*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 2*

I’m using my 8740 for some time and tried to check temperatures using RealTemp and when I’m playing I have nearly 80 degrees on GPU and CPU, can you tell me if you have similar or not and what can be done to make it lower?

 

my temps are nowhere near that high -

gaming with everquest 2 on max settings,

I get GPU 68, CPU ~77

Though i do keep my fan clean by doing the 4 screws on the back and lifting the keyboard up (this won't screw your warranty)

if you are nervous about taking the system apart, lightly hold the fan and aim some compressed air into the grate. it's gonna get dusty as hell though, so do it outside! - also keep the compressed air a few CM from the fan, because it can rapidly cool the plastic, and cause it to shatter when you switch the pc on (not fun i can tell you)

it seems like you've got a dusty cpu grate. you can either take the system apart and clean it properly, but tbh you can get away with a compressed air blast. just be careful lifting the keyboard though, it's a bit stiff - there are little notches you need to 'click' with the end of a credit card or thin screwdriver. be gentle.

hope this helps, my 2800M hasn't got over 75 yet, on stock pastes which is very nice.

Though i don't know about the ATI temps. 80 is a little high - but still within the 'don't panic' range.

 

FYI:

My 8740w has already arrived at my rep's company. Its technicians have swapped the normal keyboard for the backlit version. They were warned about the flex issues you guys have been reporting on this forum (unvaluable forum! thanks NBR ). They mounted the backlit keyboard with extreme care, so flex is MINIMAL on the function keys and negligible on the rest of the keyboard :yes: . They told me that the backlit keyboard has a minor design fault located at function keys. The backlit version does have a looseness at the same height of the function keys row in order to leave room for the power cable which feeds the keyboard LEDs. They mounted the keyboard taking care of this. I guess HP employees do not care about this. This maybe the reason to have all that flex on this keyboard. If properly seated, flex is almost absent on the rest of the keyboard.

Technicians also checked the screen searching for dead/stuck pixels. No problems so far. Also I told them that they should check the construction overall. No defects were found on the screen hinges and the machine is perfectly level when leaned on an smooth surface (it seems rubber feets have the same height). They are already checking the hard disk located on the upgrade bay. My system is shipped with F.08 BIOS.

So, in short, I'm very happy with this first-class service, and I think the whopping 4000€ are well worth, specially when most of you have received the 8740w with major or minor glitches.

It's likely I will receive my 8740w on Friday (but it's not 100% confirmed).

One more time I want to give a BIG THANK YOU!!! to all of you have been patiently replying my doubts, specially for our mates Aikimox , m8o, NotebookGrail, knight427, RampageII, VisionLight, Thecla, vasbinde, and others :wink: I probably wouldn't have bought the 8740w without this outstanding feedback

 

This is all speculation, but based on a snippet from Anandtech's review of the Asus G73jw, I am really excited to see what AMD will do with their next generation of FirePro cards!

"What we really want right now is something like a mobile variant of the new Radeon 6800 parts, only this time with a full 800 Stream Processors (unlike the 5870 where AMD used the 5770 desktop core for the mobile part). The desktop 6870 is able to provide 93% of the desktop 5870 with half the number of processor cores and it does it while using 12% less power. Or if you want another comparison point, the 6850 is 25 to 50 percent faster than the 5770 with the same number of processors, it has slightly lower idle power draw, and load power draw is only 13W higher at most. Just imagine what a true mobile 6870 will be able to do! Unfortunately, parts like that are probably still several months out—or more—which means we have plenty of choice but no killer product. Sandy Bridge and Optimus (or an AMD equivalent) with at least the performance of 460M is what I’m looking forward to seeing as the next generation of mobile gaming; hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to get exactly that."

 

I'm guessing in that case you don't use the new HWiNFO32 with the manual fan control. I recommend you d/l this and use it before you start the game to crank the fan up-to or near max:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-.../519840-hp-notebook-fan-control-hwinfo32.html

I don't know if Dirt2 is as hard on the C/GPU as the game you played or not, but when I play it with the fan manually turned-up, my CPU temps are around 67-71 and GPU temps around 63-67. Here's my post about it in more detail:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...k-8740w-owners-lounge-new-45.html#post6798663

Enjoy.

 

You must be really happy when you first open the lid on friday ..Are they giving any goodies for you have waited this long?

IMO this is one of the best thread i have seen with such valuable info right from the time the product got announced. We all evolved with the product.

By the way, HP is working on a new BIOS to fix the brightness issue with the HP MDA.

 

That's a very exciting news, Bro!
I hope, you'll find your machine flawless and enjoy it for a few solid years!

In my case, it took 3 screen replacements (thanks to NotebookGrail for explaining how to properly check for dead/stuck pixels, those are really tiny) to get a perfect system, lol.

I'm especially happy with the service and support provided by HP. My tech in Canada is awesome! He's the first guy (in years of dealing with IT pro's) to actually know exactly what needs to be done: fast, experienced, and very positive.
Also, the Travel Warranty rocks!

 

Congratulations, fellow countryman!!! At last you get it, and it is perfect so far. When did you place the order? I am still waiting, at least 2 weeks if i am lucky, there is no delay and everything is OK.

I hope you can see the Dreamcolor on Friday. Dont forget to post your comments!

 

I forgot to mention the keyboard on my new unit. This came with a BL keyboard, but it did not have any bowing. There is still a tiny bit of flex in the fn keys, but it is much better than my original BL keyboard. I was going to take them both off and compare them, but I ran out of time.

 

We need some proof/comparison and if true, those of us with the older version could ask for proper replacements.

 

That's very encouraging to see. I got mine with the standard keyboard because of concerns I read about here... there's been a several times I've second-guessed that decision already. I may end up ordering one after all if there's been some progress made.

 

From HP, unfortunately no. My machine was shipped almost 2 weeks later than the original ship date: 10/21. But my rep has been generous and he has given me a carrying case, a wireless mouse and a set of 2 USB lamps (he bought them before, because he was not sure about the backlit keyboard availability). All in all, he has been very nice with me and I'm satisfied.

Well, I hope too

On 9/9, but it was canceled due to the lack of the backlit keyboard. My (our ) rep had to reorder on 9/29 with the normal keyboard, but my order for the backlit keyboard part (separately) was still active.

I will!

If you read my previous post that's EXACTLY the design flaw found by my technicians. In my post you also have the reason for this flex (probably). But you can minimize this fault if you seat carefully the keyboard on its place. I think HP has removed a lot of flex on these new batches, and the remaining maybe almost negligible (according to my technician, I don't have my unit yet!), except if you press HARD, specially on the function keys row, but it's forgivable My technician also confirmed the normal keyboard does not have any flex at all, even under hard pressure (I have the 2 keyboards).

Counting down the hours!!!!!

 

What is the speed difference between the different processors that are available? The dual core seem to have much faster clocks, but then you get 2 cores and not 4. Are those faster clock speeds going to translate to a much faster computer?

 

Sometimes, yes, and sometimes, no. It depends on what programs you're running. Siorah's posted some real-world numbers for the i7-620M as compared to the i7-720QM.

 

I forgot to say that stug told me the 8740w ALREADY supports up to 32GB RAM like the Precision M6500 Source is QuickSpecs Version 11.

I've updated my M6500<->8740w comparison post.

 

i would like to note, i used my elitebook at 4883m over the weekend. (yea i went for a mountain drive - don't ask)

worked fine lol, probably shouldn't use it at that altitude but doesn't seem to be any problems.

 

[in the voice of Scooby Doo] Whuuu? Please do tell as to why. I've never heard this before. Is it because the air it thinner so cooling is less efficient, or something else?

 

Has anyone had their laptop cycle itself off/on? Twice this week, the laptop has suddenly turned off with no warning (not even the high speed fan warning I experienced on my last two). But the really odd thing is that it snaps itself back on and begins rebooting almost instantly.

The first time I had the battery out b/c as I said before, I can't boot this machine while the battery is in. I thought maybe it was a power flicker, though the lights did not flicker. The second time was today, I was a few feet away from my computer, the battery was in this time and the same thing happened. So I don't think it is related to the battery issue.

::sigh::

 

^^ Never mind. Doesn't look like it's a PSU problem.
You need a proper BIOS update. That sux, man.

 

I -know- I saw this during early ownership. Just don't recall if it was a bios update, windows update, hp software update, or configuration that corrected for this.

Check if either MS Windows Update or HP's Update tool (whatever it's called, I forget) are set to operate completely without notification and intervention, which would include a re-boot after update. If so, set it to ask you before doing anything.

I did also completely disable sleep in every power profile as I always had trouble. I can however hibernate on-demand without issue. .... I really should call support and get these things address and a new machine if not or if I'm in the minority...

 

Windows was on auto-update. I turned it off, so hopefully that was it. But, when it rebooted, it said it was improperly shut down. Also, I'm pretty sure Windows wouldn't just cut to black. These shutdowns are instant. So I'm doubting this is it.

 

we travelled up a mountain, and i gave a presentation at about 4880m (so my gps location said)

they wanted to eat mountain food lol


was a 5 hour drive >.>

at the higher altitude i guess it's to do with pressure? i'm not sure.

like we had several bags of crisps pop on the way up lol

 

I haven't seen this type yet (as a matter of fact, after a clean install couple of months back, no issues so far). If it happened, it was during the old BIOS F.03..Did you try going back to the old BIOS? But, with vBIOS can you go back? Give tech support a call for onsite support- and say its critical for ur business

 

I also have a clean install... and then some.

I created my own W7U Lite version and put it on a flash drive. I'm very satisfied with the results.
Take a look at this for more info.

I was able to clear a lot of space in my SSD.

Suffice it to say, my single SSD is currently registering 120GB/148GB
That includes all windows updates, essential drivers, all my productivity software AND 8.5GB of music files.
Using a standard W7U disk it would have been closer to 109GB/148GB.

I also managed to kill close to 15 unnecessary processes.
My background processes (during idle) went from approx. 64 and now 50.
Also, now that I'm using a single SSD, my IOPS score is about 14.6 MB/s. With RAID it used to be about 10.5 MB/s. I haven't even messed with the hidden power management registry tweaks yet.

Boot time with fresh install clocked in at 13.01s and after setting everything up it only increased to 21.14s... well recently it's been clocking in at 23.XXs. Not sure what's causing the extra 2s delay. I haven't installed any new programs/services.... go figure.

Surprisingly, when I was using RAID, my SSD would show 265GB/298GB and my boot time was in the high 30's.

EDIT: This is also interesting. Have you guys seen this before? Goodbye BIOS.
Asus motherboard with UEFI

 

On startup, my problem of freeze gets solved when i reboot and unplug usb connections.

8740w-520m-2800m-6300n

 

Yes, usually on restart it boots normally, but it doesn't solve the problem.
It's only a matter of time before it happens again.
In my case, sometimes it freezes 2-3 times in a row.

 

yea we have UEFI in our bios already, it's an 'addition' to the basic 1984 bios thats been plaguing the computer market for quarter of a century.

you should install the HPTools partition and install the uefi stuff and have a play. it's quite nice!

I only have it for the system diagnostics function really, works quite well.

Its why we have a mouse driven interface you know... thats UEFI

 

Yeah, I figured our laptops had some form of UEFI due to the mouse control on BIOS. But it looks like a very basic implementation, not like what they're showing on the site I provided.
I think I read it's also suppose to allow the OS to boot in a couple of sec.

I rather not install any unnecessary options at the moment.
You'll notice from my previous post that I recently installed an optimized version of W7U64.
I recommend everyone to try it sometime. Although it seems to work best with a retail copy, instead of the manufacturer supplied W7P disk.

I usually keep the original HP supplied HDD (with XP) stored away, but I installed for comparison. I wanted to see how many processes it runs in the background.

This HDD has 72 background processes running.

It also takes a very long time to load the desktop. Now before anyone says it, no I'm trying to compare my SSD boot time to the HDD.
I've also installed optimized versions of W7U64 on conventional HDDs and it makes a big difference.
All those extra HP tools, drivers and software, most of which are not really necessary, take a big toll on the laptop's performance.

 

FYI: I had my 3rd off/on crash a few minutes ago. So, changing windows updates did not solve the problem. The last thing I did before crashing was to watch a short video posted by my friend on Facebook.

 

I just got a shipment confirmation.

For reference:
21-Oct: Order confirmed
07-Nov: Order shipped

Total: 12 business days

 

^^ 12 days is awesome. I had to wait a little bit longer - 8x to be exact!

 

32GB RAM TEST

Ok, I've finally got ahold of those sticks to borrow.

I had 4 x M471B1G73AH0 sticks (8GB DDR3)

With the 620M Still inside, i was only able to get 2 banks to register - as in the machine actually boot up with 2. If i placed all 4 banks in, it refused to power on past the HP logo.

So the limitation of the Dual core looks like 16GB.

I cant post pics of the actual ram, for obvious reasons.

When i changed to the 720QM/920XM however all 4 sticks were recognised, and the system booted up fine.

The WEI for the ram was 7.5 running in all banks with the 920XM.

and it was 7.4 for the 620M/720QM.

The system didn't seem to change much (bear in mind i have 16GB already) but the system does definately support the new sticks.

The Ram has gone back to the OEM tester now, i only had them for an hour just to test them (and so i can order them also).

The CL of the ram was a nice 9-9-9-25 according to my machine, @1333.

Shame its not more, i wanted to post up stuffs, but it's still not really for me to give more details.

The 8740 at least does indeed support 32GB. and windows 7 supported it fine.

 

knight, could you tell me what power supply they gave you please?

Part number as well if possible.

thanks

This is screaming power supply fault/insufficient. i can't use my 920xm until i get a different one. the 200w one hasn't got the juice. when i did anything related to the GPU being used, it shutdown then restarted.

so taken out 920xm for the moment

 

I know that on the CTO page for the US site, you need to order a 230W adaptor instead of the standard 200W if you go for an i7-940XM, Dreamcolor, and either the FX3800M or the FX5000M NVidia graphics cards.

 

yea i have a 2800M with a 920XM - but i'm waiting for a 230w supply to arrive. it seems all the addons in here is pushing the limits.

 

If you are able to trip the 200W PSU with a 2800M+920XM - we can forget about OC'ing the extreme CPU's even with a 230W PSU.

 

i have 16gb ram, + gsm card in here too, but the 2800M is still weighty in wattage. I understood the 2800M had the same draw as the 3800M at max consumption? or is that a mistake?

 

3800M is 100W while 2800M is rated 75W. Dunno if there's a difference in real life max consumption scenarios.

 

Well, I received the machine on Friday, as stated. The machine is very sturdy, the screen is very good, at the same level of my NEC professional monitor (if not more) and I'm happy overall, but I'm dissapointed with some matters:

- Flex on the backlit keyboard is still noticeable, specially on the function keys, but even on the numbers row (not the numeric pad). I'm thinking of swapping again the keyboard with the normal version and use the 2 USB lamp set given by my rep. I'm not sure right now.

- HP installed the SSD on the upgrade bay instead of the primary bay and they installed Windows 7 on the hard disk. I specially said I wanted the OS installed on the SSD On the primary bay they installed the 500G hard disk - a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 (I'm afraid this drive is not good )

- I notice a bit of wobbling on the bottom side of the screen bezel. It's barely noticeable, but it's there.

Also when removing the caddy on the upgrade bay, in order to swap the drives, I think that I broke the eject tab with my flat screwdriver. I followed the instructions on the User Guide but it was a fail - the caddy is not ejected yet. It's time to call my rep tomorrow.

It's not a good start for me. I hope my rep or HP solves this situation

 

@HiddenUser,

First, - congrats on finally getting the system and joining the club! You have done a great deal of digging around and even though your beast has a few minor issues - nothing is to be frustrated about, IMHO.

Now regarding the issues:

Backlit KB flex is a well known issue and hopefully will get sorted out in the future. Switching to a regular KB will indeed help.

They messed up the installation - more reasons to do your own, from scratch.

Could you describe the wobbling? I mean, there's a little flex by the hinges when the lid is closed and if pressing downwards, - but that's done to reduce the deformation in case of accidental drops/bumps etc. (IMHO)

As for the eject tab - don't worry, just give them a call and I'm sure they will replace the caddy (if it indeed is broken )

Bottom line, if that's all - you are one lucky customer
Enjoy the great machine!

 

did people miss the 32g test i did? lol. no comments on it so far.

I think i tripped the psu, because i have a lot of devices plugged into her really, power drain with the 920XM with my USB devices is about 190w. (GPU running idle)

without the USB devices it's around 165w

I'm getting a new PSU so i can have that extra buffer. for my setup.

I think the 2800M is drawing up to 85/90w on it's own... no way is it 75w from real world usage.

HP also have said they are not 'advising' people to use the 5000M + DC2 + 16GB+ ram + 9x0XM because it does max the PSU

fully decked out this machine does top ~205w

(source: test computer here with above spec)

So there *is* room for OC but only if you have the 230W psu.

i've put back the 720QM and i'm drawing 20w less on my setup am at 180w draw atm.

When i had the 32GB ram my draw actually went *down* by 8w

 

People were so impressed, they forgot to comment
Nice job! Good to know, we can upgrade our RAM to 32MB.

As for the power issues:
I think even the 230W won't be enough to make good use of the extreme processors. OC'ing would boost TDP/TDC all the way up to 70W+ resulting in PSU tripping.
I wonder how much more juice does the DC2 consume compared to TN screens?

 

when i get chance, i'll have the guy here who has a DC2 to test it. i'll need to take out 8gb ram to do it, but other than that we have identical machine spec (he has DC2 + 2800M compared to me TN panel) i'll write down the specs when i've finished work.

As for the PSU - having the (9x0XM) at 75w is the max we can have on our machines, without tripping the psu.

However, the hp guy i know here claims there will be a 300w PSU for the 8740w in Q1/2 2011, to accomodate the 5000M +DC2 setup. our test 5000M draws around 104w fully loaded. I just wish it was mine >.<

So i think HP are aware of the load issues, if you have a 9x0 XM + the 5000m you're gonna be toasting the system a bit lol!

 

Oops, I missed this somehow. They gave me a 200W PSU, same as the one I had from before. I think this is the part number.

CT: WBGUB0AARZD1C0

 

Suddenly remembered - FX5000M+940XM - on a single fan.... that's scary
Some black magic must be utilized there to keep the system cool.
Even after a good paste job (resulted in a 10C off the max load from the CPU and another 5-7C from the GPU) my 840QM+M7820 would still hit 80C during intense gaming (with cranked up fan@3500rpm). Prime+Furmark would bring those temps to 90C. How on Earth can stock cooling handle the load on your test system???

 

hrm, i've never thought to actually test the temps in our beast. she just sits there rendering videos and suchlike, but yea, i've not done a temp test in her yet.

The spec of that machine is just broken.

940XM, 5000M, DC2, 16GB RAM, 2x256GB SSD.

Never actually taken the time to test the temps. - she's running a 230W supply, but the 940 is on normal clocks.

I'll put it in the post with the power usage statistics i'll do when everyone has left the office lol.

 

ok, you DEFINATELY need to get the 230w PSU.

it is absolutely daft them giving you the stock one with your kit.

ring your rep to replace it with the 230w one. (its covered under warranty - trust me)

that will stop your 'power outs' - yea you are psu tripping due to ~200w draws on the 5000M

 

Overall, congratulations. At last you got the 8740w. About the flex on the backlit keyboard, i would suggest to give it an oportunity. I prefer the numeric pad, so i dont use very much the numbers row (nor the function keys). I would stay 1 or 2 weeks with backlit kb and then i would make a decision.

It has no sense. Why would you buy the SSD if your OS is on a hard disk? Anyway, as Aikimox said, it may be better to make a clean install. And AFAIK you can boot your system from the upgrade bay (not sure about this).

I dont understand what you are referring, could you expand on this issue?

I dont know how this tab is, but if it broke then HP should replace it. I dont think you have any problem with it. Dont get disappointed. Youve got an sturdy machine with a great screen, and i am sure youll get solved your drives issue.

 

right just got back from work;

following information is real world, no benches, so these are functional temps etc.

ok the beast machine:

Room was 24c

940XM First:

Idle 48c

Fan Forced 44c
---------------
Full loaded 91c

Fan Forced 87c

The GPU was idle - sitting on ~50c


5000M

Idle 44c

Fan Forced 40c
---------------
fully loaded (without CPU) 78c

Fan Forced 74c

idle cpu was about ~54c

Fully loaded (with CPU @ 100%) ~95c

Fan Forced ~92c

I left the tests for 10 minutes

At maximum load the system was pulling 213w from the psu. DC2 @ full brightness btw

for contrast, my machine pulls 174w full load with the TN panel with 720qm (203 with 920xm) - i found why i have problems with the 920xm) with my usual usb peripherals.

Testing draw of the DC2 -

specs: 720qm/8gb stock ram/240gb SSD (same model)/bdre/2800m/6300n/gobi 2000 card - no usb things at all.

i have the TN panel

my mate has the DC2 panel

my idle draw: 72w
his idle draw: 81w

my max load draw: 144w
his max load draw: 153w

looks like the DC screen is 9w higher than the TN Panels.

The 940xm/5000m have been repasted. they aren't on stock.

I was surprised at the findings, never thought to actually test them with the machine just randomly being sent things to render out lol.

but interestingly informative.

 

thx a loot for info, I’ve tried to download this version of hwinfo but link is not working, now I’m using ZALMAN ZM-NC2000 and temperatures during heavy load are 15 degrees or more lower than have been before