*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

I installed an Intel X-25m 80GB SSD a few weeks after receiving my 18t and haven't noticed any increase in boot speed. Although performance after boot up has increased significantly. Read speed on this drive is well over 200MB per second in many instances.

 

That drive is super fast, but to truly get the most out of it, you need to teach windows how to use it. Windows 7 is supposed to come setup to handle a good SSD, but Vista treats it like a regular hard drive therefore wasting time and resources doing things that SSD's dont need, like indexing (SSD's seek speed is so fast there is no need - unlike a typical hard drive). Here is a great link for some tweaks to train Vista on the use of your SSD -
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=318866#post318866

 

I tried those OCZ techniques and some of them I had already done. I tried others and found a negligible difference in boot time.

 

My HDX18 has dual 320GB/7200RPM/SATA drives. Write speed between the internal drives seems terrible. Average reported speed is about 3 mb/sec.

Does that seem right? Anyone else noticing this???

 

Hey guys. I posted this in another forum without any takers. Maybe you guys can help me.

I recently purchased a laptop from HP using a coupon code. I decided to try Live Search cashback for the first time and all seemed to go smoothly. I received an e-mail confirmation from Live telling me I was entitled to about $76. After waiting a while, I thought I'd check my account, assuming my cashback savings would be there. It wasn't. I then e-mailed Live with my account info and order confirmation from HP. After a few days, I received a disappointing e-mail from them (they also got my name wrong). Here is an excerpt:

Is this always the way it works or am I getting screwed here? Thanks for your help.

 

Technically, per the terms of Live.com cashback you are ineligible if you use any other coupons. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

 

Can anyone please help me ?
Was looking to get some advice on which keyboard is best out of 3 i have my eye on, (music Keyboard) can seam to start a new thread

 

CK let us know the difference in way your beast operates when you try the "overclocking thing"

WOOO...Burnout Paradise!

 

D'OH!!! Oh well, I guess I can't complain too much since I did get 30% off with that coupon Thanks for the reply

 

Obviously, without more info, I can't really help you out except to say that I just recently got the Yamaha Motif XS and it ROCKS!!!

You could try looking/posting questions at sites more geared towards music, such as Harmony Central and Gearslutz.

 

tHP HDX18t Premium Series Notebook PC
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80GHz)
- 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)
- FREE Upgrade to 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
- 640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
- Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Fluid)
- HP Color Matching Keyboard
- Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card with Bluetooth
- Blu-Ray +/-R/RW with SuperMulti


Hello..above are specs for HDX18 I just got...all is well. I'm not that advanced with this stuff, but I wanted to know how I can upgrade my memory to 4gb - 8gb. If I can, what are the specs I need to look for when purchasing.

thanks for your advice!

 

hahaha! very true, my display has been perfect so far....

My GPU so far has been great, I am not touching ANYTHING!!

Good job on the 500GB, I should be getting mine soon. Did you order from newegg?

I already have 4GIG's on my laptop but I am going to forego getting 8GIG's on it. I have another PC that I am going to load up with 8GIG's and use that for most of my VMware and intensive work.

Right now I have 4 OS's running on my HDX and it runs a little hot when they are all doing something...

 

sshams95,

If you are going to be running 32bit Vista instead of 64bit the OS will only see about 3.2 gb out of 4gb and will not go above this without tweaking. So if you have your heart set on going to 8gb or even 4gb of ram and actually using all of it effectively then you need to go to 64bit.

If you look back a page or two valen741 posted about a software program that will tweak 32bit Vista so that it will recognize over 3gb of ram but I am unfamiliar with how well it works. So before you start pricing ram and figuring out what types will work make sure you are prepared to make the changes necessary for your OS to use it.


CC

 

I did order from Newegg they second time they had them available.

 

thanks for your feedback...I'm a CPA and the tax software I use runs only on 32bit and they have stated that it will not work with 64bit. So, I will research the software.

 

Okay, so I'm working with RivaTuner to try overclocking my graphics card as described, but Riva shows "128-bit G96 (C1,32sp) with 1024MB DDR2" - Wasn't it supposed to be 1024MB DDR3?

 

You can run the 64 bit directly on your HDX18 and then download (free) Microsoft's Virtual PC. You'll have to install Vista or XP on the virtual machine, but it's very easy to use. Far fewer features but a bit easier to use than VMWare (because there are fewer options), and you can download and use it free.

Then you can run the tax software on the 32bit Virtual PC "machine".

 

Valen,
Okay so I'm working with Rivatuner and have tried everything you said, but cannot get the GPU clock to change. The sliders work, but GPU-Z never shows and increase and I can't crank it up high enough to cause any problems.

 

It should be, but according to rivatuner and GPUz it is DDR2. I guess that means HP was just messing with us and the GPU RAM is really DDR2 . Does this mean the regular RAM is also DDR2?

 

When did HP say the GPU memory was DDR3?

 

Well wouldn't HP be putting in DDR3 RAM because the GPU is DDR3? What would be the point of HP using DDR3 RAM if it wasn't needed with the 1GB 9600?

Also, I can't get the sliders to go higher than 500/1000/500 in rivatuner, what do I need to change?

 

I was under the impression it was DDR3 also - hence the free upgrade from ddr2 to ddr3 ram with the graphics upgrade.

To get the sliders higher -
In the "Power User" tab. Scroll down to "RivaTuner/Overclocking/Global"
and set the following to 100

MaxClockLimit
MinClockLimit

 

I figured out how to fix it. For some reason 100 isn't high enough, so I just set it to 300, lol. That way it won't limit me, but I know I wont be screwing around any higher than you say to. When I enabled driver level hardware overclocking, it popped up about restarting to tell the default clocks, so I did that but then when I opened the program again and enabled it the same thing happened so I just had it check now and it defaulted to 400/800/400. Is this the right default? Does it matter if it is not because I am now changing it to what you suggested? I will let you know how it goes on my DDR3 system.

 

I tried setting mine to 667/1600/570 in rivatuner, but my screen started getting all dotty and the colors got screwed up and it froze. What should I do?

EDIT: I found out its when I change the memory (570) that it happens. What should I do?

 

Thanks for the info. I think this may be the route I go through.

I assume I would have to update my current OS to 64bit first...how would I do this? Would the HP Recover Disc have it? Or do I need to purchase?

 

What coupon got you 30% off? Is there another 30% coupon out right now??

 

You do NOT need to run a 64 bit OS to use Microsoft Virtual PC. I run it within Vista Business 32, and it runs Windows XP Pro GREAT!! All on an E8400 CPU (2x3Ghz - 6MB cache)

 

Don't go that high... you need to slowly test each increase in your memory speed going in small steps (10Mhz to start then 5Mhz to tune).

Everyone's memory is different so that everyone will be able to hit 570. My 9600m will only hit 515Mhz MAX !!!

There are about 8 memory DIMMS soldered onto the systemboard and the law of the weakest link applies. It only takes one of these memory DIMMs to set your MAX overclock setting.

As a suggest, if you are using RivaTuner, set a "low power" mode 200/400/200 and use RivaTuner to start these settings at Startup.

 

This is completely off topic but I have a question regarding a music file that i ripped from an old cd onto my computer.

It's encoded at 128 kbps. I hate the quality of that bitrate and I want to get it up to 256 kbps. Are there any free programs out there that can do this for me?

 

You can try Audacity.


http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

 

What did you use to rip the CD to 128 kbps? Try using that.

 

Anyone got any ideas - I followed Valen's instructions to a T, but can't seem to get any change. I even tried cranking the setting way to high to make sure I wasn't getting a response and didn't realize it - can't make anything happen!

 

Once the audio has been ripped to 128kbps, you can not get the quality back. the only way is to re-rip it from the original audio cd (this time to a higher bitrate).

 

That's exactly what I meant.

 

You really can't go from 128 to 256. The file is already compressed and you CAN'T put the missing data BACK into the file after it is already removed by compression.

You WILL end up with a 256 file HOWEVER it WILL NOT sound the same as a file ripped to 256 directly from a UN-COMPRESSED source.

If you have the UN-COMPRESSED source, I would recommend you re-rip it at 256 - it will sound better. (Whether YOU can hear the difference depends on each persons hearing).

 

I have the same disk config (w/ Vista64), and just tried copying a 2G directory of photos from D: to C:. It was averaging about 32MB/sec.

 

Do you know what brand the drives are? I am using the 500GB 7200RPM Seagate drives (not purchased with notebook). I just transferred 4.19GB from C to D and the average speed was 70MB/sec. I then transferred 4.19GB from D to C and the average speed was 90MB/sec.

 

I am going to buy a HDX18T and was wondering what you guys think about the
TV tuner option? 75 bucks. Worth it or Not? Why? I am trying to convince my self to buy it. I understand it come with an attachable antenna. Where does it attach? Can I put a bigger antenna on it? I live in a fringe area.

 

On the right side near the power input.

 

The HDX18t comes with several processors.
P8400
P8700 +$75
T9400 +100
etc...
If I upgraded it would probably be to one of those 2. The others are pretty much out of my price points.
Which one and why?

 

Thanks. So can I hook a larger antenna into this port?

 

I don't think it's worth it. There is no QAM support in either hardware or the software, only NTSC and ATSC.

 

My 2 disks are: WDC WD3200BEKT-60F3T0 (as per device manager).

I've re-run a copy test several times (1710 photos totaling 3.75G). The copy speed is NOT consistent -- during the copy or between copies -- even though nothing else is running on the box. I'm using the MB/sec "details" from the Copy dialog box, and confirming they are reasonable by using clock time to calculate an average.

Copying D: to C: is faster than C: to D:. In both directions, the copy speed starts much higher than it is by the end of the copy. I get starting speeds anywhere from 55 to 90MB/sec, but by the time it's done, the speed is down to anywhere from 17 to 40 MB/sec.

I realized Norton Anti-Virus could be impacting the tests, so I turned it off. That seemed to reduce the variability a bit, but it's still far from consistent.

 

I have the HDX18 screen flicker issue. I get hte screen flicker occasionally when returning from sleep mode and the flcikering lasts 5-30 seconds.

After a couple of rounds with tech support they closed the ticket with the follwoing explanation:

"Also when the flickering is happening are you on battery or AC or are you using both? If you have both plugged in this may cause the flickering, because it is trying to determine where to pull the power from. "

This answer may be correct - the flickering could be a result of the screen switching between ac mode and battery mode which is dimmer. However, I consider this to be a fault.

I worry that this is a hardware issue and that the switching circuit is faulty and could die (just after the warranty expires??) - resulting in the laptop working only on AC or only on battery - or on neither. Perhaps I worry too much, but my previous HP overheated and fried the graphics card - requiring a new motherboard. Months after paying for the fix I found that this was a known fault with many HP models including mine and the subject of a class action suit for a different HP model. So I do not exactly trust HP's official line (of course I don't rate the competitors any higher which is why I bought another HP!!).

I would welcome feedback - so that I can try to identify if this is this a common problem or fairly isolated.

 

Thanks for the info. I hadn't given QAM a thought but that is a good point.

 

Hhmmm that's a tad off... Just to double check. download GPU-Z and run it up to make sure you're running DDR3.

In all honesty it's probably just a limitation of rivatuner, it hasn't been updated in a little while so it probably doesn't recognize DDR3 properly.

Shouldn't effect anything though. just make sure you set your RAM speeds to at least 800MHZ as that is the base speed of DDR3.

With luck you'll be able to push it up to 1000MHZ but don't hold your breath too much.

Just remember to run a good stability tester while you're playing

 

make sure rivatuner is set to performance 3d up the top of the overclocking screen.

Also you'll probably be limited to about 1280 for your shader speed unless you change the settings i mentioned in my original post

 

For all the people having issues with rivatuner not detecting clock settings etc.

When you make the changes in the power user section, make sure that the "protect database entries" icon is definitely unclicked (the icon is highlighted in my attachment)

Otherwise rivatuner will not save the changes in your registry.

Also make sure you've set "Force constant performance level" to performance 3d.

After making this and the other changes i mentioned just click ok and click yes when a restart is requested.

Good luck

 

There is a possibility of more background tasks taking up resources while you're trying to copy.

Is your copy speed consistent when copying to the same drive?
ie. c: to c: & d: to d: copies.

in all honesty it sounds like your virus scanner is not totally disabled, have you tried stopping the actual services?

if not, try clicking start, enter "services.msc" (without the quotes) into your search field and hold down left shift and left ctrl while you press enter.
This will run the app as administrator so you should be right the Norton services.

If none of this makes any difference and you get similar copy speeds on the same disk, it's probably not a problem.
Your copy speeds will always be faster initially because windows will cache a small amount of the data before sending it down the pipe to it's destination. Towards the end of the copy (especially if it's a large file(s) ) your cache buffer will be low to non existent. my disk to disk copy speeds usually start out at something outrageous like 75MB p/sec but end up leveling out at about 25MB p/sec. I have 5400rpm drives in my lappy so the speeds you're getting are quite possibly correct for your drives.

 

Feel like i'm flooding this place today

Just thought i'd let y'all know that DOX has managed to pull off his best driver optimization ever.

he's just released his optimized 182.05 drivers.

Great drivers!! no apparent problems yet, sleep seems to be working fine, i'll be checking HDMI & audio passthrough tonight though none of his drivers have ever had a problem with this so far *touches wood*

plus i get an extra 44 marks on 3dmark 06.
Will test gaming performance tonight.

download here
http://laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=23115

just remember to uninstall your previous drivers first (ONLY uninstall the display driver, don't touch the audio one )

I chose balanced for my performance option so i'm sure you can crank a bit more speed of you use the performance option

And yes the overclock still works

Cheers
Valen