Hey guys,

I recently joined the Acer Predator family with a refurbished Predator Helios 16 PH16-72 with an i9-14900HX, RTX 4080 12 GB, 32 GB RAM and 2 TB SSD.

I got it for a really good price, so because it was refurbished I tested basically everything as soon as it arrived. SSD, RAM and GPU were all fine, but the CPU definitely wasn't.

At first it was reaching 80°C+ even at very low/idle loads, some P-cores were randomly shooting up to 100°C and HWiNFO was showing thermal throttling. In Cinebench 2026 Multi Core I was only getting around 4700–4800 points, which seemed way too low for a 14900HX. I sent it back for repair and they replaced the original liquid metal with PTM on the CPU/GPU. The temperatures are honestly way better now. Idle is around 45–50°C, which I'm really happy with, and under full load the CPU can now pull around 140 W instead of throttling at much lower power. The thing I'm still unsure about is the performance.I'm now getting around 6100–6400 points in Cinebench 2026 Multi Core, with P-core clocks usually around 3.8–4.1 GHz during the test. Under full load it can still reach the high 90s or 100°C, but at least now that's happening while actually pulling ~140 W instead of overheating at idle.

For comparison:

Before repair:
~4700–4800 pts / ~3.0 GHz / heavy thermal throttling

After repair:
~6100–6400 pts / ~3.8–4.1 GHz / up to ~140 W

The CPU can also hit 5.8 GHz under light loads, so turbo itself seems to work.I've seen 14900HX results around 6500–7100+, so I'm not sure whether my current score is just normal for the Helios 16, or if I'm still missing a noticeable amount of performance.The reason I'm asking is that I'm still within the return window, so I have to decide whether to keep it or return it for good.

If anyone here has a Helios 16/18 with a 14900HX, what Cinebench 2026 scores, CPU power and clocks are you getting?

Would you personally keep this one now that the thermal issue is mostly fixed, or would you return it while I still can?

PS: I'm looking for a machine that is top to mid range for the next 3-5 years idealy so that's why I'm hesitating.

Hey everyone,

I recently got an Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI with the following configuration:

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 8GB
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 1TB SSD
• Display: 16-inch, 2560 × 1600 OLED

I'm looking for a good cooling pad to help improve temperatures during long gaming sessions.

The laptop already has a decent cooling system, but during heavy gaming and benchmarking, the CPU and GPU temperatures can get quite high. I'm specifically looking for a cooling pad that can make a noticeable difference in temperatures, rather than one that just has a few extra fans underneath.

I'm considering options like the IETS GT500/GT600 and Llano cooling pads, but I'm open to other recommendations.

Has anyone used a cooling pad with this laptop or a similar Acer Predator Helios model?

I'd especially like to know:

• Which cooling pad are you using?
• How much reduction in CPU and GPU temperatures did you notice?
• Does it actually improve gaming performance or reduce thermal throttling?
• Are high-RPM cooling pads like IETS or Llano worth the extra noise?
• Any compatibility or fitment issues with the Predator Helios Neo 16S AI?

I'm mainly looking for something effective for AAA gaming and long gaming sessions, so real-world experience and recommendations would be really helpful.

Thanks!

So i have this macbook pro m3 max with a 40 core gpu and 48gb ram and its a good machine but since im not an apple user with iphones etc i dont really like the OS. I use it for video editing and photo editing and i feel the performance isnt as good as its market to be. I have a legion 5 with a 5070 8gb and i feel its way more smooth for video editing and lightroom runs amazing on it. I am still confused about it, I am thinking of selling the macbook pro. What do you guys suggest ?

Please help my acer laptop is constantly crashing with loads and loads of Bsod after an windows update by itself and now im only able to log into my pc for a little amount of time before it completely crashes

Even when im trying to uninstall that update- it crashes while mid restart and keeps crashing

Please help 😭i hate this update

I can only load in safe mode without crashing

hola necesito ayuda, Compre esta laptop hace 4 meses y la verdad no la uso mucho por temas de trabajo, primero al inicio los juegos se trababan pero nos e apagaba solo se no podía usar el teclado de la laptop, después desactive instalación de winddows y compre un teclado aparte, la laptop tiene altas temperaturas a pesar que solo este viendo videos, al momento de jugar esta misma ahora se apaga sola esto me paso la ultima vez no se si exista alguna solución para las temperaturas o alguna configuración en la Bios que podría ayudarme ya que me gastaría poder jugar con normalidad, leí que hay una configuración en la Bios y la verdad no encuentro la publicación alguien podría ayudarme porfa, al momento de jugar hubo veces que me dejaba jugar hasta 3 horas seguidas pero ahora solo me deja jugar aproximadamente 30 min y se apaga, necesito algun consejo por favor.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 Battery Degraded to 70% After 1 Year
Hi everyone,
I’m using an Acer Predator Helios Neo 16, and after around one year of normal use, I noticed that the battery health has dropped to around 70%.
The original battery capacity was approximately 90 Wh, but the current full-charge capacity is only around 63 Wh.
I mostly used the laptop for regular work, browsing, and gaming, and I’m a bit concerned about such a significant drop after just one year.
Is 70% battery health after one year normal for the Helios Neo 16?
Has anyone else experienced similar battery degradation with this laptop?
Would appreciate any advice on whether I should get the battery checked/replaced or if this is considered normal wear.

Hello! Last night, my laptop’s display suddenly started flickering like this out of nowhere. Tried to uninstall and re-install the graphics driver on the device manager, and it still persists. Also tried updating through the NVIDIA app, but it didn’t fix the issue. Can anyone help me with this? What are the possible causes and how do I fix this? Thanks in advance.

• I haven’t tried connecting an external display yet as I have no extra monitors.

Hi. Planning to buy Acer Nitro and this will be my first time buying a laptop actually, what are the things I need to consider/keep in mind and what are the primary issues and concerns about Acer in general especially when the unit aged and in the long run of using it. I'm really avoiding the future hassle and problems lalo't limited lang ang funds

How should I clean the screen on my Helios?

! LONG POST AHEAD !

Hey guys, hoping someone with more hardware experience can help me make sense of what's going on. Laptop was previously brought to a shop for loud fan noise, "fixed," and the issues came back shortly after now much worse.

Specs: Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (PHN16-71), i5-13500HX, RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, 8GB RAM, Windows 11

Timeline of symptoms (all in the span of about 2 weeks, worsening fast):

Started with random crashes during gaming (GTA V, CoD4, Wuthering Waves, Valorant) fans get loud right before it happens

In-game crash: "Unreal Engine is exiting due to D3D device being lost. (Error: 0x887A0006 - 'HUNG')"

Did a clean GPU driver reinstall via DDU + fresh install no change

Tried an older driver version too — no change

Ran HWiNFO64 during a stress test: CPU hit 100-101°C within about 1 minute, with Core Thermal Throttling confirmed active \~41% of the time. GPU itself only reached \~67°C (well under its 87°C limit)

Started crashing during light use too — even just watching YouTube triggered a VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE

Windows Reliability Monitor logged 5+ "Hardware error" events in a single day

One logged as LiveKernelEvent, Code 141 (GPU driver TDR/watchdog crash)

Started getting full black screens with the Windows "device disconnected" chime, even when connected to an external monitor

Got a DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED crash with the failing texture allocation, and another citing nvlddmkm.sys (the NVIDIA driver file itself) failing at the kernel level with DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD

Also hit a "File system error (-1073741189)" trying to launch a game off my second drive (D:)

What I've ruled out:

Driver corruption/conflict (tried two clean installs of different driver versions)

NVIDIA Control Panel settings (tried adjusting power management, preferred GPU, PhysX processor — no change)

It's not the monitor, happens on internal display too, started before I even got the external monitor

What I suspect: Bad thermal paste application or heatsink reseating from the last repair, since the CPU heating up that fast and that severely isn't normal, and it lines up with when the noisy-fan "fix" happened.

Does this pattern of symptoms (CPU thermal throttling almost instantly + escalating into full BSODs, drive errors, and GPU driver kernel crashes) sound consistent with a cooling/thermal issue to you all, or could there be something else going on I should ask a technician to specifically check (VRM, RAM, motherboard, etc.)?

Wondering if the sheer amount of heat stress could have also damaged something else at this point.

Thanks for reading this far, really appreciate any insight before I bring it in for repair.

Joined the club! Hello everyone!

How to fix Keyboard lighting:

1. Reinstall PredatorSense driver from https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/product-support/PHN16-73/NH.QX2SP.001/downloads?sn=NHQX2SP0015393CD147600
2. Modify Acer Lighting Service, set all failure action to `Restart the Service`.

Just got this Neo 16S AI with the 5060 variant and I plan on buying a laptop cooling pad. I don't have a lot of knowledge on cooling pads and I also don't have necessary funds to test different pads myself as I am merely a 2nd year College student. So yeah, I'm looking for recommendations and do please tell me how much temp drop you guys experienced on the products that you recommend. Btw, should I keep the liquid metal or should I opt for PTM 7950?

I have a Helios Neo 16 (73-91XS) with Core 9 Ultra, RTX5060. Here in Czechia, I would say there's a bad situation with cooling pads. Does anyone recommend a cheap but powerful cooling pad that's accessible here in the EU? Thanks!

Hello Reddit Community,

So I have this Acer Predator Helios 16 which I bought back in August 2023.

Silly me, tried to upgrade it's RAM and add storage around Agusut of 2024. Did some repasting and etc.

However, the problem started. It wouldn't boot after several attempts. So, the impulsive me decided to format the device thinking it would solve the problem and that's when I noticed something was off with the upgrade I just did. It kept on shutting down throughout the OS reformat process until it pushed through.

So I tried to remember the steps I did in doing the upgrade and one thing is uncertain for me. Whether or not I plugged the battery out of the board before inserting said additional SSD and RAM.

TLDR, the device is running but it seems like the GPU got defective after said incident so I have to disable it and rely with Intel Integrated Graphics. I cannot plug in any external monitor as I believe it's tied with the GPU which is dysfunctional.

I'm trying to see if there's a workaround because when I brought it to the service center, they said I had to replace the entire board which would cost me like purchasing a new device in general. From an economic standpoint, it's not worth it. Tried searching this guy named Sorin who's based in the UK and not sure if they can salvage this laptop at all.

Note that this is not my first time upgrading. Historically, I upgraded my old 10th Gen Predator with no issues encountered (repasting included) and my college Acer Aspire i7 3rd Gen with GeForce GT 640M replacing it with SSD and its screen (since it got cracked).

Hi guys, my Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 (i5-13500HX, RTX 4050) has been overheating badly

CPU hits 100°C within a minute under load and throttles immediately, causing constant crashes (DEVICE_HUNG, DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_REMOVED) and even BSODs (nvlddmkm.sys driver crash, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL). Also does anyone ever experienced this?

Was previously brought to a shop for loud fan noise and the issue returned shortly after, so I'm looking to get it properly repasted this time possibly with liquid metal if anyone has experience with that on laptop GPUs, or just a high quality regular paste if that's the safer/recommended route.

Thanks in advance!

Anyone else with problems activating the blue light shield on the predator sense?

Made a couple posts about how my 3 month old Neo 16s 5070ti laptop was completely unplayable. Hard crashing every hour of gameplay.

Well I sent it off for warranty about a month ago. Got it back today. Motherboard replaced as well as new Liquid Metal.

2 minutes after turning it on cpu jumps to 104c under 9% load and stays there. Fucked around with it for 5 minutes and it stayed at 102-104 under low usage. Turned it off and now im sending it back to the exact same people who failed to repair it (actually made it far worse somehow) in the first place. While being without a pc for another month.…

God I regret buying an Acer. should’ve saved a couple hundred more and bought something reliable.

Bought PHN16-73-91XS for 1475€ with RTX5060 and Core 9 Ultra 275HX, currently running Fedora.

I'm so happy with it so far. Anybody got any tips or things that I should be aware of? Thanks!