***ENVY 14 Gaming Lounge***

I can't find Magus' post on Dead Space but I can say that I recently finished Dead Space 2 (had a blast) on High IIRC and it played great.

 

Thanks for the quick response.. I was wanting to get it now so I could play tonight, but I also wanted to wait and see if someone responded back saying it was definitely playable before I bought it.

Also, here's his post:

 

Dead space was fine. You get used to the slight issues with the lighting when it strobes.

I mean...otherwise you turn vsync on and things just break with awful mouse lag in the menus (among other things) because EA did not implement vsync properly for Dead Space 1.

I'm not sure how Dead Space 2 runs but if that guy up there says it plays fine, it should be fine.

 

Hi everyone. I posted this in the owner lounge, but I think this is a better place.

I have a HP Envy 14 1095la with Radiance screen.

I recently bought an LCD TV and I am thinking in using the Envy to play some games on the TV (Skyrim, Dirt, Fifa, etc).

For space reasons, I would like to connect the notebook to the TV and play with the lid closed (with external mouse and keyboard). However, I noticed that when running taxing games some parts of the notebook (above the exhaust fans) get really hot. I never have problems playing games directly on the notebook, though.

So, my question: Is it safe to play games with the lid closed? Will the notebook overheat? Can the heat damage the screen?

Thanks you.

 

Why not just check your temps? Download something like HWMonitor and leave it open when you are gaming for a while then check if they are ok. Don't quote me on this but I suspect the fans might also pull cool air from above the keyboard (I can sort of feel the cool air moving in that area and hot air blasting out the back)

 

Run HWmonitor to make sure, but i am almost certain that the Envy uses the spaces in the keys as its primary intake of air. closing it does make it significantly hotter

 

Thanks for your answer.

I thought that the cool come from the under the notebook, from the vent right next to the slice battery connector. Is there any documentation about the airflow on the Envys?

 

no and I thought it sucked in air from below as well (I know from someone else that putting the slice on does cause the envy to kick the fans into a higher gear more often than not since the slice interferes with air flow a bit)>

 

Anyone know of a way to get BF3 to put out Dolby Digital with the Envy? I've read it uses Dolby Digital Live!, do we have this functionality? Or has anyone heard of a software pack or IDT package that supports DDL encoding?

 

all signs point to "HP and IDT don't really care"

Dolby Digital Live doesn't work - HP Support Forum

people with the HDX were having the same issue once they went to windows 7. There's some vista drivers that may work but..I'm not sure how well that will work on the envy 14.

 

Yeah, I saw that thread. Is the HDX a pretty close relative, audio hardware-wise to the Envy? What's with HP and not caring it seems?

 

...maybe. I mean you could try it and if it doesn't work you can *shrug* and deal.

at the very least your shortcut keys won't work. At the very most nothing will work and you clean out the drivers and put the original back on.

 

Just wonder if it will even matter since my audio is going out the Turtle Beach USB...

 

WHAT.A.DEAL! Dead Space was good, Dead Space 2 fixed every sucky thing about the original and it came out BOSS!!!

 

I don't know. I still think the IDT chip controls audio output...well maybe.

 

didn't work, wouldn't install the vista drivers...

 

Hey,

I just upgraded my HP Envy 14-2070 to 11.12 and when I try to start CS Source I get a flashing screen. It is displayed on my 22' external monitor. I can't even reach the starting screen.

 

idk if you are still having issues with gta 4 and bc2, havent tried la noire, but, i use 11.10 if im not wrong, because 11.11,11.12 and 12.1 wont work well with envy, at least not for me.

 

12.1 seems to go fine with my envy but then again they did introduce a new "feature"

it no longer asks to swap to the dedicated gpu when you plug in the cord. It also doesn't check to see if you're on something that's using the gpu (hey IE..also hey firefox but it never checked for firefox anyway). Bit annoying but oh well.

 

To update, the 12.2 pre-certified WHQL drivers are running very well on the Envy 14-1000. Has definitely boosted up my BF3 performance. I've finally gotten to ditch the mipmap on LOW settings in CCC which made a huge difference in graphics quality without any hit in fps. Getting 29-40 fps in 1280x720 with deffered AA, textures, terrain decor, terrain detail on high, with mipmap on high quality. YMMV as always, but I've been updating to the latest preview drivers each month as they become available and have no problems with SC2 (surprisingly on ultra @ 1600x900), BF3, Alan Wake, Tropico 4 and others.

12.2 pre-certified:
http://www.techspot.com/news/47501-amd-releases-catalyst-122-pre-certified-driver.html

 

any OCing going on in your case? though maybe I just have different FPS preferences on SC2..or just SC2 hates my computer 'cause it sometimes drops like 20-30 fps on specific parts of maps.

 

Oh, no it plays at like 26-28 fps, but in a RTS, I don't really notice it. Very playable, IMO.

 

Quick question guys, anyone tried Deus ex HR or Serious Sam 3? its just they went on sale on steam and I want to know if I can run it

 

SS3 can be run at 1280x720 and uh...messing with the settings some/a lot.

Default settings average at like 25 or so fps.

DX:HR gets 30ish fps to above 30ish fps depending on the resolution you choose among other things. I know that it's playable again at 1280x720 on I guess high but with AF and AA off. AF can be on but you sometimes drop below 30 I think.

There also may be some stuttering here or there but that could have been fixed with later patches.

 

I just bought DX:HR, actually I dont mind playing it on low or med, at 1366x768, with getting ~35 fps. Ill assume with what you said that it will run fine on low-med.

SS3 I decided not to buy, since I read in the forums it has a lot of problems even for the people with monster pc's.

Thanks for the reply! Take some rep!

EDIT: Battlefield 3 is getting cheaper and cheaper, anyone can confirm that with the latest drivers 12.2 it runs better?

EDIT2: Dead Space 1 and 2, both run on high, without vsync and all that extra features, like aaf, i dont remember if the game haves it but just to be clear, I mean, I always play my games with shadows, af, aa, off.

EDIT3: So I can run Deus Ex, turns out it runs like crap, even at 800x600 everything on the lowest of lowest without dx11, it runs at 60 fps but it has parts where the framerate drops to 25 :/ and it sucks!!! and it has no windowed mode, I mean you can play it like that but you cant adjust the window resolution

 

BF3 is playable for me at 1280x720 with a lot of medium settings, no SSAO/HBAO, blur, or MSAA. But I can do medium texture and a medium deferred AA with a few others on mid to get 28-32 fps.

 

Ok i just found a console command that took BF3 performance up a LOT on the Envy! If you're playing BF, use console command:
worldrender.dxdeferredcspathenable 0

instantly improved BF3 performance 6-8 fps at 1600x900, which is now actually playable for the most part. Haven't totally tested in all maps, but it's so much better than before! Not a total cure-all in all situations, there's some areas where it takes hits still, oddly indoors

 

it apparently has somethign to do with rendering stuff ahead of you.

"WorldRender.DxDeferredCsPathEnable" command?? - Electronic Arts UK Community

it'll help out outdoors but may give you less fps inside. *shrugs*

 

Mine runs around 4C hotter with the slice attached (using the 5650, just web browsing and downloading steam games, nothing intensive)

 

no, it's got nothing to do with rendering frames ahead; that has its own console command. here is an explanation, and this post has some before/after screenshots.

 

Oddly enough, I had what I believe was my first overheat with the laptop playing BF3 with this command. Game crashed out and then desktop had massive visual artifacting. Shut it down, pulled the bottom plates off to check the fans and the heat piping was scorching hot... Nothing is OC'd btw.

 

Can someone try with the lowest of lowest settings AT 1280x720? if the game has a stable 35 fps at low i would play it, people needs to stop trying to play everything on high with AA and stuff.

 

We're not going for High, just want native resolution on lowest settings. Makes an enormous difference in visual quality. And why would we stop trying to play things with better settings/performance? 1280x720 at lowest settings plays just fine.

 

So i sent my laptop for fan cleaning today, but now everytime i play any game the screen turns off after a few mins and I hear the usb unplug sound, anyone had a problem like this one? Also I have this sudden framerate drops on bf3 and bc2 the only games ive played since it came today.

im afraind they might had scrweed up or it might be a driver issue, i had this problem a loooong time ago when i bought it, but reinstalling windows fixed the problem, but want to gather more info before jumping into that

edit1: what driver version is the best for bf3?

 

it sounds like you're overheating and the computer is going into a safety shutdown to stop itself from frying

 

just got it fixed, thermal paste, what driver is the best for bf3?

 

*shrugs* something around/after 11.10 was when they fixed the drivers for the game.

 

what does *shrugs* mean? scratch your head?

also I know some after 11.10 but i cant remember though D:

 

Shrug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Hey ironman, will u update 12.3? they just went out love ya man! or you can teach me how to do it, i know a lil bit of programming!

 

lol 0 programming or skill required. its just the link that amd's software would download when it okay's the requirements. BTW, usually it never changes in structure (the link) so just change 122 to 123 for example in the 12.2 link to make it 12.3 download link. I just check if changing version number in link works and if it does, job is done. If it doesn't work, I would then find the new link.

 

anyone tried putting windows 8 consumer preview on their envy's? it works all fine except for the graphics drivers...ive been trying for 2 straight days to get the drivers to work, ive tried everything from the windows 8 consumer preview drivers for ati to running the older ones in compatability mode and none of it works . If anyone could help me thatd be great cuz im getting super frustrated.

 

Dont use windows 8 its a downgrade from windows 7.


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Anyone having cpu overheating issues?

Im having idle temperatures of 49 and max temperatures of 95 when I play bfbc2. I dont want my cpu to fry, how can I fix this? please, I thought at first that it was the gpu but it isnt

 

a statement like this needs some supporting evidence/statements for anyone to believe it.

i have it running on my main desktop pc and its not without its annoyances (primarily the metro ui), but i do like the crazy fast boot time and incorporating the ribbon into windows explorer isnt too bad, either. i certainly wouldnt consider it a 'downgrade'

as for getting it running on an envy...i have no idea. my desktop has nvidia gpu.

 

^ I agree, its not bad and i dont mind the "tablet esque" feel to it...and the boot times were amazing. Just sort of a random question, is it possible to have a raid array in the envy 14? ive seen people take out the cd/dvd drive for another hdd, and ive even seen a raid 0 being done with two ssds on macbook pros.

 

Well the fact its tablet oriented (for me) makes it worse, they are just going to port operative systems to pc, just like devs to with games now, console ported to pc. so hell no. Im sticking to w7.

 

Could anyone please answer my question? ive been looking around forums but haven't found an answer yet...Is it possible to do a raid 0, using lets say 2 ssds, one in the normal hard drive spot and the other replacing the cd/dvd drive? Also, how beneficial can this be? i know its around 2x as fast as a single SSD, but still....what would be the best reason to do this?

 

A user here (JJB, I believe) showed there was little to no gain in doing a raid 0 of 2 SSDs. He has/had a 2nd Gen Envy15. You should PM him about it. His findings are in one of the Envy15 threads.

Sent from my Nexus One using Tapatalk

 

^ thank you. I did some more researching around and found out that it probably wont even be possible to raid 0 on the envy 14. And even still, a raid 0 configuration would not yield THAT high of a performance increase over a single SSD. Plus, with raid 0, the SSDs dont support TRIM, which would degrade performance over time. Speaking of SSDs, anyone have some good recommendations? I preferably would like a 120gb-160gb SSD for around or less than 200 dollars.

 

This is how I got mine working. I use W8 daily with everything (Including Switchable Graphics) working fine. Someone on second gen Envy 14 didnt get it to work but he also might have tried to use first gens stock drivers. Let me know how it goes. I havent gotten any other feedback besides this, but Ill say that it is clearly possible since Ive been using it for months now.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/648758-windows-8-consumer-build-2.html#post8357861