Acer Predator Helios 300 - Battery drain while gaming - Charger is plugged in

xapim said:

solocapers said:

@xapim Without being rude, undervolting and re-applying thermal paste is the go to answer on here for everything. If the machines cooling is poorly optimised then the blame should be laying straight at Acer's door. Not on the user. Dropping off a fraction of a volt by undervolting isnt going to chip in to the discrepancy when the system is running at full power regardless. Yes if the temperatures are a little high but not in this case that simply the power draw is too much for the power brick to handle.

Simply put, Acer have supplied a 130w power supply for a laptop thats draining probably in the region of 150w when the system is running at full speed...Its not the battery's fault.

Optimise windows you say, how exactly? Its not going to make the laptop more power efficient in performance mode. Thats the whole point of performance mode. To run at full performance. And with that, its draining the battery due to the power brick not being able to keep up.

"no matter what brand you go expensive or not you will always get the same specs" I dont mean to be rude but thats complete and utter nonsense. Other OEM's provide different watted power supply's depending on how they've specced their machine. "it's not a defect its a feature" good grief. 

Yes, you may be correct in that a desktop is usually better prepared for this however a simple thing such as providing an adequate power supply should be the bread and butter. This wouldn't likely be a problem had they provided the same power brick as they do with the 1060 specced laptop.

This post may sound like a rant and I apologise if it comes over that way however your post isnt helpful in the slightest and is only sticking up for Acer for no real reason. 

Repasting, undervolting and tweaking windows isnt going to fix a 20w gap in power consumption when running at top clock speeds and usage.

solocapers you can always pay the extra cash for the H500 which has the best cooling system available in the market but it was you choice to got for the budget option so either you stick with it or fix it as i said i never had any issues with mine and again you have 135w adapter not 130 that doesn't exists and i cant understand if you say other manufacturers are better and don't have the same wattage on the adapters why don't u get one of those instead and all your issues are solved (not being rude but i am tired of reading in general everyone moaning about this not happy with it it should be you problem because i am pretty happy best laptop i had ever had and i have been with acer for almost 10 years now wouldn't swap even it it was for free) i did my research pretty well before i bought it maybe it's time everyone to do the same to avoid keeping moaning (not being rude just stating true facts) and in my view a gaming laptop it's not for any average user requires a bit of expertise to tweak it properly to the best settings and requires a lot of TLC so not for the average user who can't solve any issues that might arise it requires average IT knowledge not beginners.

And the issue here is in order to be able to provide enough power for the high performance cpu/gpu without frying the mobo at the same time because the H300 mobos were not made to support much more than 180w either fry in time or brick but hey there's no point in spending any time here explaining or trying to explain how a motherboard and it's components (chips transistors etc...) work and what might happen to them if you provide more power than what they support (all mobos are capped though so even with a more powerful adapter than the recommended it will not work) anyway i'm just here to help in the best i can and your only solutions are either buy a 180w adapter and see if it works for you or just return it because there's no other solutions for this.

And regarding applying thermal paste yes its the solution (for most especially me even if i have no need to) as everyone knows that all manufacturers use the cheapest thermal paste there is (as its obvious and sometimes really bad repastes for what i had seen i wouldn't do that kind of job even to my worst enemy) it's just useless i repasted mine first day i got it brand new and the factory paste was rock solid so yeah spend some money on a good paste like kryonaut it changes everything and i do the same on all my machines doesn't matter new or old it's just common sense and seems to me you just complained about all the suggestions given above and u state that none of that should be done by the end user i'm sorry to inform you that if you don't optimize/undervolt and maybe repaste you will never have any kind of expected performance on a gaming laptop (except maybe on the H500 if well repasted from factory) you will always have constantly battery issues and bsods/crashes and the meaning of undervolting do you actually know what that means  in fact ? its lowering the voltage (less power consuming and less heat) with the same clocks and performance seems to me you still have a lot to learn i would start to research it properly before you state it's not solution for anything or even buying another gaming laptop as u stated you are returning it because it's doesn't perform the way you expected to, i understand it might be a bit complicated for you to deal with the right voltage values to apply to your cpu (and there is also the silicone lottery you might end up with a good cpu or a bad cpu which nothing you do to try to lower the temps will work not even repasting i had seen cases like that) but there are TS configs pre made for most of the H300/H500 cpus so the work is all done just copy/paste mostly thanks to @red-sand for all the time put into providing those confs and videos available to everyone

xapim said:

Richard1971 said:

xapim said:

solocapers said:

@xapim Without being rude, undervolting and re-applying thermal paste is the go to answer on here for everything. If the machines cooling is poorly optimised then the blame should be laying straight at Acer's door. Not on the user. Dropping off a fraction of a volt by undervolting isnt going to chip in to the discrepancy when the system is running at full power regardless. Yes if the temperatures are a little high but not in this case that simply the power draw is too much for the power brick to handle.

Simply put, Acer have supplied a 130w power supply for a laptop thats draining probably in the region of 150w when the system is running at full speed...Its not the battery's fault.

Optimise windows you say, how exactly? Its not going to make the laptop more power efficient in performance mode. Thats the whole point of performance mode. To run at full performance. And with that, its draining the battery due to the power brick not being able to keep up.

"no matter what brand you go expensive or not you will always get the same specs" I dont mean to be rude but thats complete and utter nonsense. Other OEM's provide different watted power supply's depending on how they've specced their machine. "it's not a defect its a feature" good grief. 

Yes, you may be correct in that a desktop is usually better prepared for this however a simple thing such as providing an adequate power supply should be the bread and butter. This wouldn't likely be a problem had they provided the same power brick as they do with the 1060 specced laptop.

This post may sound like a rant and I apologise if it comes over that way however your post isnt helpful in the slightest and is only sticking up for Acer for no real reason. 

Repasting, undervolting and tweaking windows isnt going to fix a 20w gap in power consumption when running at top clock speeds and usage.

solocapers you can always pay the extra cash for the H500 which has the best cooling system available in the market but it was you choice to got for the budget option so either you stick with it or fix it as i said i never had any issues with mine and again you have 135w adapter not 130 that doesn't exists and i cant understand if you say other manufacturers are better and don't have the same wattage on the adapters why don't u get one of those instead and all your issues are solved (not being rude but i am tired of reading in general everyone moaning about this not happy with it it should be you problem because i am pretty happy best laptop i had ever had and i have been with acer for almost 10 years now wouldn't swap even it it was for free) i did my research pretty well before i bought it maybe it's time everyone to do the same to avoid keeping moaning (not being rude just stating true facts) and in my view a gaming laptop it's not for any average user requires a bit of expertise to tweak it properly to the best settings and requires a lot of TLC so not for the average user who can't solve any issues that might arise it requires average IT knowledge not beginners.

And the issue here is in order to be able to provide enough power for the high performance cpu/gpu without frying the mobo at the same time because the H300 mobos were not made to support much more than 180w either fry in time or brick but hey there's no point in spending any time here explaining or trying to explain how a motherboard and it's components (chips transistors etc...) work and what might happen to them if you provide more power than what they support (all mobos are capped though so even with a more powerful adapter than the recommended it will not work) anyway i'm just here to help in the best i can and your only solutions are either buy a 180w adapter and see if it works for you or just return it because there's no other solutions for this.

And regarding applying thermal paste yes its the solution (for most especially me even if i have no need to) as everyone knows that all manufacturers use the cheapest thermal paste there is (as its obvious and sometimes really bad repastes for what i had seen i wouldn't do that kind of job even to my worst enemy) it's just useless i repasted mine first day i got it brand new and the factory paste was rock solid so yeah spend some money on a good paste like kryonaut it changes everything and i do the same on all my machines doesn't matter new or old it's just common sense and seems to me you just complained about all the suggestions given above and u state that none of that should be done by the end user i'm sorry to inform you that if you don't optimize/undervolt and maybe repaste you will never have any kind of expected performance on a gaming laptop (except maybe on the H500 if well repasted from factory) you will always have constantly battery issues and bsods/crashes and the meaning of undervolting do you actually know what that means  in fact ? its lowering the voltage (less power consuming and less heat) with the same clocks and performance seems to me you still have a lot to learn i would start to research it properly before you state it's not solution for anything or even buying another gaming laptop as u stated you are returning it because it's doesn't perform the way you expected to, i understand it might be a bit complicated for you to deal with the right voltage values to apply to your cpu (and there is also the silicone lottery you might end up with a good cpu or a bad cpu which nothing you do to try to lower the temps will work not even repasting i had seen cases like that) but there are TS configs pre made for most of the H300/H500 cpus so the work is all done just copy/paste mostly thanks to @red-sand for all the time put into providing those confs and videos available to everyone

Sorry but I signed up just to tell you that you are talking utter nonsense. Other manufacturers do not do the same thing at all. I recently upgraded ( downgraded now it seems ) to the Helios 300 with the RTX 2070 in from an Asus ROG that had a GTX 1070 and had NO battery drain issues whatsoever. In fact this is the 1st gaming laptop that I have ever had this issue with and after seeing my battery lower than full after playing while connected to the charger I went straight to google to see if there was an issue and found this thread.

You saying that people need to do research and that gaming laptops are not for the average user is just laughable , the only research someone should have to do when buying a laptop is that it will be suitable for the use you intend to use it for. Where quite frankly this gaming laptop falls well short of being suitable for its use. I shouldnt be sitting here gaming wondering if im suddenly going to lose power or performance because my battery is busy draining. Thats the stupidest thing I have ever heard ... and no , a gaming laptop should require less user knowledge that a full fledged PC .. a laptop should just work and do what you want it to do and not have an IT background to baby it.
I sure as hell didnt spend almost £2000 on a laptop that I need to baby and provide TLC to make it work ffs , ridiculous.

As for the thermal paste , well again the laptop should just work and do what it was sold and advertised to do and not require anyone to take the bottom off it to re-paste it. The only thing that would do anyway is help the unit get rid of its heat a little better , causing it to run at full power for longer and draining the battery quicker. I get it laptops need better paste for better heat management but they thermal throttle if you didnt re-paste and in this case thermal throttling would scale power use back and not drain the freaking battery.
This laptop is working and providing the speed I require and its heat management is aqueduct , I will get around to re-pasting if I keep it eventually but the performance is as expected now so I dont see the point of invalidating my warranty .. which yes , taking the bottom off will do. The only thing it doesnt do , is have a power supply and or a motherboard inside that is up for the job it was sold to do. End of story , no excuses .. it didnt have a sticker on it saying .. warning only IT qualified people and must have skill at re-pasting as requires babying and TLC to get around battery loss on it when I bought it.
So maybe if you insist on telling everyone with issues to re-paste , maybe in future make sure you let them know that the warranty is void if they do.

Overall your just talking nonsense and just praising a company for producing a laptop that cannot do the job it was sold to do. Your responses here are so defensive its almost as though you are embarrassed with the purchase you made and feel the need to defend that bad purchase by defending Acer for selling a gaming laptop that is not up to the job it was sold for.

I sure as hell will never be buying this brand again and wish I had kept my Asus RoG or at least bought a newer model ... at least my battery would never drain while being plugged in. I sure as heck am embarrassed that I spent all this money on a gaming laptop that doesnt have the components to support its use.
and just for the record mine came with the 180w power pack and that still doesnt cut it

Richard1971 sorry to disagree with you but youre the one that do not make sense and say nonsense its the same on all gaming laptops from all manufacturers they all behave the same so good luck changing brand's youll get the same if you dont like what i said its one thing youre on your own right to but its the reality and thats how it works so its not nonsense at all also you need to tweak everything yourself to get the best performance of any machine if you dunno how to do so please learn it and my discussion on this ends here i have nothing else to say about it period

PS: Also im not defending anyone i have been working with acer laptops since 2008 never had a single issue i cant say the same about asus/hp/compaq exc... and i dont fix laptops/desktops for a living because i dont make a living out of it but already have my share for years fixing/cleaning them for friends etc and i do tell everyone that they can only repaste themselves if they dont have any stickers/seals neither damage anything by doing it i never advised anyone to repaste it to void the warranty plus in the US/CA you are free to open any device you will not loose the warranty also in UK i repasted mine the first week i got it and my warranty its intact in fact i extended for 3 years still valid till 2021 and no im not embarrassed of any of the acer devices i have all still alive and working cant say the same about other brands in fact im very proud of being an acer owner for more than 10 years if it wasnt good i wouldnt keep buying it

<<<I sure as hell will never be buying this brand again and wish I had kept my Asus RoG or at least bought a newer model ... >>>>
Well dunno about the ROG but TUF its a complete waste of money just rubbish and too expensive for the rubbish specs had a co worker here that bought one returned it after 1 month and went to the shop every week with a new issue that they didnt solved i told him to get a nitro 5 instead less expensive and much better and thats what he did and i also repasted and upgraded his nitro 5 to the 32gb 2666 hyperx i used to have (have vengeance now) m.2 ssd etc and its working perfectly since no issues also optimized and undervolted and its the exacty same specs as the OP above

solocapers and yes in my personal opinion thermal paste should be changed for a better one if you can (without voiding the warranty) even if you dont have thermal issues as the stock tends to be bad cpu shouldnt go over 85'ish and gpu 70/75 max you shoul know that as you say youre an (IT) expert hey i dont have any fancy paper saying that im qualified to do anything i didnt studied for it that doesnt mean i cant do it neither i dont know what im doing or does it ?????

That doesnt give anyone the right to say someone doesnt know nothing about what hes doing/talking about and ex i have seen/meet/dealt with many supposed IT experts that they are utterly useless they didnt really know what they are doing i suppose they probably got their fancy certification papers in the cereals package as its the only explanation for such and i wouldnt trust to give them any of my devices for them to fix even if it was for free fortunately i can do it myself.

And anyone of you can try and get a more powerful adapter but i doubt it would work if the mobo has limits in the input also undervolting its the sonly solution without repasting in fact Acer was the first manufacturer to implement undervolting on stock units in all H300 2019 thankfully they accepted the recommendations of many users here and followed thru with it not all manufacturers listen to any customers recommendations and im still to see any other manufacturer to follow these steps