Overclocking/Undervoltage in predator helios neo 16 (PHN16-71-553K)Laptop is going upto 100 degree

Chandra_Prakashh · February 10

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1253188#Comment_1253188

I've the PHN16-71 ( i7 13700HX & RTX 4050 ) version, i tried your steps and entered in the advanced menu of bios successfully but the overclock option was grayed out. How did you enabled that? can you elaborate...

I tried your step in both version of bios, V1.13 and the latest V1.15 but no changes in grayed out option.

Chandra_Prakashh · February 10

I've PHN16-71 ( i7 13700HX & RTX 4050 ), i entered in the advanced menu of bios successfully after trying your method but the OverClocking Feature is grayed out and unable to enabled. how did you unlock that? can you elaborate?

Chandra_Prakashh · February 10

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1253188#Comment_1253188

I've PHN16-71 ( i7 13700HX & RTX 4050 ), i entered in the advanced menu of bios successfully after trying your method but the OverClocking Feature is grayed out and unable to enable it. how did you unlock that? can you elaborate?

beerzy99 · February 19

Guys for what its worth these settings worked very well for me getting performance up and temps down during gaming on my NEO 16…

1) Disable iGPU in BIOS and run from Nvidia graphics. I noticed that with external displays running, the thunderbolt controller was running GPU through iGPU (via Optimus) and was causing some werid usage spikes on CPU/iGPU. I just run Nvidia only via bios settings. Helps reduce load on CPU and spread temps across laptop more evenly. Also disable VTD/VTX while your at it (if you dont use virtual servers).

2) Run intel XTU and power limit CPU to 75w long term (for 13700HX). The Alder Lake CPU runs hot, but doesnt benefit (much) from power envelope above this limit. Acer run long term power at 100w, which is too high IMO. This will help keep fans from spinning up massively. See evidence here https://www.techspot.com/review/2626-intel-core-i9-13950hx/

3) Tricky one. If you can go into Advanced settings (Advanced Advanced) and drop the memory CAS latency / TCL from 40 to 34, and bump VDD, VDQQ and IMC voltages up to 1250 (from 1100). I found my DDR5 ram was much more responsive, and generally feels much better day to day usage wise. DONT PANIC if you get a BLACK SCREEN on reboot/after changing settings. It takes around 10-15mins for DDR5 memory to retrain itself. You have NOT bricked your laptop. Worst case you will be dumped back to a reset BIOS. See evidence here https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/10125/crucial-ddr5-4800-32gb-dual-channel-memory-kit/index.html

4) STILL waiting on Acer to allow undervolting so we can drop CPU voltage 100-150mv. Apparently, this helps reduce power draw from CPU even further but have yet to be able to test. Waiting on ACER to come to the party like LENOVO et al.

In summary the 13700HX is a powerful CPU, but it needs a bit of tweaking to control temps and extract performance is has under hood.

Cheers Alex !

Chandra_Prakashh · February 20

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1260502#Comment_1260502

Power limit in XTU will get reset just after restarting the system becuase PredatorSense has already different profiles. so changing power limit from Intel XTU will get reset as original as PredatorSense profiles after rcestarting the system.

I checked every mode and found out these are the Limits in every mode of PredatorSense.

In Eco mode Long Term CPU Power Limit is 45 W.

In Balanced mode Long Term CPU Power Limit is 70 W

In Performance mode Long Term CPU Power Limit is 80 W

In Turbo mode Long Term CPU Power Limit is 100 W

I would recommend you to use Performance mode for any high task like gaming or productivity task but the problem is, fans are throttled in performance mode so you have to change the fans speed independently according to your need by changing fan control to "Custom'' and set speed independently of CPU and GPU fans in PredatorSense.

It's the easiest way possible to keep temperature under control without losing much performance.

Game Tested - God Of War 3 - it was using 75-80w CPU Power constantly since RPCS3 emulator is CPU intensive.

I used to play it on turbo mode but since yesterday temp spikes were crazy, CPU temp was reaching 90-100C in Turbo mode but day before yesterday Temps were 82-87C in turbo mode while playing the same game.

temperature can vary depending on your room temperature, weather changed drastically here, it's started getting hot where i live while it was cold 2 days ago maybe that's why temperature increased so much or may be dust would have accumulated in the fans.

Edit - Recently played it at night in Turbo Mode, CPU temps were 82-88 at constant usage CPU Power 100W. Room Temperature is quite important to run system at good temps.

I realized their PredatorSense software is too basic for a gaming laptop.

Even other brands gaming laptop software can be considered good because they have enabled many features in their software by which user can change many settings which can help in tweaking system like PL limits, Temp Limits, Power Limits, custom fan speed graphs.

Acer should need to work on their PredatorSense software.

Max_Stone · February 21

"…change many settings which can help in tweaking system like PL limits, Temp Limits, Power Limits, custom fan speed graphs."

Unlocking advanced BIOS as described by OP opens up all these settings (including thresholds and fans speeds for different pwr settings). I guess Acer does not want non-OC customers messing with these to avoid warranty claims, hence buried in advanced BIOS and not a UI.

SHADOWREX · April 29

Fn+Tab worked but the enable overclocking option is grayed out.

Kara63 · June 29

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1253188#Comment_1253188

My laptop is Predator Helios Neo 16 PHN16-71. I have accessed the mentioned BIOS menu and disabled the CPU Lock and Overclock Lock features. I also disabled the Intel VMX feature. However, the "Overclocking Feature" option in the Overclocking Configuration section is not active, and I cannot enable or disable it. After enabling the CPU Lock, I can now change the Voltage Offset value in the FIVR menu of the Throttlestop application, but in the Intel XTU application, I can only increase the Offset value. The reason for this is that the Undervolt Protection feature is enabled. How can I disable Undervolt Protection, and how can I enable the Overclocking Feature?

fmerotto · July 12

platform thermal configuration .jpg

In this part of the Advanced / Advanced menu, what are the best values to input?

and I didn't find where to change these values of the 3 tricky one tip

"

3) Tricky one. If you can go into Advanced settings (Advanced Advanced) and drop the memory CAS latency / TCL from 40 to 34, and bump VDD, VDQQ and IMC voltages up to 1250 (from 1100). I found my DDR5 ram was much more responsive, and generally feels much better day to day usage wise. DONT PANIC if you get a BLACK SCREEN on reboot/after changing settings. It takes around 10-15mins for DDR5 memory to retrain itself. You have NOT bricked your laptop. Worst case you will be dumped back to a reset BIOS. See evidence here

"