Hello, I recently bought the Acer Predator Helios 300 gaming laptop and was excited to play WoW on max graphics but I started having some issues and was wondering if anyone else has encountered this;
I can run it on max settings half the time, sometimes it works and the other half the time its extremely laggy. Most of the time whether its running well or not I have to keep the fans on max because the entire laptop, CPU and GPU, get hot very quickly. Sometimes I overclock the GPU to “extreme” and it seems like it helps but then other times it doesn’t. I’m not sure if its the laptop itself or something I’m doing wrong.
I’ve read a lot about the laptop from other users and they’ve said that it runs WoW on max perfectly fine so that’s why I’m confused. Has anyone else encountered this or could tell me what I’m doing wrong?
Did you actually need a laptop or are you playing in one spot all the time? Laptop for gaming is only useful if you plan on moving around a lot, otherwise its a big waste of money when a desktop can have better performance for the same value. Also Acer tends to use cheap parts to cut down on cost, they generally don’t make things that really last.
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That sounds an awful lot like your machine is throttling itself because it’s overheating. Gaming laptops are notoriously bad at cooling themselves and overclocking anything will only exacerbate the issue. Make sure you don’t have anything interfering with the vents or intake. Beyond that, you could look into buying a cooling pad for it but that’s about it. There’s not a whole ton you can do to keep a laptop cool.
Other than that, you could check to make sure all of your drivers are up to date. Old or faulty drivers can cause all sorts of issues.
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I knew a guy who played with his laptop on a big box fan he laid flat to keep it cool enough to run.
Yea I try to make sure nothing is blocking the fans. I’m downloading a new driver through GeForce now to see if that helps. So I shouldn’t overclock the GPU ever? even when max settings are on? I was looking at cooling pads the other day so I’ll probably end up getting one.
Overclocking can get a bit messy, especially on laptops. It makes components more powerful at the cost of generating more heat (and shortening their lifespan potentially).
Computers automatically throttle components as they start to approach certain thermal thresholds to prevent serious damage. If it get way too hot, they’ll just shut themselves off.
If you don’t have a good cooling solution what you’ll have happen is sort of a yoyo effect. Your components will hit the thermal thresholds faster, get throttled, cool down, and then repeat.
i run HWinfo to monitor temperatures of gpu to be displayed in the system tray. in general, when temps get above 70 Celsius, throttling kicks in
The problem is the brand of computer you bought : ACER
That company makes the cheapest junk, take it back and trade it for a dell or HP laptop. I like dells they tend to have better components.
Or better yet go on new egg and buy the parts to build a gaming pc it will far out perform any laptop.
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I have a desktop at home but I got the laptop because I go back and forth between places a lot.
Your laptop is throttling from heat. Buy a cooling pad.
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Really? I’ve always heard Dell and HP aren’t great at all
over the last 2 or 3 years dell and hp have uped thier game quite a bit.
Gotchya… that makes sense. So do you think if I buy a good cooling pad and run WoW on max but no overclock it should run fine?
They’re not bad but some of their brands are overpriced. For example, Alienware (owned by Dell) are good machines but you’re paying a premium because it has the logo on it. If you can find one on a good sale go for it but never pay full price.
You should be good with that. I’d recommend getting an active pad (aka has fans) instead of a passive pad. Both work but the active ones work better. It’ll never be cool (it’s a gaming laptop; they just don’t stay cool) but it should keep it from getting hot enough to be a problem.
As a bonus, if you want to double down on the cooling, you can find attachable fans that help suck hot air out faster. You basically plug them in via USB, clamp them on over your outtake, and turn them on. It might make things feel too cluttered though.
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Does the performance tank when run on battery and fine when mains powered?
Also cpu/gpu temps would help.
Quit running at max settings also, won’t look to much different, and will likely help with over heating, it is a laptop, don’t push it so hard, it will not last long.
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I have the same laptop and I don’t have any problem.
I run at max settings, but I built my Desktop n have a Titan X and everything is liquid cooled lol, so I don’t even hear the fans. When I first started playing WoW, I had an AlienWare Area 51, awesome Laptop but overheated also. So I just stick to desktops when gaming.
hmm okay, I’ll have to check them out. Thanks man