HP Compaq 8710w User Review

[grobinson2]

Hey guys. First off great review! I made the decision to buy my 8710W because of the great reviews on this site. Now... I have the FX 1600 and am running XP 32Bit. I am not a huge gamer but do my share and have been having lots of issues with various games crashing. I have had the same thing happen with Rainbow Six Lockdown, Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat, and Battle Field 2: Mercinaries. When I am playing the game all of a sudden the game will lock for maybe 5 seconds. When the game comes back all of the graphics are pixilated. Any idea what is going on? Of course I made sure all of my drivers were up to date. The games does allow me to keep playing but the graphics are so bad you cant possibly see what you are doing. I have to exit out of the game and restart. It does it at different times through out the game.

Thanks guys,
Glenn

[madhias]

hallo grobinson2. i'm also an 8710w user with win xp. several tips for you:
install the newest graphic driver from the hp homepage. after this install the newest direct-x package. also make an bios update (download hp homepage). this should help you to play this games without these problems.
sometimes it is recommended to play the games in "window mode" (this options should be available in the graphic option menu of the games).

hope it helps, greetings matthew

[grobinson2]

Tried all of the above and still no luck. Starting to really **** me off though. hahaa

Thanks again,
Glenn

[Meemat]

When you say build quality has not failed to disappoint wouldn't that be implying that it has disappointed?

Other than that, sweet review, cool notebook

[chrixx]

The best drivers to use for the 8710w is the Nvidia 175.12 drivers available from LaptopVideo2Go. These are WHQL-certified and keep the notebook quiet.

I've tried the subsequent new drivers (175.16) and while they fix the annoying tendency for Vista to switch my dual displays about on a reboot, the drivers increase the fan speeds significantly and hence were underperforming. Those with fan noise problems should give 175.12 a try.

[kaRRer]

Tried all of the above and still no luck. Starting to really **** me off though. hahaa

Thanks again,
Glenn

Try to install a normal geforce driver instead of the - official - quadro one.

This topic is for the quadro nvs 320, but the principle is the same:
Nvidia Quadro NVS 320m Drivers

Im sure this will do the trick. But dont forget this will give you crippled openGL performance under 3d editing softwares (wireframe editing etc.).

[kaRRer]

Nice review btw.

Hmm its a shame that there is no 8710p with a 8800M GTS (but with 'banned' quadro fx capabilities) as an option...

8710p -> 8700M GT based quadro nvs320 (no qfx openGL capabilities here - hence its much cheaper than the 8710w with 1600M, but the same speed at games)
8710p -> 8800M GTS based quadro nvsXYZ <- Im talking about this, where is it??? :)
8710w -> 8700M GT based quadro fx 1600M (openGL acceleration here) //dont buy this if you only want to play games :) ... get the 'p' instead (much better price).
8710w -> 8800M GTS based quadro fx 3600M (openGL accel.)