Aspire Z5771 Upgrade Help

I have recently bought an Acer Aspire Z5771 computer which i'm very happy with. I have upgraded the RAM to 8Gb and fitted an SSD retaining the original 1Tb as drive F for general storage.

The CPU fitted is the Intel G620 2.6GHz Dual core and and I would like to speed things up in this area. What alternative CPU's can i replace the original with that could make a speed difference without breaking the bank?

Another area the computer falls down on is the GPU with some pretty poor benchmarks, are there any suggestions here?

I've looked at overclocking both of the above and used the MSI Afterburner and the Intel Overclocking Utility, bur for some reason neither programs will do anything, all options are greyed out (BIOS locked?)

Any help here would be gratefully welcomed.

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billsey

Boy, that's a blast from the past.

The highest end processor they shipped with the Aspire Z5771 was an Intel Core i7-3770S. That's a quad core 3.1GHz with the same 65W TDP as your G620. Unfortunately they used two different motherboards, and the early ones don't support the 3rd gen processors. Which BIOS version are you running? A P01, P03 or P11? IIRC they shipped with Windows 7 and didn't support a UEFI boot except with the P11 BIOS. If you have that MB then you can put some of the newer GPUs in, if P01 or P03 then the GT520 or GT530 they shipped with is close to as new as you can go with a GPU.

Jomac

Thanks for the reply billsey. OK the info you wanted is :-

intel Pentium G620

Cores 2

Threads 2

Name Intel Pentium G620

Code Name Sandy Bridge

Package Socket 1155 LGA

Technology 32nm

Specification Intel Pentium CPU G620 @ 2.60GHz

Family 6

Extended Family 6

Model A

Extended Model 2A

Stepping 7

Revision D2

Instructions MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, Intel 64, NX, VMX

Virtualization Supported, Enabled

Hyperthreading Not supported

Fan Speed 1165 RPM

Bus Speed 99.8 MHz

Stock Core Speed 2600 MHz

Stock Bus Speed 100 M

Motherboard

Manufacturer Acer

Model IPISB-AG (CPU 1)

Version 1.03

Chipset Vendor Intel

Chipset Model Sandy Bridge

Chipset Revision 09

Southbridge Vendor Intel

Southbridge Model H61

Southbridge Revision B3

System Temperature 53 °C

BIOS

Brand American Megatrends Inc.

Version P01-A0

Date 26/08/201

Monitor

Name AIO LCD on Intel HD Graphics

Current Resolution 1920x1080 pixels

Work Resolution 1920x1080 pixels

State Enabled, Primary, Output devices support

Monitor Width 1920

Monitor Height 1080

Monitor BPP 32 bits per pixel

Monitor Frequency 60 Hz

Device \\.\DISPLAY1\Monitor0

Intel HD Graphics

Manufacturer Intel

Model HD Graphics

Device ID 8086-0102

Revision A

Subvendor Acer Incorporated [ALI] (1025)

Current Performance Level Level 0

Current GPU Clock 847 MHz

Technology 32 nm

Driver version 9.17.10.4459

Count of performance levels : 1

Level 1 - "Perf Level 0"

GPU Clock 850 MHz

billsey

OK, so you are on a system that doesn't have UEFI support and all GPUs made in the last many years require UEFI to work (they pre-load some driver stuff during the EFI load portion of the BIOS). You could add a GPU if it's old enough, such as the GT530 some shipped with, and I believe you can go a little newer with something in the 700 series, but any newer than that just will not work. If you stay on the BIOS version you have you are limited to a 2nd gen CPU with the i7-2600 at the top end which would bump you from the current two cores, two threads to four cores, eight threads. That won't give a huge increase in speed for any one app but will make running multiple apps much smoother. The SSD upgrade you have already done is the biggest bang for the buck you had available. If your system supports the BIOS upgrade to the P03 versions (and you might have to test to verify it will work) then you can bump the CPU up into the 3rd gen versions including the i7-3770S. In general the 3rd gen will be somewhere around 10% faster than the 2nd gen at the same power level (65W TDP in your case).

StevenGen

Jomac said:

I have recently bought an Acer Aspire Z5771 computer which i'm very happy with. I have upgraded the RAM to 8Gb and fitted an SSD retaining the original 1Tb as drive F for general storage.

The CPU fitted is the Intel G620 2.6GHz Dual core and and I would like to speed things up in this area. What alternative CPU's can i replace the original with that could make a speed difference without breaking the bank?

Another area the computer falls down on is the GPU with some pretty poor benchmarks, are there any suggestions here?

I've looked at overclocking both of the above and used the MSI Afterburner and the Intel Overclocking Utility, bur for some reason neither programs will do anything, all options are greyed out (BIOS locked?)

Any help here would be gratefully welcomed.

TIA

Look Jomac as billsey is saying “Unfortunately they used two different motherboards, and the early ones don't support the 3rd gen processors” your OEM “Model IPISB-AG (CPU 1)” can only cater for the lower spec Intel Pentium G620 (2 core, 2 threads, 2.6GHz, 512 L2 cache, L3 cache 3MB and 65W TDP) and the 2nd Gen Sandy Bridge Socket 1150 CPU’s. I would upgrade your Intel Pentium G620 to the highest spec CPU of the Core i7-2700K Sandy Bridge, Socket 1155 (4 core, 8 threads, 3.5GHz turbo 3.9GHz, L2 cache 1MB, L3 cache 8MB and 95 TDP) and also the other 2nd Gen that Acerfits to the other motherboard like the i3-2120 or the i5-2400S which will all fit and be compatible to your motherboard and are all good performers but and what I suggest is for you to get better CPU cooling fans, the i7-2700K top CPU will give you an increase of “Related Performance” of 215% above your OEM Pentium G620 performance which the i7-2799K is also 90% upgradeable and compatible to your OEM Intel Pentium G620T CPU as is your BIOS Version: P01.A0 titled “BIOS (No support Ivy MB)” which you can ONLY upgrade to the higher BIOS update of the Version P01.A1 titled “BIOS” ONLY!

Note: all the other BIOS updates are not suitable for your Sandy Bridge CPU, for example the Version P03.A1 titled “BIOS (Support Ivy MB)” for your Aspire Z5771 is only for the Ivy Bridge motherboard (see below) and the CPU’s which caters for the Z5771’s Intel Core i5 3330S QC 2.8G 6M 65W and the Intel Core i7 3770S QC 3.1G 8M 65W ONLY, also the Z5771 came with a UEFI BIOS that the BIOS version P11.B0 titled “BIOS - UEFI for Windows 8 (Not for Upgrades)” which you cant mod your MBR/Legacy BIOS like I could do on my V3-571G from MBR/Legacy toUEFI BIOS.

You can also have a lookat your RAM and increase its speed, do a Crucial Memory Scan to see if you can upgrade to more speedy memory like the DDR3-1600MHz as the specified memory for the Z5771 is: RAM Dual-channel 1333 MHz DDR3 SO-DIMM support: Up to 4 GB per memory module Upgrade option with 2 DIMM slots.

In regards to your motherboard, the mobo that you listed as your OEM “Model IPISB-AG (CPU 1)” which has the Intel H61 chipset but Acer has not made this mobo compatible with the 3rd Gen Intel CPU’s as your Z5771's BIOS support for that motherboard is only up to the Version P01.A1. The only Acer Z5771 mobo that supports both the Intel Pentium Dual-Core G620.G630, G640, i3-2120, i5-2400S, i5-3330S and the top of the range i7-3770S CPU is the “Mainboard aParis Intel H61 Realtek RTL8111E-VL - Acer Logo Proprietary W/O 1394 V1.0 LF w/ - MCR/USB3.0/SPIDF, for UMA and switchable VGA – Acer part#: MB.SHM0P.001” so your mobo can’t, as I've suggested above, upgrade to the Intel 2nd Gen Core i7-2700K as that is your only option ifyou don't want to get the other model that I've listed.

billsey

The issue with putting in an i7-2700K is the higher TDP (95W vs. 65W). With the K model CPU you will need to revamp the cooling system to deal with the 50% higher heat load.

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