FPS dropping to ~30 when playing games. [Helios 300 RTX 2060 i7-10750H]

Recently my FPS has been dropping to somewhere around 30 when playing games, as if it is thermal throttling even though it clearly isn't based on my temps shown in MSI afterburner. Additionally, my GPU usage goes to 97% - 100% when this happens despite it only being around 70% when normally playing games. The FPS goes back to normal when I overclock the GPU and then disable the overclock or do the same thing by pressing the turbo button. I believe this is connected to Throttlestop as it stopped happening when I closed Throttlestop, but then I get very high temps. I've been using Throttlestop for over a year though and no problems until now. I also updated the BIOS to 2.04 from 1.06 recently which may be connected to this issue.

Accepted answers

JackE

I think it needs to re-pasted and cleaned. It's possible the original factory paste simply started drying out if the system sat on the shelf in a hot warehouse before you got it. If you're uncomfortable tackling it yourself, I'd take it to a local laptop repair shop and ask them for an estimate. I'd guess 2 hrs labor which would be the main cost.

All comments

JackE

>>>it stopped happening when I closed Throttlestop, but then I get very high temps. I've been using Throttlestop for over a year though and no problems>>>

You shouldn't have had to use ThrottleStop a year ago to lower temperatures. Thus you probably had a heat problem for at least a year and used ThrottleStop as a band-aid that hid the problem. When was the last time the heatsinks were re-pasted and thermal modules cleaned. This is considered regular maintenance and should be done annually for heavy gaming..

jaredr666

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1141216#Comment_1141216

I've never repasted or even cleaned the fans. Had the laptop since around April 2021 I think. I don't have any experience doing stuff like that and I feel like I'll end up breaking something. Do you think it is safe for a beginner to repaste?

JackE

>>>Had the laptop since around April 2021 I think.>>>

Was this purchased new?

>>>Do you think it is safe for a beginner to repaste?>>>

Many beginners have done it without issues if proper precautions are taken. Two of which are most important like unplugging the charger and disconnecting the battery from the mainboard before you start work.

jaredr666

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1141447#Comment_1141447

Yes it was new. Temps were bad from the moment I bought it so I ended up using Throttlestop to not damage the components inside. Also, I just did some testing and it seems the issue is happening even without throttlestop open. I fully factory reset the laptop and it still happens. It seems to only happen in some games though. It happens in Spider-man remastered and Dead By Daylight but other games such as Skater XL don't have the problem. Not sure if there's something wrong with the GPU because, as I mentioned, the GPU usage goes to 100% whenever the FPS drops off even though it is no where near 100% beforehand.

JackE

I think it needs to re-pasted and cleaned. It's possible the original factory paste simply started drying out if the system sat on the shelf in a hot warehouse before you got it. If you're uncomfortable tackling it yourself, I'd take it to a local laptop repair shop and ask them for an estimate. I'd guess 2 hrs labor which would be the main cost.

jaredr666

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1141589#Comment_1141589

I just did some testing and it seems that the GPU is limiting to 1005MHz at certain times which is causing the FPS to drop significantly. As you can see in this video, when I enable then disable turbo mode the clock speed goes back to normal and so does FPS but then the same issue will happen later. I don't think this is related to temperature as the laptop has never had issues handling temps in the mid 80s until recently.