FAQ - CPU, GPU, Temps, FPS, Settings, & Other Info

Skelomorph

[Last Updated - 07/2018]
[Anyone at anytime may reference this guide]
Please click 'Like' if this guide helped you

This Sticky goes for Intel 7th and 8th Gen laptops. AMD will be added in the future.

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Latest Fix:

Intel 8th Gen: BIOS 1.15 has been released to fix the screen flickering on the Intel 8th Generation laptop. 

1. Common Information (CPU, GPU, Temperature Specifics)

Temperatures & Solutions

If temperatures reach the following (under intense situations), these are your options:

97-100C (Throttling below base clock speed)

• Contact Acer for repair (they will re-paste your CPU/GPU)
• Re-paste your CPU and GPU yourself (not advisable due to warranty complications)

90-96C (CPU turns off Turbo at 90C)

• Using Predator Sense, turn fans to max speed
• Undervolt the CPU (guide below)
• Purchase a laptop cooling pad (paid less than $15)
• Limit the CPU performance via Windows Battery Options
• Re-paste your CPU and GPU yourself (not advisable due to warranty complications)

~89C

• If temperatures never go above 89C, you do not have to worry about CPU throttling. 

CPU Undervolting

Undervolting guide by @Red-Sand for the 7700HQ and the 7300HQ.

https://youtu.be/N3v3o21M8gg

SUBSCRIBE!

If you would like to learn more about modifications and tweaks to our Helios and Predator laptops, please take a look at the Facebook group in the credits.

Thermal Pasting Guide

(I suggest sending it to Acer support first.)

If you are encountering high temperatures and would like to re-paste your CPU yourself, read below.

• I recommend a nonmetal-based thermal paste with no electrical conductivity, such as Arctic MX-4.
• Video Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph2ibK79zd8&t

*Note* 
Re-pasting your CPU will void warranty if you damage something, so proceed at your own risk.

GPU Temperature Information

It seems that it is rarely the GPU that is the problem when it comes to overheating in these laptops. However, the GPU still has some limits that you should keep your eye on.

We only have estimations for the GPU limits from feedback on the forum. It seems that the GPU will near maximum, or maximum performance so long as the temperatures stay below 80C. If temperatures are above this number, these are what can be done:

• Using Predator Sense, turn fans on max speed
• Turn down game settings (only temporary/crappy solution, skip to next)
• Re-paste the CPU and GPU (either via Acer Support or yourself)

Intel CPUs

Intel 6th Generation

i7-6700HQ

• Cores: 4 Physical, 8 Logical
• Base Block Speed: 2.6 GHz
• Max Turbo Speed (Single Core): 3.50

Intel 7th Generation

i5-7300HQ

• Cores: 4 Physical, 4 Logical
• Base Block Speed: 2.5 GHz
• Max Turbo Speed (Single Core): 3.5

i7-7700HQ

• Cores: 4 Physical, 8 Logical
• Base Block Speed: 2.8 GHz
• Max Turbo Speed (Single Core): 3.8

i7-7920HK

• Cores: 4 Physical, 8 Logical
• Base Block Speed: 2.9 GHz
• Max Turbo Speed (Single Core): 3.9

Intel 8th Generation

i7-8750H

• Cores: 6 Physical, 12 Logical
• Base Block Speed: 2.2 GHz
• Max Turbo Speed (Single Core): 4.1

NVIDIA GPUs

GTX 1050Ti

• Base Graphics Clock Frequency - 1290MHz
  
• Boost Graphics Clock Frequency - Up to 1392MHz
  
• Dedicated Video Memory - 4GB GDDR5
  

GTX 1060

• Base Graphics Clock Frequency - 1404MHz
  
• Boost Graphics Clock Frequency - Up to 1670MHz
  
• Dedicated Video Memory - 6GB GDDR5
  

GTX 1070

• Base Graphics Clock Frequency - 1442MHz
  
• Boost Graphics Clock Frequency - Up to 1645MHz
  
• Dedicated Video Memory - 8GB GDDR5

GTX 1080

• Base Graphics Clock Frequency - 1556MHz
  
• Boost Graphics Clock Frequency - Up to 1733MHz
  
• Dedicated Video Memory - 8GB GDDR5

2. FPS Drops/Lag

Desktop Right-Click Lag

This problem is generally caused by the Intel Graphics Control Panel Desktop Context Menu option. To fix this, we will need to disable the Intel Graphics Control Panel in the desktop context menu. If you have already tried updating the Intel drivers via Device manager or installing the drivers from Acer's web site, follow these steps.

Steps:

1. The easiest way to disable this is using the program 'ShellExView' that be found at: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
2. After downloading and launching the program, you will need to find the two items to disable. These both are under the Extension Name 'TheDesktopContextMenu Class' with the description 'igfxDTCM Mod' as shown in the screen shot.
   
3. Disable these two items.
4. Restart your computer.
5. Give feedback to let us know if this solved the problem.

Possible FPS Drop Solutions

These are solutions you can do to either: stop FPS drops, or improve FPS/Performance. Do one step and test until your FPS drops stop. 
Post below which step fixed the FPS drops.

1. Go to Windows Settings > Gaming, and disable Game bar, Game DVR, and Game Mode.
2. Update NVIDIA Drivers, and Uninstall GeForce Experience.
3. Update your BIOS to the latest version.
4. Update the Intel Graphics adapters to latest by: right-clicking the start menu, opening Device Menu, expand Display Drivers, and right-click the Intel(R) HD and update drivers.
5. Uninstall any 3rd-party screen recording/overlay software.
6. Uninstall any 3rd-party anti-virus software (e.g. Norton, McAfee, etc.) or cleaning/monitoring software (e.g. CCleaner, Glary Utilities, etc.)

Windows Update Caused Crashing

It has been found that when Windows 10 updates, it installs the latest drivers in the Windows Update Database. These drivers seems to be causing some issues.

A possible fix is reinstalling all drivers from Acer's web sitefor your device.

Windows Update Failure

The biggest reason Windows updates fail is due to an anti-virus. If your laptop fails to update. Uninstall any anti-virus you have on your machine, and retry the update.

3. Battery Gaming

It is not advisable to game while on battery for multiple reasons: 

• Laptop is self-throttled; 
• Degradation of battery; 
• Poor game play.

The battery throttle settings can be found/changed in the GeForce Experience Settings. As stated above, it is not advisable to game on battery.

4. Predator Sense Information & Overclocking

Predator Sense has a habit of not working correctly with the new updates to Windows 10. There are some things that you can try to get Predator Sense working again.

1. Uninstall Predator Sense, restart your laptop, and reinstall Predator Sense from your laptop's support page.
2. Right-click the Predator Sense icon and run the 'Compatibility troubleshooter.'
3. Uninstall or shut down MSI Afterburner if installed.
4. Try re-enabling hibernation/hyberfil.sys if you disabled it when GPU shows idle when being used.

@Red-Sand has found a way to enable the overclocking feature on the G3-571.

***Warning***
Will cause the laptop to run hotter. Do so at your own risk. 

You can follow the video to manually enable this, or you can download the zip file from the description and go as follows:
1. Download file
2. Unzip contents
3. Run preferred .bat file as administrator
4. Restart Predator Sense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5FFCug83Ko

*SUBSCRIBE*

I will explain further. What this does is change the device that Predator Sense reads in the registry. Red-Sand uses the PH317 in his video. The batch file I created uses the G3-572. Both work.

5. Sound Modifications (EqualizerAPO)

EqualizerAPO

-*-WARNING - READ BEFORE CHANGING PREAMP-*-
Always keep volume at middle range (50%) when changing the Preamp, as high Preamp could damage your speakers, headphones, earbuds and/or ears. By default, the Preamp is lowered to -3. Increasing it until +3 is relatively safe but be cautious of increasing it more than that without taking the previous precautions mentioned. High Preamp may also distort sound quality.

-*-The drivers must be reinstalled after every major Windows update.-*-

This is the first posting. Details and screenshots will be added and refined in the future. We will be able to post our own equalizer profiles for best audio settings as well, as we mess with it. The settings are stores in *\EqualizerAPO\config\config.txt.

Basic Device Setup:

1. Make sure the audio device you want to use/modify/test is connected.
2. Download Equalizer APO
a. https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/
3. During installation, I set the location to C:\EqualizerAPO because they do not give you desktop shortcuts.
4. After the installation, you will be prompted for which audio devices you wish to use Equalizer APO for. You can choose one, or all. This can be changed later.
5. When you choose the device(s), it may require a restart, and all Windows will disappear.
6. Configuration:
a. To modify the equalizer and Preamp settings, launch C:\EqualizerAPO\Editor.exe
b. To change what devices use Equalizer, launch C:\EqualizerAPO\Configurator.exe

Laptop Speakers (includes headphone jack):

I had some difficulty getting it to change my Helios 300 (G3-571) speakers, but I found out how. Follow below:

1. After Equalizer APO installs, open the Configuration.exe.
2. Highlight Speakers, and check the 'Troubleshooting options' button.
3. Uncheck both 'Use original APO' buttons, and change Install as to 'Install as SFX/EFX (experimental)'
4. Restart and it should work.
5. Feedback is appreciated.

Questions, please let me know.

Frequency Table (to help with tweaking the equalizer):

Sub-Bass - 62Hz and lower
Mid-Bass - 62-125Hz
Upper-Bass - 125-250Hz

Lower-Mid - 250-500Hz
Middle-Mid - 500-1kHz
Upper-Mid - 1k-2kHz

Lower-Treble - 2k-4kHz
Middle-Treble - 4k-8kHz
Upper-Treble - 8kHz and higher

6. Meltdown, Spectre, and Intel ME Vulnerability Information

There are 3 major vulnerabilities that affect our Intel laptops and I will post some information about these issues.

Acer Meltdown/Spectre Link

Meltdown

• On Intel CPUs and any CPU with Speculative Execution (Apple CPUs)
• Meltdown is probably the most serious of the three vulnerabilities. It allows processes to bypass security checks and execute code/read data stored in the CPU's memory.
• Fix: Microsoft Windows patch KB4056892 (OS Build 16299.192 on Windows 10 Version 1709 or later)
• Running Windows without this patch makes your system vulnerable to Meltdown (and some of Spectre).
• To check if you have this update, navigate to Settings > Update & Security > View installed update history. 
• *Note* Some Anti-virus can conflict with the update.
• Refer to Microsoft for more specifics: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4056892

Spectre

• 99% of CPUs suffer from this vulnerability. Unlike Meltdown, AMD and mobile CPUs are included.
• Refer to Meltdown for getting the patch in Windows.
• BIOS updates mitigate vulnerabilities with Spectre.

Acer Intel ME Link

Intel ME (Intel-SA-00086)

• This vulnerability is different from Meltdown and Spectre. It required a patch from the software Vendor to fix in the form of a BIOS update.
• Acer's information about this update can be found here: https://us.answers.acer.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/51890

7. Credits

• To the Acer Community
• @Acer-Manny for making this post possible
• @ven98 for his input and suggestions
• @Red-Sand AKA Opoka Opoka for the pasting video.

Join Opoka Opoka and I on Facebook for an active community that discusses all things about our laptops.

8. Disclaimer

Please keep in mind that if your product is under warranty, re-pasting your CPU or any of the following will void warranty. Proceed at your own risk:

• repair of antenna systems outside of the product; 

• damages caused by misuse, abuse, accidents, fire, power surges, viruses, malware, reckless, willful, or intentional conduct; 

• servicing not authorized by Acer; 

• usage that is not in accordance with product instructions or manuals by a product or part that has been modified to alter functionality or capability without the written permission of Acer etc.

For the complete warranty details, please click on the following link https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/standard-warranty.

brummyfan2

Hi Skelomorph,
Nice work, very useful post and thanks 

Skelomorph

brummyfan2 said:

Hi Skelomorph,
Nice work, very useful post and thanks 

Thank you. Its a work in progress though, but I think I hit some of the main issues and questions. If there is anything that is incorrect/should be added, let me know.

Skelo

aks895

Could please elaborate on how to disable hyperthreading on i7 7700 hq

Skelomorph

Sadly, I did not notice before making this that on my Helios 300, you are unable to disable Hyperthreading. In order to do so though, you would access them through your bios.

I will have to remove that the next time I update the main post (requires me to have a mod do it, so will still be there for now).

Skelo

ven98

I found a good video guide of how to undervolt using throttlestop.

Skelomorph

ven98 said:

I found a good video guide of how to undervolt using throttlestop.

I'll add it to my next update. Got a final for school today so will probably get it up tomorrow.

JumboCorn

Very useful, but how do i turn up fans? in the predator sense i know but where?

ven98

what is your device?

flashridr

Ok so why is my gtx 1060 core clock 2012mhz and 1949mhz on memory clock. i have it on turbo in predator sense.

Skelomorph

flashridr said:

Ok so why is my gtx 1060 core clock 2012mhz and 1949mhz on memory clock. i have it on turbo in predator sense.

What are you using to lookup your core clock frequency?

flashridr

Skelomorph said:

flashridr said:

Ok so why is my gtx 1060 core clock 2012mhz and 1949mhz on memory clock. i have it on turbo in predator sense.

What are you using to lookup your core clock frequency?

Predator 17 7700hq & gtx 1060
i looked in gpu z

ven98

flashridr said:

Skelomorph said:

flashridr said:

Ok so why is my gtx 1060 core clock 2012mhz and 1949mhz on memory clock. i have it on turbo in predator sense.

What are you using to lookup your core clock frequency?

Predator 17 7700hq & gtx 1060

Skelomorph meant what kind of software you have used to measure the temperatures of the componets.

flashridr

ven98 said:

flashridr said:

Skelomorph said:

flashridr said:

Ok so why is my gtx 1060 core clock 2012mhz and 1949mhz on memory clock. i have it on turbo in predator sense.

What are you using to lookup your core clock frequency?

Predator 17 7700hq & gtx 1060

Skelomorph meant what kind of software you have used to measure the temperatures of the componets.

i did wrote but it didnt publish whole text. I edited it

ven98

I don't know why it clocks so high. This is the amount of frequency that Acer has given it on turbo preset.

Skelomorph

flashridr said:

If i look in msi afterburner there is +120 on core clock and +100 on memory (turbo mode). On normal it runs 1885mhz on core and 1900mhz on memory

Send me a screenshot of what you are seeing. The core clock shouldn't be up to 2k. Memory clock, yes. Core Clock, no.

Skelomorph

@flashridr @ven98

Honestly, none of the mobile GPUs are able to reach that amount of MHz even with overclock (1670 + 120 is only 1790 MHz, which is what the OC in Predator Sense adds). The chips themselves are the same between desktop and laptop, however the bios in the mobile limit the MHz. It looks that your card may have desktop card BIOS on them. I am unsure but can think of no other explanation unless it is not reading correctly.

For more information on the cards MHz and desktop vs laptop, look here: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/nvidia-pascal-mobile-gpus-gtx1070-gtx1060/

Edit: Since the Mobile GPUs are based on the Desktop, running at these MHz should be ok, but IDK how the temperatures will be with heavy usage. 

aks895

Skelomorph said:

@flashridr @ven98

Honestly, none of the mobile GPUs are able to reach that amount of MHz even with overclock (1670 + 120 is only 1790 MHz, which is what the OC in Predator Sense adds). The chips themselves are the same between desktop and laptop, however the bios in the mobile limit the MHz. It looks that your card may have desktop card BIOS on them. I am unsure but can think of no other explanation unless it is not reading correctly.

For more information on the cards MHz and desktop vs laptop, look here: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/nvidia-pascal-mobile-gpus-gtx1070-gtx1060/

Edit: Since the Mobile GPUs are based on the Desktop, running at these MHz should be ok, but IDK how the temperatures will be with heavy usage. 

Undervolt the GPU, then you can reach the same freq of the desktop gtx 1060, many people have already done that, and achieved benchmark score same as the desktop model gtx 1060 with very very good temperatures. Join the Acer predator Helios 300 group on facebook,
Also you can try this 

https://youtu.be/TpIkYr9aDc8

flashridr

I dont need to undervolt, because temps are max 60°C, you cant compare predator 17 vs helios, couse there is so much difference in cooling. I would post pictures but i cant because of some restrictions on this site

ven98

Desktop and mobile GPUs are the same. They differ because of VBIOS setting, which limits the GPU's power draw and therefore the frequency. It is that Acer predator 17 has better cooling and Acer has set the power limit higher I think, which lets the GPU clock higher. If the mobile GPU had higher power limit, you could overclock it as much as the desktop variant.

tcel18

I have found that my Predator Helios 300 hits 97c CPU temps only while charging and playing games. If I play those same games on battery power alone, temps will only hit 60c. My question is, can I run my Helios 300 without the battery and solely AC power?

I am also using XTU to undervolt by .115 and during heavy use I have found that even with a full battery and AC power I actually drain battery %