What to upgrade on my Acer 5920G?

Hey Guys, just found this site while looking for answers to the above topic and thought i would register and ask.

Basically I'll start off saying that I'm semi computer illiterate... now we can move on...

So i have had my Acer Aspire 5920G for about 10 months now, i love the little thing, does everything i want it to no worries, well mostly. the only tiny little worry i have is using it to play some newer high end games. See i mostly use it for university work and simple web browsing and writing essays and just as a general use computer, but now with the year of uni over for me, I'm gaming a little bit more, so i was wondering what would be the most suitable upgrade for me to consider to make my gaming run a little faster and smoother. Cheers.

P.S. as i said, I'm a uni student, so I'd prefer to keep my kidneys and some of my blood rather than selling them to afford upgrades, so if you could keep budget in mind (although in saying that i don't mind looking at a few of my higher end options)

Specs for my stock 5920G;

* Home Premium Windows Vista (32 Bit)

* Intel core duo 2 T5450 - 1.66GHz, 667MHz FSB and a 2mb cache

* Nvidia GeForce 8600m GS

* 2gb of DDR2 (no idea what speed)

* 250GB Hard drive (no idea on what speed, my money however would be on 5400)

Thanks for the help guys.

 

Hi Welcome to NBR

4gb RAM should be your first upgrade. It will sure speed things up for a cheap cost.

If you have spare cash, upgrade your cpu to a T8300.

If you have even more extra cash for upgrades, go for a 320gb 7200rpm drive or a SSD

 

Don't know if you read that he's looking for in game performance Flipfire.

Some Acers support GPU upgrading. I don't know if the 5920 supports this.

Memory upgrade is a good idea (3Gb would be enough but you may aswell get 4GB).

CPU is a good upgrade but something cheaper than T8300 would give similar game performance.

Harddrive will only speed up loading, not FPS performance.

 

You would be able to play most new games, but on low res and settings.
CPU and GPU upgrades will be costly.
I second the RAM and HDD upgrades.

If a 32-bit OS, just get a 2GB PC2-5300 module and replace a single 1GB module, and you'll have 3GB of memory.

A HDD upgrade will boost performance quite a bit, and 320GB 7200RPMs are cheap.

 

The 5920G uses the MXM interface for the GPU, so if you poke around on Ebay you can find a 8600GT, which to be fair is no REAL upgrade over the 8600GS, but it has twice the amount of stream processers, so can run much higher graphic settings. Ive found them for around £130, and plan on buying on myself soon =D Replacing it is easy, just take off the back cover (the GPU is above the HDD under the fan) and gently pry up the side of the card closest to the fan. It'll snap up like the RAM cards to and then you can just pull it out. Because its still an 8600, it shouldnt need any new drivers or a BIOS flash.

Another update is a CPU, something up to a T9300 will be compatable with the 965 chipset, and also go for around £130 on ebay, but a little cheaper if you know what to look for

There could be an issue upgrading the RAM, I would suggest using a RAM kit, because then the 2 sticks will be identical and have no compatability issues. Ive ran a 2gb stick and a 1gb stick to make 3gb, but have had problems with Vista only using the 2gb stick, despite the fact that it can report 3gb is installed. So yeah, I would advise doing it in pairs. (you can get a Kingston 2gb stick from Play.com for about £13)

Also, if you're feeling brave and your 5920 doesnt have internal bluetooth, you can get a service guide and fit that yourself. But that does involve stripping both sides of the case off and taking asmost everything out... Not for the faint of heart.

 

Here's my suggested order of upgrade, cheapest to most expensive (time-and-money-wise):
1. RAM - max that mofo out! At today's prices, you have almost no excuse NOT to. The 5920G runs at DDR2-667, so grab a 2GB stick to replace one of the 1GB modules already in your system (assuming you've got two 1GBs, of course). 4GB won't do a darn thing for you unless you want to bounce over to 64-bit.
2. HDD - Bigger and faster drives exist that could leave what you've got in the dust. How does 320GB at 7200rpm or 500GB at 5400rpm sound? And it'll still be cheaper than the next step up!
3. CPU - This could help in quite a few places, it did for me! I went from a T5550 (1.83/667) to a T8300 (2.4/800) and gained over 1000 points in PCMark05 (like 3DMark, but for the whole computer). A T8300 or T9300 would be the sweet spot for the upgrade, but a T7700 or T7800 would do if you could get them on the cheap.
4. GPU - Thank gawd Acer believes in the MXM platform. The 5920G is proven to upgrade to a GeForce 8600M GT, and some loonybirds over on the MXM-Upgrade.com forum managed to shoehorn a Radeon HD 3650 in there (!). Just keep in mind that it is somewhat of a fiddly operation - get a card that doesn't have an Acer VBIOS and the darn thing won't work.

If you're looking for a better gaming machine, go 1, 4, 3, 2 (HDDs may speed up loading, but won't help in-game).

 

you can change 5920 VGA card. It support mxm2, but don't buy 8600M GT coz it doesn't make big difference. buy something new (9600M GT) Try ebay for mxm2 compatible card. If you want AS5920 service manual just PM me....

 

First off, don't talk about sharing service manuals on NBR. That's kind of against the forum rules.
Secondly, no one has been able to get the 9600M GT to work properly on the 5920G. The Asus C90S and Aspire 6920G are the only two I know about that successfully pulled off the transition. Like I said earlier, if Friendy wants to go for broke, he should try for the Radeon HD 3650 with GDDR3 memory.

And finally, not making a big difference? The GT might have slower clocks than the GS, but it's still got twice the shaders. It's still a heady upgrade.

 

chill out dude...

I know You can't post manual links, but you can send PM for asking it.
I have more experience than you about 8600M GT. he can easily OC his card to match 8600M GT DDR2 version . spending $100 for the DDR3 version is quite useless unless he is rich.

 

If you get yourself a Radeon 3650 there's a guide posted on how to install it here:

http://www.theacerguy.com/2008/12/morris-aspire-5920-gpu-swapupgrade/

 

Yes, but posting saying "HEY GUYS LISTEN I GOT THESE SERVICE GUIDES BUT I CAN'T POST THEM HERE SO PM ME IF YOU WANT THEM WINK WINK" is pretty darn close, y'know?
That, and the OP and one other user here don't have PMs enabled yet.

And fair enough about the overclock - totally doable for those who don't want to spend the dough.