Is it possible to upgrade an Acer Nitro 5 AN515-42's GPU?

Krisobg
Krisobg Member Posts: 14

Tinkerer
edited December 2023 in 2020 Archives
Overall imo it has good specs for a gaming laptop but it seems like the graphics card (AMD RX Vega 8) is dragging it down? (Specs: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/23753261) So I've been wondering if there's a way to replace/upgrade it as I only got this laptop a year ago and it cost me roughly £800 if I recall correctly.

Best Answer

  • Krisobg
    Krisobg Member Posts: 14

    Tinkerer
    Answer ✓
    Just went to the graphics settings, clicked the 'classic' app option, browsed and added my game launchers to there. Then set them to high performance from there and now it seems to work a lot better. Been playing Dark Souls for roughly half an hour and the framerate has been pretty smooth and it hasn't kicked me out of online mode for low FPS. Also when I open Task Manager, click Performance and then GPU 0 (RX 560X GPU) it shows that it's being used.
«1

Answers

  • andylb
    andylb ACE Posts: 3,827 Pathfinder
    No no the GPU in the laptop is not upgrade able. 
    Your model has to GPU’s, dedicated Vega 8 for routine tasks and the Discrete Rx560x for gaming, please follow my waltkthrough below to set up your Rx560x for gaming

    The new AMD Adrenalin 2020 Control Center is designed to give support for your hardware and contains Mobile Driver support for this exact model, the Graphics Drivers on the Acer site are only base drivers. If you haven't already downloaded and installed it then click the link below to download it. If you get a failure installing the new Control Center then download and run DDU https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html for a clean uninstall of your current AMD Center and Drivers then try to install again

    https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-20-1-1

    Most of the problems I have encountered answering questions similar to yours are that users do not have the GPU set up correctly in the Control Center and are gaming on their Dedicated Vega 8 GPU which gives poor performance and is not designed for gaming. I have your exact model and my gaming experience using the AMD 2020 Control Center is good, Follow these instructions

    First make sure you game with your battery charged to 100% BEFORE gaming and KEEP plugged into the main AC power while gaming. Make sure "High Performance when on AC", is selected in your Windows Power Plan and in Nitrosense. If you fail to do this your CPU will run at around 50% of capacity and you will experience poor game performance

    Open the New AMD 2020 Control Center and click the GAMING tab then click the 3 dots in the upper right hand corner and select ADD A GAME, navigate to your games .exe file and double click it to add it, or you can select SCAN FOR GAMES and let the Control Center search your harddrive for games to add. After successfully adding the game click on the game and you will be taken to another window and click the LAUNCH GAME tab.
    Only in this way will your games use the Discrete Rx560x GPU, NEVER launch your game through a desktop shortcut or any other way, do it in the manner I have described.

    Please remember that online gaming may experience low fps and stutter due to the games servers and bottlenecking and that has nothing to do with your GPU.

    PLEASE CLICK YES IF I HAVE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION, THANKYOU




    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    Thank you and have a blessed day  B)

    ★★ ACE Pathfinder 2019★★

  • Krisobg
    Krisobg Member Posts: 14

    Tinkerer
    It looks risky using it... It constantly talks about things going wrong. I think I have to turn off my network and anti-viruses and go into safemode where then I have to open up DDU and clean uninstall both drives? I am not very familiar with technical stuff and have never used this program before so I'm a bit confused...
  • andylb
    andylb ACE Posts: 3,827 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    It is not risky using it, DDU is a safe tested program and is routinely used by users here with zero reported problems but you are right Safemode is better  no need to turn off antivirus. My AMD walkthrough has also been used successfully by many users here. You CANNOT game on the Vega 8 card and that is what you have been trying to do.The answer to your problem is to follow the steps in my post above, this is all about setting up your laptop for gaming and learning how to use your Rx560x GPU. Once again your Vega 8 is NOT for gaming and is more than adequate to perform the routine tasks it is designed for

    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    Thank you and have a blessed day  B)

    ★★ ACE Pathfinder 2019★★

  • Krisobg
    Krisobg Member Posts: 14

    Tinkerer
    Do I need to clean uninstall both or just Vega 8? And after I do that I just have to open up and finish installing Adrenaline 2020? Or do I need to redownload them from the AMD Driver download? 
  • andylb
    andylb ACE Posts: 3,827 Pathfinder
    You are uninstalling the AMD drivers ONLY this has nothing to do with Vega 8. After you uninstalled in Safemode reboot into normal mode and install your AMD drivers from here selecting Windows 10 64 bit, then follow my setup walkthrough above. Please click Yes if I answer your question 
    https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-20-1-1

    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    Thank you and have a blessed day  B)

    ★★ ACE Pathfinder 2019★★

  • Krisobg
    Krisobg Member Posts: 14

    Tinkerer
    Which of the 3 options do I need to click? Clean and restart, Clean and do NOT restart or Clean and Shutdown?
  • GAMING6698
    GAMING6698 ACE Posts: 7,785 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    Krisobg said:
    Overall imo it has good specs for a gaming laptop but it seems like the graphics card (AMD RX Vega 8) is dragging it down? (Specs: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/23753261) So I've been wondering if there's a way to replace/upgrade it as I only got this laptop a year ago and it cost me roughly £800 if I recall correctly.
    You have a great laptop with best gpu why you want to upgrade and you can't upgrade.
    I have same gpu i play high end games in high graphics like dmc5,sekiro,watch dogs,even i play Pugb mobile through gameloop in 4k resolution.

    I check your userbenchmark it showing vega 8 score not rx560x .
    You will get 25.9% score of rx560x.

    Reinstall your gpu driver 
    windows 10/11 optimization guide for gaming 
    Windows 10/11 optimization guide for gaming — Acer Community

    My AN515-43 laptop UserBenchmark-
    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/51514566
  • GAMING6698
    GAMING6698 ACE Posts: 7,785 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    Krisobg said:
    Which of the 3 options do I need to click? Clean and restart, Clean and do NOT restart or Clean and Shutdown?
    Clean and restart then install amd radeon software new one available 20.1.3.after install shutdown give some rest to your laptop after sometime run userbenchmark 
    windows 10/11 optimization guide for gaming 
    Windows 10/11 optimization guide for gaming — Acer Community

    My AN515-43 laptop UserBenchmark-
    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/51514566
  • Krisobg
    Krisobg Member Posts: 14

    Tinkerer
    edited January 2020
    GAMING6698 said:
    Krisobg said:
    Which of the 3 options do I need to click? Clean and restart, Clean and do NOT restart or Clean and Shutdown?
    Clean and restart then install amd radeon software new one available 20.1.3.after install shutdown give some rest to your laptop after sometime run userbenchmark 
    Just did clean and restart, tried to download it but it still showed me error 182.
  • andylb
    andylb ACE Posts: 3,827 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    Update your BIOS to v 1.16 download the file then unzip and double click on the .exe file. Then run Windows update. Then try to install the AMD drivers again
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7605?b=1

    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    Thank you and have a blessed day  B)

    ★★ ACE Pathfinder 2019★★

  • GAMING6698
    GAMING6698 ACE Posts: 7,785 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    Krisobg said:
    GAMING6698 said:
    Krisobg said:
    Which of the 3 options do I need to click? Clean and restart, Clean and do NOT restart or Clean and Shutdown?
    Clean and restart then install amd radeon software new one available 20.1.3.after install shutdown give some rest to your laptop after sometime run userbenchmark 
    Just did clean and restart, tried to download it but it still showed me error 182.
    Your hardware fail to detect compatibility
    Make your downloading and installing correct one direct link--
    https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics/radeon-500-series/radeon-rx-500x-series/radeon-rx-560x
    windows 10/11 optimization guide for gaming 
    Windows 10/11 optimization guide for gaming — Acer Community

    My AN515-43 laptop UserBenchmark-
    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/51514566
  • Krisobg
    Krisobg Member Posts: 14

    Tinkerer
    Alright. So far I've cleaned and restarted by drivers and downloaded a 2020 Adrenaline version for RX 560X. Not sure what I'm supposed to do now but I looked at the gaming category and tried to switch the GPU it uses for games to GPU2 (the RX 560X) however it doesnt show any save button so it just keeps going back to the Vega 8.
  • andylb
    andylb ACE Posts: 3,827 Pathfinder
    Open the New AMD 2020 Control Center and click the GAMING tab then click the 3 dots in the upper right hand corner and select ADD A GAME, navigate to your games .exe file and double click it to add it, or you can select SCAN FOR GAMES and let the Control Center search your harddrive for games to add. After successfully adding the game click on the game and you will be taken to another window and click the LAUNCH GAME tab.
    Only in this way will your games use the Discrete Rx560x GPU, NEVER launch your game through a desktop shortcut or any other way, do it in the manner I have described.

    Please remember that online gaming may experience low fps and stutter due to the games servers and bottlenecking and that has nothing to do with your GPU.

    PLEASE CLICK YES IF I HAVE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION, THANKYOU




    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    Thank you and have a blessed day  B)

    ★★ ACE Pathfinder 2019★★

  • GAMING6698
    GAMING6698 ACE Posts: 7,785 Pathfinder
    Krisobg said:
    Alright. So far I've cleaned and restarted by drivers and downloaded a 2020 Adrenaline version for RX 560X. Not sure what I'm supposed to do now but I looked at the gaming category and tried to switch the GPU it uses for games to GPU2 (the RX 560X) however it doesnt show any save button so it just keeps going back to the Vega 8.
    Is you driver install successfully? .
    Rx560x for gaming when ever you open game from amd software rx560x start working.vega 8 graphic card work when system not demand for performance like when you are on desktop,browsing etc vega 8 power saving graphic card work 
    windows 10/11 optimization guide for gaming 
    Windows 10/11 optimization guide for gaming — Acer Community

    My AN515-43 laptop UserBenchmark-
    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/51514566
  • andylb
    andylb ACE Posts: 3,827 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    Please do this

    Open the New AMD 2020 Control Center and click the GAMING tab then click the 3 dots in the upper right hand corner and select ADD A GAME, navigate to your games .exe file and double click it to add it, or you can select SCAN FOR GAMES and let the Control Center search your harddrive for games to add. After successfully adding the game click on the game and you will be taken to another window and click the LAUNCH GAME tab.
    Only in this way will your games use the Discrete Rx560x GPU and will launch using it as the default, there is no Save tab. NEVER launch your game through a desktop shortcut or any other way, do it in the manner I have described.

    Please remember that online gaming may experience low fps and stutter due to the games servers and bottlenecking and that has nothing to do with your GPU.

    PLEASE CLICK YES IF I HAVE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION, THANKYOU




    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    Thank you and have a blessed day  B)

    ★★ ACE Pathfinder 2019★★

  • andylb
    andylb ACE Posts: 3,827 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    And remember make sure you are set to “High Performance when on AC” in Nitrosense and ALWAYS game with your battery charged to 100% BEFORE gaming and KEEP plugged into the AC while gaming, only in this way will your CPU operate at 100% for maximum game performance

    Please click YES if I have answered your question

    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    Thank you and have a blessed day  B)

    ★★ ACE Pathfinder 2019★★

  • Krisobg
    Krisobg Member Posts: 14

    Tinkerer
    Even though this game can run at roughly 20-30 FPS if I play its Open World missions it stills plays it using Vega 8 
  • andylb
    andylb ACE Posts: 3,827 Pathfinder
    edited January 2020
    Click the Launch Game tab, your screenshot above is showing the minimum requirements for the game not what the game is going to run on. The first check mark is for the Vega 8 and the second is for the Ryzen 5 with the Rx560x, the wording is cut off and it is saying that both these cards meet minimum requirements 

    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    Thank you and have a blessed day  B)

    ★★ ACE Pathfinder 2019★★

  • Krisobg
    Krisobg Member Posts: 14

    Tinkerer
    Just tried it with Dark Souls 3. Read online it should run well on an Acer Nitro 5 but it still feels as rigid as it did when I played it with my Vega 8.
  • andylb
    andylb ACE Posts: 3,827 Pathfinder
    You are gaming with your battery at 100% and keeping it plugged in and you have High Performance selected in Windows power plan settings?

    Please click YES if I answered your question

    I am not an ACER employee
    Thank you and have a blessed day  B)

    ★★ ACE Pathfinder 2019★★

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