RTX 3050 Limited to 30W Instead of 60W – Acer Aspire 7 A715-51G-50FF

I really need some help with my Acer Aspire 7 (A715-51G-50FF). It’s got an i5-1240P, RTX 3050, and 16GB RAM. The issue is that my RTX 3050 is stuck using only 30W max, even though everywhere I check says it should run at 60W TDP. No matter what I do, it never goes above 30W.

I’ve been trying to fix this for weeks now. I’ve checked with GPU-Z, HWiNFO, and MSI Afterburner and all show the same thing. I updated the BIOS, GPU drivers (both Acer and NVIDIA), all system drivers, and Windows. Tried gaming and stress testing with and without the charger, but it’s always the same.

What’s weird is that this Aspire 7 looks almost identical to the Nitro series and same chassis style and even a very similar heatsink design. The Nitro laptops with RTX GPUs can handle 60–70W without any issue, so it doesn’t make sense why mine is power limited to 30W.

I’m using the original Acer 135W charger, so power delivery isn’t the problem. It honestly feels like Acer might have locked the GPU TDP in BIOS or firmware.

Has anyone else run into this? Is there any way to unlock or raise the limit to 60W? I’ve tried everything I can think of. Would really appreciate if someone knows a fix or at least can confirm if it’s Acer who locked it.

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JackE

This particular RTX3050 model with the i5-1240P is intentionally power limited to ~30watts by design due to thermal management concerns.

Axxo

Some models of the Acer Aspire 7 were found to have their NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 GPUs effectively limited to around 30-35W (or 35W in some cases) Total Graphics Power (TGP) in real-world use, despite being advertised with a potential maximum of 60W in the GPU's specifications.

Key Details
Advertised vs. Actual TGP: While the RTX 3050 has a potential TGP range (e.g., up to 80W, with 60W being common in specs), some Acer Aspire 7 users (specifically models like the A715-51G and A715-76G) reported software monitoring tools showing a consistent power draw limit closer to 30W or 35W during demanding tasks.
Thermal Management: The lower TGP cap appears to be a design choice by Acer, likely implemented to manage heat generation within the laptop's chassis and cooling system, which some users noted runs hot even with these limits.

Driver & Software Discrepancies: Users found that while the Nvidia control panel might show a max power limit of 60W, utilities like nvidia-smi might report a lower cap, often around 35W, which reflects the operational limit set by the laptop's BIOS and power management.
Potential Fixes/Updates: In some cases, users reported that updating to compatible drivers automatically increased the capacity to the advertised 60W, suggesting that driver issues or initial configurations might also be a factor.
Performance Impact: A lower TGP directly impacts the GPU's performance, as it cannot reach its full potential clock speeds and power draw, resulting in lower frame rates in games and GPU-intensive applications compared to a 60W or higher implementation.
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