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    HP dv5z or dv7z & ATI Hybrid CrossFireX ???

    Discussion in 'HP' started by allfiredup, Nov 5, 2008.

  1. allfiredup

    allfiredup Notebook Virtuoso

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    I haven't seen any mention on ATI Hybrid CrossFireX being enabled on the HP dv5z or dv7z when they are ordered with the ATI Radeon Mobility HD3450 discrete GPU.

    ATI Hybrid CrossFireX was one of the more interesting features of the AMD Puma platform. All notebooks built on the Puma platform have the ATI Radeon Mobility HD 3200 integrated graphics card. If a discrete ATI graphics card is selected (HD 3450 or HD3650), it handles the graphics processing and the HD 3200 integrated is simply deactivated.

    ATI Hybrid CrossFireX utilizes both the integrated HD 3200 and the discrete HD 3450 simultaneously, resulting in up to a 50% perfomance boost over the HD 3450 working alone. When the notebook is running on battery power, it can also deactivate the dedicated GPU to save battery life. When the dv5z and dv7z were initally introduced, it seems that the Hybrid CrossFireX capability was not enabled. Is that still the the case?

    Has anyone succeeded in activating Hybrid CrossFireX and getting the IGP and dedicated GPU to work in tandem?

    If it isn't enabled, or can't be user-enabled, the expense of upgrading to the ATI HD 3450 doesn't seem worth the expense. At best, the HD 3450 performs 25% better than the HD 3200.

    The upgrade cost is $100 for the 256mb ATI HD 3450
    or $200 for the 512mb ATI HD 3450! Does the 512mb version of the same ATI card offer any tangible benefit over the 256mb? Especially when the jump from ATI HD 3200 to 512mb ATI HD 3450 is $200!!! The 512mg ATI HD 3650 seems like a more logical choice for the $200 upgrade!?

    With Hybrid CrossFireX functional, the $100 256mb ATI HD 3450 and ATI HD 3200 would actually be very similar to the more powerful HD 3650.
     
    allfiredup, Nov 5, 2008
    #1
  2. Tippey764

    Tippey764 Notebook Deity

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    I agree on that ati radeon 3650 if hp put that in the dv7z i would so buy that over the dv7t
     
    Tippey764, Nov 6, 2008
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