Predator Orion 5000 P05-650 hard-freezes while gaming

2

Answers

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    I downloaded Windows 11 and did a fresh install, then activated Pro with my product key. I suppose now I'll need to start testing and see if there's still an issue.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    Okay, this time I allowed Windows 11 to download those drivers and only had to install two manually from Acer. But guess what? Now the CPU is once again constantly hovering around 100°C while gaming, with all fans set to maximum. I haven't managed to replicate the freezing issue yet, but the PC is right back to what it was when I was running Windows 10 originally, aka. automatically acquired device drivers are causing the CPU to heat up more than manually installed first-party drivers. I'll have to reinstall the OS again and this time disable the driver updates before connecting to the internet.

  • chugzilla
    chugzilla Member Posts: 727 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon

    did ya open task manager to see what's running while gaming or could it be the game-games u r playing are CPU heavy over GPU heavy? never heard of this issue before seems odd. could be anything really. hope ya figure it out or return-exchange it for another.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    I've now reinstalled Windows 11 and manually installed Acer's first party drivers. It's still hitting high CPU temperatures.

    The average CPU usage of the game is ~ 55% and that takes the temperature to 100°C. GPU use is high, which is a good sign of there not being a bottleneck. It's strange that when I first reinstalled Windows 10 with manual driver installs, that brought the temperatures down to 75-85°C when gaming, and the only issue was the hard freezing. I have not managed to get a hard freeze now with Windows 11 but the temperature problem persists even though the drivers are manually installed. So, I have traded a random semi-rare hardware fault for a constant high hardware stress that wears out the CPU and possibly the memory.

    The only things I have left to try are flashing the BIOS which I doubt would do anything, and reapplying the thermal paste. The vendor also strongly recommended against attempting to replace the stock CPU fan with a better one, suspecting that Acer would have deliberately made some kind of physical harware design choices to make it impossible. Is this the case? Does the Predator have some proprietary power connectors or something that preclude the changing of a CPU fan?

  • Sillyboy1420
    Sillyboy1420 Member Posts: 1 New User

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  • chugzilla
    chugzilla Member Posts: 727 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon

    not sure who your vendor is. i bought mine from BestBuy and all acer support tells me is that we can replace any part we want but if we break something in that process that is what voids our warranty. most of us here have replaced the stock cooler because it's terrible. i used to get 63C with the stock cooler on games and 85C+ on Cine bench then i put in a Noctua NH-U12A and my temps are now at 33-43C gaming and 63-66C on Cine bench. so yeah, i would highly recommend it. and it's really easy to do. you can see here i have done many changes to make the pc run better and stay cooler. 2 fans on the top as exhaust. i removed the HDD caddy and GPU bracket both are blocking most of the airflow from the front fans. the front cover also restricts air flow, i experimented with that off when gaming and temperatures dropped another 6C. and because i have it 3 feet off the ground i get minimal dust. so you can do whatever you want.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    So if I get something like a Noctua NH-D9L, there shouldn't be any installation problems or proprietary screws made to screw you over? It should snap on there just like the cooler on any home-built?

  • chugzilla
    chugzilla Member Posts: 727 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon

    if you get a cooler go with the same one i have the NH-U12A. it's the largest and best one for our case. that NH-D9L is for smaller cases and wont cool as well as the NH-U12A. it rivals the BEST AIO coolers out there!

    it depends on if you remove the MB or not. the acer backplate will work great, but you will need 4-3mx10mm screws to mount the brackets for the cooler.

    the NH-U12A comes with 2 fans and a splitter they plug into the same port as the stock CPU cooler and the extra fan can be put on the top as exhaust and they plug into dual port 3.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    What kind of screws exactly? That "4-3mx10mm" just tells me that it's 10mm. Also is it necessary to remove the motherboard for the install or can it all be done from the top side of the board?

  • chugzilla
    chugzilla Member Posts: 727 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon

    you will need 4 screws that are m3x10mm. no need to remove the MB but that's why you need these screws though. they fasten down the brackets that the cooler will mount to.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter
  • chugzilla
    chugzilla Member Posts: 727 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon
    edited October 2023

    yes, that's exactly what i used but black ones from my local hardware store lol. well, mine were Phillips head lol.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    I suppose I should try replacing the stock cooler then. 4 screws like that cost probably 50 cents in total. You said that the second fan can be detached and put in the top grating instead? Doesn't that also require some screws of its own? Also, how much clearance is there left between that NH-U12A and the glass side panel?

    By the way, another reason why the stock cooler is terrible. It actually blows the hot air of the CPU heat sink onto the RAM. When the CPU hits that 100°C, the RAM sits at 91°C which can't be good for it. I don't think that all of this can be an accident. I think the rig is maliciously built to wear out its components to generate repeat business. Something that should last for ten years ends up breaking conveniently after 2 years of warranty are spent.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    Also, which one of these instructions in this video would apply in the case of replacing a PO5-650 cooler? One of them has a back plate installation, which would require the motherboard to be taken out.

  • chugzilla
    chugzilla Member Posts: 727 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon

    yeah, most if not all installation videos show the MB out of the pc for ease of installation. i just set mine down and took off the stock cooler. that's really easy 4 screws and it comes right off. you clean the paste off the CPU and mount the brackets-tighten these up snug, don't over tighten these screws or you will break the standoff posts, then apply the paste then the cooler and tighten up the screws for the cooler good and tight and you're done. you have about an inch of room between the NH-U12A and the glass panel plenty of room. and i used 1-1/4 screws to mount the fans on the top they were number 6 screws and nuts as you can see in my pictures.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    It seems to be very difficult to find any Phillips head screws at 3x10 size. I might have to cut them down to size.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    I've now ordered the NH-U12A cooler. If I understood the description correctly, it should come with the Intel 1700 socket mounting in the package? If not, then I'll have to order again once the cooler is here.

  • chugzilla
    chugzilla Member Posts: 727 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon

    yeah, the cooler will come with everything you need except those 4 screws we need to mount it too the acer backplate. do you have a mom n pop hardware store or an ace hardware near you, or a Lowes or Home Depot? worst case amazon carries them. and they do not have to be Phillips any head will work as long as they are m3x10mm. and read the instructions on the mounting hardware it comes with intel and amd hardware.

  • Plutonia
    Plutonia Member Posts: 24 Troubleshooter

    I got several alternate screws for the job. I found some longer ones and cut them down to size. I could have bought new ones, but all m3x10mm are hex head, and I'd rather use Phillips head screws.

  • chugzilla
    chugzilla Member Posts: 727 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon

    that's cool I'm always around if you need any more help and post pics when u r done of course lol.