Acer Nitro5-AN515-57-50JF-Gaming Laptop Suddenly Lagging Even While Plugged In – Need Help!

I have an Acer Nitro 5 with the following specs:
• CPU: Intel i5-11400H @ 2.70 GHz (11th Gen)
• GPU: GTX 1650
• RAM: 16GB

Everything was running fine until two days ago when I was playing a game, and all of a sudden, it started lagging mid-game. Now, every game I play has almost only 30FPS and below, even when my laptop is plugged in.

What I’ve Tried So Far:

✔ Set Preferred Graphics Processor to High-Performance NVIDIA Processor in the NVIDIA Control Panel.
✔ Set the game to use High-Performance GTX 1650 in Settings > Display > Graphics.
✔ Reinstalled my GPU drivers (clean install using NVIDIA’s latest drivers). Please help!

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

Accepted answers

All comments

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/722892/acer-nitro-5-gaming-laptop-suddenly-lagging-even-while-plugged-in-need-help

Hi, restore your system to an earlier date, if that does not help or you have no restore points saved, "Reset this PC" without losing your files option. The best way to reinstall GPU drivers is in Safe Mode with DDU and just reboot, let Windows install compatible drivers, don't download drivers from vendors other than Acer Support.

EeeKay

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333195#Comment_1333195

hey, i tried resetting the pc but the issue still persist. I have tried everything at this point. Updated my drivers and reinstalled them again and rolled back my drivers and checked. But it still didnt resolve. Please help.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333197#Comment_1333197

Did you use DDU in Safe mode to uninstall the Nvidia dGPU driver and just restarted so Windows installed the proper driver?

EeeKay

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333198#Comment_1333198

hey, i have used the ddu in safe mode to uninstall the drivers. Should i install the latest nvidia driver?

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333253#Comment_1333253

No, the whole idea is to let Windows install the latest compatible GPU drivers, just reboot go online and the drivers will be installed automatically, if you uninstalled both Intel and Nvidia drivers you have to do the process twice. Do not install any drivers.

EeeKay

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333255#Comment_1333255

so you mean i can just play the game normally without downloading the drivers? Rn it doesnt show nvidia control panel or anything.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333257#Comment_1333257

Allow some time for Windows to find the driver, be patient, stay online check for updates and reboot, Windows will install the driver eventually. 😉

EeeKay

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333258#Comment_1333258

right now i have a windows update that has nvidia display and a "cumulative update preview for windows 11 version 24h2" should i install them both?

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333259#Comment_1333259

Install the Nvidia driver first and restart. You did not tell me that you upgraded to 24H2, did you manually install Windows11 24H2 with an ISO file on USB disk? What is your full Nitro 5 model Acer Nitro 5 AN515-56/57? the AN515-57 does not have a BIOS update for 24H2 yet. Did the graphics lagging problem happen after you upgraded to W11 24H2?

EeeKay

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333260#Comment_1333260

i just upgrade my drivers through nvidia app and i bought this laptop from a acer store back in 2022. It came with windows 11. I dont even know what is 24H2 is until i saw the update just now. And yes its AN515-57. When i had the graphics lag, someone on reddit said that updating bios helped them improve their lagging. So i updated my bios from version 17 to 20 through the acer site. And it did solve the problem and i could play the games without any lag but right next day the problem happened again.

EeeKay

Its AN515-57-50JF

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333262#Comment_1333262

Forget about installing the W11 24H2 preview update, that BIOS is from 2023/09/13 and that could explain your graphics issues. Wait till Acer releases a BIOS update. See if the new NVIDIA driver works if you still have problems, you should consider rolling back to Windows11 23H2. Windows11 24H2 was released last year October and you must have installed it recently. Don't install drivers directly from vendors, only install tested drivers for your system from Acer Support. You have a good dGPU driver now and that hopefully will work. You also have to keep track what OS version you are running (Windows key + R and type Winver) what date the latest BIOS and check the file integrity after updates with DISM online and SFC /scannow commands. Backup your system monthly to an external backup drive and make a Windows Recovery USB flash drive in case you crash. All this is proper System Maintenance. (Dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth).

EeeKay

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1333265#Comment_1333265

how do i revert back to the previous version?

Puraw

Depending on when you installed 24H2 (you should check weekly your Update History what was installed, and what failed to install, see picture below), type uninstall Updates in Search (see picture).

What you want to uninstall is under Feature Updates: Windows11, version 24H2. If that is no longer listed, you can't revert to 23H2 anymore and you will have to reinstall Windows11 23H2 manually with an ISO file downloaded from UUPdump.net and create an Installation USB-C flash drive with RUFUS. All this is described on many forum (see some links below). If you are not sure how to do that ask a friend with Windows experience to do it for you.

Lessons learned: Don't just click on anything you see, read the screen first, learn more what you are installing, do you really need the update and is your system ready for a new OS upgrade like your BIOS, if one year old you should wait for a new BIOS release. Don't use driver update bloatware like Intel® Driver & Support Assistant (Intel® DSA) and Revo Uninstaller both are touted on this forum, just use the Windows Update app or ask this forum when in doubt. Backup your system monthly with Windows7 BU Image file creator available free in Control Panel for any Windows version, I use this app for +15 years and never have any problems, if I don't like an installed update or something goes wrong, I just restore a backup: Buy a 4TB USB backup case ($148) like Seagate Backup Plus but reformat the BU drive first and never use Seagate's BU bloatware. Amazon.com: Seagate Backup Plus Portable 4TB External Hard Drive HDD – Black USB 3.0 for PC Laptop and Mac, 2 Months Adobe CC Photography (STDR4000100) : Electronics

As I wrote before; make yearly and after a Windows upgrade a Windows Recovery drive with a 10GB USB2.0 flash drive once you are happy with your system and everything is running 100%.

Open the command prompt as Administrator go online and paste this: Dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth that may take 30 minutes to complete, just let it finish. Then run this command: SFC /scannow that should finish with "…did not find any integrity violations" repeat SFC till to see that.
Clean Install Windows 11 | Windows 11 Forum
how to install windows — Acer Community
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
https://community.acer.com/en/kb/articles/13832-hard-disk-not-detected-during-windows-10-installation