HP Pavilion dv6z-7000 (AMD A10-4600M) Trinity Review

Yeah I am fairly sure. Although I will double check it again, as this is just way to close.

The Configure Switchable Graphics only shows that I am either on Power Saving or Performance. Each time I need to check I have to start e.g. 3DMark11 and then close and open Configure Switchable Graphics just to make sure it is on the right one. Which I did on the two benchmarks above, that how I double checked it in the first run.
Screenshot one was with Power Saver.
Screenshot two was with Performance.

It is a real pain to open the Configure Switchable Graphics application and it shows nothing in there everytime the notebook has been restarted or shutdown.
Can anyone offer any advice on how to get the "Configure Switchable Graphics" application to show all the programs that I have ever selected?


I have added some Cinebench R11.5 scores of the OpenGL performance.
From what I believe the OpenGL switching did not work with either Intel or AMD for the HP DV6-6XXX series. Is that correct?

The fastest benchmark is of the 7730M, this is not that impressive.
The second fastest is of the intergated 7660G, which I think is impressive, when compared to the other two benchmarks.
The third and slowest, is my desktop with a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 running at stock, and a 6570 (DDR3) overclocked which is a 480 steam processor desktop model, speed of 800 / 1000

Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL

 

you can switch to dgpu when running opengl ?

i wonder why amd can't make it work with the llano....

 

I guess the answer is yes. I can switch between the two cards and run the OpenGL benchmark no problem at all.
Thats how I did the above tests, just my changing switchable graphics option between the 7660G (Power Saving) and the 7730M (High Performance).

Some bad news for me. I have found that my 7730M is defective (fairly certain of this). It is producing video artifacts.
I only really just started to notice, as I had not put many game on the notebook till this weekend, and started to focus on the 7730M.
Depending on the application or game, the amount of video artifacts vary. e.g. Deus X and The Witcher 2 have issues more than others.

Appears that the crappy overclock of just 15MHz confirms this. As if I underclock the 7730M under its stock speed of 575MHz way down to 525MHz the video artifacts go away.

It is hard to certain if it is not bad video drivers for the 7730M (as there are no problem with 7760G), but to me it looks like classic video artifacts. If this is true, then this is the second faulty HP notebook I have had in a matter of two weeks apart.

 

why even bother with 15mhz.... should've kept it at stock. Seems like overclocking gpu on HP's screws things up.

I guess amd did make something that can compare to Optimus.

if they could make it work on llano, I wouldn't have to bother with fixed mode.

 

Yeah I don't bother with 15MHz, that was only just to push my benchmarks that tiny bit higher.

Basically the 15MHz is all it takes before it will BSOD, that just highlights it is unstable at stock speeds, e.g. the video card artifiacts.

I know that this is a problem, as if I underclock then the artifacts will go away.

Looks like I have to return it, likley for an exchange as I am out to the return period in my country. Actually in my country, the moment we leave the shop, they don't have to accept anything back on change of mind of the customer.

 

Impressive how close 7660G to 7730M, I just do not see reason having dedicated graphics near Integrated no more. Especially If a 45W version APU would come with 1866MHz memory support and unlocked CPU, GPU that would be the heaven for many of us.

 

My only hope now is that there'll be a 45w unlocked version, but that seems unlikely. Atom_Anti, did you get the Trinity chip/try it out in the Llano socket yet?

 

The part still travelling somewhere in the world, I expect the arrival around Wednesday. Hope will work!

 

3dmark 11 is showing 7660g is better than 6750m? but in reality it is worse than 6630m?

For some reason, I think amd did some driver screwing or forcing it to run on dGPU . (CCC have 3dmark on high performance in default iirc)

Edit:

All review around may 15-16 is showing 1k ish for 7660g alone.

 

can anyone please tell me the game fps for:

a10 4600 m + 7730m

 

0 FPS

At this stage crossfire does not work, and I would doubt that HP (even if possible) will release drivers to make it happen.

The A10 is so good when compared with the 7730M, no one should bother with the 7730M at all.
Although the 7730M is faster by just a little bit if you should need it, due to having a newer core tech and it own DDR3. Though you will use 30-35watts of extra power to run it.

The difference is not much between the two, and to be honest, most of the time I find it hard to see the difference, depending on usage.

 

so, for gaming, should i get the 7730 upgrade or not?

 

I believe the consensus is no. I would wait and get an HP with AMD that does crossfire, and get a GPU with DDR5, come on its 2012 don't buy DDR3 GPU's. The AMD A10 in the DV6 is going to be a good value, and stay cool, forgot the Dedicated GPU, at this point if you want to game on a DV6, it seems that the Intel Quad Core with the Nvidia 650M is the way to go. I for one am dissapointed, I wanted a DDR5 crossfire system with mmy A10. I am probably going to go with a Sager NP6165.

 

Due to the 7730M being faulty, I have taken the the laptop back to the store. I was able to get a refund, which I took rather than a replacement.

I had only noticed the fault when I actually slowed down on benchmarking, and then started to focus on playing games on the 7730M, with max performance enabled in PowerPlay settings.

I would still recommend this to anyone that does not have a Llano based laptop already, due to the newer technology APU/GPU inside, and is very nice laptop use.

Unfortunatley I cannot add anymore information to this thread, but will help out where I can with anyones questions.

 

you dodged a bullet. $1000 for that laptop is just a ripoff.

enjoy your intels. There really was no need to buy that A10.

 

Well kind of, it was an extra bill to pay, and my older DV6 was not getting used any more. If the 7730M then I would still have the A10 without a doubt.
I am still interested in the AMD 7760G which was pretty sweet how it blended in with an all AMD platform, by unfortunately it ends here.

However, I started using the old Intel DV6, and I can say it is a pain to use in many respects compared to the AMD. The older Intel DV6 fan is always going and gets loud often (if a seemingly rouge/random process take over now and then), runs hot quickly, the battery can drain pretty fast even without the 6770M running, keyboard is lose in the keyboard chassis area which I hate the most.

The other laptops I own each have their own purpose of usage, due to the size and power, that why I have so many.

In general I would rate the newer A10 user experience much higher than last years Intel model. That is just my opinion, other people may vary with what they find.

 

The thing is if trinity is getting that high 3dmark11, it would satisfy everyone expectation. But I feel that AMD did something when every review are getting 1kish.

 

Newer drivers?

 

are you sure there's no dust in the heatsink, or did it act that way since day 1 ?

 

No dust, the DV6t-61XX is clean, and has not had that much usage.

What I am really getting at there is a big contrast to how much heat the DV6t-61XX puts out when compared with the DV6z-70XX during normal usage.

When it comes to gaming, the DV6z-70XX thermals is absolutely superior, the DV6t-61XX will burn you, and you have next to no chance to run a game for very long at all on battery.

Sure the DV6t-61XX will out perform the DV6z-70XX in gaming, but you have to pay the price in heat and massive power consumption. And that is what most people don't want in a notebook.

 

i would think your envy i5 + radeon hits the sweet spot.

i5 should be a pretty cool chip, and still more powerful than any amd notebook

 

They now just need to put the A10 in the Envy 17 laptop and I would be in heaven (probably won't happen anytime soon through, I just want to see A10 in a premium laptop with premium build quality).

 

Yeah me too, but it in 13" inch laptop. I like very much the new Pavilion M6, looks more premium than DV6z with 1" thin case with backlit keyboard and cost only $600 with A10-4600M. I think this is my next machine, just need to sell my old Envy 14....

 

the M6 uses the exact same case as the dv6.
they look exactly the same.

 

Ohh, no, I taught M6 50% thinner. I need to go and see these laptops!

 

I'm wrong.
It looks a tiny bit thinner, but not 50% thinner. The dv6 is pretty thin already.

 

Could you please try to run Minecraft on this and report whether it is using the integrated or the dedicated GPU, and how well it runs? Whether the graphics switch over properly for OpenGL games is important to my continued recommendation of this laptop.

 

I don't have it anymore, but if you have a look a page or so back, you will see I had no problems switching between the both 7660G and 7730M graphics within window using Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL benchmark test, this should be a good indicator towards your question

 

AMD Trinity crossfire compatibility list for those who are interested.

Revision : 01
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Software name AMD Graphics Driver

Support models ThinkPad Edge E435
ThinkPad Edge E535

Operating Systems Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 32-bit, 64-bit

Refer to marketing materials to find out what computer models
support which Operating Systems.

Versions 8.944.2.1000(Package:8.944.2.1-120405a-136440C-Lenovo.3)
7.12.0.7706 (HD Audio Driver)

Support device AMD Radeon HD 7520G
AMD Radeon HD 7640G
AMD Radeon HD 7660G
AMD Radeon HD 7470M
AMD Radeon HD 7520G + 7470M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7640G + 7470M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7660G + 7470M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7670M
AMD Radeon HD 7520G + 7670M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7640G + 7670M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7660G + 7670M Dual Graphics


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT THIS PACKAGE DOES

This package installs the software (AMD Graphics Driver) to enable the
following device.

Device name Device name in the Device Manager
------------------------- ---------------------------------
AMD Radeon HD 7520G AMD Radeon HD 7520G
AMD Radeon HD 7640G AMD Radeon HD 7640G
AMD Radeon HD 7660G AMD Radeon HD 7660G
AMD Radeon HD 7470M AMD Radeon HD 7470M
AMD Radeon HD 7520G + 7470M Dual Graphics AMD Radeon HD 7520G + 7470M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7640G + 7470M Dual Graphics AMD Radeon HD 7640G + 7470M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7660G + 7470M Dual Graphics AMD Radeon HD 7660G + 7470M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7670M AMD Radeon HD 7670M
AMD Radeon HD 7520G + 7670M Dual Graphics AMD Radeon HD 7520G + 7670M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7640G + 7670M Dual Graphics AMD Radeon HD 7640G + 7670M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7660G + 7670M Dual Graphics AMD Radeon HD 7660G + 7670M Dual Graphics

Source http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/hhd511ww.txt

 

So there will be a Lenovo e435 with Trinity? hmm... Now if they just offered slightly better resolution.

AMD had stated months before that Trinity would crossfire with the 7670m. The reason it has taken long is probably because the architectures differ. 7660G is based on VLIW4 architecture (69xx desktop GPUs) whereas 7670 is based on VLIW5 architecture.

 

I just hope scaling is good, if so we could see some pretty high performance. Fore example a 5870m has 800 VLIW5 cores, a high end Trinity setup will have 384 VLIW4 cores + 480 VLIW5 cores, this could very easily beat a 5870m, which is no slouch. It's all down to the scaling I suppose, lets hope AMD don't let them selves down with this potential winner.

 

It doesn't work that way, though I wish it did

the core count matters but not as much as overall performance. Because you're talking laptop parts you have to consider that both are TDP limited therefore their clocks are lowered. Then you also have to throw in crossfire scaling which depends on the game, but if it supported then you have 90%+. This isn't your typical crossfire but rather asymmetric crossfire, or crossfire between two different architectures.

Unlike the 6620g+discrete GPU, the higher end Trinity chips look to be limited to the 7670 which is roughly about as good as 7660G so we might see a decrease in stuttering in crossfire configurations. That's just a hunch based on the performance of the parts considered so it would be interesting to see how it actually performs.

I'm still waiting for some decent A10 models to show. The ones released so far have been really unimpressive. The dv6z is too expensive for the hardware, the sleekbook hardware options look like they've been put together by an idiot (1 stick of DDR1600 on a 25W part that's limited to 1333? 15.6" size for a "sleekbook"? 4-cell battery AND no optional higher res screen?) and the choices are currently really slim. Samsung has an A10-4655m on preorder via amazon but it's near $900 and only packs a 4-cell with a single stick of 1600 as well. I guess it's still a waiting game but I'm hoping AMD worked with OEMs so they can package their chips in much more sane configurations and prices. It's one thing to skimp on the hardware/upgrade options for AMD laptops but it's quite another to excessively overcharge for that same unappealing hardware.

 

Well i for one will be getting a A10 7660g + 7670m crossfire. I really can't wait to get rid of this asus laptop it is so damn heavy.

 

So there is not a chance the 7730m configuration will crossfire with the 7660g in the future?

 

Never. They will never Xfire GCN and VLIW-4, they are too different. The best Hybrid Xfire card is the 7690M XT.

 

Isn't the 7730m higher performing than the 7660g+7670m in crossfire?

 

Not really. As shown, the 7730M gets around 9500 on 3DMark06, while the 7670M is around 8000. However, in Vantage and 3DMark11, the 7660G + 7670M should pull far ahead with the XFire. I have high hopes for that combo, because they are very close in speed, and should actually equally share frames, and reduce stuttering. However, until someone gets a laptop in that config, we wont know.

 

I ordered the laptop in the 7730m configuration almost a week ago. I had based the purchase on the charts on Notebookcheck:

AMD Radeon HD 7730M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

This rated the 7730m quite signficantly beyond the combination. If the crossfire combination is indeed better, I'll have some pretty bad buyer's remorse.

 

The 7730M is a good card, and should be a great overclocker, so we'll see. T2050's was a dud.

The 6620G + 6750M combo broke 2200 3DMark11, something the 7730M will probably not achieve. With a stronger 7660G and a weaker 7670M, I'd expect it to be around 2200 overclocked.

 

3dmark11 is like the only thing that shows a huge gain with xfire.

the sad thing is, 3dmark11 framerates are so low that the stutter conceals the usual microstutter you get with xfire.

 

We don't know that yet. There is no test out there of a 7660G plus a card to Xfire with.

 

^^ someone be a guinea pig, and order up the A10 + 7670m from HP, then return it

 

My laptop just shipped with the following configuration:

HP Pavilion dv6z-7000 Entertainment Notebook PC

• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• AMD Quad-Core A10-4600M Accelerated Processor (3.2GHz/2.3GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
• 2GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7730M Graphics
• FREE Upgrade to 6GB 1600MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• FREE Upgrade to 640GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1366x768)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• HP TrueVision Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone + HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
• 802.11b/g/n WLAN
• Backlit Keyboard

I am going on vacation next week, so I should have it the week of July 9th.

If anyone is curious about how this laptop looks, and has a local Best Buy, this appears to be the same laptop without the added GPU and backlit keyboard:

HP - 15.6" Pavilion Laptop - 6GB Memory - 640GB Hard Drive - Midnight Black - m6-1035dx

 

I realize the Trinity CPU is not as good as the Intel offerings, but with coupon deals, I got this configuration for $658 with tax and free shipping. I'd advise anyone looking at this to see what coupons are available.

Now if anyone can suggest a laptop that will surpass this one for gaming and productivity on a similar budget, I'm all ears, but as it stands, I feel pretty good about this deal.

 

I really wish you would've gotten it with the 7670M...

I wonder how that 7730M overclocks when it's not a dud.

 

At the time, I had no idea that the 7730 wouldn't xfire with the onboard 7660g. I probably would have gone with the 7670m had I known that...

I will test the boundaries of the 7730M when I get it, so we'll have a better idea if it's a limitation of the GPU, or if the past tests were just a product of a dud.

 

Glad you'll be running test's. Best of luck!

 

Test it, and then try to exchange it for the 7670m (if you want). Tell HP that you wanted xfire originally and did not know that the 7730M doesn't xfire. Did the sales rep let you know about which discrete gpus xfire or not? I'm guessing no.

 

Guinea Pig reporting for duty.

Just placed an order for the Dv6z-7000 with the A10, 7670m, 1080p screen. Total price was right around 740 including tax, which I think is perfectly acceptable. If there are any problems, I already love hp's 21 day return window.

Here's hoping for crossfire! I had to explain what crossfire was to one rep, then the second one said "I don't know, but I do know what you are talking about." At least we all will finally know.

I am completely unfamiliar with benchmarks, and my game selection is limited, but I will make a thread and take questions when it gets here.

Expected ship date isn't until July 11th.

 

It usually ships before the date. Good luck, and thanks for being the guinea pig!

Also, I found some benches that put the 7660G + 7670M at about ~P2100 on 3DMark11, which is higher than the 6620G + 6750M (7670M with GDDR5, faster card) placed.