Review of the Helios 500

Red-Sand

finch5 said:

Red-Sand said:

finch5 said:

Hi Red Sand,

Am new to this forum and I am unable to drop you a PM. 

I read your review and it convinced me to drop the bomb on this laptop today as micro center is selling it at $1700 and they have a 15 days window for returns and price matching and i can fight for further refunds if I could find better deals within the next 15 days. 

My system is still on the old predator sense and bios and I would like to know how you got the latest 1.14 bios. I read in some other forum that the bios update got rolled out during a windows update, please advise if this is true. As I read that you revert back to windows version 1709 as the latest version increased temps, I disabled auto windows update altogether. Did you get your bios update through windows update as well?

Does anybody know if there are other means to update the bios without updating windows? This is my 1st gaming laptop and I am really stoked about tweaking and undervolting this beast. Loving the hardware of this beast so far and I have no regrets buying it! This laptop's hardware is amazing so far!

If anybody has any answer to my question, please enlighten me,  a huge thank you in advance for replying!

Ok so after I made this review a few things have changed.

I am currently on Windows 1809 and everything seems to be working quite well just like 1709 was (maybe slightly higher temps but not as bad as 1803).

In any case here is what you do if you decide to stick with 1709.

1. Update the BIOs from Acer's website (mine didn't install from Windows).

2. I would recommend creating a Acer Recovery pendrive using "Acer Care" to be able to revert to factory including all of Acer's drivers in case in the future you want to go back to that beautiful stock setup. (The recovery uses current files to create drive so make sure your on stock Windows OS)

3. Go ahead and update to the latest Windows update build and see of you like it. If it doesn't update to 1809 and stays on 1803 then I don't recommend keeping it.

4. Use Windows built in option to "Rollback" your OS version instead of not having your system update at all.
The reason for rolling back is so that you can still leave Windows update active and recieve security updates while staying on the OS version you want.
To rollback after you decide you don't like a specific Windows update just go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Rollback.

Hi Red Sand,

Do i have to install 1803 update before 1809 update is available? 

And i also realised that during the stress tests in xtu with the max and turbo profile on, the timegraph shows that the cpu frequency maintains at 3.88Ghz at 100% utilization most of the time and only occasionally spiking up to 4Ghz for short moments only. Is this expected or should i be expecting the CPU to be maintaining at 4Ghz? There were no power nor temp throttling whatsoever reported by XTU during the stress test. Does yours maintain at 3.88Ghz as well? So sorry for all these questions as this is like my 1st gaming laptop and very 1st time tinkering with XTU and undervolting.

Really appreciate your review and time in explaining everything!

3.88GHz actually translates as 3.9GHz and yes it's normal.

mankvl

Was all mentioned bugs fixed by now or should I go and fix them when I get my Helios 500?

finch5

Just to update on mankvl said:

Was all mentioned bugs fixed by now or should I go and fix them when I get my Helios 500?

I have just updated windows to the latest 1809 version and so far the start up seems much faster.

The random switching on of the webcam when running games still happens and can be disabled by following red sand's instruction in his review.

I have also discovered a bug with the wifi card where i would experience very bad lag spikes every few seconds in paladins. The spikes were so bad that it would cause a stuttering effect on my games every few seconds, so much so that i thought there may be a problem with my graphics card. normal surfing of the net and downloading of files off the net were fine. (I tried it on both paladins and fort nite and the spikes were present while i did nt experience the spikes when playing these games in my older laptop under the same network.)

So i searched online and found out that the drivers for the wifi card (killer 1550) that came with helios 500 needed to be uninstalled and reinstalled with an updated driver if you update windows. There are 2 different versions, one for windows 1709 and another for 1803 and above. You can find the drivers in
https://www.killernetworking.com/killersupport/category/killer-suite. 

The lag spikes were less frequent after i installed the latest drivers. So for new helios 500 owners, pls take note! Other than these minor bugs, this laptop is a beast, was able to play fortnite at highest setting at average 80-140fps if you do not cap the framerates! The screen is superb! 

Thank you red sand for answering my questions!

finch5

Oh, just to add on to my earlier post regarding the updating of wifi driver. Do read through the instructions provided by killer on how to uninstall the older drivers before you install the new drivers. You can read more on this in https://www.killernetworking.com/killersupport/driver-downloads/kb#faq_105

Harrydesai99

Can you please post exact process to undervolt new Helios 500 safely ?

Red-Sand

Harrydesai99 said:

Can you please post exact process to undervolt new Helios 500 safely ?

The H500 comes with a built in undervolt value of -0.125 by default.
I recommend not changing UV values if you're not familiar with how to do it already.

mankvl

Any advice on PH500 drivers ? Should I install all from acer support page, like chipset, other important stuff there or windows 10 is doing good job on getting the right ones? I had some loudness problems with sound when playing GTA5 at max volume, after installing the latest drivers from acer website it's much better. Also is it safe to change PL1 and PL2? At Turbo and Max I still get power throttling. I saw someone commenting that changing PL1 to 70 and PL2 to 90 solves the problem of power throttling. 

BTW XTU is imo safe it has watchdog enabled, just don't do anything crazy, also do a stress test after changing some values. 

Red-Sand

mankvl said:

Any advice on PH500 drivers ? Should I install all from acer support page, like chipset, other important stuff there or windows 10 is doing good job on getting the right ones? I had some loudness problems with sound when playing GTA5 at max volume, after installing the latest drivers from acer website it's much better. Also is it safe to change PL1 and PL2? At Turbo and Max I still get power throttling. I saw someone commenting that changing PL1 to 70 and PL2 to 90 solves the problem of power throttling. 

BTW XTU is imo safe it has watchdog enabled, just don't do anything crazy, also do a stress test after changing some values. 

I've left mine on the latest windows update (1809) and all the latest drivers to help others who may have issues and correct them.
As always since Acer uses custom hardware, the drivers they provide on their website work the best.
I havent had issues with the sound though but I don't play GTAV either.

If you updated your BIOs to 1.14 then there is a feature added to Predator Sense (i7-8750H model) that increases package power limits for you.

The highest setting sets to 70w and 56w long and short boosts which doesnt power throttle for me.

But as long as temps are good you can increase the power limit (I wouldn't go 90w that's overkill, maybe 73w max) on both long and short boost PL and it will remove the issue.

You can change the XTU profiles in C:/ProgramData/OEM/PredatorSense/"Your CPU folder"
There you can also customize the undervolt - By default it's set to -0.125.

mankvl

Red-Sand said:

mankvl said:

Any advice on PH500 drivers ? Should I install all from acer support page, like chipset, other important stuff there or windows 10 is doing good job on getting the right ones? I had some loudness problems with sound when playing GTA5 at max volume, after installing the latest drivers from acer website it's much better. Also is it safe to change PL1 and PL2? At Turbo and Max I still get power throttling. I saw someone commenting that changing PL1 to 70 and PL2 to 90 solves the problem of power throttling. 

BTW XTU is imo safe it has watchdog enabled, just don't do anything crazy, also do a stress test after changing some values. 

I've left mine on the latest windows update (1809) and all the latest drivers to help others who may have issues and correct them.
As always since Acer uses custom hardware, the drivers they provide on their website work the best.
I havent had issues with the sound though but I don't play GTAV either.

If you updated your BIOs to 1.14 then there is a feature added to Predator Sense (i7-8750H model) that increases package power limits for you.

The highest setting sets to 70w and 56w long and short boosts which doesnt power throttle for me.

But as long as temps are good you can increase the power limit (I wouldn't go 90w that's overkill, maybe 73w max) on both long and short boost PL and it will remove the issue.

You can change the XTU profiles in C:/ProgramData/OEM/PredatorSense/"Your CPU folder"
There you can also customize the undervolt - By default it's set to -0.125.

I'am on 1.16 BIOS. Tested today with GTA5 and no power throttle with max and turbo profiles. Maybe it was just me but with acer audio drivers everything is much louder compared to the ones that I got with win 10. I will keep checking how laptop performs, 1.6 undervolt looks stable now, playing gta for 3-4 hours was ok, with -1.7 pc was not stable. 

Red-Sand

Most stable I found was -0.140

I could go lower but would have higher temps with anything less.

mankvl

Red-Sand said:

Most stable I found was -0.140

I could go lower but would have higher temps with anything less.

So with - 1.5 or more you get bigger temps? now I idle at 39-40C with 24-25 room temp. At those temps fans turn off usually, would be cool for Acer to make custom fan speed according to temps, turning off is not so good Imo this laptop could just spin at 800 rpm that is close to silent and still be cool while browsing or doing light stuff. 

Walker

mankvl said:

Red-Sand said:

Most stable I found was -0.140

I could go lower but would have higher temps with anything less.

So with - 1.5 or more you get bigger temps? now I idle at 39-40C with 24-25 room temp. At those temps fans turn off usually, would be cool for Acer to make custom fan speed according to temps, turning off is not so good Imo this laptop could just spin at 800 rpm that is close to silent and still be cool while browsing or doing light stuff. 

my fans stop too. my temps 39-40 at auto.
is it a bad thing for my fans not to run at low temps ? should i run custom rpm or decrease my undervolt ?

Alex84

Hi Helios 500 owner from germany checking in :-)

I can 100% vouch for this review, its the best laptop ive ever had and i owned some pretty expensive ones.

The Helios 500 ***** on them, i cant put in any other words. The complete package you get your here is just phenomenal, you can use, or absuse this thing for 4-6 hours in a row and it doesnt even get really hot.

Alex84

Alex84 said:

Hi Helios 500 owner from germany checking in :-)

I can 100% vouch for this review, its the best laptop ive ever had and i owned some pretty expensive ones.

The Helios 500 ***** on them, i cant put in any other words. The complete package you get your here is just phenomenal, you can use, or absuse this thing for 4-6 hours in a row and it doesnt even get really hot.

Red-Sand

mankvl said:

Red-Sand said:

Most stable I found was -0.140

I could go lower but would have higher temps with anything less.

So with - 1.5 or more you get bigger temps? now I idle at 39-40C with 24-25 room temp. At those temps fans turn off usually, would be cool for Acer to make custom fan speed according to temps, turning off is not so good Imo this laptop could just spin at 800 rpm that is close to silent and still be cool while browsing or doing light stuff. 

Yes my temps increased with anything past -0.140.

I dont see why the fans turning off would be considered a bad thing?
They turn off at below 40 C and I like that.

Saves battery/is quieter etc.

Red-Sand

Alex84 said:

Hi Helios 500 owner from germany checking in :-)

I can 100% vouch for this review, its the best laptop ive ever had and i owned some pretty expensive ones.

The Helios 500 ***** on them, i cant put in any other words. The complete package you get your here is just phenomenal, you can use, or absuse this thing for 4-6 hours in a row and it doesnt even get really hot.

Couldn't agree more 😁
Best decision I've made in a laptop purchase.

finch5

Hi all, 

I had recently played rainbow 6 siege on helios 500 and with predator sense power package on high and gpu on turbo and game settings all on ultra, predator sense monitoring showed that my cpu temperature averaged closed to 80 degrees while hwmonitor showed that the cpu even peaked at 89 degrees on some of the cores.

As i hv read so much online that the cpu temps averaged at 70+ degrees or lower even when playing a cpu intensive game such as pubg, i am feeling kinda bummed that mine hit 80 degrees. I have undervolt my cpu by -0.150mv and also did all red sand's optimization tweaks to windows but still unable to bring the temps down any further. My ambient temperature is about 20 degrees celsius and fan profile at auto with cool boost switched off. Wonder if there is anybody who is also playing rainbow 6 siege at ultra and able to maintain temps at below 80 degrees, or is it normal and safe for the cpu temps to linger around 80 degrees on a helios 500 for this particular game? 

Hope someone can enlighten me on my concerns and thank you in advance!!

finch5

finch5 said:

Hi all, 

I had recently played rainbow 6 siege on helios 500 and with predator sense power package on high and gpu on turbo and game settings all on ultra, predator sense monitoring showed that my cpu temperature averaged closed to 80 degrees while hwmonitor showed that the cpu even peaked at 89 degrees on some of the cores.

As i hv read so much online that the cpu temps averaged at 70+ degrees or lower even when playing a cpu intensive game such as pubg, i am feeling kinda bummed that mine hit 80 degrees. I have undervolt my cpu by -0.150mv and also did all red sand's optimization tweaks to windows but still unable to bring the temps down any further. My ambient temperature is about 20 degrees celsius and fan profile at auto with cool boost switched off. Wonder if there is anybody who is also playing rainbow 6 siege at ultra and able to maintain temps at below 80 degrees, or is it normal and safe for the cpu temps to linger around 80 degrees on a helios 500 for this particular game? 

Hope someone can enlighten me on my concerns and thank you in advance!!

This is my predator sense temperature graph after just 1 game. GPUZ showed slightly different info, my temps hovered close to 78 degrees while on load and peaking at 81 degrees at times.Not sure if these temperatures are considered normal or should I even consider repasting the CPU. GPU temps are great, peaked at only 67 degrees. I did not face any throttling of any sorts, but just concerned that my CPU is at 80 degrees when gaming.

mankvl

finch5 said:

finch5 said:

Hi all, 

I had recently played rainbow 6 siege on helios 500 and with predator sense power package on high and gpu on turbo and game settings all on ultra, predator sense monitoring showed that my cpu temperature averaged closed to 80 degrees while hwmonitor showed that the cpu even peaked at 89 degrees on some of the cores.

As i hv read so much online that the cpu temps averaged at 70+ degrees or lower even when playing a cpu intensive game such as pubg, i am feeling kinda bummed that mine hit 80 degrees. I have undervolt my cpu by -0.150mv and also did all red sand's optimization tweaks to windows but still unable to bring the temps down any further. My ambient temperature is about 20 degrees celsius and fan profile at auto with cool boost switched off. Wonder if there is anybody who is also playing rainbow 6 siege at ultra and able to maintain temps at below 80 degrees, or is it normal and safe for the cpu temps to linger around 80 degrees on a helios 500 for this particular game? 

Hope someone can enlighten me on my concerns and thank you in advance!!

This is my predator sense temperature graph after just 1 game. GPUZ showed slightly different info, my temps hovered close to 78 degrees while on load and peaking at 81 degrees at times.Not sure if these temperatures are considered normal or should I even consider repasting the CPU. GPU temps are great, peaked at only 67 degrees. I did not face any throttling of any sorts, but just concerned that my CPU is at 80 degrees when gaming.

Use cool boost when gaming that should keep your ph500 70-80 range. With Gta 5 I get 70 some spikes to 80... Other laptops termo thortless so imo 80 max is rly good  

finch5

So i do not need to be concerned that the cpu runs at 80 degrees right. Would not affect the longevity of the processor? 

Anybody else here playing rainbow six with similar temps?