Stuck and considering a return / exchange, any ideas? Need Help!

DMB41
DMB41 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
edited November 2023 in 2018 Archives
Alright, I'm new, and the community has actually helped answer a couple of questions so far.  Here's one I've been struggling with.  I've had the Helios 300, 17 inch for about 2 weeks now.  I have another 2 weeks to decide whether to keep this, or return / exchange it for a different one.  I've spent more time downloading and getting games set up than I have had time to play.  Over the past two nights, I've played Hell Blade (stunning graphics by the way!).  Both times I've played less than 30 minutes.  Both times, my temps went over 90, often up to 95/97, 98.  Last night, while playing, I had a few spots that stuttered to the point that I almost just gave up playing.  I've read the help threads about undervolting, overclocking, using v-sync, changing a bunch of settings, even opening it up and pasting something.  

Here's my question.  As someone new to all of this, should I really need to have to do all of these things in order to make this gaming laptop work?  It's a gaming laptop, I spent over $1,000 for it.  Why wouldn't the factory send it out ready to be able to handle games?  I specifically bought this so that it would be able to play the games I wanted, and to be able to utilize the Oculus (yes, it has the 1060 card).  Shouldn't it work straight out of the box?  Is this something normal for all gaming laptops?  I just went in and did the v-sync, adaptive power mode, updated drivers, but I'm not comfortable or tech saavy to start playing with voltage meters and clocking things.  If I have to do this, is there some software that will do it all for me?  Such as tell it what I want and press a button?  Please help, as I've only got a week or so before I'm going to run out of time to return this.  Should I have bought a higher end model of the Predator?  Sorry for so many questions. I really like this thing so far, but for over 1k, I want this thing to work and last. 

Answers

  • xman1
    xman1 Member Posts: 41 Devotee WiFi Icon
    edited March 2018
    Just some opinions:

    Lots of misinformation about CPU temps here.  The CPU can take under normal operation up to 100C and I am sure there is at least a 10% buffer there from potential damage.  At around 97C, it will start to throttle back to make sure it never sees anything past 100C.  That gets some people upset, but this laptop is a tiny package with big power so heat is to be expected.  I am not sure I have ever played on a gaming laptop where it did not get warm.

    As for repasting, I doubt that will help much.  I've done enough CPU coolers in my time to know that most thermal paste products these days are starting to perform really well.  Max temp differences are going to be minimal though if you use a new paste job and you risk breaking your machine and voiding your warranty.  This is not to mention that I have never had an easy to take apart and put back together laptop.  They almost never seem to go back together the same way.  I bet if you search this forum, you will find people saying it didn't help much too.  The point being is, if you are maxing out your GPU and staying around 80 to 90C with spikes to 95 and very rarely 97, you are doing fine and though a repaste can help some, the repaste is not going to help you much.

    As for your stutters, I have never had that in any games yet.  That could be the game or something going on on your system that is interfering with said game.  One suggestion I would try is to set the affinity for your game one point higher so that it gets priority and try again and shut down all background processes. 

    One last idea...  You might try preventing your CPU from ever entering turbo mode when playing games.  That will make sure your temps never spike and stay lower.  I never found a need to do this yet however.
  • DMB41
    DMB41 Member Posts: 17 Troubleshooter
    Xman, thanks for the help!  I'm on the same thought process about pasting, I'm not even going to make an attempt at that.  

    As far as setting the affinity one point higher, and shut down all background process...I like the sound of that and think it would help.  But, how in the world do I do that, lol.  

    Preventing the CPU from entering turbo mode when playing games...wouldn't I want turbo mode so the fans to kick into high gear?  

    You didn't go into undervolting...should I consider it? 

    Do you think a cooling pad is a good way to go that might help, even a little? I'm pretty sure I could find one that would easily fit in the backpack when I travel, and it would certainly be easily set up at home on my desk.  On the chance you think this is a good idea, do you have any recommendations?  
  • xman1
    xman1 Member Posts: 41 Devotee WiFi Icon
    edited March 2018
    Some models of Predators are hard locked so I am not sure you can even perform and undervolting on some of them. 

    Cooling pad - some people like this idea but I would never use it.  I bought it as a portable game machine and for processing video, not to have it tied to a desk.  Just keep the vents clear in IMHO.

    Affinity - I meant to say priority.  Affinity is where you select which cores an app can use.  Here is one of the first links I googled on priority:  http://mywindowshub.com/set-cpu-priority-level-processes-windows-8-1/

    First Google on turbo mode, though I have not tried this method:  https://www.tautvidas.com/blog/2011/04/disabling-intel-turbo-boost/
    I think if you read the FAQ on this site, it shows an app that can handle this for you.  Disabling Turbo would be my last choice however.  When you get to 97C, the disabling of Turbo is automatic too.  I only suggested this if your game is sensitive to clock changes.  Since all games these days expect clock speed changes due to Turbo, I don't think CPU throttling is going to affect it much.  I suspect something else is going on but not with 100% certainty.
  • Queen6
    Queen6 Member Posts: 319 Skilled Practitioner WiFi Icon
    edited March 2018
    Try following the undervolting guide as it's specifically for the Helios 300:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3v3o21M8gg

    Cooling pads only reduce internal temperatures by a few degrees at best, elevating the rear of the notebook can equal the same effect.  For traveling I use a set of ORICO Aluminium Stands which work well.  Adding both elevation to the rear of the notebook and angling the keyboard.  This prevents the surface/desk heating up and reflecting the heat back to the cooling intakes.  Higher temperature and associated fan noise is the trade off for a thinner lighter system.  I own a Predator 17 it's additional size allows it to run cooler even with a GTX 1070, with undervolt Hell Blade on maximum settings the CPU averages 75C, with the CPU set up for full Turbo of 3.4GHz on all cores.

    Disabling Turbo with ThrottleStop is also effective depending on the game. While old Metro Last Light Redux's built in bench mark remains to be brutal.  When I looked at the results FPS remained basically the same with or without Turbo Boost enabled.  If the game is highly CPU intensive it may negatively effect FPS etc. however if not, disabling Turbo will reduce the operating temperature by a fair margin.

    I have ThrottleStop set up with profiles all undervolted by -131mV (varies CPU to CPU) 1st is full performance, 2nd is for battery and games that don't need Turbo, this both reduces temperature and extends battery life which is important with the Predator 17 as it has no iGPU always running the GTX 1070 to drive the G-Sync display.

    Q-6
  • xman1
    xman1 Member Posts: 41 Devotee WiFi Icon
    Note if you look at my link for disabling turbo boost, that person is also experiencing high temps on a laptop of unknown origin, so you will find the same issue no matter where you go in a tiny package.  It just comes with the idea of a gaming laptop.
  • varun988
    varun988 Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    thanks mate!!!! 
  • varun988
    varun988 Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    disabling turbo boost really helped my cpu temps stays below 65c at my fan speed max!!!!i reduced the processor power management at 75% and cpu doesnt even over heat while playing ac syndicate and wwe2k18!!!!
  • Queen6
    Queen6 Member Posts: 319 Skilled Practitioner WiFi Icon
    edited April 2018
    varun988 said:
    disabling turbo boost really helped my cpu temps stays below 65c at my fan speed max!!!!i reduced the processor power management at 75% and cpu doesnt even over heat while playing ac syndicate and wwe2k18!!!!

    Don't have anything hard & fast, but willing to bet majority of games will run perfectly well with Turbo disabled on a modern quad core processor.  As you can see makes a significant difference to the CPU temp.  Rendering, some scientific & engineering applications need as much performance  as possible (roll on the i9 :) ), games not so much.

    Like a lot of things, that last extra "push" to get the likes of a 7700HQ up to 3.4GHz on all cores has a much larger effect on power consumption and ultimately temperature :)

    Q-6

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