100% video card usage problem in Spyro Reignited Trilogy Predator Helios 300

Lucaszxc

I would like to report a problem on my Acer Predator Helios 300 regarding the Spyro Reignited Trilogy game on Steam, what happens is that the video card that is running the game starts with a usage percentage (according to MSI Afterburn) between 20-35%, but out of nowhere it goes up to 100% and either stays at 100% or goes to 100% and back to 20-35%.

The problem with this is that when this happens, the game loses a lot of performance making it difficult to play as seen in the image below

(Thread was edited to add model name to the title)

AnhEZ28

@Lucaszxc 100% usage is normal but I can see that the GPU is staying at 95C which is considered overheating and leads to thermal throttling. You can try to clean the fans, heatsinks, and replace thermal paste.

JackE

What other  game seems to be showing this same issue?

Lucaszxc

AnhEZ28 said:

@Lucaszxc 100% usage is normal but I can see that the GPU is staying at 95C which is considered overheating and leads to thermal throttling. You can try to clean the fans, heatsinks, and replace thermal paste.

I don't know if this is normal, because other games that I have installed, do not stay like this and not to mention that when it goes up to 100%, the fps and performance drops a lot

Lucaszxc

JackE said:

What other  game seems to be showing this same issue?

so far, it seems to be only this game

JackE

>>>but out of nowhere it goes up to 100% and either stays at 100% or goes to 100% and back to 20-35%.>>>

What do you mean by "stays". If it 'stays' at 100% then this means it stays at 100% and doesn't drop to 20-35%?

Lucaszxc

JackE said:

>>>but out of nowhere it goes up to 100% and either stays at 100% or goes to 100% and back to 20-35%.>>>

What do you mean by "stays". If it 'stays' at 100% then this means it stays at 100% and doesn't drop to 20-35%?

yes, I mean that there are times when it either stays at 100% or it goes to 100% and then goes back to normal

JackE

Sounds like it's simply a more demanding GPU intensive game than some of the other games you play. Sometimes it requires 100% GPU for longer periods of times than other games.

So at this point I must agree with AnhEZ28 that it sounds like the GPU is overheating. Because it should be able to run at 100% for long periods of times without getting much above 86*C if fans and thermal modules are working properly

When was the last time you cleaned the fans and heatsinks and re-pasted the heatsinks to the CPU and GPU. This is considered normal maintenance that should be done yearly if you're a heavy gamer.

Lucaszxc

JackE said:

Sounds like it's simply a more demanding GPU intensive game than some of the other games you play. Sometimes it requires 100% GPU for longer periods of times than other games.

well the problem is that when it goes up to 100%, the game performance drops a lot

JackE

Yes, I understand. But if the temperatures rise above about about 94*C, the processors automatically reduce power to avoid heat damage. Then throttling, performance drops and stuttering videos result.

This is why I asked when was the last time that you cleaned the fans and heatsinks and re-pasted the heatsinks to the CPU and GPU to avoid overheating and thus possible irreversible processor damage? This is normal maintenance that should be done yearly if you're a heavy gamer.

Your processors should not reach 95*C even at prolonged 100% usage if the fans, heatsinks and thermal paste were in good condition. They don't seem to be in good condition and need proper maintenance.

Lucaszxc

JackE said:

Yes, I understand. But if the temperatures rise above about about 94*C, the processors automatically reduce power to avoid heat damage. Then throttling, performance drops and stuttering videos result.

This is why I asked when was the last time that you cleaned the fans and heatsinks and re-pasted the heatsinks to the CPU and GPU to avoid overheating and thus possible irreversible processor damage? This is normal maintenance that should be done yearly if you're a heavy gamer.

Your processors should not reach 95*C even at prolonged 100% usage if the fans, heatsinks and thermal paste were in good condition. They don't seem to be in good condition and need proper maintenance.

so, what do you suggest I do? Does undervolt and overclocking also help?

JackE

I suggest that you should clean the fans and heatsinks and re-paste the heatsinks to the CPU and GPU to avoid overheating and thus possible irreversible processor damage. Google search helios 300 disassembly re-paste --- for video instructions on how to do this.  If you feel uncomfortable doing this service maintenance yourself, then you should take the machine to a local laptop repair shop for an estimated cost to do this maintenance for you.

Lucaszxc

what do you mean by re-paste the heatsinks to the CPU and GPU? Are you talking about a thermal paste?

Lucaszxc

Can you give me a video of what this would be?

JackE

Google search helios 300 disassembly re-paste --- for video instructions on how to do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph2ibK79zd8

Lucaszxc

thanks, I just needed to know what that was like, the rest I send a technician to do

Lucaszxc

Anyway, anything I come back here

JackE

I think that is all for now. Clean air ducts, fans and re-paste heat sinks to the cpu and gpu

Lucaszxc

guys, in case you have any more ideas what this might be and how to help me, please do not forget to let me know here

JackE

Have the technician clean air ducts, fans and re-paste heat sinks to the cpu and gpu

Lucaszxc

JackE said:

What other  game seems to be showing this same issue?

yes i just saw today that the Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1 Master Collection goes through the same problem and with the same pattern.
it starts well, then it goes up to 100% GPU usage and the FPS drops