Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52 Got few sec fps drops

Hi,

So I've read plenty of different questions and answers regarding this subject yet most of them were talking about consistent drops in fps etc. Nonetheless, I've tried a few different solutions presented there as an answer because who knows something might help. I did follow this guide https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/612495/windows-10-optimization-guide-for-gaming even tho it seemed not really related to my issue I hoped it might solve it. It didn't. Again my fps drops are not consistent and so far I didn't find the reason behind it. For example, I play days gone on max settings with v-synch (turning it off doesn't solve the issue I've tried) and I have stable 60 fps which I locked (it goes up to 100 and above but I prefer stable 60). I play sometimes for a few hours with no issue, then I start the game again after doing something else and at random points, the game goes down to 15-30 fps and comes back. It's like a 1-2 sec drop and it's good again. The first thing I thought was that it might be temperature, maybe the battery is going below 100% and that might be the issue even tho I have high performance on but nope. It does happen when the battery was 100% and with temperature, after reinstalling windows again (yes I hoped this could help too) I was observing temperatures even more closely and it was going between 85-99 Celcius. I also have an active cooling system under my laptop because I was sure there will be some cooling issues with that case but ok, let's try it, new paste. I've applied a new paste which was a great idea even if it's not related to the issue because the paste on the CPU was solid. I did apply the new paste and cleaned fans but that's done quite often even tho this laptop doesn't have even a year after purchase (not even 6 months tbh) but I don't remember having those issues before. After changing the paste to a new one my temperature on heavy gaming is between 80-91 sometimes less but the issue is still there. Now after all those tries and fails I still do not understand what is causing this issue and have no idea what to observe next, usage on both GPU and CPU is never over 60-70% and even that is rare it usually stays around 50%, I bought the laptop with 8Gb of ram but I've changed it to 16Gb right away and besides that, I only added Sony SSD 1TB. Oh, btw I cleaned temps and prefetch etc. I use Norton antivirus and other than that there is not much going on in the background as I cleaned all the useless apps preinstalled with windows. The only odd thing I still have is CPU temperature jumping but I don't know what could be the reason behind it and it might be normal as I've seen it on other screenshots in different posts.

Here is my specification:
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-52-78NA
Windows 10 Pro-64-bit
CPU: i7-10750H 2.60 GHz
GPU: GeForce® RTX™ 3060 6GB
RAM: 16GB 2666MHz (2x8)

I use also an external mouse, keyboard, mic and external screen if that even matters at all, so the laptop is in a stable position with plenty of air space behind and under and with the additional external cooling system under (issue occurs no matter if the cooling system is on or off and it is supplied from an external source not from the laptop, same as the screen which is connected via the HDMI port and runs on 1080p)

Here is a screenshot of my nitro sense while writing this post (I'm downloading some game in the background)

{Thread was edited to add model name to the title}

I hope it's possible to solve this issue as my laptop is quite new and I do not have any other bad experiences with it.

If I missed something let me know I will try anything at the moment as I'm left clueless

Accepted answers

All comments

JackE

>>> I use N orto n antivirus and other than that there is not much going on in the background as I cleaned all the useless apps preinstalled with windows. >>>

Uninstall it, not just disable. Most users don't need 3rd party malware anymore. Try use FireFox instead of Chrome or its offspring Edge.

Gravel

Here is a screenshot of Nitro sense after around 20-30 min of playing (in this case Days Gone but drops happen in every game), drop was just before I've alt+tab for around 1-2 sec as always. (those two GPU high drops are me alt+tab)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/8z/lm4qsx771jkg.jpg

Gravel

JackE said:

>>> I use N orto n antivirus and other than that there is not much going on in the background as I cleaned all the useless apps preinstalled with windows. >>>

Uninstall it, not just disable. Most users don't need 3rd party malware anymore. Try use FireFox instead of Chrome or its offspring Edge.

Again, those programs don't cause the issue. I've bought Norton for a year just to check if the issue might be caused by some malware that could be missed by default security. There was no issue found, the problem with those drops happens regardless. My browser also has nothing to do with this issue, I even turned off its background processes. Today I've noticed my CPU maximum frequency goes to 150% even tho it has only 40% use while gaming. Tried to turn off this intel boost option but have no access to it through bios. I don't think it's causing the problem as it would be consistent not only for 1-2 seconds randomly

JackE

Uninstall don't just disable n ort ton AV. Most users don't need 3rd party malware anymore. Try using FireFox instead of Chrome or its offspring Edge when playing on line games..

Gravel

JackE said:

Uninstall don't just disable n ort ton AV. Most users don't need 3rd party malware anymore. Try using FireFox instead of Chrome or its offspring Edge when playing on line games..

I've downloaded it on new windows there was an issue without the Norton so it's not causing any issues. The same goes for Chrome, it does not have any impact on my gaming as before reinstalling it on new windows I had the same issues going on. I never before had any issues like that or lag in online games and still don't, except those random 1-2 seconds fps drops, other than that my games don't lose fps and play smoothly. Those drops happened in all games and changing graphic settings doesn't change anything.

Gravel

I'm just refreshing this question as I still did not found any solution to the problem and I'm not sure what should I do... This laptop is not even 6 months old so if there is nothing I can do I will just give it back and have to go for something else but it seems total waste when this is the only issue I have with this one

JackE

Please post a screenshot of Task Manager's startup tab.

Gravel

Please see the requested screenshot below. I also did a screenshot of my nitrosense after custom boosting fan for CPU and playing Rise of the Tomb Raider (all ultra but it's an old game and shouldn't be much of a challenge for this setup). I did experience drops before boost but after did not notice them for some time (this might be unrelated as further testing is required, I did previously play other games like Days Gone with no issue for some time and then after doing a short break for YT and food I've noticed those fps drops again)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/d2/h54fdeo25yfp.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/dk/oky3yhqbqqxt.jpg

JackE

CPU temps still too high at 88*C. Bottom cover intake and exhaust vents must be at least an inch above a hard surface. Either that or the thermal ductwork is somehow clogged if the re-paste and fans/heatsink fins are in good order.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/3m/6uyxvfohejft.jpg

Gravel

That's what I was suspecting. Especially since it's not something that was there from the beginning. The laptop itself is on elevation with free airflow under and around it, I even have extra 4 fans supporting it from under to provide more air (yes I thought those working with laptop fans might not be the best idea and tested without them but no change in temperature). I will try cleaning the ductwork as I totally forgot about it and that is actually the last thing that might cause issues other than the temp meter going crazy and causing throttle). I'll update after I finish

JackE

Did we try to alternately vacuum the air intake vents (directly over fan blades) and blow air into the exhaust vents (directly over CPU/GPU) yet? This will sometimes loosen and dislodge any blockages in the air-cooled ducts. Liquid cooled ducts would fail if they leaked coolant.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/h3/2fug699ajbyi.jpg

Gravel

That is exactly what I'm about to do, I'm just waiting for a new can of air and hopefully, this will resolve the problem. I will also add that to my regular cleaning routine as I completely forgot about it and never really checked them. Thank you for your help I will update whenever I get my air and do tests after cleaning

Gravel

Finally, I've found Air Duster to fulfill the operation and at the same time, I have redone my setup to create an extremely open environment for this laptop, even tho my previous laptop (Legion) worked perfectly fine on the previous setup with this one I went extreme and it has lots of space around, external cooling (5 fans) and space below and above which was difficult as I have extremely limited space around me but not the first time I've found a way around. I've cleaned everything around the fans, fans themselves and those "vents" are solid closes with what seems to be some space inside but with no external access to it. What I did was freeze those and gently make sure that any residue that could potentially be inside, move to the far edge by the fan (there is no way for anything new to get in but there could be something left in production. I've changed thermal paste again doing all that and finally was able to fix the issue! Right now only big change with position is that the laptop has more space above (as it was under the desk now it's above it) and 9 instead of 5 inches behind but a bit less on the left side (GPU and around 2-3 inch of space). So as for the solution there most likely was either some residue inside the vent channel that I was able to lose by freezing and moving out of the way or I did something accidentally that I have no idea of, but the issue lay in the cooling system applied in this laptop and if anyone else will experience an issue like this that is the area where they should start looking.

JackE

Thanks for posting your detailed report.

Gravel

Hi, Again after some time I have an issue with OH, any ideas on how can I fix that my CPU is on "20%-30%" of use but I know it's using some OC and it clearly doesn't work well for this laptop. Is it possible to turn this OC off? I tried to find it in BIOS but couldn't find this option

JackE

I assume OH is OverHeating. What is OC? OverCooling?

Gravel

I'm sorry, by OC I meant overclocking. My processor has it by default and it does "oc" to 4GHz even when not needed and I think that is the reason why it does overheat so much. Having it on simple work also keeps it at high temperatures because it just goes to 200% frequency with no reason. I'm not really experienced with this as it's the first time I have a processor that does that, I worked on i5 with no similar issues.