Dv6 Radeon 6770 1gb vs 2gb

Hey everyone I've been thinking about getting this laptop. I will be using this for architecture work so cad, 3d work, renderings and all adobe stuff. Ill also be playing wow and team fortress 2 on it. Just wondering what you guys think I should spec it out like. Thanks in advance.

 

First and foremost, get the 1920x1080 display upgrade. The screen affects you more than any upgrade because higher resolutions let you multi-task better by letting you fit more onscreen at once such as side-by-side windows. This is also essential to your usage - CAD, rendering, the Adobe suite. You'll also benefit from the huge difference in image quality between the screens.

Second, only get the 1GB 6770M. Make sure you've got the 6770M, but stick with the 1GB version because most games can't utilize more than 1GB on a midrange card. Plus, I can max out TF2 on my 2-year-old laptop with 512MB VRAM, so you'll have no issues with that game. However, I am not really an expert when it comes to CAD, and I don't know if more VRAM would help you there. My guess is no.

Finally, be sure to use the coupon code NBP61449

 

Exactly...use that $50 and get the 1920x1080 display. The 2GB 6770M is just HP marketing.

 

If any of your modeling/CAD programs depend on OpenGL, stay away from this system. The switchable graphics that this notebook uses are causing major problems for OpenGL programs and games.

If your primary purpose is going to be modeling, look for a notebook that has either an AMD FirePro or NVIDIA Quadro GPU. While they're not designed for gaming, they will still be more than adequate for WoW and TF2. They are more money, but should work better for your purposes.

 

Yep, my M4400 has a Quadro and it handles TF2 fine. And it's a 2-year-old Quadro too.

Take a look at the Lenovo Thinkpad W520 and Dell Precision M4600 if your CAD programs are OpenGL-intensive - and make sure you get at least the 1600x900 screen in the W520, and get the 1920x1080 display in the M4600 because there is no 1600x900 option.

 

Well I currently have a t61p and it dies work very well but I paid a hefty price for it. I have a budget of about $1200 max and thought this hp was perfect. Is there no way to just leave the dedicated card on?

 

Not currently. I would check to see whether or not your CAD/rendering programs support Direct 3d.

 

If all you are playing is WoW and TF2 and your programs don't work with DirectX only then you could opt for the dv6z with the A8-3530MX and 6750m.

I would not be surprised if you could run both games at 1920 x 1080 under that configuration.

 

Not sure about TF2, but I think you could probably run WoW on a TI-83.

 

This OpenGL seems to be a problem and is concerning me since I will be using this to do AutoCAD, 3d MAx, Rhino, Revit, Adobe CS5 also. I thought this would be a perfect fit of a laptop for me since the price was good and the specs were very strong with it having core i7. would the dell xps 15 be the same?

 

I guess the main question is will this affect much on my laptop outside of just rendering? Im not too worried about redndering since that laptop can sit there and do its thing but will it freeze up while, lets say, rotating the model or whatp-not?

 

As far as I understand, all of the programs you listed support Direct 3D natively, with the exception of Rhino, which I believe has a plugin for D3D support. I don't think the GPU switching will cause problems for you.

The Dell XPS line uses NVIDIA GPUs, which use a different switching tech and can be forced on.

 

Thanks Hockey! How does the dv6 compare to the xps 15? I like hp's style much more than dells haha. I know both laptops are very similar spec wise but the HP, with coupon code, is just a lot better price wise for what you get.

 

The quad core Dell is about $300 more, but you do get a better screen and a slightly better CPU. The GPU in the dv6t is better than the XPS'.

I personally think the Dell looks chunkier than it actually is, and that evokes memories of my Gen 1 XPS, which was a monster. I have to give the edge to the HP for the combination of styling, a better GPU, and the price point.

 

I thought both were the same screens?

 

Same resolution, the backlight on the Dell is RGB, which means that it can deliver better color representation as opposed to the white backlight on the HP. Not a make or break kind of thing in my opinion, the HP screen is still an extremely good screen. It's just that the Dell screen is probably the best screen you can get in a consumer grade laptop.

 

What processor is better in the Dell?

 

My mistake, when you config the XPS 15, for some reason, if you select the Enhanced option, the 2630QM isn't an option, so I thought the base quad core available was the 2720. I guess the 2630 is an option, so the processor is a wash.

 

My DV7T is going back due to an unrelated issue with the 6770M...I just ordered an XPS configured how I have it in my sig (except for the RAM since the 8GB from the DVT7 is going in the XPS, XPS was ordered with 4GB DDR3) for $1,159.99 ($1,074 DV7T) that's with $520 off in coupons. In everything I've read the 6770M does slightly better in gaming and the GT555 does better with programs, etc. I'm not a gamer so I'm good. The XPS 17 has some good stackable coupons going on right now..

 

what coupons did you use? The $350 one, the $150 one, anything else? The 3% student discount?

I might get an identical machine

 

They are running a $20 off coupon for the $120 upgrade on the 1.0TB 500GB 7.2k HDD x 2 drives. There's no code it's just there when you configure it. Logicbuy has all the details: Best deal and coupon Dell XPS 17 17.3-inch Laptop with 2nd gen Intel Core i7, 3D 1080p | XPS 17 Coupon, Deals, Reviews - LogicBUY the last deal is the one I got. All I got was the 4GB DDR3 because I'm putting the 8GB from the dv7t in. The link says "3D" but that's another deal.

 

The Dell's backlight is B+RGLED and the HP's backlight is WLED.

B+RGLED is actually a type of WLED, but instead of using a blue LED with a yellow phosphor coating that converts some of the blue light into yellow light to mix with the remaining blue light and produce a sort of white, it uses a blue LED with red and green phosphors (hence "B+RG") to produce a signficantly larger portion of the NTSC color spectrum.

So yes, B+RGLED is WLED, but so much better that it deserves its own name. Anyone who says "B+RGLED is just a slightly better version of WLED" is understating it.

But the HP's 1080p screen is still rather good, and the color reproduction is quite good compared some cheapo screens out there.

 

But is the B+RGLED on the XPS 17?

 

The XPS 17 is not B+RGLED.

 

I know this is a post for the Dv6 model, but hoping this will be useful to Dv6 owners as it is for the Dv7. This information I am sharing was tested on the HP Pavilion Dv7-6108TX ( specifically to resolve a GPU crashing issue with Autocad 2012).

The following set of instructions will force the ATI Radeon to be the primary GPU in windows insteadof switching between Intel HD and ATI Radeon GPU's

1. Download the latest BIOS update from HP website for the Dv7 model
2. Apply the BIOS upgrade
3. Restart the computer to let the BIOS upgrade finish any and let it boot to windows
4. Restart computer again
4. Press F10 to enter the bios setup
5. Change the "Switchable Graphics Mode" option to"Fixed" in the System configuration section
6. Apply BIOS changes and restart Computer
7. In windows, Open Catalyst Control Centre
8. Make sure the Current active graphics processing unit is your ATI Radeon, if not click the "High-Performance GPU" button below in the choose a "Graphics Processing Unit" section
9. In the Power -> Switchable Graphics section untick "Automatically select power saving GPU when on battery"
10. Apply any changes

To test if this works use DXDiag and let it run its tests, in the Display tab you should now see the ATI Radeon 6770m GPU as the default, whereas before the Intel HD GPU would show up.

Resources
Official HP statement on Switchable Graphics and Open GL Fun... - HP Support Forum

 

Or just search or look at the sticky.