NOW AVAILABLE: ENVY 15-32XX Intel Ivy Bridge (AMD 7750M)

The GPU in the 3200 is MILES ahead of the one in the 3000... okay maybe not miles... but the difference is definitely pretty big. If you want this computer to last for a while definitely go with the 3200, the GPU in the other is okay but the difference is basically 2011 tech versus 2012 tech, and with new hardware always coming out you want the most recent you can get.

 

Definitely agreeing with Kyle. I actually sold my Envy 15-3040nr at the beginning of January and bought the Envy 15t-3200 instead. Graphics are like night and day, 3200 blows the 3040nr out of the water. I could hardly play BF3 on medium on my 3040nr, the 3200 autos to ultra textures, 4x antialiasing, and highs on most settings. Not to mention, with mediums on the 3040nr I still got choppiness. BF3 ran buttery smooth on the 3200 even with some settings maxed out.

I got my 3200 configured with the 3720qm i7. That's the 2600 MHz option, 300 MHz faster than the 3610qm. I'm not sure if that is affecting my game performance at all, but the virtualization technology and V-Pro is benefit enough.

Basically, I HIGHLY suggest the 3200. You won't regret it!

 

Thanks Kyle and K4p for the insight. Yes, I went ahead and bought the 3200 with the i7, 8gb, and 1080p screen. The only thing that kind of held me back was I do not have much faith in AMD's Enduro technology. I had a Dell 15r SE and the dyanmic switching was horrible. But hopefully this will be better!!

 

the switching is pretty good its no where near as much hassle as before

 

Oh ok thats good to know. From what I read in the previous post in this forum that we should install the latest AMD drivers usually the Beta drivers on top of Hp video drivers?

 

I think the 13.2 Beta drivers are out, but I don't install Betas for graphics cards.
I did recently write the procedure I used to update my AMD card to the new 13.1 drivers as well as the intel drivers to the newest ones too ( I have a 3200). Here ya go:

Here was my procedsure for updating from stock drivers, to latest everything graphics-wise. I have WIndows 7:

1) I ran this AMD utiity: AMD Catalyst Un-install Utility which completely deleted any and all AMD drivers, catalyst, etc. It minimizes to the tray and takes about 3-5 minutes (so don't worry if you don't see it), and there are several screen flashes afer which it gives me a report saying everything went well and then I restart.

2) I got the latest Intel drivers from their site. I ran their auto-detect utility to make sure I had the newest release. I didn't delete or uninstall the old ones. I simply ran what I downloaded and it ran its own procedure to update the drivers. I rebooted.

3) I got 13.1 AMD mobility drivers from here: AMD Catalyst 13.1 WHQL Download. I let the process run after which i got some screen flashes, etc, and I think I got another report saying everything installed ok. Rebooted.

4) Tested out the system and Catalyst control center etc. Did another reboot just to be safe.

5) I noticed I couldn't change the screen brightness at all (was always maxed), so i found this link (as suggested by Pakii): The Ramblings of Adrynalyne: Fix Brightness Control for Windows 8 AMD SG Drivers and I went with option 2 since I was now running standard Intel drivers. I downloaded the file and manually made the changes (I like to see what's being changed) (and I know it says Win8, but worked great with Win7 for me). Rebooted.

6) Everything works as it should and I haven't had any issues.

Make sure you download the MOBILITY version of the AMD drivers. Some of us had downloaded the desktop version by mistake and weren't seeing the drivers show up during the install process.

Hopefully this will help you.

 

Awesome thanks for this I will definitely take a look at this once I receive my laptop.

 

Huh? Am I missing something? Why don't I see any clickable links?

 

lol cause there arent any there was a mess up i guess. The steps are still valid

 

Hey Pakii I was just wondering if these are the same steps you took? If not I heard installing the main hp video driver and then install which ever latest AMD driver on top of it?

 

E15 arrived today, about to install Windows 8. Would anyone here happen to know whether it's possible to make the trackpad less stiff to click on?

 

Cuz I'm a . Here's the link to where I originally posted the steps. Those links should work...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/633054-hp-envy-15-3xxx-series-owners-lounge-245.html#post9048053

 

Thanks.


Anyone know why on Earth I'm getting no audio? Completely silent even after installing IDT drivers!

 

yeah these are the steps.

 

I had the same problem zethos... go into the desktop mode and bring up the charm bar on the right side by hovering over the top right of the screen. Press settings and then control panel. Go to "Hardware and Sound," then click Sound and click "Speakers and Headphones-IDT high definition audio" and click set default towards the bottom of the panel. Reboot if needed.

 

Ended up troubleshooting and letting it do that.


But another problem I encountered is that my "ancient" Logitech Z-2300 speakers were creating static noises when plugged into the audio output. Solved the problem by using a USB sound card that I've had for years.


One other issue I'd really love to fix is the touchpad button feedback. Feels very stiff.

 

I've actually opened up the computer a few times because my trackpad had some seating problems. However, from what I've seen, the trackpad only uses one central button which is located slightly underneath the middle of the black bar, and lies on top of a sturdy metal support; however, towards the bottom left and right sides there is no support structure except some very small shelf-like metal bumps surrounding the border of where the trackpad fits into the laptop. In its natural state, the trackpad doesn't rest entirely on these support and thus the pressure you must apply to get it to click is also the amount of pressure to push the pad down until it reaches the support. However, I have noticed after a couple of months it has gotten extraordinarily less stiff and has repositioned itself in a way that is much more comfortable, it just takes some time. In the meantime, I think the best thing you could do is try to keep your presses towards the center of the trackpad, it took me a while to get used to but there is a sweet spot for the right click basically down from the "m" button, though I don't need to use it anymore.

 

Nice to hear. So the touchpad does soften up. What about the keyboard keys? I'm a skinny guy, feels like it's a workout for my fingers, albeit not a good one, to type on the keyboard!

 

keys dont wear out but i dont find them tough to use at all... i use a keyboard skin over it and that actually dampens it more so its hardter to press

 

Bah. I guess that's a concession I can make.

The touchpad's not perfect, but good enough. Two-finger tap to right-click works much of the time, but it's not as precise as with reil's touchpad. The only reason I'm not using reil's touchpad software's for the 2-finger tap feature is that I'm not able to disable it for Synaptics. It's a pity.


Having said all that, I just wish there were a company out there selling outer skins or shells for this notebook. The fingerprint magnet that is the lid could use some coverin' up!

 

yeah its just not mainstream enough like mbp is

 

So is there another place besides eBay where I can get a second charger on the cheap?

 

again probably not cause its not mainstream. i would look for the 3000 version chargers cause those are compatible.

 

I know I'm full of a lot of questions...

But is there a specific software or driver that allows the wifi button to be toggled on/off? I'm pretty sure I installed all the necessities.

 

hmm idts are u on win 8?

 

Yep, that I am.

 

im pretty sure it was working before but now its not it might be due to drivers idk how to fix it tho.


edit: im pretty sure it happened when i installed the wifi utility or whatever its called. it didnt work well in the beginning anyway because if u toggled it with the button it turns on blutooth also

 

Could someone please give me some advice on buying an aftermarket charger on eBay?

I'm seeing some chargers listed on eBay with different voltages and amps than my current one.

Current one:
19.5v, 6.15a (output), 120w.

But I'm also seeing other chargers listed as being compatible with the 15t-3200, both generic and OEM, that are 18.5V-19V and with a slightly higher output in amps and of differing wattages (90w, 135w).

There aren't too many chargers that fit my current one's specs to the t, so if anyone could shed some light on the physics of it all, that'd be GREAT!


One on eBay.

Another one

 

Anyone here know how to overclock this card?

 

as long as its around 19v it is fine. The 90w will charge slower but its more compact (more useful for traveling) 135w is like the regular one.

u gotta use unofficial OCing by msi afterburner

 

So anyone else finding the keyboard to be kind of "mushy?" Been typing on it for almost a week, finding that the keyboard feedback could use some improvement.

 

hi guys!

i just got my hp envy.

im having a few issues though.

when i try to load gpu-z, it just gets stuck on the loading screen and wont load... anyone else have this problem? when i run gpu-z with my lappy unpluged, it loads fine.
also, the beats button thats in the middle of the volume knob doesnt do anything when i press it. the volume still works and i can still get menu though through the task bar.

thanks for any help!

edit - ok i got gpu-z to load, it took about 5 min. and the all the clocks show zero. but i can see the 7750 in device manager and it says its installed properly. im running 13.2 beta 5
edit 2 - when i open the "control beats audio settings" trough the task bar, and go to change which way the knob turns to increase the volume, it wont save the settings.
edit 3 - i just tried to run CPUID HW monitor, and its not even showing my gpu in there...
thanks again

EDIT- OK so i figured out the beats thing, and i think i got the gpu thing not showing up in HWinfo and GPU-z down (u gotta run an application that uses the gpu, then min it, then run a gpu monitoring program

BUT, this message is for pakii (hope hes still around haha) or anyone else that knows how

i cant get MSIafterburner the go past 575 and 1000 clocks. i downloaded your 2 files and placed them in the msi folder but still no go.
any helo to OC? Thanks!

 

yes im still around lol. u were correct what u did. the dgpu doesnt spin up until something requiring it is started thats why u gotta start something demanding. I found the best way is to just open up the 3dmark11 loading screen. u dont have to run the benchmark but it somehow activates the card.

as for OCing. look up unofficial overclocking for afterburner on google. u gotta modify somefiles and thats what it depends on.

edit: found one for u: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=18102.0
just do what they say and make sure those 2 files are in the msi afterburner installation folder

 

Thanks Pakii!

What's the highest you've over clocked the GPu? I'm thinking I should stink to around 675/1100?

And one more thing.. I was playing some sc2 on ultra (which actually did surprisingly really well) and the fans kicked in full speed (I think) but when I exited the game. The fans stayed on for awhile (long after gpu reached room temps) I actually restarted my comp to get them to drop spinning full speed.

So I just disabled "Fam always on" in the bios.. Does this have any kind of adverse effect?

But anyways.. Thanks again Pakii!
+rep for sure!

 

highest ive gone is 760/1200 i think from my 2nd replacement. all cards are different. my current one tops at 738/1125. I usually game at 715-725/1100 and thats basically stable. As for the fan situation, that happens because its a bug with the fans sometimes. its just that when u turn off the high performance program, it gets stuck in the full 100% level since it gets no other signal. to counter this, either open up another high performance program (like i said i like 3dmark11 before) and it should throttle down if its been a while and the chips are cool. or u can just put to sleep and wake it up again. as for fan always on, its better ot keep it off less noise

 

So I did some 3d mark 11 tests (thanks pakii for the help again)

And this is what I got

Stock clocks
575/1000


And overclocked
675/1085


Sorry for the iPhone pix. I didn't feel like uploading them haha.

But not too shabby! Can play Starcraft 2 maxed out now (which is pretty much the only game I play haha)

Temp maxed out at 62C (which of coarse was only running the 3d mark, so ill have to test that with some gameplay)
I also have a Samsung 840pro 256gb SSD in my envy. (Although I don't know if that has anything to do with the score)

Edit - also, I'm running the AMD 13.2 beta 6 drivers (which seem to be the best so far)

 

your scores match up with the rest of us. Have u tried pushing it even more?

 

That's pretty good, you're getting close to Geforce 650m level there.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3630QM Processor,Alienware M14xR2 score: P2812 3DMarks

 

the 7750m matches the 650m for stock scores. clock for clock it is less performing. however most of the 650ms have higher Voltages or are unlocked voltages thus they can OC much much higher

 

So then.......
How do we overvolt?....

And yeah.. I plan to push it a little more.

I played a few hours of sc2 and borderlands 2 and the highest the temps got we're around 64C..

I didn't have a laptop cooler or anything either.. so I believe this lappy has pretty excellent cooling.

 

we cant our bios is locked ;(