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

The bios mod from kr105 works like a charm. Have a Killer 1102 card installed. I will post pics when I get a chance. Also have Kingston 1600 MHz Ram installed and running. Any idea what I should run to check performance improvement?

 

Did you guys see this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/601808-k53ta-best-deal-ever-could-107.html#post7899454

Pointing to this? RadeonPro: Radeon Games Profiles Automation Tool

And seer you mentioned keeping ratio between core and mem. Is that critical? I guess I don't see the correlation?

 

I tried the win+b method but it flashed me the F.20 version, can you please send me the F.18?
Maybe i can figure out where is the fan control on the BIOS and tweak it a bit

 

It looks interesting! I'll check it out tomorrow if I have time

 

Here you go! This is Swats entire HP-Tools partition. Just replace your own with it, and do the Win+B!

Multiupload.com - upload your files to multiple file hosting sites!

 

Here are the screen shots. The only issue I have with the Bigfoot 1102 card is now the LED on my F12 key for the wireless constantly flashes white to red.

 

OK, I think I've gone brain dead here ...can someone tell me
1. which driver package file they are using to install the 8.861 drivers?
2. When you go into device manager, confirm for me that you show 8.861 for the 6750 and 8.861 as being the driver version for the 6620g.

For some (*&%^^%&^%^ reason, i keep getting 8.861 on the 6750 and 8.832 on the 6620g..ARGH

seer

Thanks a LOT in advance

 

I am going to confirm that as well. 8.861 for "6600m and 6700m series" and 8.832 for 6620g. This is probably why there is crossfire spiking!

I am using that 11.6 package that you said earlier got rid of spiking

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My new 9 cell battery has horrible battery life It says 4.5 hours. Thats the same as my 6-cell....

 

Hi everybody!

I'm planning to buy this laptop and my main question is that, I heard the crossfire is not working because if you enable it then you will lost performance on the 6750m, so is that true?
I thought because of the crossfire this config would be better than the i3-13210 with 6770m.

thanks

 

Welcome to NBR. There is no simple answer. I think you have a little reading to do. Browse through this entire thread (seriously) and I think you'll pick up where we stand. Heck just read through the last 20-30 pages of this thread and get a good idea. That's pretty much all we've been discussing.

 

I have a dv6t that I put an 1102 in, and I don't think there's a way to change it. Over the past week or so, though, I've gotten used to it.

 

Hockey mass? did you post this where you meant to post it? LOL.
we are the 'Z' crowd and we're fighting with dual graphics/bios/vid drivers, and setting new benchmark records... LOL

Seer

 

Uh, i was responding to 67tempest who was having an issue with his flashing wifi LED.

 

Ok, well I've found the damned 'plateau' setting again...no jumping around on the fps, no nothing..
however, these graphic settings, while close to what I had before, are NOT what they were, but see for yourself. Also, when you "find" it, you'll see your temps fall on the floor..why that is I don't know, but you can audibly hear that the fan is no longer ramping up anywhere near the max. You can guesstimate by the temp graphs on the 6750 and the 6620 (gpus 1 and 2) that while the apu temp topped out at 74, the 6750 barely got to 60c.

Soooo, when the dual graphics works, it really works, seems to fall into almost a 'harmonic' state for lack of a better metaphor. Going to look at that radeon xfire app builder utility. Hell maybe we can build our own.

Oh, the pscore for that run, even with the really tame cpu and 6750 settings? mid 2160 something... seeing as how this setup, even with the overclock falls back to low 30's temps, I'm going to lock this one, and have a beer

Seer

OHHH, ok, didn't see that MY BAD!!
lol
welcome anytime

Seer

Mac, I finally gave up on the 11.6 ran both at 8.832 and got the plateau back.
dueling drivers...sigh
Seer

 

Where are you getting the 8.832 drivers from seer?

 

Seer, you are the man!! I also was able to get that plateau settings!
I was on 11.8, tried to set the drivers back to 8.832, but it didn`t work after restart, no digital signature. After that I downloaded the driver from HP (8.832, sp52989.exe), and now it also works for me!!! But I had to set the Kombustor.exe to high performance. See attached screenshot...

 

Something else to play with, 11.9 Pre-release drivers

AMD Catalyst 11.9 RCx Win7 Vista download from Guru3D.com

 

LOTRO is now running with 10 FPS more in crossfire-mode and DX11, I get 45-50FPS, before 35-40

 

I'll have to screw around with it again. All I know is in Bad Company 2 with 11.8 (BIOS overclock 780/880) I am getting 45-60fps with ONLY the dedicated card, no Crossfire. Running 11.6 (8.832) I was getting 33-40fps without Crossfire, and Crossfire caused some stuttering. Ultimately though I would like to get Crossfire to work. I only hope that HP releases a new set of drivers that cleans up all this and doesn't require futzing around.

 

11.6 is not 8.832, it is 8.861. You can see that in the device manager. with 8.832 the 6750 is named AMD Radeon 6750M, with 11.6 and higher, the card is renamed to something like AMD 6600/6700M Series

Edit:
Perhaps it is a bug with that 8.832-driver!? With Rift I also get in MSI Afterburner (2.2 Beta 7) displayed, that both GPUs are completely symmetrical and the frame rates at max settings are a little bit higher than with 11.6++... Hmm, it should only work in DX10/11.

 

My games will not even render with the 6750m again, so I shall test out the new 11.9 CC with drivers

 

I don't remember off the top of my head, but I will check when I get home (at work atm)

 

What is the build quality of the laptop and what is the quality of the chasis?

Is it similiar to the macbook pros? With how thin the laptop is, does it flex if you have a 9 cell battery? (I got an HDX16t with a 12 cell, carry with one hand on the side makes it flex from the weight of the laptop and probably isn't good, but I do it anyways)

Screen Quality? Panel Type? Brightness (nits)? Color Gamut Coverage (%)? How good is the matte screen in sunlight/reflections (My HDX16t 1080p brightview is even bad in a bright room due to reflections)? I do graphic design and photography so screen quality is important (it needs to be at least better than the 1080p HDX16t, which mine has horrible screen bleed atm)?

 

1. This is nothing like the mac's . entirely different look and feel, but nice. I actually prefer it. The Macs are austere, plain. Nice all aluminum chassis tho, but i wouldn't trade my 'z' for one.
2. I have the std 1366. it is a competent but not overwhelming screen. does fine for me and lately I've spent some 8-10 hour stints working on this laptop with no ill effects. You can order it with a VERY nice 1080p screen if you wish issue resolved If you're going to do pro work, then order the 1080p screen, however, a stand alone monitor is really what you want for pro graphics/photo work...and , you can afford one with the money you'll save on the 'z'.

3. As far as flex, i have none. The lid is metal and very stout, the hinges are wonderful, the keyboard/top plate is metal, and remains cool. Only the bottom panel is plastic and with the way the innards are done, the entire chassis is very stiff. Entirely up to executive standards. You will see reports of some keyboard flex by a few owners, but what that actually turned out to be was that when whomever assembled their boxxes, they didn't get the keyboard all the way in so it was sitting on top of a couple of screw heads instead of locking down underneath them..duh.

One last comment, tho the overclocked llano cpu does a commendable job, it will never be able to match the rendering power of the sandy bridge quads if every second spent is dear to you. You might want to jump into the 'T' threads in this forum and get their comments. On the other hand, I'm doing a lot of music video editing on this and find that the computer is consistently faster than I am so the answer is, it may not match a sandybridge in pure 'crunch' but depending on how you work, you may never notice. For the money, nothing else really comes close at the moment.

Seer

7word, I think that latest version of afterburner is bugged. When I glanced at it it, no matter what it 'said' it was showing, it was always showing the data from the 6750. It needs some more work.

 

I confirm what seeratlas has said. When I was first looking for a laptop, I liked the specs of the DV6z, but then it was "oh no" HP! Well I took a look at it at Best Buy and was thoroughly impressed. I have the 1080p screen and it is quite fabulous actually. It's not super bright at lower settings but quite bright at the max. I've acually used it outside a few times end of this summer and at 80% brightness outside in the shade on a sunny day it's very readable. Otherwise inside it's top notch. Matte is the way to go!

But like Seer also said, the CPU won't win any benchmark awards, but it's sufficient for most work. The Sandy Bridge quads will stomp all over it, but for most of us, it's not that critical. I've used it a dozen or so times already compressing / encoding / converting from .avi to .wmv and it's sufficiently fast for me at least. Just short videos of the kids or game recordings.

 

I just ran 3DMark11 and got P1522. Stock clocks with Coolsense set to Coolest (so no turboboost)

 

Musho if it's not too much trouble, could you make a 750/925 BIOS? Thanks!

 

The i3+6770m I had for a short time did P1495 at stock. That shows the little impact the CPU has in 3DMark...

 

Sorry, I didn't mean if it looked like the macbook pros, I meant the build quality of the aluminium chasis was as good as the macbook pros and envy lineup.

I do a lot of in the field tether work and meetings, so the screen needs to be as good as possible on the laptop at a reasonable price. I don't consider any laptop if it doesn't have at least a 1080p screen. The desktops I build for myself will have dual IPS panels.

This is pretty much what I wanted to know, is how sturdy it is. The HDX16t flexes a lot when I hold it with one hand, I have it in one hand and a camera or something else in the other hand.

Well, I prefer AMD, that is what I build my desktops with, though my HDX16t is Core 2 Duo. The beauty of the Llano APU is, that without adding a graphic card to either it or an sandy bridge, the Llano APU will be more revelant for longer, since processor power demands are increasing a lot more slowly than graphics power demands (GPU acceleration, OpenCL). Basically Llano is more balanced and with that balance gets excellent battery life. If I needed the best in processing, I would be buying a $2500 gaming laptop (which would suck on battery life).

What I need is a well balanced system that gets good battery life.
Proposed Specs:
A8-3510mx (or higher)
8GB of ram (probably 12-16GB when those sticks are available on newegg for a reasonable price)
1 GB Graphics card (can't remember if it is the 6750m or 6770m)
750GB 7200rpm hard drive
1080p matte display
9 cell battery
2 year in home warranty with accidental
Waiting for the next 25% or higher off coupon deal

 

Guys, just wanted to toss this out for those having wifi concerns.. you might consider getting an external usb wifi adapter for extreme range, rather than fooling around with swapping out the internal in your Z. I have the broadcom and it works just fine in normal circumstances, however, for something like 12.00 I picked up an external RealTek RNX N150 UBE which is about the size of a usb mem stick, with a removable antenna. I plug that into a six foot usb extension cord and set it on the windowsill here at the ranch. Now as I type this, I'm literally 427ft from my Belkin wifi router, - which is out the window, up the hill, thru the trees, thru a garage door, and into the main house. That little sucker is pulling 100 percent Link quality, and between 74 and 96 percent signal strength! There is simply not an internal adapter on the market that can do that..and I got this one, a "Rosewill" model from NewEgg for like I said, 12.00 in a 'what the hell, couldn't hurt to try it ' moment when it went on sale. Assuming you carry your Z around in a case, just throw the external and the usb extension cable in there, and if there's ANY kind of signal at all, that little beastie will find a way to get you online. It's amazing really, and for the money, pretty much a no-brainer.

Seer

 

Well sounds like you've come to the right place then. If you've read much of this thread you've found that not only can those guys with the 'good' boxes throw out 3dmark11's of now P2250ish, you can take those same boxes, and in a few seconds hit a couple of reconfig buttons and have em running at 800mghz, at .6850 volts, the external graphics card shut down, and on the 6cell getting 5 plus hours of batt life, and an easy ten on my 9cell. The flexibility of the Z's is amazing, and if you jump on the 1080p option, that's pretty much universally considered an excellent screen. Since you're going to be in the field a lot, I'd add to your configuration the option to either go just the 9cell, or get both for like 50.00 which is what I did. You'll also find the built in camera/speakers/mic incredibly good for handsoff skyping, teamspeak, etc. I routinely engage in professional conference calls where I can not only hear everyone, but I can get up and walk around the room while speaking and the Z compensates. People that hear me for the first time ask me what kind of phone I'm using LOL. Normally I used to have to resort to a headset to prevent cutoff's etc. but with the Z its no longer necessary. Sounds like whomever you're talking to is sitting in front of you. Beats the hell out of both my cell AND my land line voice quality..amazing deal are these 'Z's.
Really, the most significant bad thing about them, is waiting for yours to arrive

Seer

 

There isn't flex when you hold it one hand, but the materials used are noticeably less "premium" than, say a MBP or an Envy (there's a lot more plastic), so it doesn't feel as solid. But for a fraction of a price that's sort of expected.

 

I kind of figured that. It is just my HDX16t is all plastic and flex when I hold it in one of the corners with one hand. I love my HDX16t, but when I go to replace it, I hope to get an upgrade not only in hardware, but also in the quality of materials used in the chasis (and how good the screen is, I do photography and design on the go sometimes) because that is one of the things I dislike about it.

 

I just want to tell you guys that when the performance of the crossfire seems to stutter to much, it may be due a currupted registry of too much reinstalling the drivers from ati. I did a clean format and now everything runs perfect with 11.8 drivers, with the modded bios of 770 core and 950 mem

 

What speed of memory comes in the laptop from HP (e.g. 1066, 1333, 1600)?

 

1333, 1 4gb slot and 1 2gb slot in the model dv6-6110sg

 

I know the desktop version of Llano benefits from 1600 memory, but after that the returns of faster memory are diminishing in comparison. Can anyone speak to the APU recieving similar benefits from increased speed in the memory?

8GB 1600 memory is $57 at newegg, that is cheaper than the upgrade at HP.com to go from the 6GB to the 8GB of the slower memory.

 

So far I'm aware of only two people who managed to get 1600 mem that worked with just the swap. Neither was very impressed with the improvement, if any. I tried the Adata gamerz 1600 but the 3530mx does not recognize the timings, as on that memory, the timing data, is on the chips in the intel proprietary format.

Theoretically, it should push out 8 to 10 percent more bandwith thus more performance.

Seer

 

I ended up with the same result. I actually used the recovery DVD's and did a "minimal recovery" which loads the drivers and basic apps because my system started degrading with performance even after doing full uninstalls and using a driver cleaner. I'm hesitant to try too many drivers now because it seems to work fine for me, well except for BFBC2 crashing randomly, but that could be as much of the game as the drivers.

 

If you give me your e-mail address in a private message or here then I can send you a zip file the you can put in your hp-tools partition then use the windows + B on power up to flash the bios.

 

I posted a link a few posts back. That is the package I installed and both of my drives say 8.861

 

Think you could make me a modded vBIOS for my K53TA's 6650m? 700/1020 would be nice. And flashing it should be easy, no?

 

700/1020? You can get your RAM over 1000MHz? Wow.

 

swat, did you use the mobility drivers or the desktop drivers?

seer

 

Yeah. When I was on 11.6, I was doing 700/1020 with no stability issues. What were you hitting on the 6650m?

You guys hit 800 on the 6750m, right? Think the 6650m can do 800 mhz since it's a 6750m with GDDR3?

 

I used mobility drivers what did you use?

Seer so HT asked you earlier but I will ask it again since it had no answer. So basically the art of getting the xfire to work properly depends heavily on what core clock/ memory clock ratio you use?

 

I just ordered my dv6z-qe. Came to catch up on the thread but there are 280 pages. Anyone mind giving a rundown of the major configuration points?

-Which bios version to use
-Which driver to use and where to get it
-overclocking notes
-miscellaneous important configuration settings and notes

stuff like that.... Would be even better if sky would update the OP to reflect the most important information.

Normally I don't mind reading through a thread but this one has gotten pretty dense.

 

I may try that myself, but not ready to switch back to 11.6 drivers to try yet.

 

Well, I think I am going to throw in the towel on the xfire. No matter what driver/ bios/ core or mem clock speed I use I cannot get the 2 cards to run with out spiking. I guess I will just hope and pray amd fixes the drivers soon.