HP DV6z A8-3530MX processor upgrade

ok did the upgrade .... cpu z shows speeds of 2800 - my score went up on aida64 cpu-fpu-mem went down a bit but Im thinking its the bus speed which is at 66.5 as seen elsewhere with this APU
winrar score went way up - quad vs dual Im guessing
BF3-L4dead2 score and fps went up as well
wondering if the memory could be the bus speed issue?
overall Im happy - the bus speed may be crippled but I can achieve with K10 2800-3000

 

My Windows 7 ex. score went up on the cpu to 6.2 as opposed to 5.3 with the original A4-3300
p.s. I did end up with 2 extra screws doh

K10stat - scores Cinebench 10
cpu -9821 / fpu - 1151 / mem - 7601
AMD A8-3530
----------------------------------

Aida64
cpu queen 13220
fpu vp8 1302
memory read 7530

brought core VID down to 1.250 v (K10)and its running stable and cooler as well ... same speeds 2800-2825 cpuz

 

Did you guys mod your dv6z? 1.2x+ w/o mod is kind of hot on mine.

 

no mods - all stock - cept APU

 

Sorry, but CPU-z shows incorrect CPU speed. Run AIDA64 or HWinfo64 to see the actual speed. In CPU-z you can set even 4400MHz, but that is never gonna be true...

 

I agree that the speeds shown are not correct but ... running the benchmarks without K10 and with I do get a noticeable increase with ... What I need are stock 3530 scores to compare with ... that way I can see how my APU compares ....
I am running 1333 ram maybe running 1600 will change the way things clock ?

 

ran passmark ... stock speeds and k10 clocked speeds and yes there is a score difference as well ... so its obviously overclocking...why it doesnt show speeds on hwinfo64 is beyond me ..

 

Because the stock speed is 13xxMHz, with K10Stat you can manage it up to 1733MHz. This is the performance increase that you are see.
For the fastest K10Stat setting you need to uncheck boost, select P0 state, change FID=10, change DID=1. It will keep your bus 100Mhz and CPU will run 1733MHZ.

 

To those that have been searching around looking for an upgrade mainly this there is no A8 3530mx out there that is actually functional except for a rare few that got sold to OEMs like Dell or HP.

The one being sold on eBay and Amazon are either very early bins or somehow are flashed fakes. I bought one a few months ago and didn't realize the true clocks until later. I thought that it was strange how in cpuz and k10stat that it could be set all the way upto 4.7ghz on next to nothing voltage wise and still run. Sure enough it is only 1733mhz. Worse still further overclocking results in a lower base clock and many of us know how that goes. The gpu so far as I know is fully functional but the cpu side of things is what others are warning about.

Does not run with DDR3 1600.


Early binned samples or flashed fakes. It might be possible that the seller is selling stolen samples. There was an incident a few years ago where a large number of socket A era athlons were taken and then later found in a shipping container that were defects that were likely on their way to the black market.

Warning signs to look for. One it only says A8 3500m on the bold label even though in small text it gives the model # for a 3530mx. Second there is one and only one sell on the whole net for this model and oem options for this are nonexistent.

I will be sending AMD an email and might call to report what is going on as they got their headquarters in my state.

 

I truly appreciate all the comments in this post... Ive contacted the seller and plan to return APU for refund ... Ill look around for A8-3500 as I still desire 4 core and upgraded graphics

 

Any suggestions on A8 APU ugrade ? that will work with my system? I do want upgraded Graphics and 4 core .... thanks

 

Beware, I have just tried moving to an A8-3500M from the other A8-3530MX and I still have the same problem, stuck at 1733.
Same story, even running at a lower clock speed of 1.5GHz, the bus speed cannot adjust to 100MHz, therefore the entire processor is inefficient.
K10STAT must be used to get any just to get the bus to stick at 100MHz, and no more that 1733 ever.

So... also look out for the seller on ebay called "promise-forever", as this CPU has the exact same problem as the A8-3530MX that I first brought to everyone's attention.

Something is fishy out there, with the CPU's that are being sold. Both of these sellers seem to have processors right on or shortly after release date.

 

wow thanks . I actually looked at promise-forever as well ...

Its just ashamed it so difficult to test these notebooks as we have to dismantle the entire unit to get to APU

 

could this motherboard be locked to APU of A4-3300m ? If not I agree something fishy - 2 sellers same issues

talked to an HP assistant and he claimed that my mobo is configured and locked to the A4-3300m ( via BIOS ) - I do find that hard to believe but... really no way to test it ... I can order another APU - say a A6 and see what happens but again ... disassemble notebook again ??

 

I have the same problem, but i gonna buy HP Pavilion DV6z with A8-3550MX from HP.com. Than exchange the APUs with my Vostro 3555, after sell the DV6z with A6-3400M on Ebay. I've no other idea to get a good APU...

 

Well I gave it a second shot at upgrading the ram to 1600 and no it doesn't change the apu clocks at all and still have to use k10stat to keep the base clock at 100mhz.

 

What HP says is BS, and usually the rep we get knows little or less than we do. We are actually owning and operating the actual product, even modding, the HP guy is just someone on the phone without the actual model.

The way I see it, if what the HP guy says is true and locked to an A4-3300M, then how is it possible the notebook will even POST, let alone boot fully in to windows and run just fine?
If it was true, then the screen would be black, and the machine will not POST at all, likely get a few beeps instead.

 

I agree ... Ive modded and clocked many chips on my desktop with no issues ... even after some of the mobo sites claimed certain cpu not compatible... still looking around for a possible A6 APU but seems only 2 on ebay are the 2 warned about

 

Ive returned the faulty APU awaiting credit ... In the mean time I purchased an A6-3400 for 55$ and installed it ... Im an expert at breaking down this laptop now...
A6-3400 works like a champ-overclocks well and runs smooth
So I got my quad core and speeds overclocked are way better then the original A4-3300 as well as better graphics... Ill post some benchmark pics soon - so much for HP tech theory that this laptop could not be upgraded....

 

Update.... The Ebay seller has fully refunded the price including shipping ....
So even if the APU was crippled the seller honored the return ...

 

Would this be ok? Is there a chance it will be crippled like some of the past APUs in this thread?

This seller is from China, NOT from Naple, FL:

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

 

If you go thru with the purchase please update us on the results ... not sure about this seller ... his APU was not in question that I could find ... curious ... if it works I may have to reopen laptop and give it a go

 

I found here A8-3510MX for $174 +shipping. I understand it is far more expensive than ebay versions, but this one probably is not crippled.

 

hi all
sorry my english i'm from russia
same problem with acer 5560 (a4-3300M)
upgrate to a8-3500m (buy from ebay "promise-forever" AMD A8-Series A8-3500M AM3500DDX43GX Socket FS1 | eBay)
:-(

 

promise-forever is also selling crippled APU ... the A6-3400 APU I bought after returning crippled APU has been a dream ... works great no issues overclocks well ... not sure if any more available... again extremely happy with upgrade and results... may still upgrade to A8 in the future but waiting for reliable seller
Dell, HP items in Evas Computer Parts store on eBay!

 

Again, forgive my English
may be, these devices are the test samples, stolen in China?
All the same crippled A8-3500M works fine, better than A4.

 

I also bought an A8-3500M APU from promise-forever and have experienced the same results. The APU i received is crippled as well. I have tested using HWiNFO and AIDA64 Extreme Edition and come up with a CPU that doesn't operate like my original A4-3300M. I am also disappointed but not surprised. I am however surprised at how hard it is to get your hands on a GENUINE AMD A-series APU that WORKS! Odd, but hopefully something better will come of all this. I have sent the ebay seller a message requesting a return. I am awaiting feedback...

More people need to be aware of this issue and crippled AMD APUs. Thanks everyone for all your help too.

 

If you are still interesting to upgrade your laptop with A8 Llano, than you can buy an A8-3550MX for only $120. Free international shipping from China. I already purchased one and the seller has one more available.
Later when the item arrives, I'll update if the APU is crippled or the upgrade is successful.

 

Atom Anti that would be great ! Ill wait til you post your results

 

I can imagine this one will be good, because A8-3550MX has different "newer'' stepping than 3500M, 3510MX and 3530MX. So it is worth a chance to try, otherwise I'll return.

 

I recently purchased the only A8-3500M listed from Eva's Computer Parts Store on Ebay for $120. After having to deal with promise-forever's fake A8-3500M I figured I'd give Eva's a chance. Eva's at least is a USA seller, had fast expedited shipping and they did tell me in a message that the A8 came out of a working laptop. I shipped back promise-forever's A8 for a full refund. Now i must wait 15-20 business days for the APU to make it back to China.

I just got Eva's APU yesterday, installed it, and verified that it works with HWiNFO and AIDA64 Extreme CPUID. The A8-3500M I bought from Eva's is legit, the real deal! It does not stay at 1.7GHz nor is the FSB stuck at around 65MHz. This A8 is actually able to overclock correctly up to 2.9GHz, the FSB is where it should be at 98.9MHz-154.5Mhz and it even reads my Corsair Vengeance 1866 RAM correctly and will control the Memory clock from anywhere less than 666Mhz (DDR3-1333) all the way up to 1048Mhz (DDR3-2100). My old A4-3300M was not able to control the Memory Clock like this at all, nor read past 666MHz.

I am very happy now that I finally got what I wanted.

1. Quad core CPU with a 35W TDP (Idles @ 44*C, max temp @ stock clock is around 72*C)
2. 6620G APU graphics
3. LEGIT, Authentic, Genuine AMD APU (not the crippled stuff we all been seeing)
4. Everything WORKS on my Lenovo E425 as it was suppose to!

I'll post a few images to prove this here and I'll update the Lenovo E425 Owner's Thread with all of my findings if anyone is interested.

Wow, same price I paid for my A8-3500M from Eva's and "new" ?

Besides the 35W/45W TDP and memory controller (MX can read DDR3-1600, whereas M can read DDR3-1333), what would be the major difference between the two?

I don't think I'm going to upgrade to an A8-3550MX (not that I wouldn't want to), I just dont know if it would work in my E425 either as the highest possible APU from Lenovo was the A8-3500M (which wasn't even offered at the time of purchase). I would be curious to know if it would work, but do not want to take the chance right now and make another purchase. I am content with my regular A8-3500M at the moment.

Please keep us updated on your upgrade!


I wish you could let me borrow your A8-3550MX for testing in my E425 (after you verify that its Genuine and works).

 

Added this post to my previous posted, created this by mistake.

 

glad Evas worked out for you ... I saw the APU but didnt have the cash available ... congrats !!

 

davidricardo86:

You are just verified there is a good difference between A8-3500M APUs; A8 from good source will work normally, while the certain ebay versions stuck on 1733MHz. This also mean there is no bios limit, all the Llano APUs should work in Llano laptops without an issue.

The difference between A8-3500M and A8-3550MX is the 1600MHz memory controller and 45W TDP limit. The 4 cpu core and the powerful graphics core use the same memory bandwidth, so yes memory speed will affect the performance. It can mean about 10% performance boost, with tight memory timing even 15% in certain games or benchmarks. More details are here from HTWingNut.

The another difference is the factory CPU speed, 1500MHz vs 2000MHz. However both can be overclocked, maybe the 45W limit let's you push it little further or turbo boost can work more.

If I were you with Corsair Vengeance 1866 RAM I would go upgrading without question. What are your timings in 1333MHz and 1600MHz mod?

 

Here's my A8-3500M with the more powerful 6620G graphics.


A8-3500M 1.5GHz_CV(7-7-7-20-1333)_ CPUID_01 by davidc646, on Flickr


A8-3500M 1.5GHz_CV(7-7-7-20-1293_646.7MHz)_ AIDA64 CPUID_01 by davidc646, on Flickr


A8-3500M 1.5GHz_CV(7-7-7-20-1333_665.5MHz)_ AIDA64 CPUID_01 by davidc646, on Flickr


A8-3500M 1.5GHz_CV(7-7-7-20-2100_1049.7MHz)_ AIDA64 CPUID_01 by davidc646, on Flickr


A8-3500M 2.5GHz_CV(7-7-7-20_704.8MHz)_ HWiNFO64_01 by davidc646, on Flickr

 

How could you manage this? It is probably something miss reading, but interesting.
Anyway, CL7 is very nice timing in 1333MHz mod. My Rams currently running only CL8, but I trying to flash it.

 

I have no control over this. It switches Memory Clock automatically pretty fast. It will only stay at that DDR3-2100 for a few seconds then go back to DDR3-1333 and so forth. It just switches like that on its own but this usually happens mostly during idle or light loads. During games or heavy loads, it'll switch less and mostly stay 1333.


On another note, I've also noticed that Turbo P0 P-State is used the most during idle or light loads. Turbo P0 is not really used during say playing a game. It always defaults on the P1 P-State and stay at that frequency but rarely Turbo. I'm thinking this has to be limited by APU temperatures and current load. Whenever the APU thinks there is "room" to overclock it will, but if its already running at nearly 100% then it won't have enough room for anymore overclocking so it resorts to safer clocks? I'm just speculating.

 

Pretty much what you are thinking. Turbo boost is just another fail algorithm.

 

The A8-3550MX APU has been arrived from cpu-fairy seller. He managed very quick shipping and the product works great in Dell Vostro 3555. Finally this is not an crippled APU, It is working perfectly for both CPU cores and GPU part.

Here some benchmarks with my old A6-3400M@2400MHz APU:

Windows 8 x64 scores: 7,1 7,4 5,6 6,5 7,5
Dirt 3 1366x768 High presets: 28,1 FPS
3DMark 2003: 14711
3DMark 11: 701

Benchmarks with my new A8-3550MX@2400MHz APU:

Windows 8 x64 scores: 7,1 7,4 5,9 6,6 7,5
Dirt 3 1366x768 High presets: 34,2 FPS
3DMark 2003: 16787
3DMark 11: 871

Window 8 scores verify the CPU cores are holding on 2.4GHz and not struggling with 1,73GHz, while the games shows nice performance boost on GPU part...

 

That is great news, glad to hear everything turned out ok. How are your before and after temperatures? how about your battery life? and lastly, have you tried to overclock the apu?

 

I could overclock it very easily, because A8 can work on the same voltages as my old A6-3400M did. Battery time looks the same and the laptop actually runs cooler than before. Probably because the new thermalpaste . Under internet browsing temperature is 46C with stopped fan, while I'm loading Prime95 on 2.4GHz it goes up to 69C.

Here is a screenshot: