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

The bios update says "- Fixes an issue where the CPU does not reach maximum performance after resuming from critical hibernation. - Decreases fan noise when the notebook is powered on.

Has anyone ran cinebench after updating bios to see if this has any effect on the turbo problem?

 

Really shouldn't BSOD at 2.6, since the turbo is rated at that speed. Did you try lowering the voltages or something?

 

Probably need to raise the voltage. Mine has to be at 1.15V to run at 2.6-2.8GHz and the default voltage for P0 is 1.075. At the default voltage the highest mine goes is 2.4GHz.

Turbo Core sucks it is doesn't look like it will get fixed. It will turbo every once in a while but it never sustains it for very long. To get around it you can just overclock the CPU. If you are okay with temps reaching almost 90C, which a lot of people are, then you can run it at 2.6-2.8GHz just fine. I like to keep mine under 80C or so so I run mine at 2.4GHz.

 

Llano in two words, "Trinity!! Help!!"

 

What program do you use to overclock? Do you always have it overclocked?

 

How do I know if it's running crossfire? I see switchable graphics and high performance and low performance, but no way to tell if there's crossfire. I ran Bad Company 2 and it automatically added it to high performance. Has anyone gotten crossfire to work and way to confirm it's working?

Oh and yeah, I had to push my Voltage to 1.20V and seems to run fine now at 2.6GHz.

I tried MSI Afterburner and when I went to overclock everything ran really really slowly, lol. Not sure what's going on there.

 

K10Stat and yes. I have P0 set to 2.4GHz at all times, though it rarely goes that high when doing normal stuff like browsing the web.

Did you update the BIOS and disable Crossfire? 7words also said that he couldn't overclock the GPU after he updated the graphics driver, iirc. And have you tried 2.6GHz at 1.15V? That seems to be stable for everyone else. At 1.2V I can run at 2.8GHz.

As for Crossfire, I don't know. The performance is pretty much where you would expect the 6750m to be in games and Crossfire seems to be working in benchmarks but I get the same scores on benchmarks whether it is enabled or disabled. Llano has only been out for a few weeks, I assume that Crossfire will work better down the road.

 

That's a very good question. I didn't see that Crysis had released the dx11 support. Damned glad they did What was the date on that test? Maybe dx11 wasn't available yet.

Seer

 

Thanks. What's latest version of K10Stat? I'm using 1.52.

I will toy around a bit with voltage but 1.2 is working for now. My temps for both CPU and GPU sky to 89C when playing Bad Company 2!

GPU-Z also reports GDDR3 and not GDDR5. I thought they were all supposed to be GDDR5?

I get somewhat jerky performance in Bad Company 2, but haven't spent much time toying with configurations. But even at 720p it still seems to run a bit jerky. Almost like not bad fps but intermittent pauses.

I'm using 11.7 drivers at the moment. The AMD Status Monitor shows that Crossfire is working though, both GPU's are fluctuating. I might try to turn it off (where? BIOS?) and see if that frees up extra resources for the CPU which Bad Company 2 needs.

 

1) 1.52 is the latest version

2) I think I said it in my review, at 2.6-2.8GHz and 1.2V the temps reach almost 90C when gaming. That is why I keep it at 2.4GHz and 1.075V when gaming. If I am in a cool room, <72F, I can keep it at 2.6GHz and 1.15V and stay under 85C. I just switch the K10Stat profile to the one I have at 2.8GHz and 1.2V when I need just the CPU, i.e. rendering a video

3) GPU-Z is wrong there. The 6750m only comes with GDDR5, there isn't a GDDR3 version

4) I haven't gotten that on any drivers I used, and I used them all from stock to 11.6 to 11.7 and now I am on the 11.8 preview. It sounds like micro-stuttering ( link)

5) There should be an option to disable Crossfire in CCC. Like I said, though, it doesn't seem to change anything in benchmarks. I haven't tried actual games with it disabled.

 

You can turn off CF in CCC I think. And ouch, 89c? I guess that's why AMD crippled turbo core.

You got your Sager, right? How does the screen compare?

 

Thanks abaddon. So you're saying you DON'T get the microstuttering? Maybe I'll step down to 2.4GHz as well and drop the voltage. Perhaps the stuttering could be from heat issue?

I'll mess with enable/disable crossfire later. Right now I'm sitting outside using my netbook while my kids play in the pool. So hopefully time later to mess with my HP.

@R3d - First impression, I'm very surprised by the HP screen. It is nearly comparable to the Sager in viewing angles and clarity, contrast, and colors just based on looking at them side by side. I think the Sager is a little bit brighter, but I'll check that later.

 

@gerbik have you changed your settings at all for better performance i ran these, http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...v6-now-shipping-amd-llano-94.html#post7735506 , and theyre stable too on mine, just wondering if you have made any adjustments

 

I have a theory on the stuttering and it has to do with the way that AMD implemented its TDP CPU/GPU throttling. Since there both on the same die, and sharing the same resources and thus the same tdp, you have to take from one, to give to the other to stay in the cap. Thus as CPU side needs more cores and power, the gpu side has to throttle back. When you have such a zero sum game, i.e. there's only so many resources in the box, the only real solution is to increase the size of the box There are some ways, I think, to do that and I'll just have to wait till I get mine to try them out.

you guys are just having too much fun

seer

 

Crossfire does not do anything, as already stated. I rebooted and stutters seem to have gone away. But performance in Bad Company 2 is still a lot to be desired. 1080p at all low some instances runs at avg 25-30fps, and dips to high teens, making it damn near impossible to play. AT 720p even, the performance is better but only by less than 10 fps in general, more like 5, but dips are still a little low and requires medium and low detail.

My concentration will be on Bad Company 2 because while I won't be playing Battlefield 3 much on this machine, I will on occasion. I can live with it if I get avg 40fps with dips to 30fps but so far it's not looking too promising especially since BF3 will probably require a little more horsepower. The only hope is Crossfire drivers are released that will correct it, but I'm ticking on a 21 day return time, and if there's no promise after a couple weeks I'm sticking with my Sager.

So far though, I'm impressed with everything else about the the machine: keyboard, screen, build quality, and general performance. Just needs a little more oomph in the GPU department. I'd be willing to repaste my machine with IC Diamond but don't want to risk losing a chance to return it.

 

You can try disabling CF and OC the discrete and just play on that. The 6770m in my dv6t was pretty capable at running BC2.

 

After 45 minutes playing sc2 on high(a6-3400m)

 

That picture is way too low res. I can't even tell what frequency you're running at.

 

Just bought the dv6z with A8-3530MX for $750 + free xbox 360 I'll post some Crysis 2 benches later

 

I did disable, and Crossfire doesn't make a lick of difference, right now at least. I also forced DirectX 10 in Bad Company 2 to make sure it didn't decide to load DirectX 9 which is where these AMD GPU's suffer greatly.

6770m is quite a bit more powerful than the 6750 as is the Intel CPU. The whole idea behind the DV6z though is Crossfire should bring performance up to 6770m if not better. But so far nothing.

 

Well I had a i5-2410m so the CPU difference probably wasn't that big.

And I would hope that the 6755g2 doesn't just match the 6770m or else there would be little reason to get the dv6zqe when the dv6t can be had for pretty much the same price. I'm not sure on the specifics of dual graphics but if the iGPU is able to render 1 frame per every 2 or 3 frames of the dGPU then there are some pretty big gains to be had.

But since the 6750m is just an underclocked 6770m and the dv6zqe is (supposedly) overclockable, you could try OCing the 6750m to 6770m levels or higher and just use that while AMD improves the drivers.

 

So you are saying you are only getting 35-40 FPS on low at 720p? There is something wrong there. I am getting about that on high at 720p.

 

I realized power profile was set to balanced or "HP Recommended". I set it to high performance and it runs great at 720p now with medium settings.

There's a few tweaks I did with my M11x that I have to find that really improved performance a decent amount. I'll have to see if I can find them and if they make any difference.

One thing I noticed though is that my ping is higher with this network card than the Intel 6230 Advanced N.

I'm also going to try the 11.8 beta. I know you said it didn't really make a difference, but maybe for BC2 it will help a bit. I'd just like to know if or what AMD is doing about Crossfire.

Still would like to know how to overclock the GPU though. Using MSI afterburner, any amount I move the sliders to the right, performance crawls to a slide show. But if AMD fixed the crossfire, I'd be happy with 6770m performance.

 

oh man, they gave you the coupon off AND the xbox? or is that some other deal?
gratz

Seer

 

Hmm. Did you update the BIOS?

And someone reported that updating the drivers broke OCing.

 

I updated the BIOS to F1D. Maybe I'll try stock drivers and see if I can overclock.

 

Mine showed up earlier today! Running recovery discs now, gonna run some quick benches, then on to clean Windows 7 install!

 

The 6770m really shouldn't be that much more powerful than the 6750m...

It's just a minor clock bump, no architectural difference. In fact, you're able to push the 6750m to 6770m levels while undervolting it to about 0.95v from the stock 1v. At least on my MBP.

 

The problem is that you can't overclock it ... yet.

I had my power profile set to balanced or "HP Recommended", after setting it to high performance, it ran well.

My temperatures are still sky high though, 88-90C. I have the 9-cell battery too which props the back up a good inch for better cooling.

One thing to try is from this post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...11xr1-optimization-must-have.html#post6642510

That reg edit improved my ping as well as improved my overall performance in game.

 

Right, but then you're still looking at no more than 10% real world, 15% bench difference. The ONLY difference is clock speed.

 

Which is great, but we can't overclock the GPU yet. I hope soon.

 

just a really noob question =p

but does oc'ing a cpu and gpu makes great difference in games?

cause so far. only with the standard settings, i can play most new titles in max without experiencing any annoying fps issues.

 

HP is tempting me relentlessly. Should I do it?

HP Pavilion dv6z Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC
LK237AV

dark umber
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
AMD Quad-Core A8-3510MX Accelerated Processor (2.5GHz/1.8GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD Dual Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
FREE Upgrade to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
No Additional Office Software
No additional security software
6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 5.5 hours of battery life +++
15.6" diagonal Full HD HP Anti-glare LED Display (1920 x 1080)
FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
Standard Keyboard
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Price: $1,084.99
Coupon: –$325.50
Price after savings: $759.49

 

i would seriously recommend this laptop to anyone who ask.
for a laptop at this price range. it performs quite well.

i have nothing much to say really. but i'd say go for it.

 

See attachment...

Old quote:
My findings about GPU-OC so far:
It only works with MSI Afterburner 2.1 or Beta 2.2 (other tools like Sapphire Trixx oder EVGA Precision or ATI...Tools didn´t work), you have to enable OC for AMD/ATI in the .ini-File.
I installed BIOS F.1D as direct download from the HP-Supportpage.
I got it only to work with Catalyst 11.6 and the default HP driver, but it also works with crossfire enabled. Newer drivers->freeze+bluescreen. For OC I need to start GPU-Z and assign the 6750 / high performance. If there is no active application with high performance setting, OC doesn´t work. Then the clocksettings for the GPU and RAM are automatically set back to default.

 

10-15% is not a world's difference. They're perfectly comparable.

 

Thank you. I did try with stock HP driver and Afterburner 2.1, but the thing with application with high performance setting is interesting and did not try that.

Edit: Hmm, I guess I need some education on how to install Catalyst 11.6? I had installed Cat 11.7, and 11.8 both with a full uninstall. Then installed stock drivers, but Catalyst version still says 11.8. Strange thing is that it let me change the clocks and it registered in GPU-Z. But when I went to run Bad Company 2, it didn't seem much different. I then set the clocks really low to see if it had an effect, and still same performance even though GPU-Z confirmed the clocks. I'm thinking that it still doesn't work.

edit edit (lol): Ok, seems to work now just fine. Don't know what happened last time. Bad Company 2 at 720p with med settings low shadows, 4xMSAA 16x aniso runs really good. Wondering if it would run better to set AA in the Control Center than in the game?

 

Yeah, you could probably get better results using MLAA but it's a pain to turn it on and off for different programs. What's your CPU usage/temps during BC2?

edit: Is it possible to set Afterburner as "high performance"? Wouldn't it be more convenient that way instead of opening up GPUZ every time?

 

I just ordered my dv6z the other day with the exact same cofiguration and price. Taxes to new york are high so, my laptop's grand total is $827

anyways, it's a good buy for me.

 

9-cell worth it as a primary battery?

I don't like the bulge.

Btw, what happened to the 3530MX option?

 

Where did you get that coupon?

 

crysis 2 (1.9) dx 9, 1366 x 768, High - cat 11.7, high performance mode OFF, crossfire ON (6220G) avg 17


crysis 2 (1.9) dx 9, 1366 x 768, High - cat 11.7, high performance mode ON, crossfire ON (6755G) low of 20, high of 35, avg of 25


crysis 2 (1.9) dx 9, 1366 x 768, High - cat 11.7, high performance mode ON, crossfire OFF (6750m) low of 35 , high of 55 , avg of 40


crysis 2 (1.9) dx 11, 1366 x 768, High - cat 11.7, high performance mode ON, crossfire ON (6755G) low of 20, high of 35, avg of 25


crysis 2 (1.9) dx 11, 1366 x 768, High - cat 11.7, high performance mode ON, crossfire OFF (6750m) low of 25 , high of 35 , avg of 30


Better performance with 6750m of 6755G, however the system seems runs hotter with crossfire off. Catalyst 11.8 is supposed to boost Crysis 2 performance by 10%, hopefully we will see better results from the 6755G than.

 

Xbox Included with select HP laptops! - Future Shop

Thanks seer, apparently it was a dead link, but I showed them all you have to do is google "futureshop free xbox hp laptop", and the link comes up as the first hit. So they honored the deal for me, and plus the laptop I got was on the last day of sale when I came in. Now it is selling for $850, the only thing is no fingerprint, blueray, or 1080p screen, and no 7200rpm. But when you throw in a $200 xbox, that makes it all better

 

hrmmm, is it just me, or is the HP blue ray slow and noisy? there's a lot more spinning noise when I am installing a CD rom game (diablo II, want to finally play it before diablo III comes out)

 

I will try to set Afterburner as high performance. Can't right now, away from home for the day. But that would make more sense.

My CPU usage is near 100% (running 2.4GHz), and temps are 88-90C! That's one thing I have to work out though. If I decide to keep it I'll be doing a repaste though, hopefully drop temps 10C.

The nice thing about the bulge is it tilts the laptop up for better typing, and also raises it for better airflow underneath for cooling.

I thought it was a bit noisy, haven't played a blu-ray yet though.

But you can register your Diablo game key at blizzard.com and download the full game and play without a CD!

 

Have you tried to set CoolSense to coolest mode, ht?

 

NBR5818 30% off Laptops $999+

 

If anyone believes I should opt for the NP5165 and spend a little bit more money, speak now.

 

Go with np5165. If both are about the same price, there is no reason to get the quad llano unless you just want to support amd. Judging by accounts of quad llano owners, temperature, noise, and battery is on par if not worst than sandy bridge quads. Even if you rarely need the quad performance, if the price is within 100dollars difference, the 2630qm is just a better value.

Don't get me wrong, I think llano is a great product. It serves a market in the 400-600 dollars price range, but not against the 2630qm with discreet graphics in the 700-800 range. Any value advantages are gone when llano is priced within 100dollars of sandy bridge quads.

I bought a dual core llano and am very happy with it. I get long battery, low temperature, low noise, overclock all for less than 400dollars. There is nothing on intel's offerings that can compete in this price range, and those who choose intel are either buying just for the brand or don't know any better. I highly recommend llano dual core systems.

AMD should just focus on competing with intel in the 400-600 price range with llano. It must drop the price of its quad llano below 600dollars for them to be attractive and compelling enough. Llano has no reason to compete with intel's quad, especially with only a 100dollars price difference.

 

It's going to be hard to beat a DV6 in terms of value. At $760 for the DV6zqe a np5165 is going to be ~$80 more expensive with the i5-2410 and without windows, blu-ray and half the hard drive space. With the i7-2630qm, it's $150 more expensive.

Is it worth it? Depends on if you really need the CPU power.