Best Of
Re: Can I upgrade beyond 32GB RAM and add 2TB SSD in my recently bought PHN16S-71-991Q?
Hi Karthikbabu22,
Yes, you can upgrade your PHN16S-71-991Q as follows:
🔧 RAM Upgrade
- The system supports up to 64GB DDR5 via 2×32GB SODIMM modules.
- Crucial confirms compatibility with 5600MT/s DDR5 modules: https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/acer/predator-helios-neo-16-phn16s-71
💾 SSD Expansion
- There’s a second PCIe Gen4 M.2 slot available.
- A 2TB NVMe Gen4 SSD like the Samsung 990 EVO Plus is fully compatible and runs cool under load.
⚠️ Warranty Note
- Opening the back cover and breaking the Acer seal does not generally void the warranty, provided no damage is caused during the upgrade.
- However, some regions enforce Acer’s policy more strictly, where any tampering — even for upgrades — may void coverage. Always check with your local Acer support before proceeding.
Puraw
Re: Is this Battery health for Nitro an515-57 normal or not? Can the battery cycle be reset?
Hi lbiz4,
Thanks for sharing the battery report. It shows only about 15 minutes of backup and an unusual drain pattern on the 9th. Since you mentioned using Nitro Sense or Acer Care Center’s Optimizer, that could be affecting how the system manages and reports battery usage.
Your BIOS is already up to date (2023), but the Acer Care Center version you have (2025 build?) can directly interact with the Embedded Controller (EC), place keys in the Windows registry, and even influence firmware behavior. Simply uninstalling it may not be enough, as it can return via Windows Update or Acer’s own update channels.
Here’s what I suggest:
- Uninstall Acer Care Center (2025 version) from Windows.
- Disable its background services so they can’t restart or push changes:
- Press Win + R, type
services.msc, press Enter. - Locate Acer Device Setup Manager (
accSvc) and Acer Agent Service (may appear as Acer Agent or AcerAgentService). - Double‑click each → set Startup type to Disabled → click Stop if running → OK.
- Press Win + R, type
- Disable Fast Startup in Windows:
- Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what the power buttons do → Change settings that are currently unavailable → uncheck “Turn on fast startup.”
- Reset your active power plan in Edit Power Plan → Restore default settings for this plan.
- Reset BIOS to defaults (F9 → Save & Exit).
- In Device Manager, expand Batteries, right‑click both “Microsoft AC Adapter” and “Microsoft ACPI‑Compliant Control Method Battery” → Uninstall device.
- Reboot — Windows will reinstall the battery drivers automatically.
- Charge the battery to 100%.
- Use the laptop on battery only (no adapter) until it powers itself off automatically.
- Close the lid and charge back to 100% without interruption.
- Run a new battery report and attach the PDF here so we can compare before/after results.
Note: Even after 4 years of use, a healthy battery can sometimes still deliver another year of practical daily runtime — but that depends entirely on what the new report shows after these steps. This way, we’re working from evidence, not assumption, before deciding if replacement is necessary.
Alternative: If you want to be absolutely certain Acer Care Center and its hooks are gone, you can do a clean install of Windows 11 from the official Microsoft ISO. This wipes any leftover services, registry keys, or scheduled tasks, and lets you start fresh with only the essential drivers — skipping Acer Care Center entirely.
This process will clear any software interference, reset power management, and give us a clean baseline to see if the short runtime is caused by the battery itself or by how the system is reporting and managing it.
Puraw