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

the processor isn't that much different but the HDD and screen make it worth it imo. The 1080p screen looks so much better than the 768p one.

 

yeah the screen is really all that i want. considering that if i had to replace the screen myself, it would cost about the same, might as well get HP to do it for me.

 

How are you getting a $650 price for the confirguration you listed?

The newegg model was $500 last time I checked.

A similar configuration on newegg costed $800..

 

Absolutely, 100%, no questions asked do it. I did the exact same thing. I ordered a 6135dx and then sent it back to get a model with the 1080 screen and the other two upgrades you mentioned, as well as bluetooth.

If you're wondering is the screen worth it? Definitely.

I took some comparison pictures of the two side by side to show off the massive difference in viewing angles. Also notice the moire effect on the 768 screen. You don't see that with the eyes, but in plain viewing, mine did have a sort of grid-like banding effect that you eventually didn't notice, but it was distracting at first.

Check out the pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/110902284076667850853/HPDv6ScreenComparison?authuser=0&feat=directlink

If gaming is a concern, ponder this: The pixel pitch is much smaller on the 1080 screen, so you don't need nearly as much antialiasing. That doesn't make up completely for the difference in performance, but it does help some. On the 768 screen, you needed to turn the AA up a lot or it looked awful.

That's just in terms of framerate. If you're not scared to open up the laptop, you can do some cooling mods like wingnut did to OC a little more. I find that the major increase in visual quality is worth sacrificing some FPS. If you did need more FPS, I will say that the scaler in mine isn't that bad. You lose some sharpness if you run a game a lower than native resolution, but everything still looks good. Running the 1080 screen at a the 768 resolution is just fine, and the loss of a little sharpness is well worth the massive increase in viewing angles and uniform brightness.

The 1080 screen is only slightly less bright, but I couldn't run the 768 screen at full brightness anyway without it being painful. The color reproduction is quite a bit better, though you can't really tell it from the pictures I took. You don't have the "washed out" colors. I can't stress enough how much better the 1080 screen is. The anti-glare coating is a nice, too. As I said, brightness is sufficient and color reproduction is better, so you don't really lose anything except, well, the glare.

The CPU makes almost no difference, except that you can use 1600 mhz RAM, which we've tested, and it doesn't help much. You can overclock the 3500 and the 3510MX the same. I did a quick benchmark on the hard drive. The 5400 rpm drive struggled to get 90 MB/s, the 7200 comes in just over 100 MB/s. I didn't check IOPS or any such.

 

I think he probably forgot the dedicated 6750m for that price.

 

About 7 hours with 9-cell with my tuned K10Stat profile. I think 6-cell can get about 4 hours.

Screen is well worth the $150 they charge.

Maybe this one, that's currently sold out, it's recertified, but was like $530.

Newegg.com - Recertified: HP Pavilion dv6-6135DX Refurbished Notebook AMD A-Series A8-3500M(1.5GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory DDR3 640GB HDD Blu-Ray Drive AMD Radeon HD 6750M

 

Thank you for your detailed opinion, and picture comparison. I will exchanged the one i got for $150 more.

Yes I got the dv6z with 768 screen at newegg for $500, the one i will get is actually $660, and only 5400RMP hard drive since the one before for less got sold. that is what i get for being slow!

Edit: Just waited a few more hours, and found one for $630 with 750GB 7200RPM/A8-3510MX/(1920 x 1080). With double eBay bucks of $23 so i am pretty satisfied.


I was reading through though the thread, i am at 150 now and saw that WingNut did alot of cool mod, but somehow made the touchpad area's temp higher? Were you able to fix that?
I might be able to cut some openings up, but installing a heat sink is not something i am capable of. Unless there is a very detailed guide out there with video and pics.



Sorry for all the questions... but i am looking for a battery http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Cell-NEW-Battery-HP-DV2500-DV6100-DV6200-DV6500-/230592102074?pt=Laptop_Batteries&hash=item35b05c3eba#ht_7276wt_1270
Will that work? or it has to be dv6-6135DX? The closest number i can get to is DV6613TX on their compatibly list.

 

For what it's worth, I found that recalibrating after I enabled the EDID in Catalyst Control Center made a significant difference.

Enabling Radeon MLAA helps with games where MSAA would be asking too much.

I prefer the absurdly bright, glossy screen because it is the first panel I've ever owned that works in DIRECT SUNLIGHT.

My only temptation would be a bigger battery, but with K10Stat tuned for low power I'm breaking the six hour mark on stock 6-cell battery. When browsing I lose at least an hour from that mark, some games run up to 3+ hours......with full-blown Crossfire, Shogun 2 definitely runs less than two hours. Still amazing for a stock battery in a dual-graphics laptop. I hear claims the 9-cell breaks 10hrs for lighter fare, in supposition you might extract 2-3 hours in a HEAVY game.

 

Hi everyone,
I just found a realy interesting video for everyone who is interesting in installing an SSD Dual Harddrive laptop: Add an SSD into an HP DV6 6190us.flv - YouTube it is for the i7 type but the laptop case is the same i checked the caddy is around 15 $ so.... I am starting to lurk for ssd on ebay !!!

 

Is anyone familiar with this system? HP DV6-6117DX. Here are the specs: HP - Pavilion Laptop / AMD A-Series Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory - Steel Gray - dv6-6117dx

I just bought this over the weekendand will be adding anothe 4 gigs of Ram. Is this a good system for $429? Is is capable of plying Diablo III when it comes out?

 

That is a good system and same one I got for my niece (well, for my sister for her daughter... whatever). It has integrated graphics, no dedicated, but it's decently powerful and will probably handle Diablo III ok at 1366x768 with low to med settings.

 

So its been awhile since I have posted but i wanted to check back and see if anyone is having any better luck with switchable graphics working or if your just better off with the dedicated card? Also wondering of there was an open gl fix yet thanks

 

Switchable graphics works fine, it's CrossfireX that's hit or miss. It works great with BF3 and Deus Ex so far that I've tried. But other games, it's best to stick with just the dedicated.

And no, there is no OpenGL fix yet to use the dedicated care, unfortunately.

 

Hey guys just looking for a quick opinion.

So I got the newegg deal way back on the 11th. Got my 6135 a week later and turned out it was a dud (blue screens, crazy fan). I sent it back and got another one today (finally) and at first it appeared to run fine. While uninstalling some hpbloatware/running a youtubevideo/installing a steam game the screen got rgb horizontal lines everywhere and froze up. I restarted it and put it on a cooling pad and did the same thing again and it happened again in about 15 minutes. I'm running it now and i'm leaving some stuff running like counter strike and seeing if it does this again. Do you guys think its another RMA? I'm not sure if its running too hot. Can't find temps in the bios for this one. What program do you guys use for temp monitoring?

 

newegg might not give you a replacement anymore, the site shows out of stock. In my case where i bought an asus g53, and they ran out of stock. They just automatically gave me a refund without telling me. So, just a heads up in case you wish to keep it. I think Tiger direct is also selling the same one and i still in stock.

 

I just ran a game slightly more graphics intensive than the original cs and it froze. Stupid newegg.

Going to start the chat with them tomorrow. If they don't have anymore they can replace it with then i'll grab the one from tiger direct :\

 

Make the recovery DVD's. Then use those to do a minimal recovery install. It will get rid of all the bloat. Then see how well it runs. If it still causes issues, return it. You may just have to find something else though because as already stated, they're out of stock.

 

Thanks for the video! i just got a 64gb SSD from staples for $40, i will be replacing my blue ray with this.

 

Just got my dv6 from NewEgg. I find something kinda weird for the keyboard.
Do you guy keyboard right-top corner seem to stick out more than the other 4 side?

 

what is the best method to use to make recovery discs of what you have currently on the system?

thanks, I am sure I am being lazy by not reading through the thread but the search function has not been working for me at all since I joined here.

 

Hey nice for you nounta1016 i came this close to buying a ssd on ebay but mu car battery died today and i have to replace it, so may be next year or i'll as santa ho ho h o ........aa dreams .
Any way , my crosfire works just fine i see a good 20 to 30 % increase in fps but the problem is that when i play whit crosfire on the temps skyrocket to 87-89 C and play with ballanced profile, whit CF off it ceeps a cool 80-82 C wich is perfect (i think).And that with a max clock at 2.2 on 1.05V .
Im thinking of doing a repaste wiht Arctic 4 paste but i dont have time for now .
Does any one have succesfully done a 2.2 Ghz under 1V ?

 

That ultracheapo $400something laptop is a STEAL on the mid-low end of laptops. It's missing a few things from the 6135dx, but an extra hundred off and no refurb status (full year warranty) has its own value. You certainly will gain a lot from that second RAM stick, folks are claiming the 6620G can even run Battlefield 3...so Diablo III should be juuust fine. You still get the USB 3.0 and you can still replace the DVD with another HDD or SSD.

I am curious about the claim regarding up to 2GB available memory for video, since the 6620G in 6135dx model is configured to use exactly 512MB. This is a hidden setting controlled by the BIOS maybe...? (Would be nice if 6135dx could allocate identical RAM to 6620G, so it better matches the 6750M when in HCF mode.)

For a little over $400 it won't play Skyrim on High, but most $400 laptops probably can't play a game like that AT ALL. I think it will be a great machine for Diablo and etc.

 

Yes, I have played BF3 on the IGPU and it plays at 1280x720p at about 25 fps... I think, I'll check again, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

I thought I would post some moderate overclock settings that are moderately undervolted to help people start with for K10Stat. These are the settings I've tested that I deemed playing it safe. I've done prime95, kombuster, played many games for a few hours, and left the PC on for days with no problems with these. Every laptop is different, but these seem safe to start with based on most experiences I'm reading.

2350 is set as a P2 where 2400 is set as P0. 1000 is set as P4. The P stands for power states which is what AMD uses to determine the clock speed with its cool n quiet technology. I tested these with prime95 and MSI Kombuster for a few hours simultaneously to check temp and stability. This is moderate undervolting and overclocking with the top speed as what the manufacturer intended. I am still new with K10Stat, so feel free to make suggestions.

 

Any tips for a new SSD install ? I haven't tried any overclocking yet and I may try that 1st and make sure the system is stable before I add any new hardware. I do plan to add 2Gb more ram for a total of 8GB. I have had zero problems so far with the refurb from Newegg and it looks brand new. For $520 I am very happy with the possibilities of this system !

 

If you have 6GB, there are only two slots, a 4GB and a 2GB, so you will have to buy a 4GB stick and replace the 2GB.

For the SSD install, be sure to make the DVD Recovery disks. Then use those disks to do a "minimal recovery install" where it will load all drivers and required apps, but none of the bloatware. Worked like a charm for me.

 

Thanks for the tips ! I've got another 4GB stick on the way to replace the 2GB stick to make it 8GB. I've already made the recovery discs and done a mnimal install on the 5400 rpm drive and it helped a lot. I think that between 8GB ram , overclocking and the SSD install I should be happy with the laptop for a year or 2 at least !

 

Where did you get K10Stat?

 

Just did clean install and struck on cool sense aswell.

Did you install a copy then just min restore, or just min restore right away?

I cant live with home prem ~~

EDIT: Nvm, did some research and find that you can use coolsense inside the support assistant

 

Sad news, AMD out of PC CPU market.

Wonder what this means for Trinity if they'll continue or dump it altogether?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...t-upgrades/628451-amd-vs-intel-no-more-2.html

 

None of the articles say that AMD is going out of the CPU market. It's more like AMD acknowledging what they've been doing for a while now.

 

Hi, I've been reading through a lot of these pages over the past few days and ended up getting an hp dv6-6117dx from best buy. Manaox2 your post is exactly what I've been trying to find in these forums for a while, but I've got a few follow up questions (sorry I'm a bit new to this stuff).

My question is, since the 6117 only has the 6620 as opposed to the 6750 with the 6135, is it worth it to overclock the cpu? I've never overclocked anything before, but it seems kinda risky especially with a laptop that is more prone to overheating. If it would be beneficial to overclock, would these be good settings to use? Is it the sort of thing I would just turn on for gaming, or keep on for all around pc performance?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!

 

You don't have to overclock it. You could undervolt it which will make your computer run cooler and get better battery life. AMD sets voltages crazy high by default.

 

Hey guys, just wanted to give an update on that new Seagate momentus Xt 750GB with 8GB of flash memory.

They are now for sale (in Canada at least) for 249.99. Pricey, im going to have to add these to the Christmas list haha.

 

I would probably do a bit of overclocking as well as undervolting, because most of the time I don't have it unplugged for very long. It's more for convenience in travelling. That actually leads me to another question though, how do you know how much to undervolt by? Does it just stop working or something if you undervolt too much?

Thanks again!

 

Same as when you overclock: you test by incremental/decremental steps and check it is still running (test with prime95 and if you dont get any freeze or blue screen, you're good!)

I just tried the AMD11.11b performance drivers (dv6-6135dx) and my laptop froze at startup, I had to uninstall the drivers in safe mode and roll back to the 11.10. My 6750 is overclocked by bios at 780/880 and it runs fine with the 11.10 ( and all the precedent ones) but somehow those new ones are less tolerant.

 

I just bought the refurbished dv6-6135dx and played around with the overclocking. I got 2.2ghz at 1.0625v for my P0 and 2.9ghz at 1.3v for my turbo. When I was testing the 2.9ghz my doorbell rang. When I got back the intel burn test finished with a max temp of 94C. Usually I would stop it as soon as it touched 90C but I didn't. It finished stable after the 5 passes, I'm just worried I may have hurt the cpu. Will these temps over a 3min time period do any serious damage to my cpu?

Also, as a side note. I renamed my HP_tools to HP_tools_ and installed one of Mushos Bios. After the Bios finished and restarted I renamed the partition back to the original HP_tools. After a few restarts my computer did an automatic bios recovery (reverted back for f.18). Am I supposed to keep that partition renamed so it doesn't do that, or did I maybe have a bad flash to begin with?

It's good to be back with the dv6z crowd .

 

I don't know if you need to change the partition back, but I didn't. And it would seem odd it would try to recover on its own after a few restarts. I dunno.

 

Alright, I renamed the partition back to HP_TOOLS_ and flashed the Musho Bios again. Everything went fine, hope it sticks now. Also I looked it up and apparently the max temp for the a8-3500m is 100C. 94C is a little closer to that temp than I would have liked it to be, but it looks like 3 mins in low 90C won't do anything.

 

I need your opinion which one is the fastest setup?

I got 3 choices:
8gb@1600 cas 11
6gb@1333 cas 9
4gb@1333 cas 7


I've read about this ram and it doesn't require XMP to get the low timings from what I've been reading up.

4gb kit KHX1333C7s3k2/4g
-2 x 2gb 1333 ram with 7-7-7-20 timing@1333

I've read in this forum that 1600 doesn't really show significant improvement but what about a CAS 7 1333?

Here is a picture I found on another forum showing theoretical latencies.

 

Tighter timings should help. But unless you're doing a lot of gaming using the IGP, it's not worth it. If you can find CAS 7 1333 for fairly cheap, then why not. But you're talking marginal improvements in any case. 1600 @ CAS 7 would probably be where you'd show any kind of noticeable improvement, but I don't know if those exist and if they do, they're probably expensive.

 

Just look for 1333L @ CAS9, if you can. Better temps, better battery. The iGPU cannot be overclocked, and it isn't fast enough to need faster/tighter RAM. Even if you overclock the CPU everything should play nicely together.

 

thanks for all the replies.

The funny thing is I don't even have the laptop but its coming soon!

I didn't want to spend more than $30 for marginal performance gains from the default 6gb.

Good thing that the $50 8gb kit Adata 1600 @ 9-9-9-24 from newegg is unavailable because I was able to order an 8gb kit 1333 with 8-8-8-24 from amazon. The kit is made by komputerbay and $36 free of tax and free shipping.

.

 

just got the laptop. Anyway, I hope this one is as fast as the one it replaces. If its not as fast then atleast its 4 lbs lighter.

I just gave away my dell precision m6300 with [email protected]/Quardo fx3600/8gb/WUXGA to my brother since people are only willing to pay me $450 for it.

That one scores 10,200 on 3dmarks06 on 1280x1024 resolution.

 

Hi, this is my first post here: Help needed, I've been reading the 300+ pages for last 2 days and tried hundreds of times and now I am desperate. I had my HP dv6135 with AMD A8-3800/6750 3 days ago but I was never able to score more than 7000 pts in 3Dmarks 06.

I followed the steps with K10stats, OC the CPU to P0 at 2.6G, flashed the bios with F21/20 750/850, disable/enable the cross file mode; installed several drivers from AMD and HP.

The last try is using the driver sweeper to clean all the AMD display drivers and flash the HP bios F21 (not modded) and reinstall the 11.06 driver from HP. Just trying to put back to default, but the 3D mark 06 score is 6500pts.

I tried to do Minimum System Image again but there is an error which can't proceed. Does that because I split the C: drive into half and half for C: and F: ?

 

Got my newegg refurb staple core @ 760, seems like newegg ones dun get pass 770 ~~

btw, anyone experience this issue? kinda annoying on mine.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Display-and-Video/HP-logo-affects-LED-LCD-display/td-p/14385

 

Whoa, stop. How high could you get it with CPU overclocking? With a gentle 2.2 to 2.3GHz P0 you should be right in the 7800 to 8000 range on 3DMark06 with no other changes. If it was still 7000, then something wasn't working right. The biggest gains on this laptop are overclocking your CPU since the stock clocks are quite slow on it.

2.6G is quite high, you might have been inducing thermal throttling. What temps did you get at 2.6GHz while running 3DMark06.

 

8000pts was what I expected, instead I had 6500pts at 2.6g, I tried 2.4g but even lower at 5800...highly suspect the driver is messed up. But I tired sweep and reinstall doesn't help. I even tried to do MSI again but it gave me a system boot error so can't be done. Anyone has the same issue?

 

Hi, also purchased a dv6135 recently. I have a few questions.

First off, does the webcam suck for everyone? I disabled low light compensation, turned the brightness all the way up, set exposure to 2, and the quality is still grainy and dark. Maybe its the lighting in my room. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

What is the proper procedure for updating graphics drivers? Do I first install from HP site, and then from ati (catalyst 11.11)?

I'm not too familiar with K10stat. How do I fiddle with the FID and DID numbers to get the desired frequency? Is there a formula?

Also how did most of you end up with the voltages you have? By trail and error? What happens if the voltage is not enough for the frequency, does laptop reboot or something?

Thanks in advance.

 

flashed 750/850 and updated to latest driver , now getting artifacts ~~