FAQ - CPU, GPU, Temps, FPS, Settings, & Other Info

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Answers

  • SolidSnakeFUZ
    SolidSnakeFUZ Member Posts: 19 Troubleshooter
    Who needs undervolt cpu use intel XTU i recomended its very easy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLywuILhtp0
  • Ahmadeno
    Ahmadeno Member Posts: 7 New User
    Hello,
    I bought this acer predator 300 PH318-51 for one week ago and i am worry about temp.
    during this week the temp. from predatorsense as below:
    * during idle or light use ----- (dosen't go above 40 Celsius degree)
    * in installation or copying files it is increased to 50 Celsius degree on avg.
    * but in gaming the temp. goes directly to (75-83) Celsius degree, sometimes hit number around 85 but for a second then returned to previous range, this range (75-80) is on auto fan with coolboost 
    when i use the max fan speed the temp. reduced to 75 Celsius degree most of times ....
    my questions:
    can i use auto fan all times and hit the range (75-83) or this temp. is harm ?
    can i use external cooling bad instead of undervolted the cpu ?
    can i turned on the coolboost all times when i am playing ?
    also can i use the max fan speed always when playing ?

    i am worry about my new laptop and i dont know what is the best solution and usage that i can make it ....
  • Red-Sand
    Red-Sand ACE Posts: 1,892 Pathfinder
    @Ahmadeno those temps are fine @ auto
    - Hotel Hero
  • Skelomorph
    Skelomorph ACE Posts: 463 Pioneer
    I would like to thank @Red-Sand for his continued answering in this thread. I have been sidetracked by the real life and have been unable to focus on these forums and the FB group. I'll begin working on updating the original post in the next couple of days with some more information, as well as getting my own laptop back into working, modified order (Modifications can be found at the FB group, and video guides by Red-Sand can be found on YouTube under Hotel Hero. Thanks again Red-Sand AKA Hotel Hero AKA Opoka Opoka).

    Skelo
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    Product: Acer Predator Helios 300
    Model: G3-571
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  • Rz777
    Rz777 Member Posts: 18 Troubleshooter
    Hi guys!

    I have a PH317-52 for almost 1 week, the one with i7-8750H and GTX 1060 6GB. So far, I'm totally hyped about it.

    I read the whole article and it is extremely useful. Yet I only saw one guy (correct me if there are more) that has the same laptop as mine and I have some issues. I played NFS Payback, Mass effect Andromeda, The Division and CS GO. Basically, on high or ultra settings, using no tweak, the temperatures are as follows:
    CPU: stable at 82C with spikes at 92-94C
    GPU: stable at 70 with spikes 76C (surprisingly)

    1. I can see from your comments that these temperatures are fine, yet in all games (even in CS GO, which is an old game), from time to time, I get a huge FPS drop (15 FPS for example) for 5 seconds or so and than, it comes back to normal. At that moment CPU temp spikes occur and I am really curious about the reason behind it.

    2. I will try undervolting the GPU at some point, even though I don't find it necessary yet (but why not push it to the "safe" limits?) BUT what about the CPU? In XTU will theoretically work for a list of processors, list in which I cannot find mine: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24075/Intel-Extreme-Tuning-Utility-Intel-XTU-  Even so, is it safe to undervolt it? And by how much? (I only saw a guide for the i7-7700HQ, which amazingly is not on XTU psupported processor list, only the K variant is)

    3. Finally, can you recommend a good cooling pad? Existential dilemma here.... kidding.

    Thank you guys, you have my beer if you come to Romania!
  • Skelomorph
    Skelomorph ACE Posts: 463 Pioneer
    edited June 2018
    Rz777 said:
    Hi guys!

    I have a PH317-52 for almost 1 week, the one with i7-8750H and GTX 1060 6GB. So far, I'm totally hyped about it.

    I read the whole article and it is extremely useful. Yet I only saw one guy (correct me if there are more) that has the same laptop as mine and I have some issues. I played NFS Payback, Mass effect Andromeda, The Division and CS GO. Basically, on high or ultra settings, using no tweak, the temperatures are as follows:
    CPU: stable at 82C with spikes at 92-94C
    GPU: stable at 70 with spikes 76C (surprisingly)

    1. I can see from your comments that these temperatures are fine, yet in all games (even in CS GO, which is an old game), from time to time, I get a huge FPS drop (15 FPS for example) for 5 seconds or so and than, it comes back to normal. At that moment CPU temp spikes occur and I am really curious about the reason behind it.

    2. I will try undervolting the GPU at some point, even though I don't find it necessary yet (but why not push it to the "safe" limits?) BUT what about the CPU? In XTU will theoretically work for a list of processors, list in which I cannot find mine: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24075/Intel-Extreme-Tuning-Utility-Intel-XTU-  Even so, is it safe to undervolt it? And by how much? (I only saw a guide for the i7-7700HQ, which amazingly is not on XTU psupported processor list, only the K variant is)

    3. Finally, can you recommend a good cooling pad? Existential dilemma here.... kidding.

    Thank you guys, you have my beer if you come to Romania!
    OK here we go. 

    The laptop reaches those temperatures on any game due to the fan curve. Only when the temperature is high enough does the fan begin to spin fast enough to dissapate the heat sufficiently. This is why even old games cause higher temperatures because it is constantly making heat. So it is designed to run and maintain those temperatures. 

    1. Take a look under the post for fps drops. A lot of it has to do with screen overlays. 

    2. Cpu undervolt is easiest using ThrottleStop, for which there is a link to a video guide in the op. GPU undervolt is harder and more complex. Undervolting is safe, but will cause the laptop to crash (cpu shuts itself down from harm). I would just use the values in the video for you to start. All 7th Gen cpus seem to be able to handle an undervolt of - 0.100, but I run mine at - 0.125.

    3. Any cooling pad will do as long as it gives clearance under the laptop. I got this one. I never use the fan, just to keep it raised off my table/bed/lap. Was on sale at the time for like $13.
    https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-NotePal-Ultra-Slim-R9-NBC-XSLI-GP/dp/B005C31HC0/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528391484&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=Cooler+master+cooling+pad+slim&dpPl=1&dpID=41iwTUhYqWL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

    Was on phone so errors galore. 

    Skelo
    Please quote me so I get a notification of your reply!
    If I helped you, like my post and/or select my post as 'Solved'.
    Please put your laptop model in your signature so we can know what device you have.
    Product: Acer Predator Helios 300
    Model: G3-571
    "Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened."
    - Dr. Seuss
  • Rz777
    Rz777 Member Posts: 18 Troubleshooter
    Skelomorph said:
    OK here we go. 

    The laptop reaches those temperatures on any game due to the fan curve. Only when the temperature is high enough does the fan begin to spin fast enough to dissapate the heat sufficiently. This is why even old games cause higher temperatures because it is constantly making heat. So it is designed to run and maintain those temperatures. 

    1. Take a look under the post for fps drops. A lot of it has to do with screen overlays. 

    2. Cpu undervolt is easiest using ThrottleStop, for which there is a link to a video guide in the op. GPU undervolt is harder and more complex. Undervolting is safe, but will cause the laptop to crash (cpu shuts itself down from harm). I would just use the values in the video for you to start. All 7th Gen cpus seem to be able to handle an undervolt of - 0.100, but I run mine at - 0.125.

    3. Any cooling pad will do as long as it gives clearance under the laptop. I got this one. I never use the fan, just to keep it raised off my table/bed/lap. Was on sale at the time for like $13.
    https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-NotePal-Ultra-Slim-R9-NBC-XSLI-GP/dp/B005C31HC0/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528391484&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=Cooler+master+cooling+pad+slim&dpPl=1&dpID=41iwTUhYqWL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

    Was on phone so errors galore. 

    Skelo
    Thanks!

    I totally understand the idea of fan curve, but I usually set the fans to max in predator sense before starting a game, plus the temperatures seem fine to me.
    1. Checked everything on 5. FPS Drop Solutions. What I think is that win 10 starts some random process that uses the CPU, causing the game to freeze, but that's hard to trace. Any other Ideas?

    2. Ok, than I will undervolt the CPU with -0.100 for the beginning, there is no reason why the 8th gen won't take it. I'm doing this firstly because it might stop fps drops and secondly to drop the temperatures a bit.

    3. Thanks for the advice, by how much does your cooling pad actually cool your laptop?
  • Skelomorph
    Skelomorph ACE Posts: 463 Pioneer
    Rz777 said:
    Skelomorph said:
    OK here we go. 

    The laptop reaches those temperatures on any game due to the fan curve. Only when the temperature is high enough does the fan begin to spin fast enough to dissapate the heat sufficiently. This is why even old games cause higher temperatures because it is constantly making heat. So it is designed to run and maintain those temperatures. 

    1. Take a look under the post for fps drops. A lot of it has to do with screen overlays. 

    2. Cpu undervolt is easiest using ThrottleStop, for which there is a link to a video guide in the op. GPU undervolt is harder and more complex. Undervolting is safe, but will cause the laptop to crash (cpu shuts itself down from harm). I would just use the values in the video for you to start. All 7th Gen cpus seem to be able to handle an undervolt of - 0.100, but I run mine at - 0.125.

    3. Any cooling pad will do as long as it gives clearance under the laptop. I got this one. I never use the fan, just to keep it raised off my table/bed/lap. Was on sale at the time for like $13.
    https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-NotePal-Ultra-Slim-R9-NBC-XSLI-GP/dp/B005C31HC0/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528391484&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=Cooler+master+cooling+pad+slim&dpPl=1&dpID=41iwTUhYqWL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

    Was on phone so errors galore. 

    Skelo
    Thanks!

    I totally understand the idea of fan curve, but I usually set the fans to max in predator sense before starting a game, plus the temperatures seem fine to me.
    1. Checked everything on 5. FPS Drop Solutions. What I think is that win 10 starts some random process that uses the CPU, causing the game to freeze, but that's hard to trace. Any other Ideas?

    2. Ok, than I will undervolt the CPU with -0.100 for the beginning, there is no reason why the 8th gen won't take it. I'm doing this firstly because it might stop fps drops and secondly to drop the temperatures a bit.

    3. Thanks for the advice, by how much does your cooling pad actually cool your laptop?
    1. It can be many different things. Such as settings in Nvidia control panel, Nvidia GeForce experience, background applications, steam fps and recording overlays, etc. 

    2. 8th Gen and 7th Gen are different series and architectures, so the undervolt for 8th is likely different from the 7th. 

    3. It probably does 5-9c difference honestly on the cooling pad VS a flat surface. 

    Skelo
    Please quote me so I get a notification of your reply!
    If I helped you, like my post and/or select my post as 'Solved'.
    Please put your laptop model in your signature so we can know what device you have.
    Product: Acer Predator Helios 300
    Model: G3-571
    "Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened."
    - Dr. Seuss
  • sri369
    sri369 ACE Posts: 2,804 Pathfinder
    edited June 2018
    Use and external USB fan and try bumping the laptop feet by about half a cm or one cm.
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  • Rz777
    Rz777 Member Posts: 18 Troubleshooter
    edited June 2018
    I played with undervolting using ThrottleStop, which lowered the temps by almost 10C, but couldn't get the processor to 4.1gh in max load. Yet, I had some annoying lag in Mass Effect Andromed.
    Then I bought a cooling pad with 4 fans (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trust-GXT-Notebook-Cooling-Stand/dp/B019XX69EA) and things got a lot better. Played Mass Effect Andromeda for 4 hours with no lag whatsoever and the temps where 70-80C CPU and 67-68C GPU.
    Unfortunately, in CS GO, I still get that huge FPS drop from time to time, even though the temps are much lower in this game, it is not related to the temps. As I said, checked everything you wrote in the FPS drop section, any other ideas?
  • Skree
    Skree Member Posts: 97 Fixer WiFi Icon
    Could you extrapolate what you mean by fps drops? i mean, from 200 to 150 is one thing, from 200 to 20 entirely another.
  • Rz777
    Rz777 Member Posts: 18 Troubleshooter
    I wrote in my first post that it usually drops to 15 fps. This happends for 1 to 5 seconds max.
  • Goldark
    Goldark Member Posts: 16 Troubleshooter
    Rz777, do you have CS GO installed to your hard drive or your SSD?  I've noticed that many older games installed to my hard drive will sporadically drop my FPS to 15-20 for 1 or 2 seconds while it loads a sound file.  It's like the hard drive is bottlenecking me or something.  Uninstalling the game and moving it to my SSD has worked in all cases I've encountered this.  Just a shot in the dark.  I don't have the same model Predator as yours I don't think, but thought I'd throw it out there anyway.
  • Rz777
    Rz777 Member Posts: 18 Troubleshooter
    edited June 2018
    Goldark said:
    Rz777, do you have CS GO installed to your hard drive or your SSD?  I've noticed that many older games installed to my hard drive will sporadically drop my FPS to 15-20 for 1 or 2 seconds while it loads a sound file.  It's like the hard drive is bottlenecking me or something.  Uninstalling the game and moving it to my SSD has worked in all cases I've encountered this.  Just a shot in the dark.  I don't have the same model Predator as yours I don't think, but thought I'd throw it out there anyway.
    I don't have an ssd yet, but I will buy one and try it.

    Last night I played AC Origins on med-high settings and it works well on 60-70 fps but from time to time it drops to 2 fps. Check this out 

    So I disabled AA and AO and things worked well for some time, but then fps drops came back.
  • Skelomorph
    Skelomorph ACE Posts: 463 Pioneer
    edited June 2018
    Rz777 said:
    Goldark said:
    Rz777, do you have CS GO installed to your hard drive or your SSD?  I've noticed that many older games installed to my hard drive will sporadically drop my FPS to 15-20 for 1 or 2 seconds while it loads a sound file.  It's like the hard drive is bottlenecking me or something.  Uninstalling the game and moving it to my SSD has worked in all cases I've encountered this.  Just a shot in the dark.  I don't have the same model Predator as yours I don't think, but thought I'd throw it out there anyway.
    I don't have an ssd yet, but I will buy one and try it.

    Last night I played AC Origins on med-high settings and it works well on 60-70 fps but from time to time it drops to 2 fps. Check this out 

    So I disabled AA and AO and things worked well for some time, but then fps drops came back.
    It seems as if there is something running in the background (could be cpu or i/o usage). I know it is possible to use Performance Monitor in Windows to track application usage. Sadly, I personally have never experienced drops like this when playing games. A HDD bottleneck could very well be the issue. Do you not have any SSD at all to try installing the game on? How about the audio stutter lag that is known to CS:GO?

    Try reading down through here: https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/6mldl4/found_a_fix_for_anyone_that_may_be_experiencing/.

    Skelo
    Please quote me so I get a notification of your reply!
    If I helped you, like my post and/or select my post as 'Solved'.
    Please put your laptop model in your signature so we can know what device you have.
    Product: Acer Predator Helios 300
    Model: G3-571
    "Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened."
    - Dr. Seuss
  • Rz777
    Rz777 Member Posts: 18 Troubleshooter
    edited June 2018
    Skelomorph said:
    Rz777 said:
    Goldark said:
    Rz777, do you have CS GO installed to your hard drive or your SSD?  I've noticed that many older games installed to my hard drive will sporadically drop my FPS to 15-20 for 1 or 2 seconds while it loads a sound file.  It's like the hard drive is bottlenecking me or something.  Uninstalling the game and moving it to my SSD has worked in all cases I've encountered this.  Just a shot in the 
    It seems as if there is something running in the background (could be cpu or i/o usage). I know it is possible to use Performance Monitor in Windows to track application usage. Sadly, I personally have never experienced drops like this when playing games. A HDD bottleneck could very well be the issue. Do you not have any SSD at all to try installing the game on? How about the audio stutter lag that is known to CS:GO?

    Try reading down through here: https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/6mldl4/found_a_fix_for_anyone_that_may_be_experiencing/.

    Skelo
    I don't have an ssd installed, but i'm looking forward to buying a relatively cheap 240gb m.2 it's around 70-80$.

    Read the post on reddit, but the drops occur randomly, not in gun fights or while looking on mid and i exeprienced drops on all maps. There is no audio stutter lag in CS GO, but from time to time, I still get fps drops (from 170 to 15) muuuch less frequent than in AC Origins though. The interesting thing is that in Mass Effect Andromeda i have no lag whatsoever and contantly 70 fps on high settings. 

    P.s. i think it should be mentioned that I allways keep vsync off

    P.p.s. i also played with xtu and undervolted the cpu by .100v, seems like during stress tests it only gets to 3.9 ghz, compared with 4.1 ghz when it's not undervolted. (I7-8750H)
  • Skelomorph
    Skelomorph ACE Posts: 463 Pioneer
    edited June 2018
    Rz777 said:
    Skelomorph said:
    Rz777 said:
    Goldark said:
    Rz777, do you have CS GO installed to your hard drive or your SSD?  I've noticed that many older games installed to my hard drive will sporadically drop my FPS to 15-20 for 1 or 2 seconds while it loads a sound file.  It's like the hard drive is bottlenecking me or something.  Uninstalling the game and moving it to my SSD has worked in all cases I've encountered this.  Just a shot in the 
    It seems as if there is something running in the background (could be cpu or i/o usage). I know it is possible to use Performance Monitor in Windows to track application usage. Sadly, I personally have never experienced drops like this when playing games. A HDD bottleneck could very well be the issue. Do you not have any SSD at all to try installing the game on? How about the audio stutter lag that is known to CS:GO?

    Try reading down through here: https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalOffensive/comments/6mldl4/found_a_fix_for_anyone_that_may_be_experiencing/.

    Skelo
    I don't have an ssd installed, but i'm looking forward to buying a relatively cheap 240gb m.2 it's around 70-80$.

    Read the post on reddit, but the drops occur randomly, not in gun fights or while looking on mid and i exeprienced drops on all maps. There is no audio stutter lag in CS GO, but from time to time, I still get fps drops (from 170 to 15) muuuch less frequent than in AC Origins though. The interesting thing is that in Mass Effect Andromeda i have no lag whatsoever and contantly 70 fps on high settings. 

    P.s. i think it should be mentioned that I allways keep vsync off

    P.p.s. i also played with xtu and undervolted the cpu by .100v, seems like during stress tests it only gets to 3.9 ghz, compared with 4.1 ghz when it's not undervolted. (I7-8750H)
    The post also mentions random drops from i/o hard drive bottleneck issues and possible solutions. Did you try any of those? The one about preloading. 

    Skelo
    Please quote me so I get a notification of your reply!
    If I helped you, like my post and/or select my post as 'Solved'.
    Please put your laptop model in your signature so we can know what device you have.
    Product: Acer Predator Helios 300
    Model: G3-571
    "Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened."
    - Dr. Seuss
  • Rz777
    Rz777 Member Posts: 18 Troubleshooter
    Skelomorph said:

    The post also mentions random drops from i/o hard drive bottleneck issues and possible solutions. Did you try any of those? The one about preloading. 

    Skelo
    No, but I will try it. I had an older acer, much cheaper and not performant at all and had no issue in CS GO. This becomes a bit frustrating, buying an expensive gaming laptop and having issues in games, but i like it too much to change it.
    Thanks for the help here!
  • Skelomorph
    Skelomorph ACE Posts: 463 Pioneer
    Rz777 said:
    Skelomorph said:

    The post also mentions random drops from i/o hard drive bottleneck issues and possible solutions. Did you try any of those? The one about preloading. 

    Skelo
    No, but I will try it. I had an older acer, much cheaper and not performant at all and had no issue in CS GO. This becomes a bit frustrating, buying an expensive gaming laptop and having issues in games, but i like it too much to change it.
    Thanks for the help here!
    Sadly, that is one of the drawbacks about newer vs older technology. The newer technology has so much more ability to modify game play, that simple and older games suffer from it. However, a lot of these issues stem from these types of laptops, where you have a NVIDIA GPU and an Intel GPU. The past 2 years they have slowly began to finally fix this issue, but not totally. Another is all of the changes Microsoft is making in Windows 10.

    Skelo
    Please quote me so I get a notification of your reply!
    If I helped you, like my post and/or select my post as 'Solved'.
    Please put your laptop model in your signature so we can know what device you have.
    Product: Acer Predator Helios 300
    Model: G3-571
    "Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened."
    - Dr. Seuss
  • sri369
    sri369 ACE Posts: 2,804 Pathfinder
    Goldark said:
    Rz777, do you have CS GO installed to your hard drive or your SSD?  I've noticed that many older games installed to my hard drive will sporadically drop my FPS to 15-20 for 1 or 2 seconds while it loads a sound file.  It's like the hard drive is bottlenecking me or something.  Uninstalling the game and moving it to my SSD has worked in all cases I've encountered this.  Just a shot in the dark.  I don't have the same model Predator as yours I don't think, but thought I'd throw it out there anyway.
    This happened to me... no frame drops, but longer load times. I split my steam install directory - old one on old HDD, and one on the new partition made on the SSD I got with the laptop. And moved the heavy weight games to SSD. Incidentally moving to SSD made games like RUST and Ghost Recon Wildlands and Far Cry load much sooner - very noticeable when switching missions on GR-Wildlands and RUST loading time. I didn't experience any frame drops though, so can't comment on that.
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