Sudden FPS drops during in game? - Nitro 5 AN515-52

Maevi_Blaze
Maevi_Blaze Member Posts: 3 New User
edited May 2022 in Nitro Gaming
Hi. I have a Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-52). GTX 1050 4GB, i5 8300H, 12GB, Win 10, 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD. Windows is installed in the SSD.
So I only play Valorant and I don't play any other games. So few months, I've been experiencing this issue, where I would be playing the game with 100 to 150 FPS, which is good, but I would always get random FPS drops in between, while playing the game. They drop to around 30 FPS for like around 3 seconds and go back to the 100 to 150 FPS range. This is very annoying, especially for a hardcore gamer like me, because they happen at the wrongest times.

So I tried resetting Windows (Reset this PC > Remove everything > Cloud download)
During the reset, all three "Clean data", "Delete files from all drives" and "Download Windows" were checked.

After the reset, I went to "Check for Updates" and updated all the updates till none were left
And then I went to the Original Acer website an downloaded all the DRIVERS and the three APPS (Acer Care Center, NitroSense, Acer Quick Access) which were given by the website. (Link: Product Support | Acer United States). The BIOS is already at the latest version.
After that, I clicked Pause Updates for 7 days to avoid any other interruptions to any of the Acer-provided drivers.

I still face the same issue. It's annoying dude. I just have no idea how to get this fixed. All my friends don't have this issue, but I do.
Somebody please help me, I really don't even mind paying!

[​//Edited the content to add model name]

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,177 Trailblazer
    Check your CPU/GPU temperatures. If they are over 85*C when FPS drops, then you probably need to alternately vacuum the air intake ports and blow air into the air exhaust port to help clean dust and debris that might have accumulated on the fan blades and heat sinks.

    Jack E/NJ

  • Ayodeji
    Ayodeji Member Posts: 4 New User
    I've barely used my Acer Nitro 5 for a month and now it wouldn't come on without being plugged in.
    Even though it is fully charged. I got it for Architecture school and Acer support isn't available in my country.
  • Maevi_Blaze
    Maevi_Blaze Member Posts: 3 New User
    JackE said:
    Check your CPU/GPU temperatures. If they are over 85*C when FPS drops, then you probably need to alternately vacuum the air intake ports and blow air into the air exhaust port to help clean dust and debris that might have accumulated on the fan blades and heat sinks.
    So for the past 2 days, I've been experimenting a lot of things, from drivers to hardware temperature. Based on what I've realized,

    1) These 3 drivers should never be updated to the latest version (latest versions of these drivers are usually distributed by Driver Updating Utilities like DriverEasy, CCleaner):
    - Intel Graphics Driver
    - Realtek Audio
    - Realtek PCIE CardReader

    * For these 3 drivers, I used the version provided from Acer's original website, the link is above.
    * I would yet prefer to use all driver versions from Acer's original website.

    2) Coming back to the real problem like you have said above, turns out you were absolutely right.
    While I was playing Valorant, the CPU's temperature was at 94-95C on AVG. The GPU was around 60-70C and I think thats fine.
    But I was shocked after looking at the temperature. That's because 6 months ago, I sent my Acer Nitro to the IT shop nearby me to replace the thermal paste, remove all the dusts and clean the fans. I'm amazed that the temps are still insane. Many questions are on my mind right now.

    - Why didnt my CPU automatically reduced the clock speeds of the CPU? I'm guessing it didnt because I could yet play with 100+ FPS for like 6+ hours (ofc with those sudden 3 seconds FPS drops). As if it still chose to play at 95C.


    But yet, to really test this, I downloaded ThrottleStop and applied basic undervolting settings for Acer Nitro 5, and also limited the Max FPS in-game to 100FPS, and played Valorant for around 3 hours just now. I had absolutely no problem. No FPS drops, no nothing. Just slight latency but I think its fine. The CPU was around 70C and below.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 45,177 Trailblazer
    Thanks for report. That seems like a more reasonable CPU temp.

    Jack E/NJ