*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

I would offer, but I need a backpack style for my motorcycle

 

Bags in general are impossible to get, even if they say they have stock, they don't. Looks like I'm going to have to carry mine onto the plane as is.

 

New Graphic drivers up!
ForceWare 177.83 w/ PhysX SystemSoftware 8.08.01

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=20089

gettem while there hot!

 

The HDX is not among the affected HP model series:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=1842189〈=en
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8647&Itemid=1

 

Hey, thanks for this! I've been screwing around with different versions of the nV driver, different INFs, different PhysX packages -- NOTHING would get the PhysX to work.

This did the trick!! I had to download and install PhysX SystemSoftware 8.08.01 from Guru3d.com separately, but everything works perfectly now!

Fantastic!!

 

I know. But see the front page of this site or the Inquirer link in dsregard's post. FUD hysteria. I can see it possibly being true for 15" notebooks with 8800m's in them.

Also, not for nothing, but HP's previous BIOS update (released in April/May I believe) for the HDX had set GPU fan to always run as a precaution. That update was released before the news about Nvidia's 8400m and 8600m GPU's being "defective" came out. HP was worried about the issue.

 

It was the update prior to the current batch. (Hence: "previous BIOS update.") It had set the fan to always on. And funny enough, that was it's update description. I think it was F36. I remember discussing it with my brother and deciding to not update to it. Mostly because I hate fan noise and after having applied Arctic Silver to GPU/CPU, there was no need as temps were low and stable.

But when the Nvidia news broke, my bro and I smirked knowing why HP had issued that BIOS update and that it just went to show that they were aware of the problem in their lower product lines months before the "official" news broke but decided to cover their a$$ across the entire range of their products using Nvidia chipsets.

 

Y'know? All of the nV/ForceWare drivers I've been screwing around with for the last month or so were never from HP. I've been using nVidia's Forceware, stuff from Guru3d, and Laptopvideo2go.

I'm going to go and download HP's specific drivers (from their support page) and test stuff out. I don't have any benchmarking software, so I just load up UT3 and 'eyeball' everything.

Thank you for this info. It certainly explains a LOT of the weird little issues I've been running into.

 

dv7t,

May I ask if you've received your order from Buy.com already? I now have a good chance to be able to transact for it.

Would like to ask you regarding your experience with it (and is it really the same setup as the one in Newegg?)

Thanks!

 

Wow, this is an awesome forum. I spent a few hours the last 2 days reading all the post in here from page 1 to 153!

This is an extremely informative post full of a plethora of knowledge. It is always great to find a forum with people passionate about the same subject or Item that I am. I always look for such a thing when I get something new. But do not usually get this lucky.

I just bought an HDX9494NR, it should arrive Friday. After doing exhaustive researching on specs and prices, this computer fare exceeds what I thought I could get with the amount I wanted to spend. The only things I will need to do to this beast are to eventually upgrade the CPU to an X9000 and grab a 7200rpm drive to make my primary. I will also be doing a clean install of Vista Ultimate 64.

I knew I would run into miner bugs and driver issues with a new install and being 64 bit. That is what ultimately lead me to this forum. Now I feel that all issue will be of no concern with all the info here.
Thanks to everyone, I will give updates after I receive my computer.

 

Welcome to the club!

First thing you should do is make a backup of your "SwSetup" folder off of the root of 'C'.

Vista drivers are a non-issue then!

 

Judging from two accounts, the F.36 did set GPU fan to always run by default. Maybe they changed it after it first came out like how the BIOS labeled F.39 was actually F.37 when it first came out.

In any event, I agree about HP's tech doc skills. Though I give 'em props for their service manuals.

 

Yes, that will be one of my first task.

 

It's great to see all the new HDX owners.

HP is obviously selling this thing like hotcakes since the prices dropped by more than half.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but while reading the post about the bad dies, it was material used to create the processors and not really to do with cooling. Though it does say that with heat it breaks down faster so bad cooling will lead to a failure. My concern is that with these BIOS patches, all their doing is postponing the inevitable and trying to put off the failure until after your warranty is up. Also if the problem lies in the manufacturing of the GPU (something Nvidia does in house and doesn't outsource it like ATI used to do) unless they changed their GPU models in mid run, all GPUs in the series mentioned would be affected. I'm fairly pissed at Nvidia for 1. shifting the blame and 2. not issuing a good QC on the primary runs and materials.

I think I'll call HP and see if they will extend my warranty or replace the laptop when they have a new run of graphics cards that aren't affected.

 

That's sensible. But with the HDX's excellent cooling, it may not fail until perhaps 3 or 4 years later if at all. Assuming of course that the die is bad and that the Inquirer story is true.

 

Hi all,

I'm seriously considering an HDX from Costco as my next big laptop purchase. I am wondering if anyone has heard about HP installing Nvidia's 9800m videocards anytime soon. If so, I will wait for a month or so before jumping onto the 8800m. I suppose I might even consider going with an 8800m GTX if one were coming around soon.

Thanks for helping me out with my purchasing decision.

Billgato

BTW, great job on this forum.

 

Bill, do you want to be on the leading edge or the bleeding edge? From what I've seen the 9800 series is going to be very expensive. I was looking into buying a DIY laptop with the 9800 but it required DDR3 memory which was released less than a month ago and most major carriers just recently started carrying it. it's roughly $200 for 4GB which means from HP or Dell or some place like that, it'll be even more. I would say that the next rendition, if there is going to be one, will be at least $500 to $800 higher of a base price if it has a 9800 and the ddr3 memory. If you plan on trying to play Crysis on high resolution and have the extra cash to spend, then I say wait and see if they release another model, but for the price this laptop is, you could buy it, see if a new one comes out, sell it if you like the next model better and buy the next model.

just my general thoughts on it.

 

Giga,

You're probably right about the increased cost of the system due to the new GPU. My best course of action at this point will probably be to wait. If one does come out (or if there are hints of one coming out), then I will be better prepared to make a decision.

Thanks for your quick response.

Billgato

 

There's also the probability that the HDX as a 20" will be discontinued soon. There's no info about a Centrino 2 (Montevina) update at all. Not even any good rumors or leaks.

Also, as Giga, says, any new unit, should it come out will be much more expensive.

18.4" screen size is the new 20.1". The reason is because the 18.4" has an aspect ration of 16:9 as opposed to the 20.1"'s 16:10. Better for movies and HDTV as that is the correct aspect ratio.

So a new HDX would probably have an 18.4" screen, be lighter and smaller, and more expensive. There are several 18.4" notebooks on the market now.

 

I Received my HDX on Monday. The picture on the WUXGA is beautiful! Blade Runner on Blu-Ray looks amazing! Has anyone been able to upgrade their Nvidia 8800 GTS driver to run that new Nvidia “Force Within” Physx, CUDA, pack thingy? I’ve been reading old posts and screwing around all night on it but to no avail.

I’ve also been screwing around with indoor TV antennas but haven’t had any luck getting a good reliable picture. Any antenna recommendations?

 

Seems like HDX has the monopoly on the 20 inchers now? Im still saving up for my HDX and just thought id see if the other 20 inchers i had once considered had gotten any upgrades, but it looks no one sells them anymore. No more Dell M2010, no more eurocom emperor, no more acer Aspire 9800.

I hope i can buy mine before this one goes away.

 

I foresee that the HDX will no longer be a 20.1" if even continued at all. I believe it was 2.0 that pointed it out earlier that the HDX was a response to the Dell's 2010 and seeing as the 2010 was discontinued, HP has no reason to continue on with the HDX, unless they want to morph it to a smaller screen.

That's probably why we've seen such a huge price drop, it's not because HP wants more customers, but because the technology is getting old and no one to compete with. Dell would most assuredly play the "well 20" was good, but the 18.4" is the way to go because blah blah blah blah" if HP kept the 20.1

So now it's like Russian roulette, do you buy one while the price is cheap and there are still one's to be purchased, do you wait until they announce a new one and if they don't will that announcement be before all the HDXs are sold out? the plus side to the whole waiting game is, technology gets cheaper, so waiting may me you will lose out on the HDX, but you're more than likely to get a laptop with better technology in it, whether it's all bundled up like this one or not.

 

I've recently ordered an HDX with an 8800gts gpu, and with all that people are talking about with nvidia's heat and failure issues, should I be worried and return it? Have people had problems with this combo of hdx and 8800gts?


Please, if someone can shed some light on this issue, I'd appreciate it greatly.

 

Hopefully not.. I'd hate for my beautiful beast to die on me . The border along the front of the keyboard on the left hand side tends to get pretty warm to the touch after a while. But my temps didn't seem to be in a dangerous range at this point. If it does decide to do something, let's hope it does within the warranty period.

 

I'm still running the stock BIOS and I've played frontlines fuel of war for 3 hours on it and no problems what so ever, except the occasional tank shell up the rump.

 

Hello Again,

Well after much looking at the new P-7811 from Gateway, and trying to see if overall it can beat the HDX9494 for everything inlcuded. It doesn't. If you just want to play agmes and have a very powerful notebook for under 1500.00 then P-7811 is the way to go, BUT if you want a powerful gaming machine that can play Blu-ray and take my 5.1 Klipsch pro-media speakers AND has fingerprint reader and bluetooth with empty HDD slot then only ONE WAY to go.....LOL

I actually had a HDX9010 first from deep clearance and my brother needed a pc so i let him borrow it and he grew to like it right away so he bought it. Then I tried to find anything that could compete with HDX for the price and NOTHING has all the ports/drives/great looks/upgradeability that the HDX has so on Friday my new 9494 will be in my hands.

And having read all the posts long ago, I had already made 2 sets of recovery discs for last one PLUS the SW.inf backup so i'll do it again.

Keep up the helpfulness to all. I will be checking in for most updated video drivers(most stable), bios, and Quick Play drivers too.

If you haven't made the jump yet and you're thinking about it, DIVE IN you will not be sorry!!!

Brad from Bremerton

 

Well said Brad.

This is probably the first computer purchase I've made in 20 years that did not involve some degree of buyers remorse.
"Woulda, shoulda, coulda," never became a part of the equation for me because I knew straight away that I could upgrade every major component, save my GPU.
For me that was very big.

If, as pondered above, the HDX goes away, I would be very hard pressed to replace it with anything 'off the shelf'
And frankly my thoughts have been more along the lines of buying a second machine.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that this dragon is a beast. But it is the coolest beast on the block! And when I set up in a coffee shop or internet cafe, all the other puny laptops present cower before my awesome size and power.
(insert sinister laugh)


Just buy 1 already!

 

I Finally got ForceWare 177.83 and PhysX SystemSoftware 8.08.01 up and running. very nice. Thanks Wolfskinbjc and 2.0 for all the informative postings regarding Nvidia drivers updates.

 

I've become known as the kid with the huge laptop at school, which I don't mind. I've had people come up to me and ask if it was more than their $4K Dell XPS. I calmly remark what it has and the cost and how upgradable it is, they just hang their heads. I've had 2 teachers and 4 students order these. I've even got students who bought their laptop recently returning theirs to order one. So in about 2 weeks we'll have our own little club at school haha.

It's a rocking rig, it's still leading edge and packs enough bite to keep me happy probably for 2 years which is impressive because I upgrade my desktop every 4 to 6 months with something or other.

As everyone said, and everyone told me, just buy the darn thing; quit squabbling over it's shortcomings, because it doesn't have enough to really worry about and most of those you won't even notice the difference anyway.

 

I need help from HDX owners. I'm on the fence about picking up the HDX that's on newegg. I'm going to be starting a new job shortly that'll have me traveling basically every week and mostly through airports. I'd really like to have the HDX for gaming in my hotel room after work but I'm worried about taking it through airports on on planes. I have a 15" notebook now thats around 7 pounds and I almost never take it out of my laptop shoulder bag on plane rides or while I'm waiting at the airport so I doubt I'd take out the HDX until I was at my hotel. My question is who has experience here with traveling with the HDX and was it a hastle for you to get it from point A to B, also what method did you use to carry it? I was thinking about the hp roller bag but I dont know how big it is, can I only fit the laptop in it or can I put clothes in it as well?

Oh also, the laptop is listed as being 15 or so pounds, how much does the power brick weigh?

 

after all is said and done with all the attachments you'll probably want to carry around (external hard drive, mouse, power brick portable fusion reactor) you're probably looking at around 20 or 21 pounds. I have it in a backpack style (non-HP) and it does slightly cut into the shoulders after an hour or so. I heard the single shoulder bags are nice and I haven't read any complaints about it.

Just remember this thing is BIG, it looks like I'm carrying a military backpack while I wear mine. I could see this being a pain on the airplane, but I'd work with it to buy one, but that's just me.

 

Same specs exactly, ultrabrightview 8800gts, 2.1 proc. etc. everything is awesome. wei score for hard drive is actually 5.4 for a 5400rpm drive, as opposed to the dv7t's 5.0 for their 7200rpm drive!

bottlenecked by the memory which is 4gb of 6400pc wei score of 5.0 for hdx, and processor is 5.0 for the 8100

 

Hi nightlynx!

I can tell you about all of the above.
First I bought mine from Newegg, delivered a day early and in perfect shape.

Yes it is a beast.
Once we are past that, it is also a thing of beauty in both form and function.
Bluray is awesome!

I spent a career in the Military schlepping Army rucksacks, so the roll away bag from HP was a no brainer.
I am done toting anything heavier than a pint of beer.

Built by Targus, it's approximately the same size as an overnight/carry on roll away bag.
Very durable construction.


I currently sell enterprise 3rd party SharePoint solutions.
I do a lot of air travel between SF and my Corporate offices in Seattle.
You will get an awful lot of looks standing in line at the airport with TSA.
90% of those looks are envy.

I have not regretted this purchase for 1 minute.
Bag, Box, and 1 year support and maint = $1,900 tax included.

Best Tech. purchase I've made in 10 years.

 

Thanks dv7t! I just hope I will be able to procure one from Buy.com. If not, then I will try Newegg, Frys, Circuit City, etc.

I just got a bit worried with the two of the newer comments in Newegg saying that they received it with a bad pixel.

Oh well.. here's to hoping that I will be able to make it before the last dragon goes away.

P.S. Changing the ram to 800MHz will not help?

 

Now that I'm going to have a new HDX soon (recently ordered from newegg), what games should I be looking forward to playing? Will it run crysis ok? It would be neat to hear about all of your gaming experiences on this awesome machine!

 

Nope. 667mhz is max speed for Santa Rosa based notebooks. And in reality, even if it could use it, you'd only see about a 1-3% increase in performance.

But let's say you already owned some 800 mhz ram and installed it... it would down clock to 667.

 

I found an open (read "battered") box table top HD antenna (Pure AV by Belkin) with amplifier for a bout $30 at Sam's Club. With the HDX's included antenna I could not receive any HD channels where I am. With the powered antenna I get 26 channels now and the antenna sits nicely near the HDX.

 

I second this notion. Crysis I don't care for, but games like... Oblivion, Bioshock, Gears of War, Far Cry, The Witcher...

Or just in general how future-proof the system will be.

 

Hmmm... Aspen, if I ever get the order pushed through, I should get the unit in about 2-3 months. I will definitely want to test that out here in my country. I work for a broadcasting company now and we'll be experimenting on terrestrial digital TV soon. I hope the HDX will be able to pick that up.

 

I have a new inquiry that I have been researching for a few days now with little or no luck in finding the correct answer or if it is actually an issue a resolution.

The T8100 processor has a 3M level 2 cache on it. If however you go to Control Panel->Performance and Information Tools->Advanced Tools->Generate a system health report it will report that the level 2 cache is only 256K. You can find this value selecting (on the generated health report) Hardware Configuration->Devices->Motherboard Classes, then click on the + to the left of root\cimv2:SELECT * FROM Win32_Processor and then the + to the left of Wi32_Processor.Deviceid='CPU0'.

This brings to mind two questions. First why is Vista 64 detecting the cache incorrectly and second does Windows not knowing the correct cache size have any impact on performance or will the maximum benefit of the larger cache be had regardless of what Windows believes is the case?

CPUZ.exe does report the correct cache size when run. 256K is the default cache Windows Vista 64 will use apparently if it cannot correctly read the cache size from the processor. You can change this default in the registry, which I have done. The health report still reports 256K which means either it believes the processor is reporting a cache size of 256k or the registry setting is not actually read by Windows (wouldn't be the first time), or the format of the registry setting was wrong in the article I read and is currently being ignored.

Anyway with all of that said, does anyone have any insight on this?

Aspen

 

I'm new to this thread so sorry in advance if this has already been asked I was just wondering which nvidia graphic drivers most HDX owners are using right now.

 

With the T8300 and 8800M GTS Fraps says 30 - 55 FPS in Bioshock with full detail. As for the other games, I own 'em all but haven't installed them on the HDX yet--and probably won't because I've played them to death already.

 

Sweet! I was thinking about getting bioshock...now I definitely have to!

 

oritpro, thanks for the quick response! Definitely +1 rep

MatsudaMan, yeah Bioshock does indeed look awesome. If you need any further convincing, the video review at IGN is quite droolworthy. I haven't played the game myself--doubt my setup could handle it--so I feel ya there.

Here's another question. After comparing the setup at newegg to the same config at the HP site, the site config is about $300+ more (even with opting for 2gb instead of Newegg's 4gb ram). Is it better to order from the manufacturer's site? I know Newegg is good, I've bought ram and headphones from there, but never something this expensive.

For those that bought from newegg: how was their packaging (ie, HP boxes, or generic newegg's own?), and any problems with your purchase? A few reviews at newegg mention dead pixels... also, it doesn't seem to have a refund policy there.

 

Hey all,

Alright, I have a question for the pros!

I'm looking into buying an HDX9494NR...

Specs are:

Intel Core 2 Duo T8100(2.10GHz)
4GB RAM @ 667MHz
320GB (1x320) HD (5400RPM)
Blu-ray combo Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS

Now, there are two things I'm a little concerned with. First, the processor. I would like to upgrade it to the T9300(2.50GHz), but I would have to do this myself.

My main question is:
a) Is this even possible (or is HP proprietary when it comes to CPUs)
b) How difficult is it
c) Do you have to buy the replacement piece from HP (or a parts store HP doesn't actually carry the part... I checked), or can I buy a regular everyday Mobile T9300 from Newegg.com?

My second concern, which is not really a big concern, is the resolution. It is WSXGA+ which means 1680X1050 (which is what my current 22" desktop monitor is). Now, I have also been looking at an Acer Aspire 8920-6746 which has these specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo T9300(2.50GHz)
18.4" WUXGA
4GB RAM @ 667MHz
320GB (1x320) HD (5400RPM)
Blu-Ray combo Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS

The only reason I'm not buying that one straight out is the video card. Although, I have gotten mixed reviews (some actually say it works just fine for gaming). Now, the Acer is Full HD 1920x1200 display.

I would think the 20.1" HP HDX would look a lot better with a Full HD display... Has anyone seen the Full HD version beside the SXGA+ version and if so is it a large difference?

I have been going back and forth between these two laptops for days now!! aagh (driving me crazy). I also have a really nice ASUS (M70 Series M70Vm-C1) in my sites, but the video card in it (NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS) doesn't have great reviews at all. Might as well list full specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo T9400(2.53GHz)
17.0" WUXGA
4GB RAM @ 800MHz
500GB (2x250) HD (5400rpm)
Blu-ray combo drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS

Now, both video cards (Acer and ASUS) are 512MB Dedicated graphics cards, but it doesn't look like they have GDDR3 support which the HP Beast does. The 9500M GS (Acer) scored just a tiny bit higher than the 9600M GS (ASUS) in 3d Mark 05 tests, but the 8800M GTS blew them both way out of the water.


I know.. I know... So much information Believe me... I've been going over it for days and I'm ready to pull my hair out!!!111!

What should I do???

Thanks for your time and suggestions!!

 

If it will be used for gaming then yes HP is a best choice. You can replace CPU by your own, there is a guide somewhere on the forum. It is taking up to few hours probably and yes you can buy T9300 on newegg and put it into HP laptop

 

My HDX arrived last night! :-D Wow is it one awesome beast. It blows away my desktop, and any laptop\notebook I have ever seen. I have always been so proud of my 19” LCD desktop monitor. But looking at this one I do not know how I ever got by without it. I can see details and colors I have never seen before. I am not sure what the contrast ratio is on this screen but it must be very high. Also the response time must be very high as well. My PC's monitor is a 5ms, I notice that this screen handles fast scrolling images with much less screen tearing. I play EVE Online and I can see ships, objects, and details that I never knew were there. The performance is perfect. I played Crises with all setting on high and AA at 8x with 34fps. There is also so much room for upgrades as well.

All the features and details on this machine are just amazing for the price point. I was playing with all the different tools and features this computer has. There are so many options and possible configurations that can be done.

After I get off work today I will be installing Vista Ultimate 64. Getting rid of all the bloat ware and getting all the Admin tools and features I have grown accustomed too. (Being a network engineer)

I read every post in here before I even ordered my HDX. I have key pages saved like 100. I just want to make a quick rundown to be sure I remember the key tips to avoid driver issues. The main thing that sticks out in my mind that I already saw last night running HP and Windows updates are: Do not install the Windows update driver for Quick Launch, or the security update from HP. I did install the other Windows Update drivers last night just to see how things reacted and had no issues. I also Installed and tested the 177.83 PsyX drivers and App with no problems.

Are there any other HP or windows updates\drivers I should avoid? I plan to install all the drivers from the SwSetup folder, then grabbing the HP drivers, and after that the Windows updates.

Thanks for all the info and any input. I will give and update after I get everything finished tonight.

 

Quick update:

Installed BIOS F.39

CPU fan runs on its lowest setting all the time. My idle (CPU% 3-20) temps avg 29 Deg C. Working load (CPU 20-25%) temps avg 33 Deg C.

This is a T9300 2.5ghz. Using Arctic Silver 5. Ambient room temp is 78 deg F.

As reference: my previous idle temps with BIOS F.35 (Stock BIOS) was 35 Deg C avg. and working load, temps avg 40-42 Deg C.

The nice thing is, the CPU on low is actually quieter than the dual 7200 RPM spin noise.

I couldn't tell you when (threshold) the CPU fan kicks into med or high. Assuming it does during gaming but, well, you know, can't hear a thing when the volume is on MAX and the bass is pumping out as things get fragged. Suppose I can hit mute next time just to see.

BTW: temp monitoring program used is HWmonitor: http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

 

What a great forum this is and it seems everyone gets along with each other. I have had my HDX (recent Newegg purchase) for about 3 weeks. I am very pleased with it. I bought the HP roller bag as I didn't want to pack it on my back.

I wanted a notebook with a good graphics card for two reasons.
1. Games - my son is a graphic animator for the COD series and I wanted something to show off his work to others. I mean that is what dad's are for right?
2. I have lots of HD-Video and wanted to be able to play HD at friends homes using the HDMI. I use the MKV format and found that the VLC player and a few others didn't work well on the HDX 64 bit. It played choppy.

I then found a 64bit media player 2 that works perfect. Great frame rate and very sharp picture. If anyone uses .MKV I would suggest trying this little player out. One thing I like about it is it is self-contained in it's own folder so it doesn't need to be installed.

link to Media Player 2 64 bit:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=170561/&abmode=1
(file name: MPC Home Cinema - 64 bit)

Thanks for the info and keep it coming....