Question:
A few Ferrari questions
I finally caved and ordered the Ferrari 4005. As I await its delivery (which will be its own battle because zipzoomfly has the most asinine verification procedures ever; do companies not realize that most people who buy $2K notebooks might actually work for a living and therefore not be at home to receive a shipment?), I've been thinking about how I will create an optimal setup. The first thing to do is wipe the hard drive with a fresh install of WinXP Sp2 on one single NTFS partition. However, I have a few questions about what else you can do with the Ferrari:
1) What options can you change in the BIOS? Can you undervolt the cpu, change DRAM clocks, memory options, and/or any other options?
2) Is it possible to preserve that cool desktop wallpaper which comes with the Ferrari? The reason I ask is because in the photos I've seen, that wallpaper appears to have a built-in calendar which is something I've never encountered and am curious as to how it works, and more importantly, how it can be preserved and transferred.
3) I've heard that the Ferrari will not accept ATI Mobility drivers downloaded from ATI's website. Is this also the case if you wipe the hard drive and install your own full copy of WinXP (meaning it's Acer's version of Windows which prohibits installing the drivers? If so, how do most users go about ensuring their notebook has the latest catalyst drivers? I somehow doubt Acer keeps current with what's on their download page.
4) If you wipe the hard drive, does the Ferrari still show that neat Boot screen image of the real Ferrari Formula 1 car?
5) I've noticed that the Ferrari does not come with Acer's ePowerManagement. And we all know that Windows's power management is a piece of crap. Are any programs available to tweak all of the standard settings normally tweakable by ePowerManagement? What program can you use to scale the CPU clock to preserve power? Any other cool utilities to have for power management?
6) Can the Ferrari play DVD movies without booting up into the OS like some of the HPs can?
Thank you in advance.
Answer:
Re: A few Ferrari questions
Congratulations! I'm about to cave on the Ferrari 4005WLMi myself. I got pretty much the same questions as you do. Lately I'm leaning towars leaving everything stock! Just updating BIOS, GPU drivers and see if there is a way to get ePowermanagement on it. I'm concidering 2GB RAM aswell. But I don't think I will wipe to OS and partitions etc... It's to well thought out by Acer with recovery partition, drivers etc, I just don't want to mess with it.
Answer:
Re: A few Ferrari questions
i couldnt use the mobility dirvers :mad: but the desktop 5.7 drivers work pretty well havnt tried the omega drivers though
Did you do any overclocking to achive those 3DMark05 scores with you Acer
Aspire? What's the default clock settings on the GPU in the Acer Aspire 5024WLMi?
Answer:
Re: A few Ferrari questions
I used the omega drivers on my Acer, and, with a 40MHz core overclock and a 30MHz RAM overclock, I got a 20% better score in 3Dmark05!! Good luck with your computer!
Nice going!
And what is the default clocks on the GPU in the Acer TM4402WLMi? And what was your 3DMark05 score and what is it now overclocked?
Answer:
Re: A few Ferrari questions
The default clocks are 357 core: 331 memory. ATi rates the X700 Mobility at 350:350. I put the memory where it should be at 350, and the clock at 369, and with the omega drivers, I got 1211 as a 3dmark score, vs 911 previous. That is a BIG difference!
Interesting, I thought it would be around 1700-1800 with an X700. I have no problems in my games though, so I'm not complaining.
Answer:
Re: A few Ferrari questions
The default clocks are 357 core: 331 memory. ATi rates the X700 Mobility at 350:350. I put the memory where it should be at 350, and the clock at 369, and with the omega drivers, I got 1211 as a 3dmark score, vs 911 previous. That is a BIG difference!
Interesting, I thought it would be around 1700-1800 with an X700. I have no problems in my games though, so I'm not complaining.
I think the lower 3DMark05 score on this notebook is due to 64MB VRAM. However this seams to play less role in actuall gaming depending on resolution and detail settings used. 3DMark05 probably simulates 128MB or higer VRAM usage and high detail.
Answer:
Re: A few Ferrari questions
A 3DMark05 of 1211 on an ATI MR x700 is poor and that's overclocked too! I have an ATI MR x600 w/128MB and it pulled in a score of 1578 using the Catalyst 5.5 drivers from the ATI site (not overclocked). Using the 5.6 drivers got a faster score of approx 1611. I haven't tried the 5.7 yet, but I'm sure it'll go even faster.
-Vb-