7690M GPU = HP HORRIBLE DRIVER SUPPORT

[D3forfun]

My situation is that the audio sounds ok, but the frame rate is extremely low in games.  I set switchable GPU to fixed in bios, andt leave powerplay on as it makes no difference in my case.  I confrimed the graphics I was using is HD 6700m series  monitered by Afterburner.  I think it's the driver compatible issue rather than switchable graphics.  It's a shame that such a decent GPU has to work with crappy driver.

[Cameron6472]

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D3forfun wrote:

My situation is that the audio sounds ok, but the frame rate is extremely low in games.  I set switchable GPU to fixed in bios, andt leave powerplay on as it makes no difference in my case.  I confrimed the graphics I was using is HD 6700m series  monitered by Afterburner.  I think it's the driver compatible issue rather than switchable graphics.  It's a shame that such a decent GPU has to work with crappy driver.

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My framerate will be great in games until suddenly it'll drop and all audio is garbled and crackly

[Cameron6472]

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Sean-hpdv6t wrote:

No, I only have my dv6 for a couple of day so far, so don't know for sure.  FYI, I had a similar problem with games slowing down in a desktop a while back (using ATI hd 4850).  I remember I traced the problem back to the audio driver issue.  I don't know for sure, but one solution I used was to disable HDMI audio out and made sure all my games used my X-FI sound card.  You can give it a try.

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How did you disable HDMI audio out?

I just disabled CyberLink WebCam virtual driver and HP Wireless Audio to see if that changes anything

[Sean-hpdv6t]

To disable HDMI audio, you can either open device manager or go to control panel and select sound and then sound. You should see a list of sound device, one of them is HDMI digital audio. Right click and then diable.

[CJacksonLASD]

As states when I started this post do not go beyond 12.2. The newer 12.3-12.4 are only adding new gpu architectures to their drivers which our HP 7690m is not designed for and it will limit your gaming performance. I have benchmarked all AMD Driver sets from 11.8 to 12.4 and the beat performing driver set was actually the 12.2 preview catalyst driver. While gaming testing on bf3 and swtor I notice major fps drops and crashes with 12.3-12.4. Good rule of thumb with non-custom computers like HP and DELL "if it ain't broke, don't fix it.". So for all these new posts on 12.4 : Don't update. Also it's not heat that's slowing your computers down, it's a glitch with the throttling driver that's not sure what gpu we have so it's setting the default throttling low. 12.2 preview doesn't have this issue.

[egeek84]

thanks for the info CJ, gonna stay on 12.2 preview then

[Cameron6472]

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CJacksonLASD wrote:
As states when I started this post do not go beyond 12.2. The newer 12.3-12.4 are only adding new gpu architectures to their drivers which our HP 7690m is not designed for and it will limit your gaming performance. I have benchmarked all AMD Driver sets from 11.8 to 12.4 and the beat performing driver set was actually the 12.2 preview catalyst driver. While gaming testing on bf3 and swtor I notice major fps drops and crashes with 12.3-12.4. Good rule of thumb with non-custom computers like HP and DELL "if it ain't broke, don't fix it.". So for all these new posts on 12.4 : Don't update. Also it's not heat that's slowing your computers down, it's a glitch with the throttling driver that's not sure what gpu we have so it's setting the default throttling low. 12.2 preview doesn't have this issue.

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Thanks for the info. Is there any way I can downgrade from 12.3 to 12.2?

[Sean-hpdv6t]

Thanks a lot, man.  You're absolutely right!!

I used 12.4 as soon as I got my dv6.  Using metro 2033 benchmark program (comes with steam automatic update in the metro 2033 folder), I got a horrible average FPS of 7!!  Yeah, single digit.  Setting is dx11, 1366x768, low quality.

Okay, uninstall all graphic drivers.  Downloaded and ran driver sweeper 3.2 (phyxion.net.  water out for bundled junk), cleaned all AMD stuff.  Went to HP support website and downloaded stock graphic driver, 338mb, including both AMD and intel packages.  Installed.  Ran metro 2033 benchmark.  Bam!  Average FPS 48!!  Same setting.

Then, download 12.2 preview (support both desktop and laptop).  Installed.  Ran benchmark.  Identical to stock driver, average FPS 47.7.  

So, folks, stick with 12.2 preview for now.

[JohnDerrick]

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Cameron6472 wrote:

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CJacksonLASD wrote:
As states when I started this post do not go beyond 12.2. The newer 12.3-12.4 are only adding new gpu architectures to their drivers which our HP 7690m is not designed for and it will limit your gaming performance. I have benchmarked all AMD Driver sets from 11.8 to 12.4 and the beat performing driver set was actually the 12.2 preview catalyst driver. While gaming testing on bf3 and swtor I notice major fps drops and crashes with 12.3-12.4. Good rule of thumb with non-custom computers like HP and DELL "if it ain't broke, don't fix it.". So for all these new posts on 12.4 : Don't update. Also it's not heat that's slowing your computers down, it's a glitch with the throttling driver that's not sure what gpu we have so it's setting the default throttling low. 12.2 preview doesn't have this issue.

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Thanks for the info. Is there any way I can downgrade from 12.3 to 12.2?

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Load up the 11.8 AMD drivers from HP's driver support page, hit uninstall (CUSTOM UNINSTALL). (make sure to uninstall everything).Go ahead and restart and access the BIOS. IMPORTANT: SET GRAPHICS FROM FIXED TO DYNAMIC. After that go ahead and install the 11.8 Drivers. Afterwards overlap the drivers with the 12.2 Preview Drivers.

[JohnDerrick]

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Cameron6472 wrote:

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D3forfun wrote:

My situation is that the audio sounds ok, but the frame rate is extremely low in games.  I set switchable GPU to fixed in bios, andt leave powerplay on as it makes no difference in my case.  I confrimed the graphics I was using is HD 6700m series  monitered by Afterburner.  I think it's the driver compatible issue rather than switchable graphics.  It's a shame that such a decent GPU has to work with crappy driver.

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My framerate will be great in games until suddenly it'll drop and all audio is garbled and crackly

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What the computer does is to keep the surface cool, so once it gets to the 60 Degree mark it lowers the clock speed to maintain the cool temperature. If you want performance, I suggest you switch Coolsense to OFF or to Auto. That way there will be no limitation in performance. Just be aware of the core's temperature while gaming. Hope this helps.