Should I return a 2nd unit?

SatansTheory said:

Queen6 said:

Acer will replace the same paste as that's the process their techs/representatives must follow.  Better to take it to a competent local shop with the thermal paste you want to be applied.

30% is a nice reduction, allows you to stick to your original plan, although the new 8th Gen hex core CPU's are more performant the quad core i7 7700HQ remains to be more than capable for the vast majority or people.

TBH as long as the notebook is stable does what you want it to at a reasonable temperature I'd be inclined to leave it as it is.  You can create a profile in ThrottleStop with undervolt and reduced Turbo Ratio Limits, if averaging 75C is a good as it's likely to get with the Predator 17 without undervolting the GPU.

Q-6  

If i take it to a local shop won't it void the two year warranty?

SatansTheory said:

Queen6 said:

Acer will replace the same paste as that's the process their techs/representatives must follow.  Better to take it to a competent local shop with the thermal paste you want to be applied.

30% is a nice reduction, allows you to stick to your original plan, although the new 8th Gen hex core CPU's are more performant the quad core i7 7700HQ remains to be more than capable for the vast majority or people.

TBH as long as the notebook is stable does what you want it to at a reasonable temperature I'd be inclined to leave it as it is.  You can create a profile in ThrottleStop with undervolt and reduced Turbo Ratio Limits, if averaging 75C is a good as it's likely to get with the Predator 17 without undervolting the GPU.

Q-6  

If i take it to a local shop won't it void the two year warranty?

Potentially, much depends on the terms and conditions.  If your concerned just live with the temperature as long as throttling is not present or excessive.  Acer can repaste the CPU/GPU under warranty and it can come back the same, better or worse, as they will use the same thermal compound.

Personally if my Predator 17's temps concerned me I'd just do it myself, as the notebook is straight forward to disassemble.  To be honest with undervolt applied and the Turbo Ratio Limits dialed down a little the temperature is perfectly ok for this design of notebook.  You need to see the average temperature under gaming loads, not the max (log with HWinfo64, then chart with Excel) 80C - 85C is normal for a gaming notebook under heavy load.

My advice is to start enjoying the notebook as intended and don't worry about the temperature unless it presents an issue that interferes with your use.  I've still got old MacBook Pro's kicking around and they can run as hot as 103C under full CPU load and have been hammered over the years, running at 100% for literally days on end, recommended no, although retired they still run...

Q-6

DisplayPort to HDMI adaptor or USB C/TB-3 to HDMI adaptor should work

Q-6