Acer Predator (Vega 56+Ryzen 2) Helios 500

Understandably so. My point was primarily that Vega was already out, IIRC, yet they paired it with Polaris. Correct me if I am wrong on that, as I may be messing up the time frame, although I'm pretty sure I'm right on that.

Which, with the 1070 being out around then, I would have liked the pairing of a 1700 with a 1070.

And as you point out, price is key for evaluating the value.

As to the cooling, I was speaking generally for the trend of thin and light. I'm not surprised Asus screwed up their cooling WHILE having enough room.

But now that we are seeing 11 heat pipes to cool the CPU and GPU in the new MSI laptop with a 9900K, even though we all know the firmware is gimped compared to things like prema's modded bios, it renews my hope that after they see the 3800X performance, they may actually build a laptop for it. The only reason they may not is integration of PCIe 4.0 on the board. Ugh!

None of the board mfrs seemed to want to do PCIe 4.0, mainly because they had to increase the PCB quality, find ways to maintain the signal integrity, etc. Lots of challenges as it is new (although, now, Intel will be stuck with the standard created for AMD's implementation, which shouldn't be too far off generally as it is all the same PCIe spec, but...). But it seems they also don't like the components ranged from Intel medium to high end to even having to pull high end server components into the mainstream boards.

Now, the boards are going to cost more. Fact of life. But they are afraid that will spook AMD consumers, meanwhile, they have to eat into their margins a bit now for the boards also. And, on top of that, they had to push out firmware to make it backwards compatible with old boards, test all of those boards, and that might cut into their sales (sorry, talking from their standpoint). Then there is the heat of the chipset to consider also.

Which, BTW, the AMD chipset, although it is running 11W, rumor has it the TR boards in development use a similar, if not the same, chipset but at the full 15W! Looks like water cooling a chipset will make a resurgence. I wonder if the Koolance universal chipset waterblock will fit and work?

But I definitely hear ya. Laptop mfrs need to get on the ball. After Zen 2 drops, they just might. I mean, there is like the Aqua board for $1,000. They made 1000 or 999 of those boards. So....

 

Nice. Hoping there will be more AMD based performance oriented laptops available soon, Intel need competition and with TSMC as their manufacturer AMD should be able to meet demand for once.

 

Vega 56 because of all the driver updates is much faster than a measly 1070, in fact its faster in quite a lot of games compared to the 1070 Ti and with an overclock depending on what memory type you have whether its Samsung or Hynix it can compete against a RTX 2070 as long as you can cool 300 - 400W of power surging through it.
The TDP limited Vega 56 in that Acer might be a different story though, its slower than a mobile GTX 1070 but if you just give it some more juicy it can get pretty close to a desktop Vega 56 variant you will be limited by cooling capability before the VRM limits kick in though.

 

You'll be hitting TDP limit in no time. Basically have to OC HBM and hope for the best.

 

Can the Acer users connect a bigger Adapter to it lets say a 330W one maybe or even a 450W one? And then remove the TDP limit?
Should be possible considering in the APU community they increased the TDP limit easily.

 

Already ships with a 330w iirc

All AMD desktop procs are unlocked so I think they shipped with a larger AC adapter and heatsinks with that in mind.

Not sure if anyone found a way to increase tdp limit yet.

 

Hi all. I came across this blog a few months ago and got interested in the BIOS mods for the ryzen version of the Predator Helios 500. Already bought CH341 programmer and SOIC 8 clip. Now I have the time to try dumping the BIOS, etc. but I'm newbie in BIOS modding and any help will be appreciated like what tools do I need for BIOS modding, etc. I guess it's better to update the BIOS since there is a new one? Also, lets discuss what BIOS features to be unlocked. I prefer to do it on my own since I can sort of test and play with the unlocked BIOS features, but If you think that BIOS modding would be too hard for me, we can ask someone on the forum linked in the blog to do the modding.

 

OC-in the HBM and core at the same time is possible, by how much, I'm not sure... but I can tell you right now that Helios 500 with Ryzen/Vega has pretty large headroom for overclocking... at least in regards to heat.
The thing barely changes to slightly more audible when stressing it with a demanding game and remains really cool... and OC-ing the HBM is doable before becoming unstable... raises the performance by about 13% if I'm not mistaken.

But honestly, I don't think its really necessary.
The GPU and laptop in general will easily handle most games at high or maxed out presets, so unless you are hitting below 30 FPS and besides, pushing games to 'Ultra' is not needed.
The visual differences are minor to non-existent and the performance on High remains... well, high.

 

Btw peeps, heads up, Acer released a BIOS update.
It only says:
Update BIOS code to support Win 10 RS6 OS

This is just for latest Windows update apparently. I've noticed my Win 10 is still on 1803 version... its possible that my hw is preventing installation (possibly to avoid issues?).

What does this say about Microsoft when the CPU or chipset is 'smart' enough to prevent installation of software that 'might' break functionality (seeing how newest update DID cause problems on some AMD systems)?
Jeesh... and WHY does MS keep releasing updates that might break functionality on AMD systems to begin with?

 

FYI, this may be related, go to the link there is more info than I have below there:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ga-polaris-gpus.799348/page-602#post-10918177

Heads up if you have a Windows 10 RAID installation: update your RAIDdrivers before the next Windows 10 update or the update can freeze your system in the middle of the update.

" Note We recommend that you do not attempt to manually update using the Update now button or the Media Creation Tool until a new driver has been installed and the Windows 10, version 1903 feature update has been automatically offered to you." - Microsoft

""A new Microsoft Windows update, a new series of problems, the QA levels of Microsoft are just astonishing. The May 2019 update has problems for users with AMD processor, as well as showing problems with Bluetooth and WiFi. The problems are not as bad as when the 1809 update was released but still rather annoying."
https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/w...s-for-some-amd-ryzen-pcsfix-in-this-item.html

Update: since @Deks didn't go to the link(s) and missed relevant info, assuming others might do the same, I am adding some more here:

" AMD Ryzen™ or AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ configured in SATA or NVMe RAID mode."

" A new Microsoft Windows update, a new series of problems, the QA levels of Microsoft are just astonishing. The May 2019 update has problems for users with AMD processor, as well as showing problems with Bluetooth and WiFi. The problems are not as bad as when the 1809 update was released but still rather annoying."

And, like I said you need to check the whole "Known Issues" for yourself, note this mention in those notes by Microsoft:

" To safeguard your update experience, we have applied a quality hold on devices with redirected known folders from being offered Windows 10, version 1903, until this issue is resolved."

Qualcomm has 9 search hits on that document:

https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/windows/release-information/status-windows-10-1903#452msgdesc

In closing, there could be many reasons for the hold on your Windows 10 Update:

" Next steps: We are working on a resolution for Microsoft Store and estimate a solution will be available in mid-June. Note We recommend you do not attempt to manually update using the Update now button or the Media Creation Tool until this issue has been resolved. "

Read (search over) that list Known Issues, and the rest of the document too, to see if you can notice any reason why your Windows 10 update is being held.

 

I don't have anything running in RAID in my system... more to the point, I don't even have a Threadripper in Helios 500.
I never used RAID to begin with.

But my point is that MS seems to be releasing updates that seemingly can break functionality on AMD systems.
Why?
To me this indicates that MS doesn't exactly care about AMD as much as it should.

 

Use Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC to avoid the total train wreck called Windows 10 "feature" updates.
Also its no longer recommendable for anyone with Vega GPU's to stay on Windows 7 or 8.1 I noticed serious instabilities lately in various games when using Windows 8.1 and Vega 56 but with Windows 10 there no issues, AMD is breaking the Windows 7 drivers on purpose.

 

Uhm... been using Windows 10 here for a while now and haven't had issues with it... plus I don't have the cash to fork out for Enterprise edition of Win 10... I'm on Home version as it came pre-installed with Helios 500 but with its 'features' disabled in totality (at least the intrusiveness aspect of Windows 10).

In regards to AMD breaking Win 7 and 8 drivers on purpose... uhm... don't think this is accurate.
It would be more accurate to say that AMD stopped supporting Windows 7 and 8... which is not unexpected since they announced as much.
Are Windows 7 and 8 capable of supporting Vega and Ryzen?
Of course, but AMD doesn't have specific obligation and cater to much older OS-es...its a specific decision to stop supporting an outdated OS.

But, if AMD drivers are causing issues in Windows 10... I wonder how much of a blame is there on AMD and how much is MS to blame?
Meh, likely both to an extent...

 

" AMD Ryzen™ or AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ configured in SATA or NVMe RAID mode."

It also says AMD Ryzen™, but indeed Microsoft only give a link to the x399 drivers, and you need to find AMD Ryzen™ motherboard drivers on your own. Or maybe it's a mistake in Microsoft's listing and it should be AMD Ryzen™ ThreadRipper only?

Even if you don't have RAID configured you may have it installed which might trip the "do not Update feature", and then there is another driver update to do before Windows Update if:

" Note that it also mentions holding back the update if you have Qualcomm BT or Wifi hardware, and to download those driver updates before installing."

And, there might be another "Known Issue" holding back the Windows Update too, as I suggested, always read through the rest of the Known Issues at the Microsoft site:

" I only included that particular Known Issue, as always check the whole list of Known Issues before installing a Windows 10 Update."
https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/windows/release-information/status-windows-10-1903#452msgdesc

Update: since @Deks didn't go to the link(s) and missed relevant info, assuming others might do the same, I am adding some more here:

" AMD Ryzen™ or AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ configured in SATA or NVMe RAID mode."

" A new Microsoft Windows update, a new series of problems, the QA levels of Microsoft are just astonishing. The May 2019 update has problems for users with AMD processor, as well as showing problems with Bluetooth and WiFi. The problems are not as bad as when the 1809 update was released but still rather annoying."

And, like I said you need to check the whole "Known Issues" for yourself, note this mention in those notes by Microsoft:

" To safeguard your update experience, we have applied a quality hold on devices with redirected known folders from being offered Windows 10, version 1903, until this issue is resolved."

Qualcomm has 9 search hits on that document:

https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/windows/release-information/status-windows-10-1903#452msgdesc

In closing, there could be many reasons for the hold on your Windows 10 Update:

" Next steps: We are working on a resolution for Microsoft Store and estimate a solution will be available in mid-June. Note We recommend you do not attempt to manually update using the Update now button or the Media Creation Tool until this issue has been resolved. "

Read (search over) that list Known Issues, and the rest of the document too, to see if you can notice any reason why your Windows 10 update is being held.

I also updated my first post in this thread about this...

 

I've looked at BIOS modding a little. The nice thing is that UEFI is more or less standardized and is well documented, the bad thing is that it's pretty complex. But one doesn't need to know everything to do some mods.
There are some freely available tools like UEFITool/UEFIFind/UEFIExtract and until recently also some old Insyde tools (manufacturer of the Acer BIOS) on github, there are also some other like Universal IFR extractor. Haven't found a good tutorial in BIOS modding and most information is sparsely spread around the web.

The BIOS file (.fd) in updates is encrypted and can't be modded directly, I've used the standard Insyde flash tool to dump the current ROM content which is unencrypted. With an external programmer you can dump it that way instead but I doubt it makes any difference. The furthest I've come is extracting the SetupUtility program from the BIOS using UEFITool and trying to make the menu settings readable with Universal IFR extractor but that didn't work completely, it crashes after decoding only part of the settings. Will try some alternative (IFRextractor?) in the near future.

Yeah posted about it earlier, no information of what it does however. Doesn't upgrade microcode so doesn't upgrade AGESA.

My Helios 500 is on 1809.

As the reason for the update isn't stated and what it patches isn't stated I find it strange to put the blame on MS. For example if the Acer BIOS (UEFI firmware) returns a faulty hardware description and MS didn't use that information previously but do now is it then the fault of MS that Acer didn't do their work? No.

 

I found the AMD RAID drivers for the chipset which are apparently a few days old.
I tried installing them, but all I get is an error message saying something akin to: Incompatible configuration detected.

So, I don't think AMD RAID drivers can actually be installed unless you're running a RAID setup

 

If there is no RAID hardware available, it will reject installation.

What about the Qualcomm BT / Wifi, are those needing updating?

How about the rest of the "Known Issues"?

 

The installation was rejected likely because I don't have RAID config in the laptop.
As for the Qualcomm BT / Wifi... I hadn't checked if there are new drivers available for those.

On the bright side, I installed the latest BIOS... and because the Windows update had issues installing a few things, when I prompted it, it installed Amd display drivers (which of course kills the existing Adrenaline drivers - thank you MS for that)... but it gave me a chance to use AMD cleanup utility and remove all traces of AMD software and re-install the GPU drivers from Acer first, followed by manual express update to latest available drivers... 19.5.2... and of course latest chipset drivers.

This then prompted Windows update to install Defender updates, 1803 Windows update and (again) AMD display driver... which necessitated me cleaning the AMD software again and reinstalling Acer, then AMD gpu and chipset drivers manually.

I think the MS Updates may have been 'blocked' somehow.
I don't know what OEM's do to the OS, but they break something while doing it which either prevents the OS from updating itself or the AMD drivers from detecting newest updates (at least it was in my experience).

Apart from some minor software issues, I should be 'ready' for the next batch of Windows updates when my system gets them. I just wish MS would STOP installing AMD display driver... its driving me nuts a bit because I need to remove all traces of AMD software and reinstall it all again.

Any idea on how to stop Windows update from installing AMD display driver?

 

I updated the BT and Wifi drivers.
I'm actually fortunate because all of my network hw is from 'Killer'. So, one driver download updates all of them (how handy is that?).

So, now I've fully updated the Killer network drivers, updated the BIOS, did a clean AMD Adrenaline (latest) GPU driver and chipset installs...
On a software and BIOS side at least, I should be covered in regards to latest Windows 10 update when it comes.

 

This looks like a good thread, if a bit old, but it's been active until fairly recently:

Stop Windows 10 Automatically Updating your AMD Graphics Drivers.
Discussion created by colesdav on Sep 27, 2017
Latest reply on Mar 7, 2019 by colesdav
https://community.amd.com/thread/220642

If you have Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise it's fairly easy to disable updates:

Windows 10 update version 1903: Act fast to delay this big upgrade
Each time Microsoft rolls out a major upgrade to Windows 10, you have the option to wait a few months before you install it on PCs running Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise. But you have to act quickly.
By Ed Bott | April 19, 2019 -- 10:57 GMT (03:57 PDT)
https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-update-act-fast-to-delay-this-big-upgrade/

 

I already did that.
In Windows 10, whenever I click in Updates and Security section on 'Check for updates', MS finds an installs AMD display drivers and then overrides my Adrenaline driver (and I cannot stop it from downloading or applying it).
Is there a way to stop it from doing that?

For whatever reason, I'm still 'stuck' on version 1803.
OS build: 17134.799

Why hadn't the OS updated itself to 1809 at least?

 

Maybe look at Known issues for 1809?

Here is the Microsoft nexus for releases, indexed to 1809 re-release:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4464619

If you have had Windows Update disabled, that's why it hasn't automatically been updated, and if you try to do the Update manually, what errors do you see?

Windows 10, version 1809 rollout status as of March 28, 2019

• Available for any user who manually selects “Check for updates” via Windows Update.
• Designated for broad deployment and Semi-Annual Channel for servicing status (recommended option).

You'd need to dig in to the logs, errors, known issues, etc for 1809, or backup your personal data, license codes, detailed configuration files for apps installed and configured, export browser details / extensions / history / etc, and do a from scratch install for 1903.

 

There are no errors.
When I click on 'Check for updates' via Windows update, after working on it, nothing comes up as an update to Windows itself (only AMD display driver which then proceeds to install itself).
There was a minor update for 1803 which got installed yesterday, but that was it.
1809 doesn't come up at all... it says there are no new updates available.

 

Microsoft changes the title of this page to the latest Update, but you can get the previous update the same way:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028685/windows-10-get-the-update

Microsoft either offers the Update through Windows Update, when it's "ready" for your hardware, or you can download via the Update Assistant. Right now the Update Assistant lists the April 2018 and May 2019 updates for download:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

IDK but I am assuming since the other page said you can download the "Update" from here that you can boot on the ISO and there will be an "Update" or "Upgrade" option, perhaps as well as a full install? I'm not on a Windows 10 machine right now, so I am seeing a different view than you should see.

I'd do a complete backup before hand, as you said the updates don't show up in Windows Update, so for some reason Microsoft / Windows Update don't think your machine will accept the update as configured.

Like I said before, maybe instead of an Update / Upgrade do a complete fresh install with the Windows 10 version (current with Update) of your choice + applying all the Asus / apps / tools you have now will work?

 

I would be wary of the updates if I had a RAID config, but as you know, this isn't the case.
I think its a problem that may have stemmed from when I bought the machine.
OEM's tend to 'do' something to the OS in general where they end up breaking something.
For instance, the Adrenaline drivers update function (from within Adrenaline UI) didn't show any new driver updates even though AMD released them... I had to install them manually.
So, hopefully now that I removed all traces of AMD from the system with AMD cleanup utility, and reinstalled things myself, things will function.

Mind you, some Windows updates DID install since I did that, but nothing in regard to 1809 or 1903.

So, I don't understand why is my system slow to 'catch up'.
Or it could be that it will just take time to update itself.
Either that or I could try with the Windows 10 Update Assistant (man, the 'Home' version of Windows is really left in the lurch isn't it?).

Out of curiosity, which OS are you using hmscott?
Linux?
I was thinking of potentially migrating to it, but I still use software which works exclusively in Windows.

 

Have you tried to force an upgrade using the upgrade assistant? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

I did that before on the Asus GL702ZC (with all AMD hw - 1700 and RX 580) and it broke the recovery partition (making it completely inaccessible).
Granted, the Acer Helios 500 seems far superior in regards to cooling and execution compared to the GL702ZC, so if worst comes to worst, I can just do a clean install of the OS and be done with it.

 

Macrium Reflect Free is still a good solution for imaging the original OEM partitions / build / recovery partition, so that you can restore it to factory setup should the need arise - if you need to RMA it, and if / when you want to sell it, or for an easy sanity check should a custom OS build get weird - the OEM out of the box image makes an easy verification of hardware test too.

Then you don't need to worry about breaking the Windows 10 / recovery volume links, you can restore back to OEM easily with a Macrium Reflect bootable USB flash drive and a backup of the OEM drive image on a USB drive.

 

Yeah I suppose.
Though, please avoid the word RMA here... hoping that the Acer won't need it... ever.

 

Some software can prevent updates due to compatibility issues. I know BattleEye anticheat that was packaged with some games like PUBG was blocking 1903 for some.

 

FWIW 1903 seems to be running fine here after using the update assistant. For some reason Microsloth decided clicking the search button should result in a windows taking about 2 seconds(!) to show, this is with animation settings turned off. Waves NX was enabled as standard (it's part of the sound driver) so expect camera turning on by itself unless disabled.

 

I expect Micro$lope want you on newest version. This for bragging rights when the new Win 10 numbers will be posted by websites. They don't want the failure as 1809 become
Windows 10 1803 gets Windows 10 1903 from June automatically. The 1809 only manually

 

Huh... good to know.
But I backed up my relevant partitions into an image file just in case and upgraded to 1903 with Update Assistant.
Runs fine.

 

Heads up:
I successfully installed my 500 GB Crucial M2 SSD into slot 1 of my Acer Helios 500.
What's odd is that Acer chose to put the original 256GB SSD into slot 2, and the laptop then decided to boot automatically from slot 1 (where the 500GB ssd was).
So, I went into the BIOS and under the BOOT options I simply set the 2 to 1 (there was no visual change because they were both named Windows Boot Manager [I think]).

Anyway, I did that and slapped in my 16GB 2400 MhZ stick inside as well... so now I have 32GB total (running in a-sync mode likely, but meh).

With changing the boot option by placing second slot to boot first, I got my original Windows SSD to boot first.
I was actually thinking on doing a clean install of Windows though, or just swapping the SSD places (but I don't know if the SSD shipped with the laptop will work in the first slot - sigh, Acer should have executed that better - along with the RAM - WHY oh WHY did you HAVE to put 16GB (2x8GB) of slow 2400 MhZ RAM in an inaccessible place of the laptop?).

I was potentially thinking of slapping Linux onto the 500GB SSD and have a dual boot option (one for W10 and second for Ubuntu and extra software).

 

Surely now we are going to see some Ryzen based laptops coming equipped with the Ryzen 7 3700X?! I mean at 65watts this is more than doable!

 

Bigger question is if the 3900x or the 3700x can work in the Helios 500.

 

Depends what you mean.

If you mean will it work if you put it in: no.
If you mean will Acer release a BIOS update to support Zen2 CPUs in the Helios 500: almost certainly no.
If you mean could somebody mod the existing BIOS to add support for Zen2: possibly.
If you mean would putting a 105w TDP CPU into a laptop that shipped with a 65w CPU be a good idea: Probably no.

Personally I hope somebody mods the BIOS as I would like to drop a 3700X in for the extra clock speed, extra IPC, and the memory improvements.

 

I didn't speak to the means, I spoke to the potential.

All your points have already been raised throughout the thread by myself and others.

 

Guys, I have a serious issue here and need some help.

I tried installing the latest AMD chipset drivers and after restarting the computer, my Helios 500 went into Windows automatic repair mode.
Restore didn't work, reset didn't work, troubleshooting didn't work... it kept saying it was encountering some kind of error (and it couldn't detect any saved media either because it cannot access USB for some reason - it told me to install drivers so it can detect the needed hw, but I didn't have anything like that - and ironically, via that option, the system CAN detect other SSD's, partitions and D drive easily via its own version of 'Windows Explorer'.

I also don't have an option to boot from USB inside the BIOS itself.

The only thing that appears in the boot options is 'Windows boot manager' on both locations.
I managed to turn on F12 key prompt from BIOS, but even that isn't showing USB boot option.

Its as if my Helios 500 BIOS doesn't support USB booting.
What the actual heck?

I'm using the latest BIOS.
When I changed my boot order, I was able to re-access Windows which means that something affected my boot order for some reason when I tried installing the chipset drivers and went to the SSD in the first slot for some reason (which I installed a few days ago because Acer in their infinite wisdom put the original M2 SSD with Windows into slot 2 for whatever reason).

But this situation is extremely troublesome because it showed I do NOT have the option to install from USB supported in the BIOS.

Which means that if I want to install Linux on my second M2 SSD, I can't do it.

Right now, I'm in the clear as I can access Windows again when I changed the boot order, but WHY don't I have boot from USB supported?
The BIOS doesn't have it (the option doesn't exist).

Could you guys check your own BIOS-es and see if you are having the same issue?
And how could I bypass this in the future?
Is there a way I can modify the USB key to be detected from the automatic repair section after booting?
And why isn't the program detecting any system restore points?

More importantly, if I want to do a CLEAN Windows 10 install to repair a serious software flaw which cannot be fixed with a system restore or even reset (because neither functions work), I can't.
Why?
Thoughts and ideas?


P.S. Someone suggested disabling secure boot in BIOS for boot from USB option to appear, but I cannot disable secure boot as its greyed out in BIOS for whatever reason.

P.P.S. I just stumbled upon a little post from someone saying that in order to disable secure boot, I'd need to set up admin password (which I hadn't tried yet as I'm about to go to the gym).

 

Is there similar options as here?
https://www.qualityology.com/tech/disable-asus-motherboards-uefi-secure-boot/

 

@Deks
Haven't done it myself but according to https://octoperf.com/blog/2018/09/02/acer-predator-helios-500-mods/ disabling secure boot requires entering a supervisor password. Drain bamaged crap.

 

Apparently, you need to CREATE your own admin password to replace 'secure boot' so you could boot from USB.
It's not difficult.
Going to separate a few mins to do this so I have the option of booting from USB... but realistically, this kinda seems a bit pointless (that you need to create your own password for disabling secure boot).

 

Especially considering that slot 2 is the NVMe compatible one, it's almost like they designed the laptop then told the assembly line workers the wrong slot to put the factory SATA SSD into lol.

You can check that with CPUz, if it is you should prob move the sticks around to get it into synchronous or you'll be losing a lot of performance

2400Mhz isn't really slow, especially for a second gen Ryzen laptop, you have to remember most first gen Ryzen desktops struggled to do that kind of RAM speeds without hours of manual tweaking (and even then many couldn't hit those speeds reliably) so it makes sense Acer would go with something mid-range when they would be responsible for warranty calls.

FYI You should be able to even with Secure Boot enabled (or at least it worked for me) as a clean W10 install stick will be UEFI bootable (required by Secure Boot) and have Microsofts UEFI level security keys so recognized.

 

I'll upload CPU-Z screenshot... channel says 'Dual', but Frequency says: 1197.1MhZ.
And under SPD tab (memory selection), all 4 slots are greyed out for some reason.

I'm thinking it might be running in asynchronous mode because I have factory installed 2x8GB RAM (which are inaccessible unless you disassemble the unit - thanks Acer for this ridiculous blunder and making it impossible to use higher frequency RAM in simply dual channel without risking too much) and I added a single 16GB stick to one of the accessible RAM slots.

I realize AMD improved Infinity Fabric with Ryzen+, but its still very sensitive to RAM frequencies and latencies. In games and RAM sensitive software, this could easily add 15% performance with say 3000 MhZ RAM that has relatively low latency, but Acer made that virtually impossible because they gave the unit 4 RAM slots (which was the first mistake), 2 of which are beneath the kb and impossible to access without disassembly.

I have a stick with both Linux and clean Win10 images on it... but the laptop never recognized it.
When I tried setting up a UEFI USB Win10 key from the Automatic windows repair, the program kept saying it doesn't have an option to boot from USB key in the BIOS bootable options (and indeed, the BIOS reflects this).

 

@Deks did you try restoring factory defaults in the bios? It sounds like somehow all of your EFI boot options got wiped from NVRAM. Usually these bios's have a failsafe mode that can look for a Windows Boot Manager in all readable EFI boot partitions if no boot options are present. You may also be able to use something like EasyUEFI from within Windows to add / restore the USB boot option.

 

I think the Win 10 USB key I made wasn't configured properly which prevented the UEFI from detecting it.
However, I still had to remove Secure Boot to boot from the USB key (as I kept getting Secure Boot error).

Another problem that popped up was I tried doing a clean Win 10 install on the 500GB m.2. SSD in slot 1, but it said it couldn't detect the partition for some reason (I don't know why this happened though as the m2 SSD was formatted with NTFS in mind. I tried deleting it entirely (so it registers as unallocated space) and then installing Win 10 cleanly on it, but it still didn't work and responded with the same error (if someone can help me understand why this happened, I'd be grateful, as ideally, I'd like to do a CLEAN Win 10 install on the larger SSD).

Anyway, I ended up cloning the existing/original Win 10 OS from slot 2 SSD (256GB) to the Slot 1 SSD (500GB).
That worked nicely.
Now with 2 SSD's inside, the laptop is automatically booting Windows from Slot 1 (of course - as there is no way I can set the BIOS to boot from slot 2 automatically without removing SSD from slot 1).
And I had to re-allocate the empty/unallocated space on the bigger SSD so the 500 GB has full 500GB to it (because the cloning merely recreated a carbon copy of everything on it).

Now I'm thinking that I could potentially install Linux Ubuntu on the 256GB SSD and dual boot the system at my convenience as I'm not opposed to using Linux in increasing amount and trying to switch over to open-source entirely at some point (I'd mainly retain Windows for some games and 3d studio Max though).

Question: would the dual boot option present itself like this, or would one superseed the other and automatically boot from SSD1 ?

Also, when I get more money, I'll probably install another 16GB stick inside the unit (and max out at 48GB - that's the best I can do short of disassembling the unit and removing factory installed RAM, then leaving those empty and just install higher speed RAM sticks in the easily accessible slots), and replace the 1TB HDD with 2TB Sata SSD.

P.S. I 'could' try a clean Win 10 install from Win 10 itself. Namely, I could boot from SSD in slot 2 (which still contains original Win 10), and then try running the install from Windows and see if it works.

 

Once you have Linux installed you can use a program called efibootmgr to view / add / edit your boot options and their order just like EasyUEFI. Ubuntu should create its own boot option to load its grub boot loader, and make it a higher priority than Windows.

I completely disassembled my machine and swapped the stock ram with a 32GB kit of Kingston HyperX DDR4-2666. While they do have JEDEC timings for 2666, they also has 2133 and 2400. Unfortunately the bios automatically selected the 2133 timings. It doesn't feel any slower, but I guess you have to have very specific ram to go beyond 2400mhz with the stock bios. I am hoping to unlock the bios once I have some spare time. Supposedly my Skypro II + 1.8v adapter can dump and flash it so it may be possible. I have not done much modding on InsydeH2O though so it may be interesting.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/257201/...ail-amds-zen2-backwards-compatibility-promise

Interesting article about the problems some vendors have had with implementing Zen 2 support on desktop motherboards. If notebook vendors go with the smallest possible ROM size for motherboards to reduce costs, this could potentially be an issue for Zen 2 support. I suppose it depends what the original intent was when Acer first designed the AMD Helios 500. Does anyone have a part number for the ROM chip used?

 

So, AMD delivered on their promise, but its the mobo OEM's that messed people up by using small ROM chips.
Unfortunately, I don't have the part number for the ROM chip on Helios 500.
Can we check it via software or would we need to open up the laptop?

 

Hwinfo64 detailed report might give you some information on the chip, but I’m not 100% sure.