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

They don't call him "WingNut" for nothing heheheh. wing is always fooling around with avatars and monikers. When you've put up as many posts as he has, he's entitled to his fun LOL.

or...
his photo host crashed

seer

 

Spent a lot of time reading this thread today after picking up the 6135DX refurb from Newegg. I was sad to hear that this does not have SATA iii support. I think I am going to use an older 60Gb Agility 2 SSD to boot and then put the HDD in the optical bay for use with hotswapper after I make recovery disks and copy over a minimized recovery install. I have plans to upgrade the screen to the matte 1080P and put new thermal compound on the AGP and GPU.

I am still thinking about what to do otherwise while I have it apart, maybe cut ventilation slots in the bottom case in the areas HTWingNut vented? Also adding a thin foam sheet over them on the inside to block dust is what I'm considering.

I'm planning on testing with MSI afterburner on the 11.6a drivers before using one of Musho's BIOS files. Is there any known BIOS mod of F.21 with the whitelist removed for wifi yet?

The computer will be intended for home theater and mild gaming duty while at home and general usage on the go, so I'm going to be tuning both low and high clocking profiles for different usage.

 

"Mild" gaming, he says....with the OC factored in, you'd have to go a lot higher (in terms of dollars) to get a significantly better laptop for gaming.

 

I agree, its a great deal that will do a decent job with most modern games. I say that mostly because I have a high-end core 1st gen i7 desktop rig that I use for gaming and productivity at home.

 

Am looking to get a new laptop to replace an old desktop PC and in addition to casual/"mild" gaming, I plan to use it for installing multiple virtual/guest OS (Android, Linux and even Win7) for software development. This laptop has a lot of features I am interested in (Blu-Ray drive, USB 3.0, switchable/dedicated graphics, etc). Am wondering tho' whether hardware-assisted virtualization is supported by it?

I understand the Phenom based cores used in these Llano APUs have hardware support for virtualization (AMD-V), however it needs to be enabled by the laptop manufacturer in the BIOS for the virtualization software (Virtual PC, Virtualbox, etc) to use it.

Wondering if anyone might have experience running Virtualization software (Virtualbox, Virtual pc, etc) on this or comparable Llano laptops and if hardware support is enabled? If not, would appreciate if someone with this laptop could run this tool from Microsoft to detect whether hardware-assisted virtualization is turned on in the BIOS as it would help me in my decision.

Thanks much!
-Topper

 

I normally run vmware workstation in my dv6 6110sg and yes, it has hardware assisted virtualization (it's by default disabled in the bios though, you have to enable it) I use it for running windows XP, I've connected some USB devices and they seem to work rather well in Windows XP (it disconnects them from the host and passes them onto the client)

 

I have been staying updated as much as I can on this thread. I have the dv6-6135dx not refurbished, have the newest modded drivers, and running k10stat. Also I tore the laptop apart and replaced the thermal paste with Artic silver, which seems to be a must since I think they just splat some thermal paste on there and call it good. The paste was everywhere and that cheap white stuff. After that under load in BF3 can keep it at 72C or so, instead of 80+.

After all that has been said I have the newest bios but saw musho's bios' that he linked up, but tried two of them and both say "Failed to update". Is there something I am doing wrong should I be running a different bios to start? I did restart my computer both times and never ran k10stat to keep everything as default as I could.

Let me know if anyone else had a problem with updating the bios, I did see someone say on this thread that musho's bios worked on there dv6-6135dx.

 

You have to delete HP_Tool Partition to able to flash Musho BIOS.

 

Is it viable to just rename the partition or something?

 

I dont know.

Has anyone fixed the issue where the laptop would randomly go to sleep after running BF3 or any other games or benchmark? Im about to return the laptop because of this problem.

 

Well it's never happened to me. Could be a blend of high temps and the transition back to integrated graphics as the game shuts down. A simple test would be setting some other application as "High Performance" and leaving it open in background to prevent the dGPU from shutting down.

Has anyone tried setting the executables for Aero/DWM as High Performance? What does it do to the nebulous Experience Index?

 

Yes, just rename it. That's what I did. I renamed it to "HP_Tools_" lol.

 

Okay, thanks. Renaming is *so* much easier to undo if I really blow the thing up and need that restore.

Also, just ran across this topic: $299 Gaming PC - Sole Opportunity for AMD APU? - SemiAccurate Forums I think the OP was onto something but could not quite illuminate his exact stance. In principle, this dv6z laptop has led me to think he's not just "high" here.

1) A cut-down board could yield a system that is smaller and draws less power than 360/PS3; this does not preclude that it is also much faster.
2) Initial market entry value of both consoles was BELOW their bill of materials, with exposed pricing in the $400-500 USD range.
3) My preference would be a pair of laptop A4-type dual core chips with desktop A8-class graphics and an extra direct link between sockets, just like the AMD servers. This marginally complicates the PCB yet traces could be simplified elsewhere, again keeping the overall cost DOWN. Each socket would have 2GB of DDR3-1600 in a 2x1 dual-channel interface, soldered to the board. This keeps bandwidth UP and prevents any starvation. Each socket could probably survive with 1-2 PCIe2.0/x1 channels, drastically simplifying the PCB because you don't need x8/x16 traces for the graphics.
4) So you've got two proc/mem blocks, and 2-4 thin channels that cover all of your I/O. How about a) group handles the SATA ports, while b) group covers the game controllers and network support.

Granted that the dv6z is nicely priced even with HP trying to make a direct profit, I seriously think (a motivated company) could get 2-3x the performance with a similar bill of materials. Guess we can only wait to see what lands when the next-gen consoles bring out their guns against the Wii U.

Thoughts?

 

Anyone got any new info on the switchable graphics fix?

How long did it take till the intel dv6-6xxx's get their fix? At this rate we will never get the fix unless we start screaming at HP.

 

Hey guys, I've been stealthily reading this page for a while now and I'd just like to say thanks for all those who've contributed to the optimization of my laptop .

I'd be willing to help you guys with discovering the benefits of 1600mhz ram as I'm going to order 8gb of it soon. Can anyone tell me if this ram: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model F3-12800CL11D-8GBSQ is adequate? Thanks.

 

Don't bother. It has marginal improvements when using the IGP only, and really nothing of significance when running dedicated or crossfire. General computing will gain nothing from it either.

 

You don't know how excited I am to finally post. I've read ALL 332 pages carefully! Seer, WingNut, you guys seem like old buddies at this point. I especially liked seer's story about the Lebanese civil war. Haha. Great work on everything so far!

I bought the refurbished dv6-6135dx that several have mentioned, but I ordered it from tigerdirect rather than newegg to avoid paying TN sales tax. Interesting note is that it came packaged in the exact manner as the new ones, and look completely new. Someone mentioned it might be "recertified" by a third-party, but it appears to have been factory refurbished, or the third-party did a phenomenal job.

The laptop is an amazing deal. Without paying hundreds of dollars more, you can't get anything comparable, especially with the extra discount for buying refurbished.

My A8 overclocks (and underclocks) like a dream. So far, I have pushed it up to 2733 @ 1.2v, and it's stable, and it doesn't thermal throttle. It'll get up to 90C, which is admittedly a little high, but I've noticed it doesn't throttle down until around 95C. (Tested with Intel BurnTest and prime95.)

Before I delve into the discussion, though, I'm considering returning the laptop for a better-equipped model. I found one almost the same as the 6135dx, but with the 1080 screen, a 7200 rpm 640GB drive, and the A8-3510MX for only $65 more bucks. (A $635 vs. $550). This unit would also be refurbished, but I'm not nearly as hesitant as I was considering the one I'm on now seems brand new.

I'm not sure the extra 10w TDP will matter on the CPU, but being able to upgrade 1600Mhz RAM at some point is nice. The hard drive upgrade is nice.

The main thing I'm on the fence about is the screen. I think the 768 screen is fair for its class, and that the 1080 screen is far superior. I would also love the extra real estate. However, I am suspecting that it might just be too much to expect this machine to push out decent framerates at 1080 gaming, which means running games at a non-native resolution. I experimented with a few games, running them low and scaling them up to the 768 resolution, and the scaler seemed quite good, but you did lose some sharpness. I don't know if the GPU is scaling, or if it's the screen's hardware. If it's the latter, the quality of this scaler would be irrelevant to the quality of the 1080 screen's.

Can anyone chime in on the 1080 panel and gaming? Can I expect to need to scale up, and if so, what is the scaled imaged quality? Also, can anyone specifically comment on the viewing angles of the 1080 screen? The viewing angles on this one are so poor, it's impossible to find an angle were some part of the screen isn't darkened or washed out.

Thanks a ton guys! Can't wait to get into this computer some more.

For reference,
I bought this: HP Pavilion dv6-6135dx Refurbished Notebook PC - AMD Quad-Core A8-3500M 2.4GHz, 6GB DDR3, 640GB HDD, Blu-ray, 15.6 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit at TigerDirect.com
I am considering returning it and buying this instead: HP DV6 DV6Z QUAD A8 2.5GHZ 6GB 640GB BLU-RAY 1GB HD6750M 15.6" 1920x1080 LAPTOP (885631448915) | eBay

 

Wasn't there a reputable site that explained how 1600 made a boatload of a difference? ):

 

If every bit of general computing performance matters to you guys, upgrading to a SSD will yield the most significant gain.

I thought setting winSAT.exe to High Performance is enough to get a high enough score, no?
My index are 7.0, 7.3, 6.5, 6.5, 7.5, this is APU OC to 2.4, GPU at stock, stock RAM and SSD.

 

Yes, that was desktop performance though. It DOES help with IGP by adding a few FPS in some games. Beyond that there's diminishing returns. With Crossfire you only get about a 20% FPS improvement at best with 1333MHz RAM, so tack 10% of that 20% and you see where I'm going. Maybe give an extra 1fps in Crossfire.

If you plan on gaming with IGP quite a bit (which I do periodically on battery ) it's worth it I guess if you plan on buying 8GB anyhow and sell your 6GB for $15.

I had 8GB, but promised someone I would give them 8GB RAM for their laptop, so I just gave them mine and bought new 1600MHz. Benchmarks showed no improvement, but some games did show improvement, but it's marginal, so could almost fall within margin of error.

If you want matching pair of 4GB sticks and don't mind spending the extra $20-25 then might as well. Otherwise not worth it.

 

3-5 frames per second on the integrated graphics on the desktop llano if you have tight timing is about the only difference in the article. Most 1600 laptop memory has loose timings right now also, the article used 7-7-7 timings to test.

 

Yep, that's what I remember too. The desktop 3850 benefitted because it had both faster CPU (2.9/3.4 base) and faster APU (600MHz, 30% increase). Essentially the 1333 or 1333L are sweet-spot material for laptops, and 1600 is basically perfect on the desktop. Once functional OC really lands on desktop, higher RAM speeds may be more important.

So check the 1333L stuff, see if you can get the same timings as regular 1333. That way, you'll have more RAM at the same speed with lower power consumption.

As to this other refurb mentioned, very carefully compare the specs. If it REALLY offers everything the 6135dx has (BDrom etc). PLUS a faster HDD and 1080p screen. . .for $115 more? That could have tempted me, but it's a fairly large bump to the bargain price.

You may need to either compromise on quality or Rez depending your priorities, some people swear by the 1080 but my needs are different. The stock 768 screen is EXCEEDINGLY bright and fully functional in sunlight. The rez happens to be a great fit for the screen size, no adjusting desktop DPI.

 

This thread has been a great eye opener .... just got through just 20 pages and has been a information overload.I was looking to get my first mobile gaming setup and based on this thread i bite the bullet on the HP Pavilion DV6-6135DX which is arriving tomorrow. And the newegg refurb got it so within my budget
Just wanted to list down a few things i noted as a to-do list ASAP after getting the laptop :
1.Make Recovery Discs
2.Download latest Drivers from HP exclude the Chipset driver and instead use the latest AMD HD Graphics Driver package which should be good for USB3.0 support.
3.Do a clean install of OS and use ABR to retain OEM Activation.
4.Install the HP Drivers
5.Install Catalyst 11.10 pre3
6.Install Catalyst 11.9_CAP4

Please let me know if i'm doing anything wrong.

Will put off overclocking CPU and GPU for a while until i gather enough information on that from this post. Any wiki which can educate me on the llano overclock know how??

looking forward to expert help from here if i screw up things.

 

Hi,
Another long time lurker here. Have two quick questions if someone would care to answer:
I recently bought (direct from HP) an A8-3530 at a reasonable discount, so I'm considering keeping it, although I'm disappointed with the overall quality (or lack there of).
I bought the laptop with the 1366x768 screen, but I'm having second thoughts and wouldn't mind replacing the screen itself with an aftermarket full 1080p 1920x1080 LCD screen. Has anyone done this type of upgrade yet? Is there any 'gotcha'? Do I need to replace anything other than the screen itself (like inverter, etc)?
The other question I have is about the Wifi/Bluetoth combo card. Mine came with the Broadcom 4313GN half-card which - IMHO - is only marginal in terms of performance, considering the available crop these days. Has anyone replaced a Broadcom card yet, and if yes, which brand/model was used?

Thanks,
Steve

 

1.Do a minimal recovery
2.Download and install ALL of the newest driver packages from HP
3.Go into Device Manager and DELETE the video drivers and reboot
4.Install Catalyst and reboot
5.Install CAP files

If you plan to OC the graphics, DO NOT remove graphics drivers and update Catalyst immediately. First, use MSI Afterburner as previously mentioned throughout this thread. When you have found a stable setting, grab the appropriate BIOS file for it. When you have verfied the OC is permanent, update your drivers as mentioned above. (steps 3-5)

 

There is a new trinity engineering platform prototype laptop out floating around for demonstrations. It is friggin fast....I mean really really fast.
Nothing was disclosed as to the exact nature of the internals, but did I mention it was *REALLY FRIGGIN FAST*...
No one was allowed to run any bench's on the system, but it was permitted for a *few* of those present to fire up one of several games installed and running glitch free.
Some personal observations.
Rez was 1080p, screen looked like the old radiance series, bright, pop right out at you colors, no ghosting, AND *thank god* it was matte.
case was non descript, no obvious clue as to who the oem was. My guess would be clevo. system obviously had gobs of memory, and most likely a big SSD -scene translations in the shooters were glitch free and liquid. Just a quick seat of the pants response in comparison to my own fairly quick dv6z...I would say this one was easily half again as fast, and at higher rez ( mine is a 1366 box).

Frankly, If I hadn't been told it was a trinity, I would've guessed it was a i7 with a 570 on board. did i mention it was *REALLY REALLY FRIGGIN FAST!!!!*.

The other tidbit discussed concerned how good the initial chips were, much farther along than AMD had anticipated, and that consequently..."launch may be moved up"..

the vibe was that we may actually see these things flying off shelves in q1.

I had no idea they were this far along, AND, one of the more notables in the room suggested that given the speed with which they now anticipated being able to ramp up production, the higher yields, etc... pricing on final product was expected to not only 'match current LLano , but perhaps undercut it'.
oh and guess what...they've done something to eyefinity..this particular laptop was capable of driving 2external monitors.
for those who are interested, I expect that the strategic leaking of more details will soon commence on the usual websites.
c'mon HP!!! knock this one out of the park!
seer

 

Hi guys, I've been reading all the comments...about 333 pages worth thus far. But I can't seem to overclock my GPU. I did a fresh boot on ocz vertex plus 120gb. I installed all the stock drivers from the HP website. I managed to overclock my cpu to 2.6ghz turbo and 2.4ghz with 70-73 degrees using hwinfo. I can't seem to move the slider on msi afterburner past stock 600/800. I've also disabled upls. Can anyone help me?

I have the HP d6v-6135dx (newegg refurb)

I have an 8981 without crossfire 3D Mark 06 score, but I see overclocking will bring me to 10,000+
With crossfire on, I have a score of 9024
Btw great posts everyone! I appreciate the help and all the knowledge of this forum

 

I went ahead and did the return of the 6135dx and got the other one. I paid $550 for the 6135dx, and $635 for the better one, so that's only $85 bucks more for the 1080 screen, 7200 rpm drive, the MX CPU, and I also noticed the better one has bluetooth! Pretty good upgrades for only $85, I think. Hopefully it'll be in Friday and I can get to crackin' on some OC'ing.

The main thing was the screen. The brightness is pretty good on the 768, and the colors are a little washed out, but I think that's just from the poor viewing angle. The vertical viewing angles of the panel I got are horrible! There is basically no angle I can adjust it to where either the top or bottom isn't darkened.

I should have a few days where I have both dv6's, so I might try to take some comparison shots. Also interested to see the differences in OC potential between the two units.

 

You need to modify the afterburner cfg file as shown here:
HOW TO: Enable UNOFFICIAL overclocking mode in MSI AfterBurner - Guru3D.com Forums

 

Thank you!! I've been re-reading the past 50+ pages trying to find it. Woohoo!

EDIT:

Okay, here is my official score

CPU very stable at:
Core CPU(V)
BO 2600 1.1750
P0 2400 1.1000
P1 1900 1.0000
P2 1500 0.9875
P3 1200 0.9500
P4 1000 0.9250
P5 900 0.9125
P6 800 0.9000

GPU: 770/950

3D Mark 06 - 10184

Max temperature after running 3D Mark 06 - 77c

 

Hey all Ive been reading up on this threat for awhile. I just have one question, what is stopping us from overclocking the 6750m with the latest drivers? im just curious cause i see mac users having no problems. I dont mind the bios's that Musho is making but id like to undervolt the gpu as well?

 

The dGPU already runs very cool, there is no need for undervolting it. Also the same problem applies as for what is stopping this card for archiving better clocks, so far it's not possible to modify the voltages in the dGPU.

 

I understand that, but what is causing a bluescreen when trying to use program such as msi afterburner? What is locking down the card?

 

AMD drivers, period. It works with the 11.6, but not later versions. Perhaps HP can circumvent it, but I doubt they will.

 

Amd locked em down after 11.6 *apparently* because they have plans for releasing 'black edition' apu's for both desktop and notebooks-at a price premium of course heheheheh.

seer

 

looks like you got a *good* one grats and welcome to the fun
seer

 

Yesterday I replaced my stock 6GB PC1333 ( 2GB+4GB Module, 2 different manufacturers) with 2x 4GB g.skill PC1600 CL9 ( G.SKILL-Products)

I do not see a real improvement, the Windows Experience Index for RAM changed from 7.2 to 7.3, 3DMark06 and 3DMark11 had about 50 /10 Points more.

Another finding was that in Crossfire-mode with DirectX 11 I haven´t been able to use my BIOS with 800/950 clockspeeds, the driver crashed most of the time or I got artifacts in the picture. So I had to downclock the GPU-speed to 770 to get it working.
Crossfire-behaviour in MSI Kombustor was also not improved with the new ram, still only small peak workload (25%-100% for ms) for the IGP.

So there is no need at all to change to PC1600 right now, unless you want to upgrade the RAM anyway. perhaps with improved drivers and better BIOS.

 

Are you sure with the lack of SATA-III support manaox2? At least Sisoft Sandra shows support for it for my dv6-6110sg. And ASSSD shows 430/285mb/s for the Crucial m4. So I'd guess, if you have an dv6 with usb3, you may have sata3 too.

 

For the modded bios, is it possible to disable whitelist, enabled advanced menu's etc ?

 

ok this is getting annoying, no matter how i clock my cpu i keep getting gthe BSOD at least two times a day. i did everything i can think of to try to solve it. I underclock the CPU without OC, i leave it alone and it still gets the BSOD. I ran a memtest twice just to make sure it wasnt bad ram and everything checked out fine. I also installed the latest BIOS which said it even fixed the random occurences of BSOD and i've still been getting them. Anyone know what the problem is? it actually had the BSOD the first day i received my dv6 6135dx without messing around with the settings. i figured it was something i can easily fix but i think it might be past the return date. Anyone know what the problem might be? can it be due to the graphics drivers?

 

You could try doing a system recovery. If it's a software issue somehow, that should fix it. Even if you got a refurb 6135dx and you're past your window to return it to where you bought it, there should be a 90 day HP warranty. I think a new unit gets a year warranty.

 

Did you thoroughly test each speed at set voltage? By thoroughly I mean locking that speed and running Prime95 for 20 minutes minimum?

It took me dozens of hours of testing to tune mine appropriately. I started getting random BSOD's or freezes. Then I ran each speed for 30-60 minutes each. I would just do it while watching a TV show, football, or whatever, and if it passed, move to the next clock speed/voltage combo. Takes a while, but once it's done, it's done.

I actually ran Prime95 + Kombustor simultaneously for maximum stress.

Another thing is I've had some issues with Firefox 7 (it's now version 8) that I had to set it to maximum performance GPU otherwise it would either drop the GPU and recover or just lock up. After hours of troubleshooting that one, I pinned it on Firefox. Happens on two desktops I have, one with nVidia (GTX 460) and another with AMD Radeon (HD 6670).

 

Hey ,
Is there any way to make the dv6-6135dx 5.1 from the 3 audio jacks ?

 

The original 6135DX didn't include it, I didn't think they would change the specs for some of the models. I'll have to check.

I tried testing out some overclocking last night at these settings:


CPU tested at:
Core CPU(V)
BO 2800 1.200
P0 2300 1.0875
P1 2200 1.0750
P2 2100 1.0725
P3 2000 1.0675
P4 1900 1.0500
P5 1800 1.0250
P6 1300 0.9750

GPU: Stock

It ran prime95 and kombuster for about two hours before two cores had errors and then bluescreened. The highest temp I saw was 74 degrees Celsius... I really need to put some new thermal paste on before more testing I think.

 

Quick question: I'm thinking of buying the refurb model from Newegg, but want 1080p. What type of connector does the 1366x768 screen have on it, and do the 1366x768 models have a differect connector than the 1080p models?

 

Internal display has nothing to do with what it can display externally. It has HDMI and VGA connectors, both which can output 1080p.

 

Thanks, but not what I'm asking. What is the internal port, LED, LCD, etc, on the 1366x768 screen?

 

So my DV6-6135DX came yesterday (ordered from newegg, $560 1 yr included). Given the price, this laptop is phenomenal but definitely required work initially. These points have probably been reiterated several times but I'll reinstate them so newcomers can get a grasp of what to do initially without having to wade through 335 pages of material

1) Upon booting up, install decrapifyer to remove all HP bull
2) Install the new AMD Vision Display drivers from HP (type model # of laptop in google and you will find it)
3) Install K10Stat (if you plan on gaming this is ESSENTIAL)
side note: I didn't install k10stat initially because I was wary of OC and when I played some games (mainly BFBC2, and Skyrim) I got awful FPS at medium settings. The CPU truly bottlenecks an amazing graphics card for the price (the dedicated 6750m is a warrior). After OC, (as a reference, I used the K10 settings one of users here posted a few pages back, the one that showed stable results), I was able to play BFBC2 and Skyrim at 1920x1080 resolution with everything high and getting 37fps avg (connected to 23 inch). Truly remarkable given the price, but OC is a vital.

4) Enjoy your sub $600 laptop that plays Skyrim at 1080p. Rock on Newgg and HP!

To the experienced, did I miss any steps or were there any recommendations you had to further boost performance?

 

Please add to that, that you can also OC the dedicated graphics card thanks to Musho's bioses, this is posible with catalyst 11.6 or 11.3 hp stock drivers and then after bios OC with the latest drivers, yes 6750m is not only a beast, is a beast that can easily be overclocked too.

 

New drivers are out 11.11

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx