Acer Aspire V5 552 gaming performance slows downs when plugged in to the charger (HELP!)

FIPOLINIO
FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

So I recently noticed that my Acer laptop has an issue when it comes to gaming. The speed of the CPU gets really low when starting a game, I didn't noticed this until just a couple of hours ago...I was playing Borderlands 2 and I disconnected my laptop to move it to my desk and I noted that my FPS went up almost the double of what they were before, I plugged my laptop again to the charger and I started looking at the CPU's Cores, the speed of each core got preatty low and fluctuated between speeds. I tested this with all my games, and all had same results, for example an area in Borderlands 2 when plugged in the performance was about 18-22 FPS, but when unplugged from the charger the FPS went up 34-48 or even more. I have tried and read a lot of things over the web, and can't find a solution to this...

 

Another test I made was with Dolphin Gamecube emulator, the FPS when playing The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker varied between 22-26 or lower on heavy areas, when unplugging my laptop from the charger I got constant 30 FPS in those same heavy areas.

Also with Counter Strike Global Offensive, the game normally ran about 50 -60 FPS in all maps, then tested without the charger plugged in and got 70-120 FPS on all maps

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc6Hwgedqmo 

This video demonstrates exactly what is happening to me, except that I have an AMD GPU and CPU.

 

My Acer Aspire V5 552 Specs are.
Windows 7 X64
8GB RAM
AMD A8-5557M @2.1GHz - 2.8GHz Turbo
AMD 8550G GPU
I have all latest drivers and updates installed.

The charger is not damaged, its the original one that came with the laptop. 

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Answers

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    Are you sure that the charger is working good?

     

    there 2 options here:

     

    1) Power Options not working good, check in Control Panel - Power options 

    check if you can "force" highest performance and try again with and without charger

    or check advanced settings with AC charger connected

     

    2) the AC charger output is not correct, maybe giving less wattage or amperes to the notebook.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    The charger is working as it should, I even tried with a generic charger and its the same result..

     

    How do I exactly force that in power options, because when I go to change my power settings on the profile am using everything is on max, but under ATI Graphics Power Settings>ATI Powerplay Settings on battery and plugged in both have maximize performance, but when plugged in with maximiza performance the results still the same, fluctuating cores and not staying at 2.8 GHz, however when setting plugged in to Maximiza Battery Life it stays at default speed 2.1GHz but still framerate is not good.

     

    When on battery is set to maximize performace it would stay at 2.8 GHz turbo mode and the cores would not fluctuate. I really dont know what is causing this...

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    As power option, i mean the windows power options not the ATI power options.

    By the way is something wrong on the cpu frequency control.

    Years ago i used a program to set it manually but i can't remeber the name.
    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    nothing wrong with it, the only time that fluctuates like that while plugged in and using the maximize performace is when I play games, and yes I also tried the windows power options with no luck.

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    Are you using drivers from Acer website or ATI website?
    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    Yes official drivers all up to date

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    Can you check on BIOS (press F2 at boot) if any power setting is available?

     

    if so, set to maximum perfomance, disable cool&quite or C1 and C6 state if any.

     

    about AC charger, the generic charger has the same specs?

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    No power settings avilable, only options I found were Quite boot, network boot, and so... the generic charger has different voltages, I can set it up to 24V, I tested using mu laptop with that, and the cores doesn't fluctuate as much as before but still fluctuate between 1.7 GHz (the lowest I saw) and the max 2.8 GHz, still better performance and stable 2.8GHz when unplugged.

  • eddie_beltran
    eddie_beltran Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    I´ve got the same problem dude, it´s a BIOS malfunction, but Acer won´t do anything till we make some noise, look at this thread:  community.acer.com/t5/Ultra-Thin/Performance-slow-when-plugged-in-V5-552/td-p/202767...

    Lenovo user got their problem solved with a BIOS update, i´ve been contacting support and they only make excuses and repeat the same: Are your power settings on high performance?.  never buying Acer Again.

  • wilson088
    wilson088 Member Posts: 4 New User

    Has Anyone Solved this issue?

    I have exactly the same problem with the same model V5-552M laptop works fine when on battery but FPS drops from 100 down to an unplayable 10 - 20 when charger is plugged in on CSGO although this effect happens on all games, its not the power settings, updated drivers, re format, update bios. It has been for repair twice and has not been fixed by suppliers and everything replaced including battery and AC charger. Still the same

    Any news would be helpful

  • eddie_beltran
    eddie_beltran Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    Mine is a V5 55p x684 A10 5757m....been already 3 times on repairing, and THEY HAVE REPLACED THE FULL MOTHERBOARD....so this is a Software issue, We have to flood Acer with complaints so they make a solution as Lenovo did...A YEAR AGO.....I WANT MY COMPUTER WORKING NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    been trying here a lot of things too...nothing...different chargers, power plans, voltages, nothing works...

  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    Yes you are totally right, we Acer users have to start to make some noise and make our voices heard, I just noticed this issue few days back...and wasn't aware how much of great laptops for this BIOS issue are being left with so little when they can perform and do a lot more, there has to be a way to make Acer aware of this...

  • eddie_beltran
    eddie_beltran Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    And where are the Admins and Acer People? You are loosing customers each second. 

  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    I really don't know...but they have to listen now this is a mayor problem...its bringing good products down...as well as costumers

  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    Acer fix this BIOS issue!

  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    Please an Acer employees or someone from Acer, take note of this, users of the A6, A8, and A10 processors are having performance issues with their CPU's due to a malfunction when the charger is plugged in, the performance while gaming decreases to the lowest frequency and with a lot of fluctuation, all this because of the BIOS, please release a new BIOS update to fix the issue.

     

    Thank you.

  • Cory-Acer
    Cory-Acer Administrator Posts: 1,449 Community Administrator

    Hi FIPOLINIO,

     

    It sounds like a power setting to me, if you're getting the same results as the video you posted, something is happened that's throttling the system when the AC Adapter is plugged in. Try this and tell me your results please.

     

    1. Windows Key + C to open Charms
    2. Select Search
    3. Type Control Panel and select it
    4. Select Hardware and Sound
    5. Select Power Options
    6. In the right hand menu select Create a power plan
    7. Select high performance (name it if you'd like)
    8. Click Next
    9. Click Create

    You should come back to the Choose or Customize a power plan screen. Your new custom power plan (whatever you named it) should be selected. Go ahead and close out of that, reboot once just for good measure and then see if your games continue to have an issue.

     

    Hope this helps,
    Cory

  • eddie_beltran
    eddie_beltran Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    Did you even read the whole thread?

  • FIPOLINIO
    FIPOLINIO Member Posts: 13 New User

    That its not the problem (I've tried that several times)...The other users and myself with this problem have tried that and every other "solution", but the problem is not solved, as with the other brands of laptops that had the same problem with the same processors, a BIOS update fix the issues...again wasting so much potential in such great laptops, its not a power options issue.