***ENVY 14 Gaming Lounge***

Im downloading the Cataclysm beta right now. Ill update with my results

 

Awesome, I'd really appreciate that info. I've also looked at some other gaming computers but I'm not crazy about the style of most. Just because I like to play games sometimes doesn't mean I want my computer glowing red, preparing for take-off. I picked the Envy because it seemed like a solid mulit-media computer that looks amazing. I'm not too interested in having the high performance of a gaming laptop because, well it comes with the high price tag gaming laptop and I really dont think I'll need that much power. About the graphics card; on HP there's only one choice when you're ordering but will this computer support other cards in case I do decide I'd like to upgrade it?

 

for the envy 14 (and most laptops) the graphics card is soldered onto the motherboard.



if you pick the i3/i5 version you cannot upgrade to an i7 processor (requires a different motherboard type, the envy has two motherboard options. one for the i3/i5 and one for the i7)

 

Im sure itll run Cataclysm fine. I ran FFXIV on it decently (30ish fps) at 1600x900 and thats requires more power/very unoptimized

 

Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate the input

 

Played for about an hour and did one 5 man. The game ran very well on all ultra, 1600x900, 2x anti. No FPS drops.

 

omg i hate you i want to play the beta =(((((((

test hunters out for me plz? il love you forever

 

What was your average fps out of curiosity?

 

I didnt use the FPS counter, but next time I log in, Ill let you know.

 

Awesome. Thanks a bunch

 

so whats everybody settings for Starcraft 2? Pls mention if your on 1366x768 or 1600x900 as well.

 

Holy crap! How did you overclock your i5-450m to 3.05GHz?!?! And your graphics to 525/950? that's heaps. I can only overclock my gpu to 545/800. Did you increase the voltage somehow?

 

I posted like 6 times how to OC the 450. Just look through my post history.

And actually, my card OCs fine to 535/980 but i figure 525/950 is enough. To be honest, I dont even OC my CPU or GPU to play games lol. I just wanted to break 8k on 3dmark

edit: Also, just played cataclysm. All on Ultra except shadows on Fair and 2x. I played for about 30 minutes just running around all the areas and stormwind and the lowest FPS I saw on the counter was 45ish. The majority of the time it was 60fps. The game will run like cake on the envy 14. I did not OC my CPU or GPU.

 

Go to 11:30 on this video, and you'll see settings that most ppl find acceptable for Bnet play: YouTube - HP Envy 14 Screen Viewing Angles + Gaming. Mostly highs and a few mediums, which is pretty good for a mid-range GPU. That video's pretty convincing to me. I'm getting closer n closer to picking because of it.

Good luck.

 

So I'm overclocking my CPU now but I have a question. How do I know much I've increased the turbo boost? Is there a program to tell me this?

 

Get CPU-Z, it's on the first page of the envy 14 owners' lounge, along with a hardware monitor, which you'll need to watch your temps.

 

out of topic .. i saw ur posts that u are having an i7-720 envy 14 .
want to ask whether does the i7 overheat after few hours of gameplay and how hot does it get ? is it bad as what others mention about the pc crashing ?

just got an i7 envy with radiance as it is the only model available in my country and im having 2nd thoughts about the batt life and gaming . hope u can give an honest review .

 

Since you have the radiance screen I'll assume yours is the 1st generation of envy 14s. Unfortunately I own a beats edition, which is the 2nd generation and I believe it has better cooling.

With my computer there are absolutely no problems at all with cooling, during normal usage my cores are around 50 degrees celsius, and they reach 60 plus when I game, although I've only played warcraft 3 on it for extended periods of time so far. Under Prime95 stress tests (30 mins) I peaked out at around 86 degrees, with ambient temperatures around 30, and the fans weren't even spinning at full then. i7s are rated to run at up to 105 degrees. The stress test represents the absolute maximum that you'll be pushing your laptop to. 20 seconds after the test I'm back at 50+ degrees. Heat is no issue for me, and I've never crashed (except when I'm trying to OC my GPU). However I have read about 1st gen envy 14s hitting the 90s while gaming. The fact that some people complain and others don't would lead me to conclude that it could be some sort of problem with their thermal paste application, so if yours does have trouble replacing that should fix it.

Battery life is a little troublesome however, I'm only able to get around 2 hours out of it on normal web surfing usage on power saver. However this is in line with i5s on the dedicated GPU, and I am running more than 80 processes. My total power draw is 24W, with 15W going to the processor, assuming the rest of it goes to the GPU that's 9W. So you should be able to get 60% more battery life with the igp, with actual timings depending on your settings.

If yours is indeed the first generation one (i.e. 14-10xx), then be prepared to face a problem, but you should be able to fix it with a thermal paste replacement. Regarding battery life, if you expect to use it for more than 2.5 hours unplugged and don't want a slice battery, get an i5.

The i7 won't affect your gaming too much, only on those that support multi-core rendering, which are pretty rare now. Nonetheless it is still a faster processor, and if more of such games are released in the future you'd be well equipped.

 

Just a quick question. How do you know which generation the envy is? Mine also has the radiance screen (it came as an extra option) and I have the i5. I'm not complaining about the temps, I think they're really good. So I'm wondering if I have the 1st or 2nd gen. I have the Envy 14t-1000 if that is any help.

 

1000 is 1st gen.

1100 is 2nd gen (but that doesn't mean too much in the end until you get to the no radiance gen)

 

Ah ok thanks. Why can't you get the radiance screen anymore? I'm sure games look heaps better on it.

 

Yeah they do, but it's sort of a give and take really. The 5650 isn't quite powerful enough to power that screen, so you'll have to sacrifice on graphic detail anyway. From what I know HP's supplier of the radiance screen ran out of stock or don't make them anymore.

 

Yeh and it really doesn't help if it comes underclocked as well. Stupid HP!

 

Yes, with the i7 the AMD GPU works slick. ATI's switchable graphics have been known not to be as smooth as nVidia. They sometimes require a hard switch or intel just will not let go.

I am happy with the gaming performance. It is balanced and HP never touted the Envy 14 as a "High end gaming RIG" but more as a "High end multi-media RIG"

Easily overclocks the GPU to 650/950 with the i7, but the GPU starts to hang in the low 80's so I generally run 550/850 with AMD GPU tool and performance is fine. I guess what I sacrificed in battery life is more than made up for with the i7. it is a powerhouse of a laptop CPU and I am sure reduces the workload on that 5650. Cool thing is if I forget to throttle back the GPU, it happens automatically when the Envy shuts down, goes to sleep or hibernates.

FYI the radiance is back. I ordered mine in September with the radiance and the 5650 pushes it quite well.

Envy 14 / i7-740 / 5650 / Radiance 1600X900 / 6 gigs o' ram / 500G 7200 HD

 

650!? What's your AMD GPU version?

 

yeh 650/950 is crazy. I can't even get 550/800. I wish I could overclock to 550/850MHz, more would be nicer but yeh. I might have missed it but is the GPU underclocked with the i7s?

 

wow that is a good result . btw how does ur i7-740 compare to the i7-720 ?
other then the battery life , does the i7 crash under heavy games like mw2 and battlefield ? ive read threads about the i7 overheating and the com crashing due to heat . i have the i7-720 and the vent does get quite hot .

also , any i7 owners get more than 4 hrs battery life ? what can i do to at least get 4 ? i have a bright red pixel stuck on the screen , dunno if i shld rma to i5 .

 

You're not gonna get 4 hours without a slice, even i5s with their IGPs can't do that consistently.

 

that's quite sad for me ... but i can always find a power socket .
btw i saw a post that some1 with an envy 15 with the i7 can get up to 5 hrs of battery life !!!! let me find the thread and mayb some1 can justify it ?

btw the thing im worry about is whether the i7 will crash under heavy games like crysis and mw2 after long hours of play .
the right vent does get hot
is there any particular issues with i7 ?

 

Anyone who can give a guide on how I overclock the CPU? I've tried the one mentioned here with setFSB, but it freezes when I touch the upper slide. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

I've read that post and I'm honestly not sure how he did it. I'm running the same settings and the envy 14 actually has a bigger battery.

The fact that your vent is hot just means the machine is getting rid of the heat effectively. Go 1 page back and you'll find my reply to your first post. In short, the i7 works great

 

Anyone here care to comment on whether you have to lower reso in SC2 to be able to play on high settings? Or is it fine on 1600x900 on high? (Inevitably it will be better on 1366x768, right?)

Thx as always.

 

At 1600X900 OCed at 565/815 i get 40-60 frames on high.

 

What are your system specs?

 

can someone give me a quick rundown on how to OC with MSI Afterburner plzzzzzz I would love you forever.

 

What is the highest clocks one has achieved on the GPU?

 

SC2, 1600x900, ultra texture, high gfx = 28-32 fps. just fine for me.

On a related note: if the last update interval holds true, we should be due for a graphics update this month (last two were june 18 and aug 13) so maybe a new HP-ATI driver set in the near future?

 

i5 450
500gb 7200rpm
4 gig ram

 

To follow up my own question on Envy14 vs DM4T battery life:

The Envy14 has an 8-cell 14.8v 3760mAh battery
The DM4T has a "high capacity" 6-cell 11.1 5225mAh battery

Included is an image comparison of the two. Can someone with better electrical/computer background explain why our larger battery lasts half as long and why they couldnt put 5000+mAh into it?

 

After you install it, go to Local Disk C: - MSI Afterburner and open the 2KB file called MSIAfterburner using notepad - Scroll down to the bottom and you should see Enableunofficialoverclocking = 0 change it to 1 and save the file.
Then open MSI Afterburner and start moving the Core Clock slider by about 10, click apply, test if it is stable and keep going like that. Once you have found the max overclock, say 500/800MHz, set it to that value, apply and save then choose a profile number to save it to.
If you turn off your computer or change graphics cards, you will need to open msi again, click on the profile you saved to and apply.

 

Thank you! How much of an FPS increase is 500/800 from the stock setting?

 

i ordered the hp envy 14 beats edition with the core i5 460m will i be able to handle dragon age origins on max settings?

 

Probably because they wanted to make more money off of us buying a slice battery.

Also, they may later release a "high capacity" battery for inside the E14 to make ever more money off of us lol.

 

Not much, around 2-4 Fps max (not exactly sure) but it probably depends a bit on the game as well. If your getting really low fps, this overclock will help, but if your getting 40+ fps then you wouldn't see the difference and it's not worth it. I overclocked to 540/815MHz and theres at least an extra 5 Fps when I'm playing COD. So yeh you really have to play around with it and see whats best for you.
You should get Fraps to see how many Fps your getting during games and HWMonitor to check temperature to see if the overclock isn't causing too much heat.
But really, if you can play games getting 40+ fps then there's no need to overclock.
EDIT: Heat shouldn't be a problem, I haven't heard of anyone that couldn't overclock because the GPU is getting too hot on the envy esspecially if you have the latest BIOS (F.13A)

 

Anyone here give STALKER: Call of Pripyat a go on their E14? I just tried it out and got major hangups every couple minutes - I just posted on the Steam forums, but anyone here have any experience or ideas?

 

Laptopvideo2go is a Nvidia site (unless they recently added ATI's stuff, or I'm just missing something). I already tried to install AMD's drivers, but it said it did not recognize any valid hardware to install the driver. I'd really like to know who is running the most up to date ATI driver and where they got it + how they installed it if special modifications were needed to keep the switiching graphics working.

 

I'm running Catalyst 10.9 downloaded from Guru3D.

 

+1 Rep, thanks!

 

Does this work for the i5 setup? Or is this only for the i7 quad 5650 version ?

 

When you said you get 40+ FPS, is that during melee games or in Use Map Settings (UMS/custom) games? So lots of units, or hardly any units on-screen?