest driver version from nvidia?
It is v258. you can download it here:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 258.96 WHQL

Hope this will help

 

Thanks the older driver versions seemed to be more stable but I couldn't get find that worked properly. I returned it to the seller before the week was out as i didn't want to get stuck with something i couldn't get to work and I was a little concerned I'd damage the card somehow while trying to figure out which driver version to use. I'll do some more research and see about buying another. Really I'd like to get a card that's a little faster than the HD2300 but most of all is stable, recognized by the system and that works well in Ubuntu too.

 

Hi people! Just wanted to add a little picture of the latest upgrade; black keyboard Looks elegant, hope you like it. Peace!

 

Does look pretty cool ttomorad I might have to copy you

 

Just Do It

 

I was wondering should I take a black keyboard, but now I know - it's a must

 

Hi guys, this is my first post. I saw you made great upgrades and I want to follow your path. The question is quite simple (maybe stupid) I have an Acer 7720 (without the "g"). Can I make the same upgrades as you did for the 7720g?

My priority is to make Starcraft2 run smoother also with low details =). But as things are now when they are lots of units I get low FPS. I dont want to change my whole machine for this. What do you think guys? Does it make sense to change the video card (I read nvidia 9600m and 9650m could do fine)? or processor (t9500)? or both? (but i would preffer to change only the video card cause its quite cheap).

Thank you very much!

 

@gelmo81

The only upgrade you can do with your 7720 is to upgrade CPU... GPU upgrade is not possible since your laptop has integrated GPU so it is not possible to change GPU...

 

so I opened the laptop and I found that the video card is not integrated on the MB. I made a picture of it. I guess its not just a 7720. By the way, maybe I can change that card, as I was able to remove it, no?!

Thhaaaanx

 

Great man! If you want to change your GPU and performance is what you want the most, go with 9600M GT with 512MB DDR3, it is significantly faster than 9650M GT with 1024MB DDR2. You need a MXM-II type GPU. BTW, what GPU do you have now?

 

And another thing, you will probably need to take off the mounting bracket from your card and put it on the new one, they rarely come with one.

 

That is definitely not 7720 but 7720G... What a luck

You can upgrade GPU and you will need MXM II card... There is plenty of them on ebay...
You can use any of those mentioned on the first page of this thread...

 

so my laptop has a g point. Good to know. I have a 8400m GS now. Quite old I guess. I'll follow your advice and pump it up with a 9600M GT. Thank you very much guys.

One last thing, I removed the copper bracket without problems. It wont be ok with the new video card?! Can you suggest me something also for this?

 

It should be fine. I'm guessing you mean the one that was covering the 8400?

 

The copper bracket covering the GPU is fine, I'm talking about the mounting bracket for it, on the bottom of the GPU, the one with screw holes.

 

I bought the 9600m gt from ebay for 70euro. I installed it easily and now the performance for the 3d is fantastic. Thank you guys!

 

Great news!

 

Hello! I have a 7720G and i upgraded it with a T9300 and a 9600M GT DDR3, both are running really good but GPU doesn't match wich heatsink like the old 8600M GT did, and goes to 85C full load x_x (I use Arctic Silver V). My question is: Do I need to mod the heatsink? what about the memory? I use the old plate film from my old 8600M GT, not sure if is better to remove it.

Thank you =]

 

It doesn't match in what way? Can you post some pictures?

 

85c is normal under load. Its a nvidia laptop gpu they do get hot.

 

I will dismount it soon, I will try to get some pics and sign where doesn't match.

Thank you again.

 

Hi,

Im planing to upgrade my 7720-6395 or get something else with similar to an upgrade configurations (after i sell mine).

Currently i have CPU T5250, GeForce 8400M GS, 2GB ddr2, WD 250 HDD.
I want to buy new laptop, but after i read this thread i might make an upgrade instead. I dont play games (sometimes i play Counter Strike 1.6 or Condition Zero), just use my laptop for web surfing, videos and music.

What do you guys think? How much it will cost me to make a such upgrade? And where can i buy all these components?


PS: i checked ebay and there are SLAYX and ES.. what are the difference between these two?

 

Hello! Like i said i got some pics of my scary heatsink. I ended up doing the mod for myself, now the heatsink touch 100% the GPU core and added some little heatsink to help the main one. B4 this upgrade, i mean without the mod and without the littles heatsink, needed to put some more thermal paste than the necesary on the core, so the heatsink was able to "touch" the core. Playing Stacraft 2 the temperature went to 96ºC, now it doesn't go more than 84ºC and 51ºC at desktop.

Thank you =D

Pics: The mod at the pic is unfinished, need to file it a bit more. At the 2 graphics pic, the left one is the 8600M GT DDR2 and the right one the 9600M GT DDR3, notice the difference of the marked piece position.

 

Looks very nice

 

SLAYX are the OEM versions of CPU's, ES stands for Engineering Sample, avoid these.

 

Where can i buy SLAYX? On ebay i found not that many of them, and mostly from China... I heard if there are from far land its probably ES.

 

I see you have added some extra heatsinks, Where did you order them. I am looking for some extra cooling.

 

Hey that detail on the first photo is the same reason why I had to modify my heatsink pad...

There was one tab which had to be completely removed son the heat pad would completely lay down on gpu core...
And these purple add-ons where did you get them?

 

It depends what CPU you're looking for. I had trouble finding OEM T9500 but I managed to find one from United Kingdom. It doesn't matter if it's from China, just read to description, the whole thing, so you don't buy something you don't want.

 

Hi, that purple add-ons are Ram Heatsinks, the manufacturer is Zalman,got it from a computer shop near my home. Would be nice to get a Notebook Cooling Base, to keep the GPU better. If you use any or have any other idea to get it cooler, share it please!


=)

 

And did you get any noticeable temp decrease with these little heat spreads?