Borderlands 3 and Predator Helios 300

Zelmaya

Hello Everyone,
I am not sure if this is the right forum. First my specs:
Predator Helios 300 with i5-10300H and RTX 2060.

This is specific to BL3 only as far as I have noticed. After playing a certain duration, lets says 10 minutes just to keep things simple, my FPS will drop from 100+ to 25-28.
If I flick the Turbo switch on the laptop like turn it on and turn it off after 1 sec, the FPS shoots back up to 100 and remains there for another 5 mins. This cycle continues if I keep using Turbo switch.
This was never the case with this game in the past but started post January 2021.

You guys may make the argument that thermal throttling is kicking in. My CPU hits 90C as soon as the game starts and has been like this ever since I purchased this laptop.
I have monitored using MST RTSS and the clock speed is always above 3.5Ghz no matter how long I run the game. 

I am running out of ideas on how to fix this.
I have tried:
Resetting the laptop, clean. Deleted personal files also.
Reinstalling the game (Steam)
Verifying files.
Disk Check.

Thread was edited to add model name to the title

Zelmaya

I ended up calling acer support and they changed the paste.
It somehow works so I can assume this model has bad cooling or the heat generated is consuming the paste way quickly than usual. Since the laptop was opened in front of me, I am aware of how to perform this activity on my own now.

Bad purchase on my part.

Zelmaya

So I was digging around and noticed while working with Predator Sense that my GPU core clock is dropping to 1005MHz and if I hit the Turbo key even once, it shoots up to 1650+.
GPU is getting thermal throttled at 78C for some reason. 

Any idea how to fix this?

igor11killer

Hello there! I have exact same laptop and I faced the same issue. Believe it or not but the problem is caused by overheating of the body. I also thought exactly the same as you. Because my laptop also had similar temperature when I first bought it. But then summer came and the ambient temperature increased and I started facing this problem. 

Answers to some of your questions:

Why does turbo switching resets the problem?

Turbo switching disables the GPU throttle temporarily as it changes the voltage and clock of your GPU. But since your laptop temp is still high, it again throttles the GPU after 5 minutes. So, the simple reason for the issue is overheating. Acer itself lock the GPU for few minutes at 1005mhz to let it cool down and let me assure you (I have tested this while playing red dead redemption 2) that if you continue playing at 1005mhz (20-30fps) for 10-15 minutes or so the gpu starts to boost again which means that your temp was cooled for that 10-15 minutes time frame because your GPU was not clocking. 

igor11killer

How to solve this issue? 

Well, I have been troubled by this problem for a long time. But I figured out some work around to tackle this problem. 

1. Change the windows power plan of CPU max state to 99% which disables your CPU boosting and change your battery setting to better performance rather than best performance. You may ask what it does? This will run your cpu at base clock ~2.5 GHz and it will not boost so your overall temp will be low and you will not face GPU throttle. Please note that you will have to sacrifice some fps but it will be than 20-30 fps. For your reference, I can assume you will get 60-70 fps atleast with borderlands 3 considering you get 100 fps normally. 

2. Use custom/max fan speed to keep your laptop cool if you didn't do method 1 because you don't want to sacrifice your fps. Don't leave it on auto fan speed. Custom fan speed really helps to regulate your thermals. But please note, using laptop with higher fan speed/max fan speed may cause the bearing of the laptop to get damaged a lot faster than normal. So I personally didn't use this method for long and I'll not suggest you to do this as well. It's better to sacrifice some fps with method 1 and still maintain the longevity of the laptop. 

3. Change the thermal paste. I haven't changed mine because I'm afraid to do it. My laptop is too expensive for me as I'm a student and my father fulfilled my wish to get a gaming laptop. I never dreamt of having a Predator laptop so I fear opening it and changing the thermal paste. I think you don't want to do it as well because many people are afraid of changing the thermal paste. But all things aside, changing the thermal paste really helps. For a reference, as per my own research, the CPU temp drops from 90 to 78-80 which never allows the laptop to thermal throttle. So, if you can change the thermal paste then do it. I would recommend Kryonaut. 

4. This might work for you. Before doing method 1, you can try this. Without changing the processor state to 99%, simply change the battery profile to better performance. Many times this also reduce CPU temp by a good margin. So, your CPU temp will be close to 80 which doesn't trigger the GPU throttle. This method runs your cpu ~3.5 ghz.

Well, that's all I have learnt to tackle this issue. If you found something better than these suggestions then please let me know. 

Personally, I'm using method 1 as mostly GPU intense games don't have very big fps drop. My CPU temp stays below 70 at all time and so is the GPU. It is not a solution ofcourse but this is the only way to game on my laptop right now. I didn't expect this happen from predator laptop but I also expected this to happen as almost gaming laptop are cursed to have poor thermals. 

If you have any question, please feel free to ask. I want to help you because I have gone through the same time. I might not reply for few days but I'll surely reply so keep checking this thread every once in a while. 

Have a great day. 

Zelmaya

I ended up calling acer support and they changed the paste.
It somehow works so I can assume this model has bad cooling or the heat generated is consuming the paste way quickly than usual. Since the laptop was opened in front of me, I am aware of how to perform this activity on my own now.

Bad purchase on my part.

igor11killer

Great. How is the temperature now? Did changing the thermal paste solve the issue? Is the laptop cooler now comparatively? Plus, how did you convince the acer support to change the thermal paste? 🙄

Zelmaya

I just called them and said laptop is being thermal throttled. They sent a guy at my house.
Showed them the experience while running a game.

He instantly recommended paste and continued to open the laptop. He said there is nothing much which can be done due acer deems CPU processor temp until 95C is normal. I was like, lets be done with it. I am not interested in company norms but I am aware of what not to buy in the future.

For me, temps hover around 92-94C CPU and 75-80C GPU after repasting.

ciarx

its not about over heating of the body and its no thermal issue however keeping lower temps help . i know a lot of guys with this issue and lot of em have cooler ambient temp. its a bug from what i have found. its not present in 9th gen predator with same gpu i have seen how that gpu is supposed to throttle no gpu drops clocks that instantly and ur laptop body is enough capable to handle the heat. its a vbios issue . i can recreate the issue manually by pressing the turbo button when its working normal and gpu is at 80 or 81 . also messing with system voltage too u can recreate the issue i did it once and gpu periodically kept hitting 1005mhz no matter what temp . if it was thermal throttling there wouldnt sudden drop in clock it will downclock gradually and also increasing the fanspeed afterward should make it regain the speed .it doesnt do so . what i have identified is something trips the laptop to drop its voltage at those temps and hence the base clock speed. 

ciarx

igor11killer said:

Hello there! I have exact same laptop and I faced the same issue. Believe it or not but the problem is caused by overheating of the body. I also thought exactly the same as you. Because my laptop also had similar temperature when I first bought it. But then summer came and the ambient temperature increased and I started facing this problem. 

Answers to some of your questions:

Why does turbo switching resets the problem?

Turbo switching disables the GPU throttle temporarily as it changes the voltage and clock of your GPU. But since your laptop temp is still high, it again throttles the GPU after 5 minutes. So, the simple reason for the issue is overheating. Acer itself lock the GPU for few minutes at 1005mhz to let it cool down and let me assure you (I have tested this while playing red dead redemption 2) that if you continue playing at 1005mhz (20-30fps) for 10-15 minutes or so the gpu starts to boost again which means that your temp was cooled for that 10-15 minutes time frame because your GPU was not clocking. 

 bruh thats not how thermal throttling works. the lock on 1005mhz is a issue itself and for every guy i know it has differed ..so far my one doesnt gain back speed even tho 30mins have passed and my gpu is sitting at 56 degrees ..if it thermal throttles increasing the fans ur clocks will increase instantaneously. i have seen it myself on older 9th gen helios with rtx 2060 his temps were much worse than mine and even on 86 his gpu didnt drop to 1005 but 1200 minimum . also i need to point out that gpu power drops to 30w there is no need for that too cool ur gpu ..and also i have used after burner to manually lock the clocks and it still happened this time my clocks were 1500mhz with 10 to 20 fps and power 50w ...