Battery goes from full to dead in under 2 hours when gaming on AC power GX-792-77BL

DizzyKoop
DizzyKoop Member Posts: 2 New User
edited October 2022 in Predator Laptops

GX-792-77BL, kind of regret going with the fancier model at the time because I'm not sure if this power brick can handle 4K gaming. Is there a higher wattage power supply I can get that's safe to use that will keep the battery from draining so fast? The things I'm doing should not even be draining the battery at all. I am:

-Playing Running With Rifles, a very low res game that came out in 2015

-Using Best Battery Life setting in the windows taskbar

-Selecting Optimal Power under Power Management Mode in Nvidia Control Panel

-Definitely playing with the laptop plugged in

and I keep automatically shutting down with <10% battery left after a relatively short gaming session of just about anything 3D. It hasn't always been like this, used to be I'd have to play all day to make this happen, but this is the second time today. Will a new battery or AC adapter help? I feel like I've tried everything. I've barely gotten 5 years of enjoyment out of this very pricey rig, Acer Care Center insists my battery is in good health, but I'm not so sure. I was thinking about upgrading my RAM and SSD but I'm not sure if supplying power to more components is such a good idea in this state.

Note: I am playing on the TV via HDMI, not sure what difference that makes. Does everyone experience such pathetic play times or is something wrong with my system? I suppose I should take more frequent breaks but I prefer it to be on my own terms.

[Thread was edited to add model name to the title]

Answers

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,700 Trailblazer
    edited October 2022

    A laptops battery doesn't last forever. especially for a 5-year-old laptop that is used extensively on battery playing games. Do a battery report:

    1. To generate a report, press Win+K and select Windows PowerShell (Admin) > Yes.
    2. Enter: powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery-report.html" into PowerShell and press Enter.
    3. Note: the path to the generated battery report. Open the report in a web browser.

    Or an easier way is to install CPUID HWMonitor and see your batteries Wear Level as that will show you the wear in a % form and give you a sort of a guide of where your battery is after 5 years of usage and if it needs replacing.

    This is the suitable GX-792 adaptors and batteries that Acer lists in its SG for your laptop:


  • DizzyKoop
    DizzyKoop Member Posts: 2 New User

    Hey, thanks for your info, it saved me a lot of trouble. I did a battery check and it seems to be performing at about 60% of its original capacity. Would having a download running in the background impact the battery significantly? I actually have 2 power supplies, I can try running with the other one but the one I use most often is the OEM one, and it doesn't seem to have any problems. I guess given what I know, a new battery might help slightly but the run time is still disappointing with the numbers I'm seeing. I may also have underestimated my run time, says the most recent activity was like 5 hours of use, I was downloading a pretty large game file but I wasn't actually running 3D applications for that long. The battery report is a handy tool but it's too bad it only checks at startup and shutdown. I tried playing RWR for about 20 minutes with no other processes going and it still reads 100%, but in fancier looking games like No Man's Sky it doesn't matter how much stuff I turn off. Still not confident I know exactly what the problem is, but in any case, I sure wish this thing drew power differently when plugged in. It's so weird that the adapter doesn't have the capacity to just run off AC power, I don't know of any other brand of gaming laptops that does this. I'd rather just have a bigger, less-efficient power brick than deal with discharging the battery unnecessarily all the time, shutting off in the middle of games all the time. I know the adapter is huge for a laptop already, Acer, but these things aren't Chromebooks, they only need to be portable enough to be lugged from room to room or to a LAN party occasionally so I'm sad that there isn't a better battery or adapter available to which I can upgrade

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,700 Trailblazer

    Its not a problem providing you OEM info but and you must realise this, that laptops are not hard-core gaming rigs, and they overheat and have their limits, especially a 5-year-old laptop like yours. What you are experiencing is normal, as its happened to all of us and I know its frustrating but, if you want a hard-core gaming rig then buy an Acer gaming desktop or build one, that's what I've done for years, as a gaming laptop is really a "lap...>>>top" and will never ever be able to be as good as a gaming desktop, No matter what laptop you buy with whatever high spec components it may have from any manufacturer, a laptop will never ever be able to provide the performance of a desktop, low -medium or high end.