Acer’s 2021 Helios 300 is one of the worst performing gaming
laptops currently available. To show you just what’s wrong with
it I’ve tested it in 14 different games and compared it against other laptops.
My Helios 300 has an 8 core Intel i7-11800H processor, Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics,
16 gigs of memory, and a 15.6” 1080p 144Hz screen.
Unfortunately the more popular RTX 3060 model wasn’t available to me in my country,
but I suspect a lot of the issues with this one will apply there too.
The first main problem seems to be in the GPU power limits. When I first received this
Helios 300 I updated the BIOS to version 1.06 which was the latest at the time.
Despite the Nvidia control panel reporting a 110 watt power limit for the 3070 graphics though,
I never found it to go above 75 watts, and that was the case in both a GPU only stress
test or with the GPU and CPU loaded up, so it was like dynamic boost wasn’t working.
Fortunately this seems to be addressed in the newer 1.07 BIOS version,
which luckily literally came out the day before all the testing was done on this machine,
but it’s worth noting that that older 1.06 version was the newest for like 1 or 2 months.
So I’m guessing everyone that updated to it must have just had lower GPU power limits.
I did try to ask on the Gaming Laptops subreddit if anyone else had this particular spec of Helios
300 to see if this problem was just me or not, but I never really got a good answer.
Anyway even with that newest update I still think there’s a bit of a problem here. Yeah
the 3070 graphics can run up to 110 watts with the GPU active now, but with the CPU also active,
like when playing an actual game for instance, the RTX 3070 runs up to 75 watts,
and technically that’s below the Nvidia spec which lists an 80 watt power limit as a minimum.
There are some changes to the GPU noted in the BIOS changelog. I mean it’s not particularly
useful or detailed, but it sounds like they’ve added some sort of GPU protection, so perhaps
higher power limits were causing issues and they had to resort to just 75 watts, I’m not sure.
I didn’t try rolling back to even older BIOS versions because the way I see it,
if Acer want to run with these power limits on the latest updates that people
are actually going to install then that’s what I’m going to test with.
It will depend on the game, but in Shadow of the Tomb Raider for instance I found that
the newer BIOS was performing a little better, presumably due to the GPU power limit change.
All testing from here on out was done with the newer 1.07 unless otherwise specified.
Unfortunately this is far from being the only issue with the Helios, it gets worse.
Acer’s Predator Sense software can be used to change performance modes.
All testing was done with turbo mode enabled for best results, which also sets the fan to maximum
speed automatically and applies the following overclock to the GPU, or at least it attempts to.
There seems to be a bit of a bug when using the turbo button above the keyboard.
Basically if you turn the laptop on and press the turbo button it
enables turbo mode and boosts the fan as expected, but it doesn’t actually
apply the overclock correctly unless you open the Predator Sense software first.
Now after first turning the machine on you only need to open the Predator Sense software once,
and then this shortcut button will correct apply the GPU overclocks afterwards,
but if you just turn the laptop on and go straight for this button without opening
the Predator Sense software, it doesn’t apply the overclock.
I don’t think it’s that much of a big deal because personally I only really
find GPU overclocking to give like a 1 to 3 FPS boost, and especially in this
laptop where in many games we’re going to be power limited to 75 watts anyway I don’t
think it’s going to matter that much, but yeah the problems are starting to add up.
Like previous versions of the Helios 300, there’s also no MUX switch here,
so you’re stuck with optimus. However, you can attach an external screen to either the HDMI
or mini DisplayPorts on the right hand side to bypass the integrated
graphics and get a speed boost in games, so I’ll test this too.
Just before we get into the games, let’s check out the screen, given that’s what you’re going
to be staring at while playing games on this thing. The screen in my Helios is
honestly pretty bad. We’re looking at a 19ms average grey-to-grey response time,
so definitely not amazing for a 144Hz panel and on the slower side. The panel in last
year’s Helios was far better in comparison. The slower screen and the lack of MUX switch
help result in a slower total system latency compared to others. This is the total amount
of time between a mouse click and when a gunshot fire happens on the screen in CS:GO.
Hopefully the screen just varies by regions because as you’ll see in the
upcoming full review, it’s pretty bad in pretty much all regards.
Brightness is low, color gamut is low and there’s some pretty bad backlight bleed. That said,
I would expect the more expensive 1440p option to do much better though.
Now although my unit has 16 gigs of memory which is the faster x8 stuff
and dual rank too, for some reason Acer shipped this model with just one stick,
and that means that it’s running in single channel and it will hold back performance.
Combined with the fact that we’re stuck with the iGPU due to a lack of MUX switch,
I think that’s going to be a pretty bad combination,
as generally I find the difference between single and dual channel memory affects the
integrated graphics more compared to a laptop that lets you disable them.
Alright so with all those potential issues in mind, let’s test out the Helios 300 in
some games and find out how this 2021 model compares against other laptops.
Cyberpunk 2077 was tested the same on all laptops, and I’ve got the Helios 300 highlighted in red.
The lower result is with the stock RAM, while the one a couple of FPS higher is
with dual channel memory, so two physical sticks instead of one. The dual channel
memory seems to make a larger difference in the 1% lows compared to the averages.
In general I think the average FPS difference is low between them because at high settings
the GPU is the bottleneck due to its low power limit. This is why it’s near the TUF Dash F15
which also has a low power limit 3070, though that one only has a 4 core CPU. The fact is,
even with a memory upgrade the 3070 in the Helios is getting beaten by other RTX 3060 machines.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the game’s benchmark, and the
memory difference is a bit larger here. We’re able to get an 8% boost to average
FPS by using two sticks of memory in dual channel rather than one in single channel,
and although the 3070 in the Helios is at least now more ahead of the quad core F15,
it’s still being beaten by a few laptops with lower tier 3060 graphics.
Even the 100 watt 3070 in the Omen 15 is doing better, and that’s not particularly impressive.
It’s a bit of a different story in Control, this game is very GPU bound,
so the memory change basically isn’t helping at all here. The dual channel configuration is
actually slightly behind, though realistically we’re talking a margin of error difference there.
Again there are a few 3060 laptops that are ahead, both because they have higher wattage
GPUs despite the GPU being a lower tier, but also probably because many of them also have a MUX
switch and can disable the integrated graphics for a further boost. Personally,
I just think it’s a bit sad for Acer to see cheaper 3060 laptops doing better.
So yeah, the Helios 300 isn’t stacking up too well compared to other laptops, but what if
we make some changes? In addition to upgrading to those two sticks of memory in dual channel,
let’s see what happens if we attach an external screen and bypass the integrated graphics.
Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up. The Helios 300 with version 1.06
BIOS near the bottom was reaching 86 FPS. This is seriously pathetic from an RTX 3070 machine,
even the low wattage 3060 in the ASUS Zephyrus G14 is just ahead of it. Updating to the latest BIOS
gave us a 3 FPS boost, a welcome change, but it’s still behind even the 2070 Max-Q Helios 300 from
last year with last gen processor, so still not great. Things really start improving once we make
other changes, dual channel memory for instance is enough to give us a 20% boost to average FPS,
a much larger gain than we saw in the other games previously,
which goes to show it depends on the game and settings used.
If we instead use an external screen and keep the stock single channel memory we’re able
to get a larger 24% boost. If we combine both the dual channel memory upgrade and
external screen, we’re looking at a 28% boost, and despite the lower power limit of the GPU,
in this game the Helios is now in line with other 3070 machines, and even beating the
3080 in the Scar 15 just below it, granted that one doesn’t have a MUX switch either,
so an external screen would further boost that too.
So despite all those problems outlined earlier, with some simple changes it is possible to
significantly boost the gaming performance of this machine despite its lower GPU power limit. Granted
it will of course depend on the game. As we saw in some of those GPU heavy titles like Control, the
dual channel memory didn’t really help, and the 75 watt power limit of the 3070 was holding it back.
Alright so now that we’ve got a rough idea of how the Helios 300 compares against others,
let’s test it in even more games at all setting presets.
All of this upcoming testing has been done with the stock memory,
so one stick of 16 gig memory in single channel, because for some reason that’s
how Acer decided to send me this laptop, and that is how they sell it in my country.
So if they want to shoot themselves in the foot more then I guess that’s up to them.
Jokes aside, I probably would have had all the upcoming games tested with a dual channel upgrade,
but I didn’t actually notice that this laptop had single channel memory until
after the games were tested. Seriously, who’s shipping an RTX 3070 laptop with
single channel memory in 2021? I should have checked, but I just didn’t expect it.
In any case, I do think it’s fair to test given this is a configuration that Acer sells. The fact
is not everyone is going to know the difference between single and dual channel memory and go
out of their way and spend even more money on their brand new laptop to change to dual channel.
Alright that’s enough complaining, let’s get into the benchmarks.
Far Cry 6 was tested with the game’s benchmark. I’ve tested with FSR set to balanced mode in
the red bars, while the purple bars are just regular stock settings without FSR.
This is the second laptop tested with this game and FSR at 1080p, and it’s the second
time I haven’t found FSR to help, it only really seems useful in this test at higher resolutions.
Apex Legends was tested with all settings at either minimum or maximum as the game
doesn’t have built in setting presets. In terms of average
FPS though, there was hardly a real difference between the max and min.
Call of Duty Warzone was also tested with maximum or minimum settings for the same reason,
and it was still running well enough even at max settings. Above 100 FPS was perfectly fine,
and minimum settings didn’t really offer much of a further boost.
Fortnite was able to make better use of the 144Hz screen. High settings for instance could
reach higher average FPS, while epic settings was still easily above 100 FPS in this test.
We compared control earlier, but now I’ve also tested ray tracing in the green bars,
which was still able to hit 60 FPS at low settings, but honestly ray tracing off at
high both look and performs better, but we can also combine ray tracing with DLSS
in the red bars to further boost performance and get the best of both looks and higher FPS.
Cyberpunk was also compared earlier, but again now we’ve got some ray
tracing presets up the top of the graph with DLSS enabled. The high
setting preset we compared with before was needed to get 60 FPS in this test.
Microsoft Flight Simulator was also running above 60 FPS with high settings,
which is probably a good option given ultra dips quite a bit comparatively,
while medium settings don’t offer as much of a gain.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was tested with the games benchmark.
Above 60 FPS at max settings isn’t too bad,
and we could get closer to 100 with low settings if you prefer higher FPS over visual quality.
Watch Dogs Legion was also tested with the game’s benchmark, though high settings was needed for 60
FPS in this test, granted it supports DLSS so you could boost performance higher by turning that on.
CS:GO wasn’t doing amazing, well, 300 plus FPS at max is great,
but with a MUX switch this game would do much better, as super high frame rates are more of
a bottleneck to the integrated graphics, then again so is single channel memory.
Rainbow Six Siege was also hitting super high frame rates, even max settings at ultra
the 1% lows are near the screen’s 144Hz refresh rate, so no problem at all here.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was compared earlier, though we only looked at high settings.
Like some other games, that seems to be a nice sweet spot, as ultra settings lowers
the performance a fair bit comparatively, while medium and low don’t offer many extra frames.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider hardly saw any change at different setting presets, and as we saw
earlier an external screen and dual channel memory could greatly boost performance here.
The Witcher 3 is another older title, but it’s definitely still playable at
max settings despite all the issues noted earlier.
So for the most part, when just looking at all of the gaming benchmarks from this laptop standalone,
they look pretty decent. Newer modern games are still running quite well even at higher
setting presets. It only really becomes obvious once we start comparing it to other laptops. The
main problem I have is that we can get a 3060 laptop for less money that will outperform this,
or we can make some simple changes such as using an external screen or upgrading the RAM to get a
speed boost. But yeah, this is just something that I don’t think most people are going to do with
their brand new laptop, and again it would further increase the cost of this 3070 laptop, so why
wouldn’t you just get a cheaper 3060 model with a MUX switch that already has dual channel RAM?
I’m going to compare absolutely everything else like thermals, battery life and more with the
Helios 300 in the upcoming full review, so make sure you’re subscribed to the channel for that
content, there are still some more problems that I’m yet to cover. Come and join me and
the community in Discord and get behind the scenes videos by supporting the channel on Patreon, and
check out this video next if you want to see how RTX 3070 graphics is actually meant to perform.