HP dv6z-SE User Review

Sorry, Celsius.

 

That must suck. Do you not have air conditioning?

On topic, if that is the ambient temp then your temps really aren't all that high.

 

nice to see updates from abaddon, so ur satisfied with the quad and returning the dual ?

 

Yep. The quad is running a lot cooler than expected and the bluray + bigger HD are major pluses. Battery life is slightly less, about 30 minutes, but I can live with it.

 

Nope, no AC. It's about 32 degrees Celsius today though. Nice to know my higher temps aren't too high hehe. Also been working on undervolting, but I haven't seen my temps go down.

This is what's been stable through IntelBurnTest so far:
P0: 1.0625 -> 0.9500
P1: 1.0125 -> 0.8750
P2: 0.9625 -> 0.8125
P3: 0.9125 -> 0.7375
P4: 0.8500 -> 0.6750

I encountered a crash during normal usage though so I'm going to do more runs for each p-state.

 

If those voltages didn't crash every so often I would be surprised as they are very low. But if you can get it stable that low after IntelBurn Test then let me know because I'll go even further then .

And with the temperature that hot I am not surprised that your temps don't go down; the processor itself is probably running cooler but the ambient heat is pushing up the temperature back up.

Edit: I got bored so decided to go a little lower

p0: 0.9750
p1: 0.9250
p2: 0.8625
p3: 0.8250
p4: 0.7500

I might decide to go lower but temps are fine the way they are and battery life probably won't go up much with the room I have left to undervolt. Remember that when you test each p-state you just have to set the Max Processor State in the current power profile you are using to,

p0: 100% (2.0/2.0)
p1: 85% (1.7/2.0)
p2: 70% (1.4/2.0)
p3: 55% (1.1/2.0)
p4: 40% (.8/2.0)

And 2-3 runs of IntelBurn Test is enough to test stability if you want to save time.

 

Oh, I was setting the max states to the 100/90/75/60/40 that you mentioned earlier over 100/85/70/55/40. Is it going to affect stability by using the former max states for testing?

 

Either settings will work fine and will be no difference because there are only 5 p-states. To test p0 it has to be at 100%, obviously; p1 could be anywhere between 85-99; p2 from 70-84; p3 from 55-69; and p4 from 0-54.

 

Had to increase p4 one increment to stop the crashing and it's been stable so I'm sticking to these. Managed to shave off 2 degrees at max load and idle.

p0: .95
p1: .875
p2: .8125
p3: .7375
p4: .6875

 

Those are nice results. If you were in a cool room you would probably see a much bigger difference in temps. You should see a little increase in battery life as well with voltages that much lower.

 

so glad to see AMD finally has a half decent CPU for notebooks... about time.

and the 'overheating rep' was well earned. glad to see that this will change.

 

After seeing people in the dv6t owner's lounge having success OCing their systems I decided to give it a try again, even though it wouldn't work with the N620 system, and it actually worked this time. I OCed the GPU to 650/1000 stable through 3 runs of 3dMark06 with a max temp of 70C in a 78F room. Haven't tried to push it further yet but dv6t users say it crashes when it goes any higher.



Edit: 650/1000 seems to be the max stable for me as well. I tried 675/1000 with a crash and then 650/1025 with a crash as well. I guess I am gonna have to live with my measly 8400 then

 

does thishave backlit keyboard in it?

 

Yes (10 char)

 

hmm i just one of these up and it seems that my lightsrcibe dvd slot is flimsy

u can push it even in more than it suppose to go =O

is this normal or something's wrong with it ?

 

You mean it sticks out the side of the laptop even when shut? Mine isn't like that though I can push it in about .5 centimeter further even when it is closed.

 

hey guys, im very interested in buying one of this

but just a question, what is the difference between the dv6z-SE and the dv6-3050us?

other than that the dv6-3050us is not available for custom pre order?

thanks!

oh and did you guys know any factory that is willing to ship to Indonesia?

because i dont think the dv6z-SE hits Indonesia yet ( maybe never ? )

been searching all over, but never found 1 available even on the HP store

 

The only real difference is that the SE is customizable and the 3050 is not, with the 3050 you have no backlit keyboard which is an option with the SE and touch screen is another option with the SE that is not available with the 3050, so if you have no intentions of getting those two options then its pretty much the same. At least thats what HP told me.

 

I'm 100% sure that I'm going to buy this laptop, with the extra 9 cell.

•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
•AMD Phenom(TM) II Quad-Core Mobile Processor N930 (2.0GHz, 2MB L2 Cache)
•6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
•500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
•1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 switchable graphics [HDMI, VGA]
•15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Display (1366x768)
•TouchScreen with HP TouchSmart's intuitive multi-touch applications (includes HP TrueVision Webcam)
•FREE Upgrade to Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
•Wireless 802.11b/g/n Card with Bluetooth
•$20 OFF! Norton Internet Security(TM) 2010 - 15 Month Subscription (activation required)
•Backlit Keyboard with Fingerprint Reader
•50% OFF! One 6 Cell (standard) and One 9 Cell (over-sized) Lithium Ion Battery
•Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
•FREE Upgrade to Computrace LoJack for Laptops, Four Years from One Year
•HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

I've heard the HP adapters are destined to break, but it seems that this falls short of their slim adapter. So I ordered that as well just incase..

The Onyx Notebook sleeve looks pretty good, and this all falls to $1,296


But this is my only question:Are there any pictues out there of the 9cell configured into this laptop?

 

i think there is a picture on the custom page on the battery section

it shows you the oversized and the standard size

 

That image is outdated. It's of a 12-cell battery in an old Pavilion.

 

You can see the new 9 cell one by searching for 9 cell battery at HP Direct. I was going to buy one but it's $140.. the dm3-2000 9 cell gets 50% off for some reason.

I just got my dv6-3050us from overstock with 30% bing cash back. List price was higher but came out cheaper because of no tax . It came by standard shipping which took about 2-3 days. The order was processed and shipped on the same day. I've seen some horrid reviews about Overstock but my experience with them has been fantastic.

 

I just noticed that CPU-Z is telling me my 2x2 GB DDR3 is rated at 667mhz?
Seems like a bit of a drop from 1066mhz in Abbadon's sig..

I'm not sure what's the difference performance wise due to RAM speed if you have a quad core and a ATI 5650.

 

this laptop is scary at times x.x


i notice sometimes when i surf web , listening to music

the fan is silent as hell with no airflow, as least i felt no air flow with my hand

left upper side gets warm but fan doesn't go off

and temp hangs at 49C x.x

scaryyyyyy

 

anyway, i pulled the trigger today, ordered dv6z-se for $933.99 ( after rebate )

and eventually the total of the laptop is going to cost me $985 after Shipping cost from US to Indonesia ( including tax )

Specs are

AMD Phenom N930
5650 1gb
500@7200
4gb ( going to upgrade it to 6gb using Corsair later on )
free upgrade Blue Ray
Backlit Keyboard
Wireless a/b/g/n with dual band ( i dont really know if ill ever use the dual band thing, but just for the sake of having the 802.11a )

well all in all, i think i will be happy with my purchase

going to use this laptop for 4+ years, for all my gaming needs to rendering with my Maya

build est is 4 Aug according to website, shipping it from US to Indonesia (via SG ) is gonna take roughly 2 weeks

should be getting it near end of August


==============

oh and Abaddon, what happened to your laptop!!??, read your siggy, sorry to hear

 

I got it back, thank god. Turns out it was my friend and his friend pulling a prank. I did not think it was too funny, though.

 

oh haha, yeah i know how it must have felt,

anyway, Abaddon, could you help me review your DV6Z with BFBC if you got the time? as it is going to be the 1st game i will play on my dv6z when it arrives

just wanna have an idea how this dv6z is going to perform in heavy gaming

 

I don't own it but, judging my the system requirements, it should have no problem. The recommend processor is a quad core at 2GHz, which is exactly what the dv6z has, and the OC'd 5650 isn't much worse than the recommend GTS 250/ ATI 4870. I would guess you could play with most things at high as above 30FPS

 

Wait so the 5650 is worse at playing games than the 4870? Isn't the 5650 newer so shouldn't perform better at games?

 

It may be newer but the 4850 has twice the bus, uses a faster type of memory, and has higher clock speeds. The 5650 is just the next generation of the 4650. When it comes to ATI cards the first number is the generation and the second number is basically the rank.

 

Here are my settings. I get 20-50 fps depending on what's going on. 71C CPU & 76C GPU are my usual temps unless it's a hot day and they'll usually top around 81C. Also whenever I load the first map after starting the game, there's about a 1 minute freeze, but doesn't happen again until I restart BC2.

 

Pretty impressive.

 

Oh I see. I always get confused with which is the better card with ATI and nVidia. Thanks for the info.

 

to prydeless: wow why did u play with 1080p? ur display is 768p

 

I use an external monitor.

 

20 - 50 (i'd assume average is 30) is impressive with that kind of settings on dv6z, woott, im so exited now

i used to only get 23~26 fps on my M11X with mostly Medium and AA turned off

so now i can be optimist and play the upcoming CoD:Black Ops, AC:Brotherhood and GW2 next year

 

So I broke down and ordered the n930 with the 5650. A few questions though: Can the cpu be overclocked using methods such as SetFSB? Also, and this I doubt, anyone know about Hybrid Crossfire and if this works on this system?

Thanks

 

Yay represent! Whatever your questions are, I'll ask the same thing!

 

Sorry, don't know anything about overclocking, although I had no intention of trying. Also, my search through the internet has led me to believe that Hybrid Crossfire is not possible on this chipset.

 

Well my thinking was that with the low temperature that the core was achieving, a small but substantial overclock could be accomplished. I guess I'll just wait until I receive the unit to try it.

As for the crossfire, I was mainly thinking that it could be done because the board, at least the desktop version, is compatible with it and it would give the AMD version a definitive gaming edge. I really don't know much about it though lol

 

I'm aware of overclocking the GPU but the CPU? Dang, that'd be cool if it was shown how

 

Don't know about SetFSB but AMD Overdrive doesn't seem to work for me. Don't know about a Crossfire setup either but in theory there should be someway to get it to work.

 

im not too familiar with AMD oc stuff, but in my knowledge, never ever oc a laptop unless you are prepare for something to happen to the GPU/CPU

 

Well i've only ever OC'd one laptop (the cpu anyways) and it was an AMD and I used SetFSB. Overclocked from 1.2ghz to 1.6ghz. So it is possible, I just dont know if the program has the right PLL for this board. Oh well... we'll see.

More interested in the Hybrid Crossfire anyways

 

From the guides I've read, laptops can't really be damaged from Overclocking (Or maybe that was the undervolting guide I read) and it also seems to be a tad bit straight forward on this website. I'm not too worried about my computer breaking down from this though there's the huge chance I'll probably be begging for help on the forums later when my laptop ships.

Probably the wrong place to ask but noob question:
I have a Blu-Ray non-lightscribe player and I'm aware it can still read dvds. However for rewritable CD's and such, do I need the lightscribe option? I was hoping I can make a recovery disc or something but I'm not sure if I need the lightscribe or not.

 

If you find a way to do Crossfire when you get yours, let us know because I've not seen the option for it in CCC.

On a side note, it seems I can't use my external monitor when I switch to the 4250.

 

I'm thinking that we may have to find hacked drivers... or someone who can hack them for us. Even if only 80% of the extra power from the IGP is usable, that would still put us over 10k 3Dmarks Although we couldnt use it for DirectX 11 stuff since the igp doesnt support it.

 

Not much uses DX11 right now anyway. If you find someway to get Hybrid Crossfire to work then please be sure to let us know.

 

Well HP finally shipped my unit... won't be here till the 17th :/

And while all the information that I have found leads me to think that Crossfire won't work (at least not without major hacking of which I do not have the skills lol), People have recently been able to overclock the Tigris platform which is based on the same board as ours. Should mean we might be able to get a small processor boost. 2.4ghz sound good?


One thing if someone could check: Is there a way to downclock the RAM in the BIOS?

 

Abbadon or any of the guys with the AMD Quad core CPU, does it have the same massive power brick as the i7 versions? Or is it the 90w bricks that you get?