VRAM Overheating on PhN16-72 with RTX 4060 - Recommendation on a heat pad or liquid metal?

Hi everyone, I have been using my Acer Predator Helios 16 phn16-72 for about a year now.

Equipped with: - Processor: Intel Core i9-14900HX - GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB (140W TGP) - Display: 16-inch QHD (2560x1600) - RAM: 32 GB DDR5 - Memory: 2TB PCIe Gen4 SSD system works great and the core temperature of the processor and GPU during the game and stress tests is in the normal range. However, I am constantly facing problems with overheating VRAM. Problem Details: - During the 2K game (QHD resolution), VRAM temperature reaches 86 to 90 degrees Celsius, even at moderate ambient temperatures. - Reducing in-game graphics settings is hardly helpful; Temperatures at best drop to 80 to 82 degrees Celsius. - This happens in several titles, including Battlefield V and The Last of Us Part II. - The GPU core stays cool (up to 75 degrees Celsius), so the problem seems to be unique. to VRAM modules. My questions: 1. Does replacing standard heat pads on VRAM with higher quality pads (for example, 12-14 W / MK) help significantly? 2. If I open the system to replace VRAM thermal pads, should I also consider using liquid metal for CPU and GPU molds, or if their temperature is already good, I should not do so. Has anyone else with this model encountered the same thermal problems as VRAM and what worked best for you? My goal is long-term thermal stability without compromising warranty or safety. Any insight or advice will be very welcome. Thank you in advance!

Accepted answers

All comments

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/728483/vram-overheating-on-phn16-72-with-rtx-4060-recommendation-on-a-heat-pad-or-liquid-metal

Hi Anasnarooeii

Your PHN16-72 with RTX 4060 shows elevated VRAM temps (86–90°C) even when GPU core stays under control. Before replacing thermal pads or using liquid metal, I suggest trying this:

Disable Processor Performance Boost Mode
- Go to Edit Power Plan → Advanced Power Settings → Processor power management → Processor performance boost mode.
- Set both On battery and Plugged in to Disabled.

This limits CPU boost behavior and helps reduce internal heat buildup, which can indirectly lower VRAM temps.

Use Balanced power plan with Best power efficiency
- Go to Settings → System → Power & battery → Power mode.
- Select Best power efficiency under the Balanced plan.

These steps are reversible and won’t affect warranty. Let me know if you want help logging thermal behavior before and after changes.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/728483/vram-overheating-on-phn16-72-with-rtx-4060-recommendation-on-a-heat-pad-or-liquid-metal

Firstly, I don’t recommend changing and/or altering any of the default cpu or gpu performance power management or performance boosts of your PHN16-72 model OS settings, leave everything at default settings, as altering these settings will affect other aspects of performance in your laptop as its a vicious loop.

Be aware that your Predator Helios Neo model PHN16-72-xxxx with its 14th Gen Intel i9-14900HX cpu was released with a flaw in its design and its cpu microcode that made them overheat, so they are vulnerable to overheating. It is essential and you must make sure that you have the last bios version 1.17 installed in your PHN16-72-xxxx laptop, as this bios also has the bios with the cpu microcode fix that “Update MCU to 0x129 for 2024.4 IPU security update” that is supposed to fix this cpu overheating issues.

I strongly suggest that you also use liquid metal on the cpu and gpu also (btw, I’ve just done a full clean and repase and pad change to my PHN16-71-50JG model 13th Gen cpu laptop) and the result was a reduction in its temps between 15°C -20°C and up to 30°C with my Thermaltake Massive 12 Max Notebook Cooler as liquid metal is a superior thermal heat paste for especially laptops that their cpu and gpu chips overheat allot more than desktops, only apply a very thin layer and make sure that i=this liquid never ever spills underneath the cpu or gpu chips or onto any chip on the mainboard.

Note: that all NVidia new series 50 gpu’s cards use liquid metal paste on their gpu chip and the best thermal vram insulator is to use a high quality thermal pad, use that link as it outlines there which is the best pad to use. Good luck and hope this helps you out.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

Anasnarooeii

I’m currently using an Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 PHN16-72 with an RTX 4060 8GB (140W) GPU. I haven’t changed any system settings—everything is still on factory defaults. I’ve also updated the BIOS to version 1.17, which successfully resolved the high CPU voltage issue I was experiencing earlier.

🌡️ Thermal Performance Overview:

Both CPU and GPU core temperatures are excellent and stable, even under heavy AAA gaming loads at high settings.
I consistently get 60–65°C for both processors, which I consider very healthy.
I’m also using a high-performance cooling pad, which definitely helps.

🔥 VRAM Temperature Issue:

Despite the BIOS update and good airflow, VRAM temperatures remain extremely high.
During 2K gaming, VRAM temps reach up to 90°C, which concerns me.
After extensive tweaking and testing, I’ve only managed to reduce VRAM temps to around 82–84°C, and that’s with lowered graphics settings.

🧊 Next Steps I’m Considering:
I’m thinking about replacing the factory thermal putty on the VRAM modules with high-quality thermal pads. Do you think this would help bring the temperatures down significantly?

Also, I’m curious:

What VRAM temps do you get on your system during 2K gaming?
Has anyone here tried swapping the thermal pads on this model, and if so, what thickness and thermal conductivity rating worked best?

Any advice or shared experience would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Anasnarooeii

I made these settings but the problem was not solved.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1352882#Comment_1352882

First how are you measuring your PHN16-72 vram chips temps, so that we can compare the same temps. As thermal pads do nothing except disperse the vram chips heat evenly to the thermal module for the thermal module to get rid of the heat evenly and consistently, not every thermal module is efficient enough to do this 100% as and especially with a laptops thermal module, is very poor in doing all this and are not like desktops where you can adopt a water cooling thermal system to the gpu card to cool the gpu chip and its vram modules to do this specific thing, as in a laptop you can only do as much as what the PHN16-72 design allows you to do.

Shown below is the NVidia gpu chip surrounded by 4x 2GB GDDR6 vram chips of the PHN16-72 mobo which is cooled by its thermal module shown below.

PHN16-72 Thermal module

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

GAMING6698

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/728483/vram-overheating-on-phn16-72-with-rtx-4060-recommendation-on-a-heat-pad-or-liquid-metal

Step 5: (step 4 may help as well)

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/724763/ultimate-laptop-cooling-optimization--guide.

Anasnarooeii

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1352909#Comment_1352909

Thanks for the detailed explanation — that makes a lot of sense regarding the limitations of laptop thermal modules compared to desktop cooling systems.

To monitor my VRAM temperatures, I’m using both MSI Afterburner and HWiNFO. These tools give me real-time readings of GPU and VRAM temps during gaming sessions.

💡 My Question:For this type of GDDR6 VRAM (on the RTX 4060 8GB), what would you consider a safe operating temperature range during gaming?

What’s the maximum temperature threshold before thermal throttling or long-term damage becomes a concern?
And what’s the typical minimum or idle temperature range for VRAM in this laptop model?

I’d really appreciate your insight, especially if you’ve tested this on the PHN16-72 or similar systems. Thanks again!

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1352934#Comment_1352934

The simple explanation is that there is no set temp on these vram chips, as if they get too hot the laptop turns off from its internal sensors. As even with these newly designed high end laptops like the PHN16-72 they are not designed for long period of time gaming like desktops are which have water cooling to compensate the tremendous heat that a cpu/gpu and vram and even the M.2 SSD drives and ram these days generate, as the culmination of all these components being cramped into a case has tremendous affect on its performance especially high end gaming where they are really pushed to their limit.

I recommend that you setup your PHN16-72 model laptop as per GAMING6698 guide above and play high end games at the recommended period of time, which is what I do with my 13th Gen RTX4050 PHN16-71 laptop and I have no fps drops or overheating. I aloo suggest that you look at a specialist gpu repair site like N-W R (northwestrepair) as the technician that runs this site has some great videos on thermal insulations pads and what is the best paste to use on gpu's. Good luck and hope this will help you out further.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

Quick Links

Top Members

Weekly

Puraw 290

StevenGen 100

Alejandro_AC 100

Kno63 80

RenanVilela 75

Swift Series Intel^® Evo™

Game Pass

Acer Corner

Gaming on Chromebook

Swift Series Intel® Evo™

Game Pass

Acer Corner

Gaming on Chromebook

Swift Series Intel^® Evo™