*HP dv6z AMD Llano (6XXX series) Owners Lounge*

Ok, a bit of an update. Been playing a bit with Win8. The combination of *fixxing* the non-optimization for amd..(hmmmm, 'accidental' they say...yeah right) and the new amd xffire drivers, results in a discernible speed increase on the LLano 3530 DV6z I have. The combo also seems to lower my temps by a couple of degrees. I've spent a few hours with some ms corp weenies and techs over the last couple of weeks. As far as the kernel and core functions go, they swear this is the leanest op system they've turned out, and after seeing the results on the a8, i'm inclined to agree.
OTOH, there are some glitches they are chasing down that hopefully will get resolved in the near future.

Anyway, a copy of win8 was delivered to someone with an engineering sample trin core laptop.....now the *rumor* is, that the new ms optimizations have a *substantial* effect on the trin's piledriver core and that coupled with the new drivers, seems to have resulted in some healthy grins around the engineering hovels of at least one mfg, and one oem whose name rhymes with 'compal'... LOL.

Several photos of the proto lappie have now been posted on the web...

There *is* an issue, however, additional work is being done on optimizing code to deal with an unexpected anomaly that has appeared with respect to one of the implementations using the piledriver core. It turns out that the latest stepping can make very good use of blazingly fast mem. One engineer has demo'd a trin desktop running rock solid at over 2400mhz. You can imagine what that does for the bandwidth available to the onchip gpu.

soooo, unless you just HAVE to have a new toy RIGHT NOW (and I've been there ,,...I'd seriously consider holding out a little bit longer.

seer

 

Seer, all your updates are great, keep 'em coming!

Except it better be as good as they're leading on. Of course 2400MHz RAM will be super expensive if you can even find it. But good to hear that is possibly an option.

 

You're right about the drivers, I have them installed on Win 7 and they are so far the best xfire drivers after the 12.1 preview.

 

anyone try the amd 12.3 drivers yet?

 

preview/prewhql? Auto doom

 

Which is why I can do without until Kaveri and Windows 8 SP1.

 

Same as you but with the SP2, when they decide to return back the start menu button.

 

I hope this chip and its successors break into the high/premium end laptop segment. The new Envy 17 with a Trinity chip and a 7700m series discrete gpu would be amazing, I would throw my wallet at HP for that. I might have to hold off getting the Ivy Bridge version of the Envy 17 (not a big Intel fan, though they do make good products) if there is a Trinity or Kaveri (or whatever the next version is called)

 

wake up from sleep froze/lock up hauting me again.

I want CnQ off + sleep .. re installing windows now

Edit : just done re install. 0 driver installed so sleep not available, but hibernation
On : work fine
Off : struck -.-

 

Any 1 with CnQ off can use sleep perfectly ?

 

does anyone else notice their hard drive making rythmic clicking or ticking noises? It only seems to happen when the computer is idle or when I am surfing the web. This has been going on for at least 2 months maybe more but I have never noticed it affecting performance...

 

Finally got my laptop back. New LCD is in and pristine.

Now I'm finally giving it a rundown.

Playing Amalur and it was running great...

Then minimized the game and since then, loading up the game takes a few minutes while there is a black screen, the game cursor and background sound.

I tried SC2. Game ran fine and upon minimizing, then maximizing, same black screen. Since that point, opening the game is taking minutes again.

Anyone?

edit - Fresh reinstall and everything going well. Real world use is literally NO different than my DV6T. I've played Amalur extensively on the T and played it most of last night on the Z and you can't tell the difference.

 

After few hour tickling with the stupid sleep + CnQ off bug, I failed -.- I even disabled s3 sleep for sake of it . Real DTR with no sleep/hibernation grrrr.

 

Your drive may be going. I'd run HDTune error checking just to be sure. It's always a wise idea to keep your data backed up no matter what, though.

 

HDTune isnt showing any errors, however I did find this when I googled "hitachi hard drive clicking" and it seems relevant Problem with hard drive clicking - ThinkWiki

 

I don't have any CnQ thing on, I don't even have the program in fact and sleep works ok.

 

bios Cool n Quiet, not HP one.

 

just to be sure, I would check the SMART list constantly, if it shows any weird thing, replace the HDD. My hardrive is also a hitachi 512 GB 7200 rpm but I don't hear any sound coming out of it.

 

Where is this SMART list you're speaking of?

Tomorrow I'll be making some restore dvds/usb just in case. I was hoping to upgrade to an ssd anyway just not so soon =/

Btw I'm using the trial version of hdtune pro and my hdd is the 5400rpm 640gb. My girlfriend has the same hdd as you and hers is also completely silent.

 

The ram wasn't rated at 2400, he o'clocked the hell out of I believe 2000 ram (i.e. DDR3 16000.
seer

 

Try downloading and running Crystal Disk Info. It's free. If it says "Warning" or Caution", you may want to replace the drive. If it's all green or says "Good" you should be fine. But if it keeps up, check it again in a week or so and note if any of the values have changed (the far right column - raw data). Also make sure you have a good backup.

 

Posting links to information is entirely welcome.

 

(dv6z - upgraded video and processor)hey guys, dont know if anyone here can help or not, but i got my laptop last week and it has completely frozen up about 6 times where i had to hold down the power button to reboot. it's random as to when it happens. sometimes with no programs running and it even happened the first time i booted up. I called HP and we spent an hour trying stupid stuff like updating drivers and everything (which i had already done). Anyway, he had me update the bios which i did and he said that would take care of the problem. Well, it has now happened 2 more times yesterday. I dont know what to do. Anyone have any experience with this. im not sure if its a hardware or software issue or whether to call them back and return it or what. It is only about a week old. I dont know if its a common problem or a problem with these laptops or just a problem with mine. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Hi All,

I just order an HP llano based laptop wondering and was wondering if anyone has tried overclocking the memory (is it possible?) to see if there are noticeable performance gains.

I recently came across a couple of articles showing that on the desktop platform you can double the GPU performance by doubling the memory speed alone.


GIGABYTE Tech Daily: Using High Performance RAM with AMD A-Series APUs in DX11 Gaming

~100% increase !?

Blog - AMD Llano Overclocking Guide

Testing Different Memory Speeds on AMD's A8-3850 Llano APU - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat - Legit Reviews

(sorry if this has been answered before but this thread is ridiculously long to read all off )

 

You can use DDR3-1600 but only with the MX model processors, e.g. A6-3410MX, A8-3510/3530MX. Otherwise you have to go DDR3-1333. Not sure if there has been much or any success with overclocking, and also the only huge advantage is to the onboard GPU (6520G/6620G) because faster memory = faster graphics. If you're using the 6750M primarily, it won't matter as much, but still DDR3-1333 is cheap enough, there's no reason not to buy it vs. slower RAM.

 

I actually ordered one of these for work (sadly they dont come with a8, £572 exVAT):

BT Business Direct - HP 6465b AMD A6-3430MX,4GB, 500GB, Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit (LY452ET#ABU)

and some additional ddr3 (£33 exVAT):

BT Business Direct - Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) NB Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz SO-DIMM CL9 (CMSX8GX3M2A1600C9)


will benchmark it when it arrives and see what I get compared to notebookcheck...or anyone else with an a6.

 

You can also check here for more info on compatible RAM kits, at least confirmed by other dv6z/llano users.

 

lol..
I AM the "link".

seer

 

THANKS!

somehow through that link I found this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...g-benchmarked-various-ram-configurations.html

which was exactly what was looking for, minus the overclocking.

Not sure I will overclock my RAM though, it being a work machine and all

 

Yup, I can say it now, after extensive testing the Windows 8 CP Preview drivers are the best for xfire...

AMD_Catalyst_Win8_Consumer_Preview Modified.rar

Those are the drivers modified by me, note that they have just two inf modified... but anyway, I uploaded the whole package because while the drivers must be installed manually using the Device Manager (C:\AMD\AMD_Catalyst_Win8_Consumer_Preview\Packages\Drivers\Display) The AMD Vision Engine Control Center ver 2012 must also be installed (*with the drivers I saw performance increase, but with this it was even more*).

The drivers are very stable and so far no lockups, some interesting results in this picture:



The iGPU now is constantly used even at the point of giving the most heat in the whole APU, previously it would just follow the processor's temp, which causes smoother framerates, this was tested on DiRT 3 with everything at max except for the shadows (medium) and ambient occlusion (high)

Hope this helps for those who use xFire

 

First thing I would do,download and burn a live cd of someone's Linux op system which you can run off the cd., (or off a fast usb stick- you can set it up either way) Play with that op system for a bit and see if the system shuts down or not...if not, then you have a software problem...if it does shut down, most likely a hardware issue.
If it runs fine under a linux flavor, then the thing to do is wipe the disk and reinstall a clean opp system. Make sure you have all the requisite drivers and core proggies on hand. I think Wing did a post laying out the procedure.

If it still crashes under Linux, (and you've made sure your cooling vents are unobstructed and the fans working) then its time to send it back.

Let us know how it works out.

seer

 

You won't be able to overclock your RAM, there is no way to. Only possible way is to edit the JEDEC timings using third party software, but those have shown to have minimal impact on performance. It's too bad that they use a gimped version of the 6620G in the A6 chips. Although it would be good to see some benchmark comparisons.

 

1. I've seen this problem many times with marginal memory. (Quick tested good, but not good in use.) The fastest way to find it, or rule it out, is to pull one stick and use the laptop the same way you've been using it. If the problem goes away, the stick you pulled is bad.

2. If it doesn't, put the stick back in and pull the other, and repeat. If the problem goes away, the 2nd stick is bad.

This method usually identifies bad memory faster than bootable memory diagnostics. (Which you can run, too, but it's more of a pain.)

3. If neither helps, there's really only one more thing you can do to troubleshoot, and that's the hard drive/software intallation, but only if you have a spare drive that you can load Windows and drivers from scratch. If you CAN do this, (but only after the memory test outlined above), and the PC works fine, then it is either the hard drive or the software install.

4. To find which, you'd then have to put the original drive in and reinstall Windows, drivers, and software, and then see if the problem continues. If it does, then it's the drive, and the drive needs to be replaced.

If it doesn't, it was the OS/drivers/software install, and you're then good to go.

5. If none of the above works, you'd need to return the laptop for repair.

 

If a system won't boot, then it's a good way to rule out a bad stick, but intermittent memory issues a bootable memory diagnostic should help there.

It is a lot of work to root cause, but better you try to find the culprit than send it in only for them to not fix the issue.

 

For a newish laptop with warranty, personally, I would just return/send it in if it doesnt work after a factory reset. As DOA is not uncommon.

Oh, and regarding HP. Don't call them, just email them(through the support page iirc ) and they will send you a box right away.

 

Yes, if it's still within 21 days of receipt of the laptop, definitely just return it. No need to fuss with it.

 

if you got some decent earphones, you can eq/tune the sound with the beats audio control panel pretty good. I would not turn that software feature off .

 

HWingNut... you have put in your guide that you have to disable xfire to test how much the graphics can overclock? because just right now reached 800/1000 while never before I was able too... because I had xfire enabled...

Edit: nah, false alarm. it still crashes at those speeds

 

Vect I cannot get the drivers to install it keeps saying Im not running the correct version of windows or it says I already have the most up to date drivers but im running 12.1

 

You have to deselect "show only compatible drivers" and then force them to install through device manager (right click over both cards, update driver, let me choose one driver from the list, have disk (point to the modified drivers), deselect "show compatible drivers only" and finally install)

 

thanks figured it out. I have never manually installed drivers since like win 98. Have you had any trouble opening ccc? the drivers work fine but i cannot open the control center to view settings.

 

No I actually haven't had any problem opening catalyst... did you install the control center 2012?

 

I did but it had warnings after I installed it but the log said there was no errors. I re-installed it and it still will not open. I will have to test it and see if the drivers work. I may just un-install all the drivers, run driver sweep, then reinstall the preview from scratch.

 

I just want to throw in another recommendation for Vect's drivers. Mass Effect 3 is now (for the most part) fluid at 1080p with shadows/AA.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...-cl9-ram-35-99-free-shipping-ends-3-11-a.html

Cheap 1600mhz CL9 RAM. Just a heads up for those who want to get the last couple % of performance out of the iGPU.

 

Just got the antennas, since i brought a pair, I will see how it compete with stock one.

The antennas are just thin sheet of copper , so just taping them behind the screen should be fine.

Edit: testing them now, seem not help that much for better receiving compare to upgrading the card. In fact not sure if it is even helping. Need to try place in different position.

 

Just an update. after reading all the stuff posted here about what the problems could be, i decided that since this is only a week old, i am sending it back. I dont know enough about this stuff and a brand new product should be defect free. I am just letting HP handle it. They are going to exchange it. Thanks for the info.

 

anyone has a suggestion for sata bay hdd drive dv6100sv?
thank you

 

What sort of battery life are you guys getting? On my A6-3400m @ stock, battery bar is showing a discharge rate of around 25K. In a word, that's HORRENDOUS. Is something going on..? I was expecting ~ 4 hours or so but it looks like I'd be getting half that on a six cell at this rate.

 

Are you watching videos or something? Anything that taxes the iGPU will lower your battery life by quite a bit. I can get around 4 hours just web browsing at ~25% brightness on a 6 cell.