The Acer Predator Helios 300 has traditionally been a popular gaming laptop, but just how
well does the latest version perform in games? Spoilers, but it’s performing extremely
well. I’ve benchmarked 20 different games at all setting levels to show you how well
it runs, and compared it against some other gaming laptops to see how it stacks up.
Just quickly before we jump into the benchmark results I’ll cover off the specs in my unit.
My model has the Intel i7-9750H CPU, 80 watt Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti graphics, and 16gb of memory
running in dual channel. The Helios 300 is available with different specs though, you
can find examples as well as updated prices linked in the description.
I was running Windows 10 with the latest Nvidia drivers available with turbo mode enabled.
Turbo mode boosts fan speed and actually overclocks the graphics and memory by this much, on top
of that the Helios 300 comes with the CPU undervolted by -0.125v out of the box, so
we should be seeing some very nice performance here.
We’ll only be covering gaming performance here, so if you’re new, you'll want to get
subscribed for the thermal testing and full review. Alright let’s start out by going
through all 20 games at all setting levels, then afterwards we’ll see how the Helios
300 compares with some other gaming laptops to see how it stacks up.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode and not in multiplayer mode, as it’s easier
to consistently reproduce the test run. Maxed out at ultra settings still got us 80 FPS
averages and was easily playable no problem, but we’ll see later how these results compare
to other laptops.
Battlefield 1 was also tested in campaign mode, and like always it’s running well
and performing a bit better than the newer Battlefield 5 just shown, with over 100 FPS
averages achievable at ultra settings and again running very smoothly.
Apex Legends was tested with either all settings at maximum, or all settings on the lowest
possible values, as it doesn’t have predefined setting presets. It still played well at ultra
settings, however we could boost average FPS by a massive 61% with minimum settings.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, the results from this
test were looking good at higher settings, but at lower settings these are some of the
highest numbers I’ve ever seen from this test. Just like Apex, and most upcoming games,
we’re getting excellent performance at low settings due to the stock CPU undervolt.
Far Cry New Dawn was tested with the built in benchmark. This game seems to be fairly
CPU heavy, so it’s no surprise that we’re getting excellent results from this test,
again due to that stock CPU undervolt allowing for above average levels of performance.
Far Cry 5 was also tested with the built in benchmark, and the results were ahead of the
newer Far Cry New Dawn just covered, and we’ll see how this one compares to some other laptops
later, the results are kind of crazy, you won’t want to miss them.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and while I have to regularly refresh the
replay due to updates I test in the same area, so results should be somewhat comparable to
my past tests. Again at lower settings the average FPS is super high thanks to that improved
CPU performance, and even at epic settings above 100 FPS was still possible no problem.
Overwatch is another well optimized game and was tested in the practice range, as other
players, bots and even different maps in actual gameplay affect the frame rate and this allows
for consistent testing. Again super high frame rates at lower settings, too bad we don’t
have a 240Hz screen here, as even high settings is hitting that threshold.
Metro Exodus was tested using the built in benchmark, most parts of the game perform
a fair bit better than this, so don’t take these results as a good indication of what
to expect throughout the entire game, it’s more of a worst case but does let you perform
the same test to compare against. The RTX results up top are usually ahead of extreme
when I test with RTX graphics, we’re seeing lower numbers here as this is a GTX based
machine.
CS:GO was tested using the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and as a game that is pretty CPU bound the
average FPS results here are some of the best I’ve seen in awhile, with over 300 FPS averages
possible at minimum settings, and still above 240 at maximum, again where’s that 240Hz
screen at?
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark, and is a game I’ve found to
benefit from Nvidia’s new turing architecture. Even with maximum ultra settings we’re getting
100 for the 1% low, so still perfectly smooth in this test, with up to 200 FPS averages
possible at low settings.
PUBG was tested using the replay feature, and at higher settings the average FPS is
a little lower than many other more powerful laptops with higher tier graphics, as expected,
but at very low settings the frame rate is very good, again due to that boosted CPU performance.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested with the built in benchmark, and from my experience
seems to be a fairly CPU heavy game, so it’s lucky that we’re getting great CPU performance
here. This is impressive, the ASUS Scar III with RTX 2070 that costs over $1000 USD more
is actually behind in this test at every setting level except for ultra where the 2070 is able
to save it by 3 FPS
Dota 2 was tested playing in the middle lane with an average amount of action going on,
and is yet another game that I’ve found to prefer higher CPU power, so the results
are once more very impressive for this game.
I feel like I’m repeating myself, but Watch Dogs 2 is another game that works well with
higher CPU power. 90 FPS at lower settings is a very good result in this game from a
laptop, and while the frame rate at ultra is lower as we start getting more GPU bound,
in my opinion this one runs fine at 30 FPS, so still no problems at all there.
Ghost Recon is another resource intensive game and was tested using the built in benchmark.
Just below 50 FPS at ultra is a pretty decent result from this test in my experience, you
need a thick top end machine to get 60 FPS at ultra, but still much higher was possible
at lower settings.
The Witcher 3 was playing great with hairworks disabled, I’ve found this to be somewhat
more GPU demanding at higher settings, so no insanely high frame rates at ultra, but
still performing very well without any issues, with much higher possible at lower settings
should you need it.
DOOM was tested using Vulkan, and is a game that almost always gets really high frame
rates. Even with ultra settings above 140 FPS averages were being hit, so plenty for
the 144Hz screen while still looking great and playing smoothly with the 1% low above
100.
Strange Brigade was another game that was tested with Vulkan, and this one was also
running well with the built in benchmark. Still above 100 FPS at ultra settings, and
just able to hit 200 at low settings.
Shadow of War was also tested with the built in benchmark, and is another game that I’ve
found to benefit from Nvidia’s new Turing architecture. Decent results were still had
at maximum settings, but nothing too amazing, at least compared to the lower results, which
yet again are very high thanks to our CPU performance.
Let’s also take a look at how this config of the new Acer Helios 300 compares with other
laptops to see how it stacks up, use these results as a rough guide only as they were
tested at different times with different drivers.
In Battlefield 5 I’ve got the Helios 300 towards the bottom in red with another 1660
Ti laptop I recently tested, though this one is giving us much better performance due to
the i7 CPU. Not only that, but these out of the box results are giving the best 1% low
out of all of these machines, even smashing the 2080 Max-Q machines due to the default
CPU undervolt. Even the average frame rates are a fair bit ahead of the 2060s and closer
to the 2070 max-Q results.
Here are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark. I’ve
found this to be a pretty CPU heavy test, so we’re seeing crazy results here. The
Helios 300 is just 1 to 2 FPS behind the 2070 machines and the 2080 Max-Q in the GS75, and
actually beating the Razer Blade with 2080 Max-Q. As for 1% low, the Helios 300 is again
ahead of every other machine on this graph thanks to that stock CPU undervolt, seriously
impressive stuff.
These are the results from Shadow of the Tomb raider with the built in benchmark at highest
settings. This test tends to be more GPU heavy, so the results are toned down a bit compared
to the last game. That said we’re still just ahead of the 2060 machines, though not
quite at the 2070 Max-Q level this time, still though a nice result considering this is maximum
settings, that GPU overclock is likely helping out here.
The Helios 300 is providing extremely impressives result considering the specs and is punching
well above its weight. It is worth remembering that turbo mode is overclocking the GPU, and
the CPU is undervolted out of the box which is why we’re seeing such high levels of
performance when it comes to lower settings and 1% low results. Is this unfair? I don’t
think so, I do my game testing with all of these laptops in the best available mode they
ship with, Acer are just the only ones undervolting out of the box and applying overclocks this
high. Considering that I had no stability issues I think this is awesome to see, and
I hope we see more companies doing this in the future. It is worth remembering that we
can of course overclock and undervolt the other machines too, but I still think having
this as a default is great to see, especially for those that would never have otherwise
even attempted these methods to boost performance.
In many esports titles at lower settings I was actually seeing the Helios 300 outperform
the much more expensive ASUS Scar III. The reason for this is the excellent CPU performance
I was seeing here, while the Scar III saw lower CPU performance than expected, so lower
setting levels where we’re more CPU bound see a good boost to performance. I don’t
think the Helios 300 is available with a 240Hz screen, but that actually wouldn’t have
been too bad considering the performance at lower settings when you compare it with the
Scar III that does have 240Hz but gets beaten by the Helios.
At higher settings the 1660 Ti was still capable of providing good frame rates in the games
tested, it of course varies by game, but there were no problems here at all, everything played
well. Let me know what you guys thought about the performance from this machine down in
the comments, and do you think companies should pre undervolt more often?
As for thermals, well I’ve still got to test that, so keep an eye out for my detailed
thermal testing video which will be coming very soon. If you’re new to the channel
you’ll definitely want to get subscribed for that, as well as for the full review of
the new Acer Helios 300 gaming laptop.