dv6z or dv6t

I noticed its probably cheaper to get the AMD A8 (the BEST 2.5 processor) AND the 1Gb Dual graphics option for the dv6 vs the the 2.0 ghz sandybridge quad and the 6770m...

Which of these two would be better for gaming? and just faster all around. I plan on using it for med school.

 

The dv6z would be better if you're on a tight budget but the i7 with the 6770 would beat out the A8 processors

there's a comparison of the two in this article: hp dv6z vs hp dv6t

 

Gaming? The dv6z since it has a more powerful overclocked GPU.

Faster all around? The dv6t. Those SB processor are so nice . The dv6t is still a solid gaming machine, so I say in your case go with the "t". Unless gaming is really important and you want to give some processor power/speed for some graphics power.

 

The thing about the dv6z is that it's only faster in benchmarks.

I have yet to see it actually function in a game. Until then, I think a dv6t is the best choice.

 

Duuhhh the dv6t is faster.

The dv6z is cheaper (which you noticed).

 

LOL, let me get this straight, you're saying that because YOU personally haven't seen a 'z' in games, that he should get the 't'? What am I missing here LOL

To the OP. Well I'VE seen a 'z' in games cause I happen to own one. If you're going to run dx10 or dx11 games, the z does just peachy keen. If you're going to run older dx9 games, it still can be made to run 'just fine'.

Duke Nukem, Crysis 1, COD Black ops, Rift and Wow all work quite well. And from what I can see, at lower temps. If you have the inclination, turns out the 'z's "APU" is completely unlocked. In fact you can both Overclock AND underclock at the same time for substantially improved numbers. To the point that as far as real world experience goes, the 'z' performs well pretty much across the board and in somethings, better than the 't'.

I had the opportunity to have either and chose the 'z' and the extra cash. Others have gone the other way. No doubt about it, on a clock for clock, the SB chips in the 't' are faster, but in many ways its like comparing a Ferrari to a Camaro. They will both get you down the highway at acceptable speeds. If your application requires 200mph, then the Ferrari is the choice. If it's 130 or so, the Camaro is right there. If the speedlimit is 75, doesn't really make a helluva lot of difference now, does it.

The point is read the threads pertaining to both. Pretty much everything that can be discussed about the 't' is there, and we are still working on extracting more cpu performance out of the 'z' but for myself, I've found that the slowest thing on my computers is most often, well, me Either is plenty fast for anything you're likely to do cpu wise. On the graphics side, I give the edge to the 'z', especially as to dx10 and 11 games.

Seer

 

Honestly if there was a dv7z, I would have gotten it to save some money. But there isn't one so I got the dv7t.

That being said, this laptop is still very good for gaming. With a moderate overclock on my 6770m, it performs about as well as the gtx 460m. And of course the sandybridge processors are unmatched in terms of performance.

The dv6z does have the advantage of being able to use crossfire between the integrated graphics and radeon graphics (6750m i think) which apparently edges out the 6770m in dx10 and dx11 games but not in dx9 games (crossfire doesn't work with dx9 if I recall).

However not all games are created equal and some like a good CPU more than a stronger GPU combination, like Starcraft 2 and eventually Diablo 3 when it's released.

But like others have said, the AMD processors aren't bad at all and bang for buck definitely goes to the dv6z.

 

Seer, I have watched the threads that you and others have posted in and while you have accomplished respectable scores in 3dmark11 I have yet to see anyone in that thread post a IN-GAME fps benchmark in which the dv6z's graphical advantage comes to fruition.

On the other hand, I have seen numerous benchmarks in which the dv6z severely underperforms its 't' counterpart because of its processing power deficiency.

If you have a tight budget, dv6z is great. But if you have a fexible budget and have to choose between the two I can't recommend the dv6z over the dv6t until it actually does better in a game.

 

The CPU in the DV6z will bottleneck certain games while the DV6tqe will be free from CPU bottlenecks. Look up Athlon II X4 620 gaming performance to get a rough estimate of how an overclocked Llano CPU will fare in games.

However, I suspect that AMD will stick with the FS1 socket for the next gen Trinity processors so DV6z users may have an upgrade path, and looking from current prices of AMD cpus, it should be around $150 which puts the dv6z as still cheaper than the dv6tqe.

imo, the DV6z has a better gaming performance for the buck while the DV6t is faster in overall computing.

 

Where are these benchmarks that show DV6z that "underperforms" its 't' counterpart? I haven't really seen ANY real-world benches of the DV6z. So I did a few.

I just realized I had vsync ON with the DV6z. Can't retest right now because my machine is out for exchange due to high heat.

Check these out (WARNING LOTS OF IMAGES):

Spoiler

Bad Company 2 DV6z vs NP8130 (GTX 560m) at stock speeds at 1080p
First graph is performance on same 32 man server with similar action - click it for full size image


Battlefield Bad Company 2 DV6z vs NP8130 at 1080p min/max/avg from above chart


Just Cause 2 Concrete Jungle
DV6z


NP8130


Just Cause 2 Dark Tower
DV6z


NP8130


Just Cause 2 Desert Sunrise
DV6z


NP8130


Lost Planet 2 Max Details

Lost Planet 2 Benchmark DirectX 9 1080p Test A
DV6z


NP8130


Lost Planet 2 Benchmark DirectX 9 1080p Test B
DV6z


NP8130


Lost Planet 2 Benchmark DirectX 11 1080p Test A
DV6z


NP8130


Lost Planet 2 Benchmark DirectX 11 1080p Test B
DV6z


NP8130


Section 8 Prejudice 720p (all details at 4/5)
DV6z


Section 8 Prejudice 1080p (all details at 4/5)
DV6z


NP8130

 

Well before this thread dissolves into a "my e-peen is bigger than yours thread", I'd like to give this advice. I own a DV6-6027TX(See Sig) and for me because I play a game like Age Of Conan which loves fast CPU's and as many threads as u can throw at it, I'd say consider this. Consider what games you play the most, suss out the reviews and feedback from users as to what the game favours(ie CPU and/or GPU) and ask some of the owners here to maybe benchmark the game for u and give u feedback on what works best for them. Both the 't's' and 'z's' are probably the best bang for your dollar laptops going around at the moment anyway so I'd say u cant go wrong with either......And remember were a pretty helpful bunch here and most ppl would be more than willing to help

 

http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-HP-Pavilion-dv6-6110eg-Llano-
Notebook.56965.0.html

There's another web site benchmark posted in the llano thread. I'll search for it later when I have time.

I've looked at every update in the llano thread, looking for an in-game FPS result where the 3dmark11 score translates into FPS gains. I haven't seen one yet.

Not to mention the countless crossfire problems (losing FPS instead of gaining) that still exist.

This is a dv6t vs dv6z thread, and given everything I have seen so far, I'm giving it to the dv6t in gaming performance.

 

Check my "spoiler" tags in my previous post... I'm updating with NP8130 stuff as we speak. It would be good to have DV6t stuff there if someone wants to run them... at STOCK SPEEDS.

 

Can you run the JC2 benchmark with 1080p, all high, 2x aa, 16x af and everything on (inc. vsync) except SSAO?

I remember getting almost exactly 20fps with my i5 dv6t.

 

Which Just Cause 2 benchmark? There's 3 of them!

I can't run my DV6z yet though because it's out for RMA.

 

The problems are being sorted out like any new tech, in the same way OpenGL issues were a problem for the DV6t, or any new product launch for that matter.

A lot of the issues stem from drivers, plain and simple. Now that there is a stable setup for the most part, things run smooth. Catalyst 11.8 with 11.6 video driver and install the crossfire profiles is about all it amounts to.

 

Sorry, forgot to mention that it was Dark Tower.

edit: What is the reason you're using/were using the 11.6 video drivers instead of the 11.8? Does it offer better stability/performance?

 

25 fps with NP8130.

 

Ok I did some JC2 benchmarks with HP stock drivers.
I only did the tower and the desert. One of the towers is with everything set high.
Click on View all to see them better and for what place they where benchmarked at.

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Here's the Tower with setttings that R3D wanted:

 

Thanks for the benches, +rep to you and HT.

Judging by the JC2 benches, the DV6z is actually ahead by quite a bit... Interesting. But the 6770m might be able to catch up with some OCing...

 

Unless I'm missing something, lmanlo ran the benchmarks under more strenuous conditions. Just eyeballing it, shadows in almost every game is a MONUMENTAL performance hit.

We'll have to wait until ht gets back to us with his machine.

 

You didn't look at all the benchmarks. Click on the picture and look at the rest of his gallery, he ran some with the same settings as HT.

 

Got it. That's pretty impressive in that game.

If the Dv6Z had a high res screen on any of their prebuiltsfor $150 more, I would have jumped on it. There have been some stellar deals on the one at Best Buy.

 

Keep in mind that this is with Vsync ON. Which means it can drastically cut the frame rate down. Once I get my DV6z I will be happy to run any benchmark available as long as there is a DV6t user that will do the same.

 

Finally I see something that shows an in-game result.

Not to dismiss it but keep in mind that all built-in benchmarks are generally graphically limited. In-game gameplay will tend to use the CPU far more often.

A few games get this right - like Crysis's CPU and GPU benchmarks.

 

Well, I think the Bad Company 2 results speak for themself. With overclock I can bring that average fps up another 5-8 fps. It's a very demanding game both CPU and GPU and the fact that it can manage to play with medium settings at 1080p at >45fps is pretty impressive. I think I figured out how to benchmark Crysis 2 and was going to try it on the DV6z but didn't have a chance before sending it back.

 

What does the dv6t get at the same settings? (I wouldn't know, I don't own one anymore)

If it can do BC2 better than the dv6t then I would be convinced.

 

What difference does it make? It's getting 45fps on average at 1080p and medium detail. If the DV6t got 44fps would it really matter? I can guarantee it's not getting more than 50fps. If anything I'd have to say performance is comparable, depending on the game.

I have to agree that the DV6z requires some voodoo to get it working right. Heck I'm not even 100% convinced I'm going to keep the DV6z either after the issues I had if they're not corrected with the replacement. But I do know it's a fully capable machine. Definitely has it's growing pains, but I have confidence that AMD will work through them quickly. They need to if they want to continue to sell laptops with their chips in them. Both the DV6z and DV6t have overclock potential too. Bottom line is if you want to save $200+ and are ok fussing with some settings to get it to work, then go for the Z, otherwise get the T.

 

QFT (10char)