***ENVY 14 Gaming Lounge***

I used teh 10.7 from the driver link on the first page of the owners lounge, should I uninstall that and use 10.3 from HP?

EDIT
Might be 10.6 not at home to check

 

I've heard some things about external graphics cards for laptops with integrated graphics. Nvidia announced a couple months ago it was something they would pursue in the future. Is it something we will be able to pursue in the future with the envy 14 or will the lack of an expresscard slot prevent us?

 

How much would my gaming performance increase if I was forced to get the bs 1366x768 screen?

 

If you could find a way to connect a ViDock into the eSATA port, I believe that would be adequately fast, though I don't know if that's possible. I don't think the Envy 14 has anything else fast enough to make a difference.

 

With a lack of a usb 3.0 there isn't really another option, but I don't know if that would even work/increase performance. But who knows, Nvidia might come up with something innovative. I ordered my 14, thankfully before the screen price increase, and I don't want to feel like I have to return it because of the sup par 5650 gpu. Seems to be the only flaw in an otherwise excellent computer


Edit: 5650*

 

You mean the 5650?

 

My bad your right, just got my wisdom teeth removed so I'm a little loopy at the moment.

 

After about 2 hours of playing SC the laptop gets pretty hot around the top near the screen (which makes sense..). GPU Temps got to 75. What is considered too hot ?

 

It doesn't increase at all because you can still get the 1600x900 and play at 1366x768 resolution for the same performance.

 

True, but playing a game at 1366x768 would look better on a screen of that native resolution rather than a 1600x900 screen resized to 1366x768.

 

Doubt it - how are they supposed to create a faster external GPU solution when they're limited to the same ports for input? Smaller? Perhaps. Capable of processing directly to laptop monitor? Perhaps. Capable of outperforming the bandwidth limitations of the various ports on the computer? How?

So they keep telling us. I've never seen it, so I couldn't comment, but I would still say it's worth having the better screen to use at full resolution most of the time, at the expense of very slight wonkiness when playing demanding games at lower resolutions.

 

Scaling distorts the image. LCD pixels don't resize, so using a less than native resolution causes the pixels that should be independent to stretch over multiple pixels. Resized pixels are not the same size as the actual pixels, thus causing a blur. I highly recommend dropping settings rather than resolution.

I agree though that I really like having a higher resolution in all other circumstances. The screen real estate is extremely valuable when multitasking.

 

I know I know but a man can dream =)

 

Just placed my order
HP ENVY 14 customizable Notebook PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-450M Dual Core processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)with Turbo Boost up to 2.66 GHz
• 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 switchable graphics [HDMI] - For Dual Core Processors
• 14.5" diagonal High Definition HP BrightView Infinity LED Display (1366x768)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support (Slot Load)
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam and Dual Digital Integrated Microphones [For Brightview Infinity Display]
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• Corel(R) PaintShop Photo(TM) Pro X3 + Corel(R) VideoStudio(R) Pro X3
• Backlit Keyboard
• 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
• $20 OFF! Norton Internet Security(TM) 2010 - 15 Month Subscription (activation required)
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
Estimated build date: August 10, 2010

I guess I'll be the first to have the lower res screen

 

As a person who's never owned anything better than a low-midrange notebook GPU, who rarely plays games at native resolution, I'm not sure how much I would notice this blurring... To me, largely by the necessity of being unable to get both, I've always strongly valued playability over prettiness, so I'd take a slightly blurry scaled version of a game at 30 FPS over a native res version at 24 FPS any day.

 

Yea. That was me too playing CS:S with my integrated intel graphics before I got a part time job and built a computer.

But once you go high end graphics everything else may look alot worse than you remembered.

 

I have to agree with you completely, but to others talking about not playing on native resolution, you won't really notice it unless you're trying to find a difference.

 

Did some quick benchmarks on my 14 with the i5-520, thought I'd share and add to the data. These are all with 3dMark06 with stock settings, and I basically turned on the computer for the first time and ran these, so this is with all HP's bloatware and everything.

(3DMark/SM2.0/SM3.0/CPU)
On battery and integrated graphics: 1360/410/544/2670
On battery with GPU: 3574/1171/1468/2713
Plugged in with GPU: 6830/2435/3039/2703

I learned the hard way that it throttles the GPU on battery, I thought something was wrong with my computer :/.

 

Ehh...Can we still not break the 7k 3dMark06?

And also on a side note... Did the 10.7 drivers allow overclocking higher than 550 core?

 

SC2 players/owners, please chime in re: E14 + High/Ultra settings (without modifying any .txt files, just playing it using stock everything, and selecting High/Ultra in SC2's menu).

 

Keep the aspect ratio the same, and it will reduce any "blur". On this screen 1280x720 I think is better than 1366x768. This runs well for me personally.

 

Actually with LCDs there is a huge difference. I rather keep the res and lower the settings. Lower resolution makes all the lines look very jaggy and fuzzy. With the higher res the lines looks sharp and less AA is needed.

Jaggies is something I can't tolerate but I can tolerate shadows and lack of textures heh. PS2 games look very good on emulators just because of the higher res.

 

With my 520m on SCII, I can play at full resolution, Ultra textures, and medium details at good framerates. I'm sure I could bump everything to the highest but then I'm sure it would be jittery.

SCII is more CPU intensive than some games I've seen. You get a nice bump in FPS from a better CPU as you would a better GPU.

 

Do you have E14? Could you push for Ultra(default Ultra without changing anything else), and check the fps for me? Also, could you do it for High-everything also? I just posted this in the SC2 screenshot thread, that I got like 20-25fps during a 2v2 bnet game in LT map, and this is with my dinodesktop.

Thx bud

 

Hi all. Just like to let people know my overclocking results with afterburner. I am able to push mine to 545/800/. It doesn't seem to give a huge gain in 3Dmark06 scores though. At 450/800 I get about 6800 and but at 545/800 I get around 7400 so just shy of a 9% boost. I haven't actually tested this out with any games yet though (don't want to play games since I'm studying for the MCAT). Anyone know what kind of gains I can expect to get in games going from 450 to 545?

 

hey all, any Mass Effect 2 players here? I'm surprised at how well it is running on my E14. Running everything at max and no lag whatsoever. Looks beautiful screen on the screen too.

My specs are

i7-720
4gb (2 dimms)
640GB HD

 

Not with 3DMark's "native resolution," at least not yet. I got a score of 7947 (posted a while back), but that was at 1280x768 - I only have the trial version. OC's were 575/880.

 

I played lots of rounds tonight with BC2. I ended up having to scale down my clocks to 500/800 because I was getting some weird things happening. I played native res 1600x900 with settings medium except shadows low with DX9 forced. Explosions still bring the game to a crawl. And there's periodic stuttering. Only like a quick one every 30 seconds or so, but noticable.

I hate to make playing a game a deciding issue, but it's one of the games I play mainly. But everything else about it is spectacular. Maybe I've just been spoiled by my GTX 260m, but that by definition means a large heavy laptop.

Decisions, decisions. I could buy a Sager NP8690 with i5-520m, 4GB, 1920x1080 screen, Momentus XT (SSD hybrid), HD 5870 for about same price I get this. Granted it's adding about 2.5 lbs and slightly bigger.

Here is my realistic ideal laptop I'd design if I could: i5-520m, 4GB DDR3, HD 5850, 14" 1920x1080, Intel 160GB SSD, 8-cell battery max mWHr's that I could get for ~ 5-6 hours all for $1500. I think this could be achievable with some real designing. I'd even forego the aluminum chassis, however a unibody design like MBP would actually be cheap to produce, it would just require a lot of up front designing.

 

I like your style. Say, are there any laptops that are 14/15in laptops which exist and have specs/prices close to that which you listed?

Also, how do you like your E14?

 

We need to be able to bring those clocks above 550!!

 

What's the general consensus on SC2 settings/performance for the i5's?

I'm still on the fence of buying a copy of the game.

 

What's the max that anyone's gotten with MSI Afterburner?

 

Some people play with medium or some parts on high and turn down HDR and shadows.

Personally I play it on all low with 900p res because thats the only way it'll get to 60p. Anything else feels REALLY sluggish. Maybe I can turn some on medium but meh, I have my desktop for the single player and for it to look pretty.

Still kind of disappointed though. Looks no better than SC1 pretty much on low.

 

On Medium the game is lag free.
High is doable but kind of laggy.

I'm mad at my Envy cause I got my @$$ kicked on bnet. WHY DID THEY MAKE SC2 SO COMPLICATED?! i hate how everyone has the advantage because they got in on the beta, while i'm still trying to learn the basics of the races. Haha in one month i'm going to be laughing back at my newbiness

 

I play SC2 on high except medium shadows and it runs great. I am overclocked thoug, at 500/815, but im playing on a 22in @ 1650x1080. I love the way it runs!

 

Ive gotten 7400, but its not stable to play games with.

 

I'm on the HP drivers and I've gotten 7447 in 3dmark06. OCed at 560/810.

I think it still has more room to overclock but I don't see a need to right now. Runs BC2 on medium just fine

and my temps are still reasonable, gpu maxed at 72 and cpu at 69

 

lol these temps make me laugh, on i7 envy 15's these were sometimes idle temps back in the gen 1 times.

 

on my dead asus f3sv my 8600m gs idled at 70 lol

 

can anyone tell me how well COD MW2 runs on stock clocks with the envy 14?

 

I have an i-7 and the game runs perfectly on ultra

 

Has anyone noticed any play difference when OC to 500/800 for SC2 vs Stock?

 

The MSI GX640 is a 15" with similar specs. There is also the Force 1656-ID5 which I believe is an XoticPC brand notebook built on the same platform. Only issue is even with an i5 CPU they didn't allow for switchable graphics so battery life will suffer. In that case you might be better off getting a quad core. It's a heavier machine ~6lbs, you get a 1680x1050 screen, and HD 5850 though. Battery life will suffer a bit of course.

Custom Laptops, Gaming Notebooks, Custom Gaming Laptops | XOTIC PC

Overall I LOVE my Envy 14. Everything about it except for the lackluster GPU performance, but I think with a few driver revisions and the enthusiast community it will become pretty decent. I'm basically getting rid of my 7.5 lbs Sager with GTX 260m in favor of this 5lbs HP while sacrificing a little screen real real estate (1600x900 vs 1680x1050) and reduced GPU performance.

 

I finally got around to doing a clean install and installed the HP drivers that are in the SwSetup Folder.

3Dmark06 (No OCing):
6,882

3Dmark06 (OC to 500):
7,205

3Dmark06 (OC to 525):
7,396

Tried to OC to 550, but crashed during the first GFX test.

Honestly, besides a drop of maybe 1-2 FPS here and there during the test I wasn't able to notice that much of a difference (for twitch gamers it might be very obvious).

I'm glad that I have the option to hit that 75 additional clock speed, but don't really plan on using it unless I need it is a last resort. I would rather just lower all of my settings first.

All-in-all I am very happy with this laptop. It is thin, stays cool, awesome display, manages a better score than my XPS laptop. I do not have the keyboard flex, or CPU whine or any of the other things users are mentioning.

1 Minor thing:
Find that while plugged in and running dedicated graphics, fans kick in about 30 mins after use and stay on until you pretty much go to idle.
- On Battery, hardly notice fans.... guess because it is going off the intel HD?
This is minor, I only mention this due to comparing it to my XPS. However, on that machine there are quite a few air intake so it can move more air through the fans faster.

In conclusion: For a ~$1,000 laptop (ty BCB) given all it's features despite it's minor annoyances, believe that it is the best bang for your buck.

 

Why does the laptop get hot when I'm playing Minecraft, but not when I'm playing TF2, UT3, Oblivion, Portal, etc.

>_>;;

 

you're getting like 500 to 1000 fps since mnecraft's fps cap broke and I think is still broken (been that way for a year)

edit: though it may work after all but might be defaulted to off. check the options.

 

Unless "i-7" refers to a GPU that's not the 5650, there's no way you're getting high fps at anything close to the native rez on ultra.

 

it's his cpu, but i agree... it can't be very smooth at all high with the stock 5650

 

LOL, for some reason I find that hilarious. I'm really not sure why.

 

I know -- bad joke.