*HP ENVY 17 & 17 3D (2XXX series) Owners Lounge*

if I upgrade to the 6300 card will I lose bluetooth? Intel doesnt say anything about bluetooth on the 6300 product page.

 

I put Windows 8 on the family desktop computer....its okay. I wasn't too impressed at first but now that I've done the registry edit to get rid of the "Metro UI" crap its gotten more tolerable/manageable.

My Envy 17 3D is in Alaska right now. I want to call FedEx to have them hold my laptop for me at the FedEx station of where I live however the LAST time I did this FedEx failed completely in that regard.

So I'm thinking I'm gonna call the moment I find out its in Memphis, TN. That way there's no confusing or mix up. And I'm gonna call them multiple times to confirm that its done....

 

Another update -

It seems that whatever drivers I have are not compatible with windows 8 and the envy screen. Everything works well, but i have to plug it in to an external monitor to see anything. The screen just doesn't work with win8.

 

Hey Guys, I just received a brand new in box (unopened) envy 17 from hp to replace my envy 14 that they couldn't repair. The 17 is a little big for me, so if anyone wants to buy it, check out my post in the NBR marketplace or send me a pm. (It has a 300gb SSD!)

If no one buys in a week or two, ill probably end up keeping it...

 

No you won't.

 

Can someone explain to me what this "Intel Digital Logo" stuff is about and whether it does anything critical for the Envy 17 3D?

Just got my Envy. I've poured over it in detail and its completely excellent. No weird jutting of the left side. No marks or scratches.

Just going over the folders in SWSetup folder to find out where the important programs that I want to reinstall are located at. I'm not sure I'm gonna reinstall Roxio. Anyone have anything positive to say about it? Isn't it just for movie rentals?

EDIT: It appears to have nothing except the HP MovieStore which I absolutely see no purpose in having....lol. So I guess that answers my question.

However the CyberLink DVD software can be used to burn DVDs correct?

 

if you plan to install HP support assistant, then you'll want to install the swsetup/HPDOC. thats the documentation porttion of HPSA.

yea roxio is junkware companion to the HP moviestore. forget that one. PowerDVD is the player and at least the installation on my DV7 there is a "burn" option as well

 

It looks like that HPDOC is within the HPD1084 folder. And there is a program called NotebookDocs within...so I guess thats the "documentation portion of HPSA".

Although I'm hesitant to even get HPSA since I know where I'm getting all the drivers from (both SWSetup and the ones directly from company websites....).

But thats for clearing that part up? Any idea what this "Intel Digital Logo" business is about tho?

Lastly Power2Go apparently is part of CyberLink and is the burning program. Is that what you're referring to? Cuz whenever I open up PowerDVD it just looks like its a program for playing movies, music, etc etc...I'm gonna keep it of course for Bluray movie playback tho. I just didn't know whether I should keep Power2G as well.

 

ahh -- HPDOC. thats must be Envy vs Dv7 isms going on here. same for Power2Go, so I won't be much help there. yes I hear you on the HPSA. its not really needed for those who manage their own drivers. its just helpful to detect updates thats all. and its not a bad app, really.

I have no idea what that silly digital logo thing is. I wouldn't install it. theres some similar foolishness in the DV7 -- some green logo happiness that doesn't do anything useful. holy cow you want the computer to do useful things, not a bunch of useless fluff.

 

more coolsense experimentation -- had some time to experiment a bit with coolsense, prime95 (formally prime64), and throttlestop. This is on my 2630qm 8GB DV7.

first, of particular interest is that even with throttlestop running (allowing turbo) and coolsense uninstalled I can't get the i7 to hit 2.9GHz. it peaks out at 2.6GHz. wierd. other observations:

1. coolsense "performance optimized" is a lot like no coolsense at all, but I would still like the option (like you coolsense 2.0 guys) to turn if off.

2. the coolsense setting you apply (say, "coolest") persist even after uninstalling coolsense! how wierd is that.

3. throttlestop trumps coolsense. no surprise there, but interesting anyway. if I set coolsense to "coolest", throttlestop will make the system behave as if coolsense were set to 'performance optimized'

4. oddly enough, I find no difference between coolsense "performance optimized" and any other coolsense setting with throttlestop "on". both produce 2.6GHz only, without hitting 2.9GHz, and the system still throttles back when temps appraoch the low to mid 90s. by setting the notebook on a very soft feather blanket (choking the air supply) I found that the CPU throttled to whatever it took to keep temps from exceeding the mid 90s, even with Throttlestop on! Either I'm not using throttlestop correctly, or this DV7 BIOS has a way of trumping throttlestop to prevent high temps.

5. finally, I find little use for coolsense. The possible exception to this is the "coolest" mode, which I find quite curious. it disables throttleing and pushes the fan speed up so that temps stay in the mid 70s. for those who want to keep things as cool as possible, this is a good setting.

 

In all honesty...I leave Coolsense on Performance and use Throttlestop when playing a game. I set up Throttlestop so that when temps get to certain levels...I control throttling the CPU. I can keep my temps in a decent range and have my CPU run as low as 1.6 GHZ should I choose. Throttlestop, used properly, can be a very handy tool

 

what about just turning coolsense off? and can you acheive the advertized maximum turbo speed of your processor?

 

So since the latest bios update that addressed the throttling issue, what is the benefit now of using throttlestop?

 

Should I see temps get too high with Turbo...I can use Throttlestop to throttle my cpu back and keep it where I want it. Before the bios update...the cpu would throttle to 800 mhz...now if I want to use throttlestop instead of coolsense, I can run it with turbo and at certain temps...have it throttle back the cpu automatically and keep temps under control. Throttlestop allows me to keep my cpu at normal with turbo AND have better temperature control. I haven't had to use it alot...but every now and then...plus there is a setting in the newer versions that actually helps my SSD 4K read / write scores increase

 

Not getting over 2.6GHz is actually not CoolSense fault or even the Envy itself, it's what i7-2630qm turbo boost is limited to. I know that it is advertized to hit 2.9GHz, but that is only true when one core is being used. When all 4 cores are used then you're getting 2.6GHz.
This might help http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/608715-how-get-my-processor-boost-2-9ghz.html

 

Welcome to the forums xZ71, and right-o for pointing out that 2.6GHz is not acheivable when all four cores are running. has to do with maximum Pd, and I just realized that about 90 seconds after posting, lol

What I find curious is that coolsense appears to be a good tool to control the fan profile of interest, but not a good tool to control throttling profiles. In fact coolsense "coolest" mode runs the fan faster than no coolsense at all (at least on my Dv7). Morever, throttlestop is a good tool to control throtting profiles, but not a good tool to control fan profiles. so guess what -- I rather stumbled on a curious solution that so far looks good:.

1. open coolsense and set to "coolest" mode. this will assert a high speed fan profile but will throttle back the CPU to some pretty low numbers. the goal of this profile appears to keep core temps in the 70s, and I've seen some pretty aggressive throttling applied to achieve this. close coolsense, and these settings will persist.

2. run throttlestop. this will trump the coolsense throttling profile but will not trump the coolsense fan profile!

suddenly, a way to achieve maximum performance and cooling at the same time. YMMV I'm experimenting on an DV7, not an envy.

 

Is anyone doing this with the Envy? Results? I'm curious to know if I should install it and then use it this way.

 

@dlleno
I just tried your method with the ENVY 17 and you're right, I achieved the turbo boost speed (2.6GHz) except that I can't tell if the fan is actually being running faster. I mean my ears can't tell the difference, unless there is a tool or something that can moniter the fan speed then I'd try that.
One note though, are you sure that CoolSense does actually increase the fan speed? I think it only does the throttling thing. BTW I have CoolSense 2.0 where the options are ON/Off/Auto, for me I just always leave it off and I'm happy with the temps even when I'm playing games like Crysis/Crysis 2.

@mav99
Throttlestop is pretty much a portable package. You don't need to install it you just extract the zip file and use it immediately, so it's worth the try. Here's there download page. Downloads | Tech|Inferno

 

yea I can't speak for coolsense 2.0 cause I'm using 1.0. And from what I observe, coolsense is a good fan profiler but not a good throttle profiler. Conversely, throttlestop is a good throttle profiler but not a good fan profiler.

go to 'coolest' setting and run prime95 or something stressful that gets all four cores cranked up. let it stabilize -- you should see 2GHz or so at least initially. then switch to "performance". do you notice any change in fan speed? I do - on mine the "peformance optimize" setting suddenly cranks the processors to 2.6GHz -- good so far -- and then reduces the fan speed which I find to be quite stupid, but it is what it is. in coolsense 2.0 (Edit: sorry I mean 1.0) , the goal for "coolest" appears to be mid 70s temps. The goal of "performance" appears to be mid 80s or 90 -- which causes 1.0 (in this scenario) to think "oh we are cool already lets slow the fan down), and temps immediately rise to the mid 80s where the fan speed comes back up. I just don't get why anyone would decide that is good, but oh well...

thats what motivated me to find a way to avoid throttling and maximize cooling. whoever wrote coolsense 1.0 must not have considered that some of us want that.

I'm interested to know what 2.0 does. it won't install on my DV7...

 

Just received my 17 3D today so far love it but i have to do some house keeping and fresh install( minimum install ). and put in the 8 GB ram i have for it. $40 upgrade corsair 1333.

Karl

Envy 17 3D •Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit • i7-2630QM • 1GB HD 6850M Graphics • 6GB 1333MHz DDR3 (upgraded to 8GB 1333 corsair)• 750GB 7200RPM HD
also have: Dv7-2273cl dual core T6600 with 8 GB and BDrom

Passmark: 1800, CPU: 6735. 3D:1416, MEM: 1411, DISK: 648,

 

Good Luck! Welcome to the Envy club...excellent machines! What are your specs?

 

Welcome Surg2di4 to the club

What are your passmark (performancetest 7.0) ratings guys? Mine is roughly about 1720. Is that fine for a i7-2630QM with 8gb ram, 6850m graphics, HD 7200rpm 750gb?

 

I'm getting 2135.9 on my DV7... I'm sure there's an explanation in the details though. for example, the test is weighted 21% for disk performance and I have an SSD...

CPU: 5325
2D graphics: 498
3D graphics: 1210
Memory: 1324
Disk: 1809

 

Coolsense is pretty useless software. If you want a program that actually does something and lets you control your processor state, use ThrottleStop.

Coolsense controls the fan speed policy and processor performance policy in Windows power profiles. Hence, Coolsense is just the same as going into a profile and changing the fan and performance policies right there. I tested Coolsense when I initially got my Envy 17 3D (roundabout replacement for my 1st gen Envy 17). I even tested Coolsense 2.0. Processor throttling cannot be stopped. It can only be delayed. However, once the threshold temperature is hit, your processor will throttle down. Blame HP's and other OEM's idiotic cooling design.

Save yourself from having to run a useless process and don't install Coolsense. Use ThrottleStop if you need control.

On another note, anyone have an issue with going from plugged in to battery? When my Envy 17 3D is off and I unplug and then turn it on, for about 30 seconds, my Envy 17 thinks it is plugged in and then it realizes it isn't. I can shutdown and restart and it will still think it's plugged in for about 30 seconds even though physically it is not. With the Envy off, if I remove the battery and put it back in, then on every system boot, it immediately realizes it is on battery. However, if I plug it back in and let it charge up again, I repeat the scenario over and over again.

 

Did you buy the PassMark Performance program or just use that free 30 day trial?

 

Well I used the 30 day free trial. Is there any difference? My CPU Score is around 6500-6600 yet my graphics is lower than dlleno.

Thanks for posting that up dlleno

 

So I got my Envy 17 3D last week and due to a busy week at work, I am finally sitting down to explore this thing. So far I love it. Heat hasn't been an issue, although I haven't pushed it too hard, and my biggest complaint is the touchpad, which I think you all have posted some solutions for somewhere.

Anyway, now that I am getting started on this, any suggestions on a to-do list for Envy newbies? I imagine this thread has tons of suggestions, but after going through about 30 pages of it, I can't imagine searching the other 600. First things first, What is the best way to monitor and control the switchable graphics? I expected there to be some easy-to-use and very visible application, although I've only really spent about two hours really playing around with it. Most of my time has been transferring files from the 3 other computers I am consolidating.

Any beginner tips are welcome. I have great respect for many of you here since some of you helped me make my purchase choice to begin with. Thanks!

 

Okay I downloaded the trial for the PassMark Performance test...version 7. Should I just click run benchmark or are there any special settings you guys would recommend?

Also did you guys download any baselines?

EDIT: Just clicked "Run Benchmark"

Results:

PassMark Rating: 1921.0
CPU Mark: 7874.0
2D Graphics Mark: 439.0
3D Graphics Mark: 1409.9
Memory Mark: 2752.1
Disk Mark: 506.7

Are these good or bad? Lastly it has Mobil Intel HD Graphics for 2D and 3D tests which I found odd. I plugged in my laptop battery and everything.

 

As far as results...don't know...I have only run 3DMark11 on mine. As far as GPU detection...some software will only recognize the Intel GPU. When I run 3DMark11, it detects the Intel, BUT...if the Intel were running, 3DMark11 would not. The intel GPU is only Direct X 10...When I try to run 3D Mark 11 or even Heaven 2.5 in DirectX 11 mode with Intel..I get failure...that is the only way I know...

 

I believe the test ran correctly because when it went thru the 2D and 3D tests on screen it showed the HD Radeon 6850 so I believe it was utilizing the AMD chip for the tests as it should...

Looking at Dlleno's results I think mine seem comparable......what CPU do you have in your dv7t QE dlleno? I've got the 2820M....

 

Indeeed. certainly for processor state to the extent that BIOS will allow.

I'm suspicous that coolsense manipulates the same things as Windows, instead of controlling the windows settings themselves. For example, it could write data to the multiplier register, intercepting or over-riding the windows settings. I don't find, for exapmle, that my windows power settings actually change as a result of using coolsense and I don't find that coolsense has changed the fan speed policy. unless i'm looking in the wrong place, lol

Also -- so far I haven't been able to duplicate, in windows power profiles, the fan profile of coolsense 1.0 "coolest" setting. The processor multiplier behavior, to be sure, can be duplicated by manipulating the processor maximum state (99% turns off turbo). But "coolest" appears to dial in a more agressive fan profile than I can obtain in Windows.

The only fan speed policies I've found in the Windows power profiles are "active" and "passive". not much control -- you get to control whether or not the fan increases before throttling the processor, or the other way around. i don't get why anyone would choose "passive" but I'm just one guy, lol.

more than just an "active" cooling policy, Coolsense "coolest" mode appears to have a lower target temp, as it tries to keep things in the 70s region, and runs the fan faster than any other setting I can obtain in windows. Can you point me to windows cooling policy settings perhaps that can duplicate this? I might be overlooking something obvious...

true for the DV7 as well. even with throttlestop, the BIOS appears to not allow core temps above the low to mid 90s and not even throttlestop can change that. by itself that itsn't a bad policy -- I'd rather not run the CPU cores hotter than that either, but I would like to be able to cool them off so that they can run like they're supposed to!

but I guess that, again, shows that when you put that much power into that small/thin of a package, full 100% processor and GPU utilization is not sustainable for long periods of time, due to cooling system limiations.

so far the most useful combination I have found is:

1. run coolsense first. set to "coolest" setting. close coolsense, and the settings persist. the cooling system's target max temp appears to be lowered from the mid 80s to the 70s, so you now have an aggressive fan profile. The Coolsense throttling profile (which behaves like "99% processor maximum state) appears to be asserted only once, such that it can be neutered by throttlestop

2. run throttlestop. this will take processor multiplier control over from Coolsense, but it won't influence the fan profile obtained in (1) above.

At least on my DV7, this produces the highest performance (least amount of throttling) AND lowest core temperature. but YMMV keep in mind that this is a DV7 I'm experimenting with, which won't install Coolsense 2.0 ...

 

ahh that explains your high CPU score. I'm running the lowly 2630

on edit: and I ran the 30-day trial. honestly I don't expect to use it long term, and as far as benchmarks go, the ones built into windows itself are good enough for me.

 

Hello guys, i have a question about this laptop..
Does this laptop still come with the heat issues as the first HP Envy 17 that suffered with the heat issues. i'm considering to buy a laptop but i'm afraid that the heat issue is still a problem in this machine >_<..
thanks before

 

no it does not have the same heat issues as the 1st gen Envy 17. over the past months we've gather evidence here suggesting that HP may have even improved the cooling system itself, either at the SB intro or even shortly before. Sandy bridge itself brings a small amount of power efficiency as well..

 

So my score should go even higher up once I install my SSD right? Loving this laptop so far. I don't even notice any heat when I'm watching videos online....Next thing will be to try out a game or two.

 

wow, thanks for the explanation.. so, is this machine good? ..so, the temperature is normal as normal laptop right(it doesn't get warm easily)? and how long the battery would last? how about the 14" edition? sorry to ask about other laptop but my consideration is between the 17 and 14, is it good also? .i'm considering the 14 for the mobility since i'm a univ student >_<..

 

yes you should see the indvidual HDD score go up with the SSD as well as the overall score which is influenced by it.

those are some impressive CPU scores. are you running 1333 or 1600 memory?

 

the temps are normal for a laptop of this form factor. both the 14 and the 17 are good -- the 14 has been updated more recently and has a newer touchpad. if mobility, battery life, and the touchpad are paramount, you might look at that one. if gaming and movies are more important, then the 17 is awesome and you will find several here running 3D games and movies with great results. I'll let the others comment on battery life, but here again you will get more battery life out of the 14 because the display is smaller and the graphics processor is not as strong.

 

i see, so overall, am I right to choose the envy as my laptop? (i'm going to use it for about 4-5 years).. at first i was choosing macbook pro but considering that I'm studying programming, it's better for me to use the windows based laptop so I choose this one since the model is even better than the macbook .. oh yeah, may i have one last question? . there are some complains about the fan noise. is it true that the fan isn't really good and noisy? .. and what's the other minuses of this hp envy..

 

well first I have to acknowledge that I don't own and Envy 17. I have a Pavilion DV7t-quad edition. I just feel part of the Envy group here since I very nearly purchased one. the only downsides to the envy that I am aware of are -- it has only one USB 3.0 port (the rest are USB 2.0). oh, and some don't like the glossy screen! I'm sure others will chime in here and recount their own personal experiences.

I purchased the DV7 just because I didn't need the 3D gaming aspect, but if you like to game, Envy 17 should be on your short list, to be sure.

 

oh i see.so if i don't really need the gaming i can get the 14" right? or maybe the dv series? hehe.. actually,i don't really like to play games too.. hehe.. well, i think the last things that will be on my short list is the 14 envy and 17 envy since both of them doesn't have any fatal problem anymore right? hehe.. i will consider about the screen size maybe .. thx very much for your help dlleno ..

 

well you can game on the 14 but gaming on the 17 is just, well, better. but yea I would say if mobility, battery life, and the touchpad are more important than screen size, gaming, and movies, then 14 wins in my book.

but -- you might consider what type of software development you are interested in. for the first two years at the university I doubt you will be doing anything specialized. For serious development work, there will always be a balance between screen size (and if you want a debug window open at the same time as other windows) and mobility.

If it were me, I'd rather take a 14 to class. the 17's battery might run out lol

yea the fatalities have been ironed out, lol. but one thing to remember when buying ANY computing device mass produced offshore by a large mfgr. you'v GOT to take the time to test it out completely right away. one of the cool things about HP is that you can return it within 21 days for no reaon. I even returned my first DV7 due to a cosmetic flaw in the display that I did not want to argue with HP support over.

 

W00T!!!!! Just got my ENVY.

This thing is sweet. I'm sooooo freakin' glad I went through the trouble of sending the DV7t back. The ENVY is better in every way conceivable. OK, so no fingerprint scanner. I've gone 14 years without ever even having a login password, so I'm not going to cry over that loss.

I'm going to go play now, bye.

 

Just an FYI for everyone here

Futuremark released an update to 3DMark 11 today. It fully recognizes the AMD 6850M as the graphics card, and switchable graphics. I re-tested my card today with Catalyst 11.8 and the score came out 1960. Hopefully more testing suites will follow suit.

 

How do I access the files on the recovery partition? I want to go through the files and save what I want so I can install my student copy of Win7 Ultimate.

 

Couldnt you just use that as the activation code for windows anytime upgrade?

 

Probably. I want to start from scratch though so I can get rid of the recovery partition completely. It's taking up precious space on my SSD and I don't need it.

I really only want to pull power dvd and photoshop from the recovery. The drivers can all be manually downloaded.

 

the way to pull stuff from the recovery partition is to go through the "as shipped" build, get things working (even download stuff from hp) and then save your swsetup and tridef folders. Put these folders back after the clean install -- you can go into each of the individual folders in swsetup and pick and choose what you want to install.

note that if you download drivers from hp, they will also appear in swsetup, named after the softpack filename they represent.

 

nice. do please elaborate on the differences, other than the obvious 3D capability and the glossy screen. is it the styling? the flush glass screen? the slot load optical drive? Do you get keyboard imprints in on the screen or is it obvious how this is prevented by design?. How are the keyboards different (other than backlighting)? do you have repeatable test cases showing higher wireless xfer speeds?

 

Yeah, I noticed earlier today that everything I wanted is already in the SWSetup folder. I also see that the HP Recovery Manager has an option to delete the recovery partition.

I think I need to buy new DVD-R's; I keep getting an error when trying to make the recovery disks. The disks I'm using are like 6 years old.

Yes, yes, and yes.

I could live without the texture on the lid and palm rest, but it's not too bad. Better than the grain in the aluminum of the DV7 I guess.

Not sure what you mean; reflections from the lights? If that's what you mean then no. I find to get the best black contrast the screen needs tilted back enough to where you can't see any key reflections anyway.

Well the lighting is definitely a plus anyway. I like the"chiclet" styling too (is that what it's called?). The keys on the ENVY feel slightly harder to press, but in a good way I guess. I don't ever do any real typing other than forum posts, so I don't know which one is better in that regard.

No, that's not something that matters to me right now. I hardly ever transfer large files over WiFi, so as long as it can keep up with my cable modems lousy bandwidth then that's good enough for me.