I would Buy the AMD Acer Predator Helios 500 tomorrow if bios is updated for Ryzen 3000 series CPU

I would buy the Acer Helios 500 in a hart beat if this Laptop's bios got updated! It would hands down be the fastest laptop processor on the market. I'm in desperate need of a laptop processor that can compile my Java Genetic learning Programs, and Compile/run all my embedded applications for Linux CNC. I have been carrying around a portable slim version i built for a 16core AMD thread-ripper, and its getting annoying.

This is my first post Acer, I signed up just for this! If you want my money and others. Then pay The Embedded Systems Engineer to get it done. I will buy A Helios 500 TOMORROW if an Acer Customer Service Employee confirms that this PCs Bios will be updated.

Accepted answers

All comments

xapim

Well there are many here waiting for the same answer as you

and if it would not be compatible/upgradable they just lost one of the main features of the H500 Ryzen variant which was the upgreadable cpu and if it cant be upgraded to the latest 3000 series it becomes useless and obsolete in my view which its a shame to see this if it happens as the H500 its still in my view the best cooling beast acer has in the Predator/Nitro series so far lets see how the new 2019 versions would behave regarding cooling

bobzdar

xapim said:

Well there are many here waiting for the same answer as you and if it would not be compatible/upgradable they just lost one of the main features of the H500 Ryzen variant which was the upgreadable cpu and if it cant be upgraded to the latest 3000 series it becomes useless and obsolete in my view which its a shame to see this if it happens as the H500 its still in my view the best cooling beast acer has in the Predator/Nitro series so far lets see how the new 2019 versions would behave regarding cooling

I disagree it becomes obsolete - what are there maybe 2 or 3 8 core laptops out there? You can drop a 2700X into this giving 4.0ghz all core clocks and 4.35 single boost, there's nothing out there that can touch that that I'm aware of, ryzen 3000 or not.

Of course, owning one, I'm 100% on board and hoping they do release a bios revision that allows the 3000 chips as I'll be first in line to upgrade, but it's not like not doing that will make it obsolete, at least not anytime soon. Maybe in a year or two it'll merely be among the fastest laptops cpu wise instead of the absolute fastest, but obsolete? Not for quite a while.

Andy_Da_Ace

Linus predicts AMD is about to surpass Intell for the first since 2003.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7hofCnniJE

All Acer has to do is update the bios for this Laptop, and thrown in AMD's rumored 16 core desktop AM4 CPU and they would have the fastest CPU Laptop on the market. It would be impractical and strategically blind for Acer not to do a bios Update on this machine. Especially since no one else has completed the R&D time it would take to have a AMD Laptop CPU. Acer would be the first to have a 12-16 core Laptop.

I now firmly believe that Acer will do the bios update along with a new helios 500 predator lineup.

Gamer nexus says AMD is presenting their new product line up at E3. 6/5/2019 , 6/10/2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDj-wwE5-64

xapim

bobzdar said:

xapim said:

Well there are many here waiting for the same answer as you and if it would not be compatible/upgradable they just lost one of the main features of the H500 Ryzen variant which was the upgreadable cpu and if it cant be upgraded to the latest 3000 series it becomes useless and obsolete in my view which its a shame to see this if it happens as the H500 its still in my view the best cooling beast acer has in the Predator/Nitro series so far lets see how the new 2019 versions would behave regarding cooling

I disagree it becomes obsolete - what are there maybe 2 or 3 8 core laptops out there? You can drop a 2700X into this giving 4.0ghz all core clocks and 4.35 single boost, there's nothing out there that can touch that that I'm aware of, ryzen 3000 or not.

Of course, owning one, I'm 100% on board and hoping they do release a bios revision that allows the 3000 chips as I'll be first in line to upgrade, but it's not like not doing that will make it obsolete, at least not anytime soon. Maybe in a year or two it'll merely be among the fastest laptops cpu wise instead of the absolute fastest, but obsolete? Not for quite a while.

I said it becomes obsolete regarding the 3000 series (if the mobo socket wouldnt support it at all) not the actual 2000

ven98

If I wanted to make more money, instead of making a BIOS update to support ryzen 3000 series(not for 3800x, because possible power delivery limitations), I would just make a Helios 500 refresh with a ryzen gen 3. The chance for Acer to spend money to create a BIOS for ryzen 3, which isn't going to make them any money, is pretty slim.

@xapim, ryzen 3000 still uses the AM4 socket.

xapim

ven98 said:

If I wanted to make more money, instead of making a BIOS update to support ryzen 3000 series(not for 3800x, because possible power delivery limitations), I would just make a Helios 500 refresh with a ryzen gen 3. The chance for Acer to spend money to create a BIOS for ryzen 3, which isn't going to make them any money, is pretty slim.

@xapim, ryzen 3000 still uses the AM4 socket.

@ven98 i know its the same socket and i agree that a bios update that would support the new 3000 would be bad for business instead they will probably refresh it as you said

its a bit of a bummer but hey we can only play with what we have still i wouldn't mind to have one myself

NiteNinja

I highly doubt the power delivery of the Helios 500 would handle the 16-core part. It's pretty weak in the VRM department (especially compared to the Asus GL702ZC, which Asus abandoned on launch so it didn't even get Ryzen+ support.) and it's only got a 330w power supply, which the Vega 56 uses at minimum 180w of it.

However Ryzen 3K is supposed to offer a 15-20% improvement in IPC, and the 3700X is going to be a 4.4ghz 8-core 65W beast, so it would be a viable upgrade if the IPC improvements offer real world performance benefits. We will have to wait and see on that.

kingmetal

I don't necessarily think it would be a bad business decision to update the BIOS, it would certainly make current customers like myself more loyal. I bought an Acer laptop because it was the only machine in the configuration that I wanted (Ryzen desktop + Vega 56) - but if Acer were to allow me to drop a 3700X into this machine, which is aleady a good value, I'd certainly put them at the top of my list for my next hardware refresh - which considering the market for these laptops is going to be in the next few years.

Plus, if they did support this upgrade path, I'm sure word would get out and additional sales / good PR would come out of it. The generous upgrade path for AM4 is something that seems to resonate with certain users, and a manufacturer supporting this in a laptop would be a nice feather in Acer's cap.

That being said, given that only the 3700X could be a truly drop-in replacement and the 3800X and the 3900X may not work, I could see how Acer might not want to open this particular can of worms. Given how locked down the BIOS of the Helios 500 already is, and the very significant non-configurable limits for the TDP of the Vega GPU (120W max) it seems like Acer isn't willing to let customers take significant risks with their hardware, which may be for very legitimate reasons (I'm not a hardware engineer) although the cooling in this machine is substantial. I will say that all-core overclocks on the stock 2700 quickly move this machine into needing the fans running at full speed, so I understand why they went with the 65W chip at stock clocks - which is why I'd only ever want to replace the 2700 with something that works within the same TDP envelope like the 3700X. Of course, I'm also someone who is very impressed with how quiet this machine is stock and would like to preserve that feature

I'm already a customer, but if Acer releases support for the 3700X I will buy one immediately for my Helios 500 and would put Acer at the top of my list for future hardware purchases.

Andy_Da_Ace

Well, after watching all of Computex
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqBijKHuHM
I now believe even more that Acer is currently working on a update to the Helios 500. Its a the only laptop system with a AM4 slot. All Acer would need to do is higher some Power Systems Engineers, maybe an embedded guy or two, and have them put together a two power supply system similar to the Alineware area 51m. At which point Acer would have the Most powerful laptop for at least 4 to 6 months. Its not hard to put together a power system together I did it in my micro electronics class. Now granted I'm just an Embedded Control Systems intern for NXP semiconductor, and still trying to learn the ropes, but I believe this could be done pretty rapidly.

Also, if Acer is truly worried about us installing a power sucking AMD chip into their machine, then why not have an embedded team install some under-clocking features for the 3800X and the 3900X chips.

It would be very foolish for Acer not to do this bios update.

Bullfrog78

I've not spent a little time looking at this, is there a way to see what chipset running on these? wouldn't that be the biggest clue to if the upgrade is even a possibility

NiteNinja

Bullfrog78 said:

I've not spent a little time looking at this, is there a way to see what chipset running on these? wouldn't that be the biggest clue to if the upgrade is even a possibility

It's a B450.

Red-Sand

Has anyone tried just putting the 3700x in?

NiteNinja

Red-Sand said:

Has anyone tried just putting the 3700x in?

I'm sure somebody would if it was out yet. Still got a couple more weeks until it's released.

Andy_Da_Ace

So after doing some more research I discovered that the new AMD 3000 series CPUs will be backwards compatible with older ASUS AM4 motherboards. https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-3000-series-support-on-existing-am4-boards-confirmed-by-asrock/
Acer also has also announced a bios update for their desktop machines.
https://news.acer.com/acer-announces-support-for-new-3rd-generation-amd-ryzen-desktop-processors-and-amd-radeon-rx-5700-graphics-cards#

If an acer employee could help us out with whether or not the Helios 500 will be compatible with the new Ryzen then that would be nice. Oh and let Linus from Youtube know.

I also discovered that the amount of watts the new 16 core CPU uses is the same amount of power it takes to run the Ryzen 2700x. So all of you worrying about these chips being too much for the Helios 500, there is no need to worry now. Oh yeah!!
https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/10/amd-16-core-ryzen-3950x/

I have yet to find out what chipset is on the Helios 500. I will continue searching in my free time. If anyone could help that would be nice.

The Ryzen chip is set to be released this next July 4th. It will cost around $750. The 12 core version is $500. The Ryzen 2700 is only $300 and the vega gpu is also around $300. If Acer updated the Helios, my guess is the machine would cost probably around $2100-3000. It would totally be worth it though. Could you imagine the bragging rights. Also its rumored that AMD may have held back higher end GPUs that may have ray tracing. This could be the reason why Acer has not said anything about an AMD beast laptop yet.

Nothing could complete with an Acer AMD updated laptop. Not even an Titan. This I do know though if acer has got enough money to blow building the 21x then they should have left a little bit over to at least build this machine. I asked my wife if I could have a 21x and she laughed at me and said "aww. . . No". Usually my wife is like "Sure, you deserve it after engineering school." This time though she said, "I want a house." To her a down payment is more important. After further research I found out that only 300 of the 21x where manufactured and gave up all hope. Now Acer if you are got enough to throw away developing a 21x version 2 that your only going to make 300 of then please chose to "invest" it instead into a reasonable AMD Ryzen 3000 machine.

a little off topic:
AMD is also announcing a new threadripper that is rumored to be 64 cores
which is insane!

1GOG

Andy_Da_Ace said:

So after doing some more research I discovered that the new AMD 3000 series CPUs will be backwards compatible with older ASUS AM4 motherboards. https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-3000-series-support-on-existing-am4-boards-confirmed-by-asrock/
Acer also has also announced a bios update for their desktop machines.
https://news.acer.com/acer-announces-support-for-new-3rd-generation-amd-ryzen-desktop-processors-and-amd-radeon-rx-5700-graphics-cards#

If an acer employee could help us out with whether or not the Helios 500 will be compatible with the new Ryzen then that would be nice. Oh and let Linus from Youtube know.

I also discovered that the amount of watts the new 16 core CPU uses is the same amount of power it takes to run the Ryzen 2700x. So all of you worrying about these chips being too much for the Helios 500, there is no need to worry now. Oh yeah!!
https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/10/amd-16-core-ryzen-3950x/

I have yet to find out what chipset is on the Helios 500. I will continue searching in my free time. If anyone could help that would be nice.

The Ryzen chip is set to be released this next July 4th. It will cost around $750. The 12 core version is $500. The Ryzen 2700 is only $300 and the vega gpu is also around $300. If Acer updated the Helios, my guess is the machine would cost probably around $2100-3000. It would totally be worth it though. Could you imagine the bragging rights. Also its rumored that AMD may have held back higher end GPUs that may have ray tracing. This could be the reason why Acer has not said anything about an AMD beast laptop yet.

Nothing could complete with an Acer AMD updated laptop. Not even an Titan. This I do know though if acer has got enough money to blow building the 21x then they should have left a little bit over to at least build this machine. I asked my wife if I could have a 21x and she laughed at me and said "aww. . . No". Usually my wife is like "Sure, you deserve it after engineering school." This time though she said, "I want a house." To her a down payment is more important. After further research I found out that only 300 of the 21x where manufactured and gave up all hope. Now Acer if you are got enough to throw away developing a 21x version 2 that your only going to make 300 of then please chose to "invest" it instead into a reasonable AMD Ryzen 3000 machine.

a little off topic:
AMD is also announcing a new threadripper that is rumored to be 64 cores
which is insane!

Hello there,

nice search, thanks for news! Our Helios 500 has AMD B450 Motherboard that can carry 3 Generation of CPU. But here ist a litte "but"... in our case we have now Ryzen 2700 not 2700x! Its a 65 wats CPU, and what we can make, that to use Ryzen 7 3700X, which will be the same 8 cores, but 3.6-4.4 ghz (now we have 3.2-4.0)... and 330$ will also extra cost... So really dont know if it will be a good idea to make a upgrade)

Best regards

NiteNinja

1GOG said:

Andy_Da_Ace said:

So after doing some more research I discovered that the new AMD 3000 series CPUs will be backwards compatible with older ASUS AM4 motherboards. https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-3000-series-support-on-existing-am4-boards-confirmed-by-asrock/
Acer also has also announced a bios update for their desktop machines.
https://news.acer.com/acer-announces-support-for-new-3rd-generation-amd-ryzen-desktop-processors-and-amd-radeon-rx-5700-graphics-cards#

If an acer employee could help us out with whether or not the Helios 500 will be compatible with the new Ryzen then that would be nice. Oh and let Linus from Youtube know.

I also discovered that the amount of watts the new 16 core CPU uses is the same amount of power it takes to run the Ryzen 2700x. So all of you worrying about these chips being too much for the Helios 500, there is no need to worry now. Oh yeah!!
https://www.engadget.com/2019/06/10/amd-16-core-ryzen-3950x/

I have yet to find out what chipset is on the Helios 500. I will continue searching in my free time. If anyone could help that would be nice.

The Ryzen chip is set to be released this next July 4th. It will cost around $750. The 12 core version is $500. The Ryzen 2700 is only $300 and the vega gpu is also around $300. If Acer updated the Helios, my guess is the machine would cost probably around $2100-3000. It would totally be worth it though. Could you imagine the bragging rights. Also its rumored that AMD may have held back higher end GPUs that may have ray tracing. This could be the reason why Acer has not said anything about an AMD beast laptop yet.

Nothing could complete with an Acer AMD updated laptop. Not even an Titan. This I do know though if acer has got enough money to blow building the 21x then they should have left a little bit over to at least build this machine. I asked my wife if I could have a 21x and she laughed at me and said "aww. . . No". Usually my wife is like "Sure, you deserve it after engineering school." This time though she said, "I want a house." To her a down payment is more important. After further research I found out that only 300 of the 21x where manufactured and gave up all hope. Now Acer if you are got enough to throw away developing a 21x version 2 that your only going to make 300 of then please chose to "invest" it instead into a reasonable AMD Ryzen 3000 machine.

a little off topic:
AMD is also announcing a new threadripper that is rumored to be 64 cores
which is insane!

Hello there,

nice search, thanks for news! Our Helios 500 has AMD B450 Motherboard that can carry 3 Generation of CPU. But here ist a litte "but"... in our case we have now Ryzen 2700 not 2700x! Its a 65 wats CPU, and what we can make, that to use Ryzen 7 3700X, which will be the same 8 cores, but 3.6-4.4 ghz (now we have 3.2-4.0)... and 330$ will also extra cost... So really dont know if it will be a good idea to make a upgrade)

Best regards

Yeah but the 3rd generation will have much better IPC, so higher clockspeed + more instructions per clock, will mean even better effective processing power.

But we shouldn't get too excited until all the tech YouTubers and reviewers start doing real world performance testing.

Andy_Da_Ace

the 2700x has been swapped into this machine. if you look on the amazon reviews for the Helios 500 you will see the brake down of someone completing this swap. I'm currently busy but I will do some digging and let you know where I found the swap. I have seen it. Its the reason I have been looking into getting this machine.

1GOG

A liitle bit offtop question, but can someone me say: will this RAM work on Helios 500 Ryzen edition modell?

https://www.amazon.com/HyperX-Kingston-Technology-HX424S14IBK2-32/dp/B01NAL3TYY/ref=sr_1_2?crid=39Z7GZCRNC8KI&keywords=hyperx%2Bddr4%2Bsodimm%2B32gb&qid=1561290687&s=gateway&sprefix=hyperx%2Bddr4%2Bsodi%2Caps%2C208&sr=8-2&th=1

bobzdar

NiteNinja said:

I highly doubt the power delivery of the Helios 500 would handle the 16-core part. It's pretty weak in the VRM department (especially compared to the Asus GL702ZC, which Asus abandoned on launch so it didn't even get Ryzen+ support.) and it's only got a 330w power supply, which the Vega 56 uses at minimum 180w of it.

However Ryzen 3K is supposed to offer a 15-20% improvement in IPC, and the 3700X is going to be a 4.4ghz 8-core 65W beast, so it would be a viable upgrade if the IPC improvements offer real world performance benefits. We will have to wait and see on that.

The v56 uses (exactly) 120W as it's power limited to that. The cpu can run at least 105W as that's what the 2700x draws and can be installed. I've run my 2700 at 4ghz all core at 1.35v without issues, and I'm sure it's drawing more than 105W at that setting. So it should be able to handle any 3rd gen ryzen at stock speeds without issue. Just need the bios to do it.

1GOG

bobzdar said:

NiteNinja said:

I highly doubt the power delivery of the Helios 500 would handle the 16-core part. It's pretty weak in the VRM department (especially compared to the Asus GL702ZC, which Asus abandoned on launch so it didn't even get Ryzen+ support.) and it's only got a 330w power supply, which the Vega 56 uses at minimum 180w of it.

However Ryzen 3K is supposed to offer a 15-20% improvement in IPC, and the 3700X is going to be a 4.4ghz 8-core 65W beast, so it would be a viable upgrade if the IPC improvements offer real world performance benefits. We will have to wait and see on that.

The v56 uses (exactly) 120W as it's power limited to that. The cpu can run at least 105W as that's what the 2700x draws and can be installed. I've run my 2700 at 4ghz all core at 1.35v without issues, and I'm sure it's drawing more than 105W at that setting. So it should be able to handle any 3rd gen ryzen at stock speeds without issue. Just need the bios to do it.

Have you used stock memory preinstallated on Helios 500? Im tryed to do also 4ghz and 1.35V and my Laptop going to black screen...)) Is here any speciall tricks to use a overclocking? Can you please write them... Thanks!

Quick Links

Top Members

Weekly

Puraw 270

StevenGen 115

poooooooooop69 60

GR08 57

GAMING6698 45

Swift Series Intel^® Evo™

Game Pass

Acer Corner

Gaming on Chromebook

Swift Series Intel® Evo™

Game Pass

Acer Corner

Gaming on Chromebook

Swift Series Intel^® Evo™