Helios 700 love/hate relationship (incl. Predator Sense / Audio/ Screen)

24

Answers

  • TimoFaust
    TimoFaust Member Posts: 65 Devotee WiFi Icon
    Any other Helios 700 user ( I feel so alone among the 300 users...FOR SPARTA!)that has edited the XTU settings with success?

    Whenever I try to edit the XTU settings it completely screws up all of my profiles and defaults to one terrible ...default setting for all profiles and I have to reinstall PS newly. It just says that my profiles are not compatible with my CPU, which is not true, as even the Acer standard profiles give that message as soon as you exchange and rename profiles.

    GPU editing by .ini is easy and fine, but I could get my laptop so much more efficient (yes, I am German. Guilty) if I could find a way to make the XTU editing working that was shown for older Helios models with older PS versions.

    Any help? :)
  • TimoFaust
    TimoFaust Member Posts: 65 Devotee WiFi Icon
    TimoFaust said:
    Any other Helios 700 user ( I feel so alone among the 300 users...FOR SPARTA!)that has edited the XTU settings with success?

    Whenever I try to edit the XTU settings it completely screws up all of my profiles and defaults to one terrible ...default setting for all profiles and I have to reinstall PS newly. It just says that my profiles are not compatible with my CPU, which is not true, as even the Acer standard profiles give that message as soon as you exchange and rename profiles.

    GPU editing by .ini is easy and fine, but I could get my laptop so much more efficient (yes, I am German. Guilty) if I could find a way to make the XTU editing working that was shown for older Helios models with older PS versions.

    Any help? :)
    Anybody? Tomorrow is my birthday and working XTU support for all 4 profiles would be such a nice present :p:#
  • TimoFaust
    TimoFaust Member Posts: 65 Devotee WiFi Icon
    TimoFaust said:
    TimoFaust said:
    Any other Helios 700 user ( I feel so alone among the 300 users...FOR SPARTA!)that has edited the XTU settings with success?

    Whenever I try to edit the XTU settings it completely screws up all of my profiles and defaults to one terrible ...default setting for all profiles and I have to reinstall PS newly. It just says that my profiles are not compatible with my CPU, which is not true, as even the Acer standard profiles give that message as soon as you exchange and rename profiles.

    GPU editing by .ini is easy and fine, but I could get my laptop so much more efficient (yes, I am German. Guilty) if I could find a way to make the XTU editing working that was shown for older Helios models with older PS versions.

    Any help? :)
    Anybody? Tomorrow is my birthday and working XTU support for all 4 profiles would be such a nice present :p:#
    :anguished:

    Ok, now I have tried to manage with the newest XTU version. Older versions always stated that my CPU versions were not compatible, the newest XTU version can not even open the .xtu files included by Acer anymore.

    So basically Acer seems to be doing everything in their power to prevent people editing the PS software.

    Why does Acer not let me edit it and apply better OC / UV for my CPU?

    If I could edit the files and rename the edited files to the names used by PS, then I could change the "fast" mode (why would anyone want full speed fans with the keyboard in standard position when the OC is bareley noticable???) and could turn it into "silent" by applying a -.125V undervolt and limit the CPU cores to less power (4GHz is enough for a silent mode) and set manual fan RPM to unnoticable 1000 RPM.

    But no, I can not customize that on a 3000+ € machine. Because ...what?
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    edited September 2019
    At least you can control your fans and even stop them
  • TimoFaust
    TimoFaust Member Posts: 65 Devotee WiFi Icon
    belik said:
    At least you can control your fans and even stop them
    But, I don't want to stop them ;D And the "set RPM" feauture is still miles behind a proper fancurve a la Afterburner....
  • sigmaphi
    sigmaphi Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Was thinking of getting this laptop as well as my 500 is having SSD heat issues, but I have noticed not a lot of people have the laptop, Been eyeing it for a while since I the laptop on Notebookbillger lol 
  • xapim
    xapim ACE Posts: 7,257 Pathfinder
    edited September 2019
    sigmaphi 

    <<I have noticed not a lot of people have the laptop>>

    Well i dont think a lot of ppl have it mainly because its probably one of the most (if not acctually the most) expensive predators at least here in UK its going from £2500 the 512gb ssd variant to £3500 the 1tb ssd so nope its not cheap at all not for the average worker's pocket :)


    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11532543

    UserBenchmarks: Game 43%, Desk 61%, Work 40%
    CPU: Intel Core i5-7300HQ - 63.5%
    GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti (Mobile) - 41.9%
    SSD: WDC WDS200T2B0B-00YS70 2TB - 71.4%
    HDD: WD WD10SPZX-00HKTT0 1TB - 93.7%
    RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR4 2666 C15 2x16GB - 76.8%
    MBD: Acer Predator G3-572

    I'm not an Acer employee. (just here to help in the best way i can)
    If my answer fixed you issue please accept it for any other users who search for it would find it quickly thanks :)
    If you want to learn more about undervolting/optimizing windows join the Predator fb group and youtube channel:

    Owner/Admin (HOTEL HERO/Red-Sand/Opoka Opoka)
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/PredatorHelios300
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJwGUHxSJ8FKqAhnOqQuAw
    Acer support:
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact
    http://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/  


  • TimoFaust
    TimoFaust Member Posts: 65 Devotee WiFi Icon
    xapim said:
    sigmaphi 

    <<I have noticed not a lot of people have the laptop>>

    Well i dont think a lot of ppl have it mainly because its probably one of the most (if not acctually the most) expensive predators at least here in UK its going from £2500 the 512gb ssd variant to £3500 the 1tb ssd so nope its not cheap at all not for the average worker's pocket :)
    Funny enough, my salary is just around the German average +/- a few Euro and I could easily afford it ;) But yeah, I skipped the "getting children that eat money" part, so that might be of benefit...

    The laptop is quite expansive, but compared to some recent Schenker / Alienware laptops with similar performance, still on the cheaper side. Just wish Acer would have skipped unnecessary LEDs on the back and instead invested in a more sturdy case and less vibrant keyboard. The thing is very "plasticy" and I wonder how long it will take until my keyboard becomes even more swingy.

    Still. Even with all its many faults, the laptop is quite cool.
  • sigmaphi
    sigmaphi Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    edited October 2019
    Mine will arrive tomorrow. Still wondering how I will sell my Helios 500 lol 
  • TimoFaust
    TimoFaust Member Posts: 65 Devotee WiFi Icon
    sigmaphi said:
    Mine will arrive tomorrow. Still wondering how I will sell my Helios 500 lol 
    Please do me the favour and update this thread how you like your new laptop and how the quality is ( e.g. backlight bleeding, keyboard having reverb when typing at right side, temps, etc...)

    Thanks in advance and lots of joy with your new piece of hardware!
  • sigmaphi
    sigmaphi Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Helios 500 vs 700 
    Old vs New 


  • TimoFaust
    TimoFaust Member Posts: 65 Devotee WiFi Icon
    So,
    what is your verdict?
  • xapim
    xapim ACE Posts: 7,257 Pathfinder
    edited October 2019
    TimoFaust said:
    xapim said:
    sigmaphi 

    <<I have noticed not a lot of people have the laptop>>

    Well i dont think a lot of ppl have it mainly because its probably one of the most (if not acctually the most) expensive predators at least here in UK its going from £2500 the 512gb ssd variant to £3500 the 1tb ssd so nope its not cheap at all not for the average worker's pocket :)
    Funny enough, my salary is just around the German average +/- a few Euro and I could easily afford it ;) But yeah, I skipped the "getting children that eat money" part, so that might be of benefit...

    The laptop is quite expansive, but compared to some recent Schenker / Alienware laptops with similar performance, still on the cheaper side. Just wish Acer would have skipped unnecessary LEDs on the back and instead invested in a more sturdy case and less vibrant keyboard. The thing is very "plasticy" and I wonder how long it will take until my keyboard becomes even more swingy.

    Still. Even with all its many faults, the laptop is quite cool.
    TimoFaust back home in Portugal the minimum wage its 600€ thats why i had to leave :) and even here i couldnt afford to buy a H700 im still struggling to pay my £1000 + £800 upgrades( H300) on 2 year finance :) ill probably would be able to get my hands on a H500 when i grow up lol


    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11532543

    UserBenchmarks: Game 43%, Desk 61%, Work 40%
    CPU: Intel Core i5-7300HQ - 63.5%
    GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti (Mobile) - 41.9%
    SSD: WDC WDS200T2B0B-00YS70 2TB - 71.4%
    HDD: WD WD10SPZX-00HKTT0 1TB - 93.7%
    RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR4 2666 C15 2x16GB - 76.8%
    MBD: Acer Predator G3-572

    I'm not an Acer employee. (just here to help in the best way i can)
    If my answer fixed you issue please accept it for any other users who search for it would find it quickly thanks :)
    If you want to learn more about undervolting/optimizing windows join the Predator fb group and youtube channel:

    Owner/Admin (HOTEL HERO/Red-Sand/Opoka Opoka)
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/PredatorHelios300
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJwGUHxSJ8FKqAhnOqQuAw
    Acer support:
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact
    http://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/  


  • Sehnsucht
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 36 Devotee WiFi Icon
    Any update to this problem? I ordered a Helios 700 yesterday, and right now I am about 50% sure I will just return it, because I can't stand excessive fan noise. I can return it for free within 60 days, so I won't lose any money, but this is practically the only laptop I am interested in as an upgrade to my 2016 MSI GT62VR. And I have looked at everything out there available in my country (Norway).

    It is incredibly annoying that this laptop has absolutely everything I want, except stupid fan noise which is totally unwarranted due to the good cooling system. My current laptop for example, is never what I would call noisy, even under full load, with a full size GTX 1070 and an i7 6700HQ (unless I activate the cooling boost feature where the fans will spin at 4000 rpm). And I haven't cleaned the fans a single time either.

    I would actually be willing to underclock both GPU and CPU on the Helios 700 to get rid of the noise. I have severe wrist problems due to the fact that I work in IT and sit in front of a computer all day long, every day, and the built in wrist protection on the Helios is just what the doctor ordered. Full size 2080 and a high refresh rate 17,3" G-Sync IPS monitor is another of my "demands" for a laptop upgrade. There are surprisingly few options available with those criterias. Seems most people just want a paper thin Max-Q craptastic laptop.

    I have googled my ***** off, but this is practically the only user created forum thread by an actual Helios 700 owner that I have found. Seems like it's not a very popular machine at all. I suspect that in a few days, I will understand why..


    Acer Predator Helios 700 (PH717-71)
    i7 9750H
    RTX 2080
    32GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
    17,3" G-Sync 144hz IPS
    2x 512GB WD M.2 NVMe
    4TB Samsung 860 QVO SSD
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    What’s the issue with fan noise you have, idle, load?
  • Sehnsucht
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 36 Devotee WiFi Icon
    belik said:
    What’s the issue with fan noise you have, idle, load?
    I should have specified that I have not received the laptop yet, but have watched just about every video review out there, and almost every single reviewer complains about excessive fan noise. I was mostly hoping that the thread starter or someone else had found some way to create a manual fan curve. I thought that was a standard option for high end laptops. My current one has it.
    Acer Predator Helios 700 (PH717-71)
    i7 9750H
    RTX 2080
    32GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
    17,3" G-Sync 144hz IPS
    2x 512GB WD M.2 NVMe
    4TB Samsung 860 QVO SSD
  • belik
    belik Member Posts: 397 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    Well I think you need to be more specific at least) I myself have helios 300 and its fans set much worse than in 700 I believe especially on idle 
    I have unlocked bios but fan curve isn’t set there, it looks it’s set in separate EC chip 
    However I found workaround that I can through out aeroblade fan and put usual plastic fan instead, it not only runs 500 rpm lower but produces less noise due to normal blade shapesat the same rpm
    Next, I tried to replace termopads and termopaste to cryonat, gpu+cpu stress test in Aida makes  fans at 3500+4000 rpm and temperatures is CPU 85С + GPU 80С + System 78С
    Still not fine but next will be liquid metal and it should decrease cpu and gpu temp by 10C more I hope
    And Helios 300 has quite poor cooling system with 3 pipes and small 45mm fans so 700th has much more potential after tuning, well you will void warranty but it’s enthusiast challenge  =)
  • Sehnsucht
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 36 Devotee WiFi Icon
    edited November 2019
    Common complaints seem to be that the fans spin up for no reason at all while just browsing or doing other light work, especially when the keyboard is docked. And that it's insanely loud under heavy load, docked or undocked. But that the machine runs very cool, particularly the GPU. Since the cooling system seems to work, logically speaking it should be capable of being quiet as well.

    I've actually thought about possibly changing the thermal paste, and even trying liquid metal, if it's as bad as people say. But since it's a $3000 system and would most definitely void the warranty, I probably won't go that route.

    I'll post an update when I actually get the machine sometime next week, but wanted to get ahead of the issue and hopefully get some kind of potential solution for when I receive it.

    Helios 300 is a beastly machine too though. Would be fun to hear the results if you actually go the liquid metal route. About the fans though, where did you get plastic replacement fans? eBay or something?
    Acer Predator Helios 700 (PH717-71)
    i7 9750H
    RTX 2080
    32GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
    17,3" G-Sync 144hz IPS
    2x 512GB WD M.2 NVMe
    4TB Samsung 860 QVO SSD
  • TimoFaust
    TimoFaust Member Posts: 65 Devotee WiFi Icon
    I'll just leave a quick answer as you will see yourself in a few days.

    Yes, the fans shut off and then come back after a few minutes in idle with a "wheeeeeew" as they go high for a second. A gradual rise would have made more sense then a kickstart. You can counter that by setting a custom profile and let both fans run around 1200rpm, which makes the laptop silent but will put continous workload on your fans.

    If you want to use the different clocking profiles that come with the laptop, forget underclocking your CPU. Even HotelHeroes methods do not work for this model as Acer did an amazing job "protecting the customer from manipulating" the hardware. Whenever you edit clocks via different methods, the Predator Sense software will not recognize it anymore as the laptop's CPU and will reset to a horrible custom profile that runs loud an hot. You can either uninstall PS and just go with 1 profile ( throttlestop / afterburner) or do as I state in the next lines.

    Good thing is, the laptop comes with undervolted and cool CPU anyway (never saw it throttle because of high temps); No need to underclock the GPU as well (this you can easily do with notepad ;) As it never touched anything above 55 C° with custom profile. My tip here is to run with boosted profile when gaming, as "extreme" is overkill and the sound is too loud. Extreme is basically for benchmarking.
    If you set a custom fan profile (sadly no curve) for boosted you can work with your wrist lying relaxed while the laptop is silent and when you game on boosted (I overclocked that profile quite a lot gpu wise) you can play at an acceptable noise for that much raw power (my old laptop was louder under load);

    All in all it is a slightly flawed product and I do not get why Acer is blocking us so strongly from being able to either have a fancurve or editing our CPU clocks/ voltages. Still waiting for newer versions of the software that solves those issues.

    Still, got used to the laptop and would not trade it for an Alienware model...
  • Sehnsucht
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 36 Devotee WiFi Icon
    Hmm, not really a uh, fan of fans shutting off completely. Especially not on a laptop. Is 1200 RPM enough for both docked and undocked mode, or will the temps get too high? I don't care about overclocking it at all. I have a $5000 RTX 2080Ti desktop system anyway which runs absolutely everything I throw at it on max. I just want a silent laptop (in the degree that it is possible).

    The Alienware A-51m is actually the only alternative I have found, but haven't bothered researching it much yet. It has a much better CPU, but it lacks the wrist rest which I am a very big fan of. Annoyingly, the Helios 700 sold in Norway has the weaker 6 core CPU, not the 9980HK. Buuut, I suppose maybe the upside is that the 9750H might be more silent due to having less cores and consuming less power (I would think, even though they have the same TDP). I suppose yours has the 8 core?

    I was really hoping that the PS software would have gotten a fan curve update by now. I'm worried that I will have to return the laptop. I sit a lot in the couch and play games instead of hiding away in my office, getting my girlfriend irritated that I don't spend enough time with her :P

    Thanks for replying, was hoping to get an answer from a Helios 700 owner. I've seen your comments on at least one review video as well on YouTube.
    Acer Predator Helios 700 (PH717-71)
    i7 9750H
    RTX 2080
    32GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM
    17,3" G-Sync 144hz IPS
    2x 512GB WD M.2 NVMe
    4TB Samsung 860 QVO SSD