Acer Predator (Vega 56+Ryzen 2) Helios 500

Yeah I know I used to deal with it then but workarounds were present. If they flip the switch again ill just have to keep an eye on the enthusiasts that find new workarounds. Im prepared to deal with that risk to maintain a mobile platform. At worst I would be able to still use it with a NUC I guess like you mentioned.

mATX is my preferred platform for SFF machines and I have had many in the past.

Yeah for most eGPU is only viable on the machine they have at present especially so if they have no dGPU but the longevity isnt much to speak to. However for my admittedly specific use case it should be fine. Even when you have the appropriate GPU in use the core usage isnt that much. At least this was the case when I played with PhysX in the past.

 

Cool, please come back and let us know what you end up setting up and how it works.

 

I have to get my life in order first but yeah even if I have to find one of these used I plan to get one at some point. Would help if I could get one with a Korean layout as well but time will tell...

I would then be able to retire my m4600 and use the Ranger as my Mobile plex server

 

FYI - this may explain some anomalies people are experiencing on their AMD systems after the latest Windows 10 updates:

CPU Vulnerabilities, Meltdown and Spectre, Kernel Page Table Isolation Patches, and more
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...atches-and-more.812424/page-103#post-10776864

Spoiler

" Security TechCenter
ADV180002 | Guidance to mitigate speculative execution side-channel vulnerabilities
Security Advisory
Published: 01/03/2018 | Last Updated : 08/01/2018
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/ADV180002

Update 23.0 08/01/2018 Added FAQ #18 to address a high CPU utilization issue some customers with an AMD-based device are experiencing after installing the June or July Windows security updates or after installing a BIOS update.

18. I have an AMD-based device and I am experiencing high CPU utilization after installing the June or July Windows security updates or after installing a BIOS update for my device. Is this expected?

There have been reports of high CPU utilization resulting in performance degradation on some systems with Family 15h & 16h AMD processors after installing June 2018 or July 2018 Windows updates from Microsoft and updated AMD microcode that addresses Spectre Variant 2 (CVE-2017-5715 - Branch Target Injection). AMD and Microsoft have investigated this issue, and Microsoft is working to provide a solution in the near-term. This advisory will be updated when a solution is released.

Customers who wish to remediate the performance impact caused by this issue may wish to consider temporarily disabling Spectre Variant 2 mitigations via registry settings for Windows until a solution for this issue is released. When a solution is released for this issue, customers will need to re-enable the registry settings.

We do not recommend that customers uninstall the June or July security updates for Windows because the June and July updates provide numerous other critical security fixes.

Changing Registry Settings

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, see [Microsoft Knowledge Base article 322756[( https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/322756).

Note Disabling and enabling the Spectre Variant 2 mitigation through registry setting changes requires administrative rights and a restart.

To disable Spectre Variant 2 mitigations:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverride /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverrideMask /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f

Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.

When the solution is available, the registry keys will need to be re-enabled.

To enable Spectre Variant 2 mitigations:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverride /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v FeatureSettingsOverrideMask /t REG_DWORD /d 3 /f

Restart the computer for the changes to take effect."

 

Glad I do not use Windows 10 seriously feels like its still on beta

 

Where is this laptop for sale?

I've been looking all over but cant find it anywhere. Is it out there yet in bigger numbers yet ?

I am considering the Ryzen version over the i9 version

 

Hasn't released yet

 

ohhh thats why. Thanks.

When is it expected ?

 

It looks like "now", at least in India:

Acer Predator Helios 500 gaming laptop launched for Rs. 2,49,999
26 Jul 2018 | By Mudit Dube
https://www.newsbytesapp.com/timeli...r-predator-helio-500-specs-features-and-price

"Expanding its portfolio of gaming laptops, Acer has launched the high-end Acer Predator Helio 500 in India.

The laptop comes in two variants - one with AMD Ryzen 7 2700 which is priced at Rs. 1,99,999 (coming soon in India), and an Intel Core i9 variant which is available at Rs. 2,49,999 via Acer's sales partners.

Here's our roundup of Acer Predator Helios 500..."

 

(coming soon in India),

So it looks it is the same as everywhere else. Coming soon.

I wonder what the hold up is? This was announced , what , 2 months ago?

 

You could fly to India...

"The Acer Predator Helios 500 is available via the exclusive Acer mall outlets and with retail partners, but Acer has not clarified online availability."
https://beebom.com/acer-predator-helios-500-india-launch/

 

Negative on that.

My shots are not up to date.

Maybe Acer could bring the laptop to us? Hey, thats a novel idea,,,,the vendor bring the product to the customer.

Why on earth would they release in India of all places first? Biggest consumer market in the world is where........?

 

Likely using India as a test for market interest

 

Maybe......

But then again, if you think about it, they would have to commit to a sizable main board production run, so it sorta makes sense that they have produced a few thousand at least. Well whatever, if it comes it comes, if not something else will come along. It was an interesting laptop though. The only thing that was negative about it was no Thunderbolt 3 - and we understand why.

 

Thousands for a market of 1.3 billion.

 

The Acer launch event in New York was May 23rd. The New Delhi event in July was a local launch event for the India market.

(I suspect these launch events are aimed at generating negotiations and orders from buyers for distributors or retailers, not at consumers.)
----

Speculation: But, IF (big 'IF') the AMD Ryzen/Vega version were planned to be available in India first, that would a big clue that maybe sufficient parts are not ready yet (such as efficient bins of Ryzen 2700 chips, Vega 56 chips, and/or HBM2), and maybe Acer or AMD hope to have them ready for Q4 and the various holiday shopping seasons.

The first big holiday in Q4 might be Diwali, the "festival of lights" over five days and nights near the dark nights of a new moon, celebrated in India and several other tropical countries. ("In terms of consumer purchases and economic activity, it is the equivalent of Christmas holiday season in the West." according to Wikipedia.) I think it may be centered around November 7 this year, so the shopping season might be the month before that.

Right after that on the calendar is the biggest online shopping day of the year, "Singles Day" in China, on November 11, where singles (and others) spend on themselves, and merchants cooperate with big discounts. (However, I think these sales are mostly clearing older stock, not new products.)

The US holiday shopping season traditionally starts the Friday after the US Thanksgiving holiday. This year sales would traditionally start on Friday November 23rd with discounts at big physical stores, Saturday the 24th at small local merchants, and Monday the 26th at online stores. (Retailers like to get shoppers in a buying mood as early as possible, so they have more weekends to draw them into stores and tempt them to make gift purchases, and avoid ruin even if a storm scares shoppers away the final shopping weekend.)

(China's biggest holiday, Chinese Lunar New Year, is near the beginning of February, but I think gifts are traditionally in the form of cash in red envelopes, rather than purchased gifts.)

 

For me, this is the build I'd go for. A build with minimal compromises (particularly on raw processing power).

 

Sadly Intel haven't made good on their opening up of Thunderbolt. Now this being an AMD system with an AMD processor and AMD GPU why not use an AMD connector for expansion too? A modern update of the XGP connector with 16 PCIe 3.x lanes and USB 3.x support would be nice, and why not a fusion reactor instead of a battery?

 

A very poor test market unfortunately. The market is actually kind of small when you consider about 42% of its population is living below the new international poverty line of $1.25 (PPP) per day.

The actual upper middle class market for high end gaming electronics is something like 0.1% of the population. The % of those looking for an AMD gaming laptop with desktop CPU? I doubt they will make too many sales unfortunately unless they release it internationally.

 

There pre-orders for it in Norway its actually set to release next month. If it had more than one 2.5 inch drive bay I would probably bought it but its only got one far as I know.

 

Seems like some German sites claim to have them stocked now. Real soon now?

 

Its already for sale in Norway.
https://www.komplett.no/product/101...aerbar/acer-predator-helios-500-173-fhd-matt#

Extremely tempting but its only got one 2.5 inch drive slot and two M.2 slots, its pathetic to say the least even the MSI one that Eurocom sells has 3 x 2.5 inch slots and multiple M2 slots, yes its got Intel and nVidia but so what??? Its got more I/O, its got a fingerprint reader and a better screen FOR THE SAME PRICE???
Stop pulling my leg Acer, come on now

 

Not a concern for me. I have 10TB running in my m4600 and most of that can be transferred natively to my Ranger and with a little external help I can expand further if I wanted.

BUT I understand how one would want one system for everything.

 

The Ryzen edition is now featured as a model on Acer's page and on Amazon.
Amazon.com PH517-61-R0GX
I get the feeling that they will be available for purchase this month for sure.

 

Link fails to load for me, but I doubt they wouldnt release it eventually...

 

His link works fine for me, comes up instantly. Where are you browsing from?

Here's a shortened link, maybe that will help:
https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-PH517-61-R0GX-Processor-Graphics/dp/B07GWX5X26

Can you get on Amazon.com at all? Maybe do a search for it on Amazon's site when you get to the top level.

 

Your link also doesnt work for me, but im sure its my issue. I was able to find the listing through amazon though

 

Can you share the link that works for you? It might help people that can't load the links we shared.

 

Im pretty sure its the same link but yeah no problem

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predato...36291480&sr=8-1&keywords=amd+helios+500+ryzen

 

Yeah, it is essentially the same links:

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-PH517-61-R0GX-Processor-Graphics/dp/B07GWX5X26

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-PH517-61-R0GX-Processor-Graphics/dp/B07GWX5X26

I wonder why the links weren't working for you? Maybe you have an extension blocking external links opening new tabs?

 

Acershop over here already has it in stock, however I am afraid to buy one :/

No reviews yet, so no telling if its better, worse or same regarding performance in games compared to the 8750h+gtx1070 model.

Seeing vega56+gtx1070 benchmarks on youtube the vega falls behind significantly in many games :/ (has been a long Time since I used amd)

 

Ok, I'll pass this model.
Price is about the same as the 8750h+gtx1070 model, but performance is much lower.
Depending game the difference is 3-18%.

The Vega56 in this laptop has lowered core clock. The performance is about GTX1070 MaxQ level.

You can consider this laptop to be equiped with AMD Vega56 MaxQ

Gaming benchmarks:



2 Helios 500 laptops (8750h+gtx1070, ryzen7+vega56) were tested and the results compared.

 

Vega 56 has lowered tdp. Have to bump it back up to 150w watts bit that's why everyone wants reviews.

 

I am mainly interested in this laptop because of the open-source Vulkan drivers. I've been wanting to switch to Linux full-time and the new Proton tech from Valve has been making waves. I want to see some current reviews first but if they are any sort of decent I am pulling the trigger on this model. Also, no Meltdown exploit performance hit and 16 threads. That would be nice.

 

Im interested in the reviews but I also want to see how soft moddable they can be.

Like for instance how much trouble it would be to make the Vega 56 GPU that is at 120w TDP run at 150w TDP. Acer is advertising open overclocking so we'll see how limited it is.

I also want to know if you can run faster system memory as well.

 

So where exactly were they tested? Searching for reviews only link old previews and that old laptop media one that didn't say too much. Searching for that diagram didn't give any result.

There is no thorough review with the kind of details I need. That the 1070 would be faster was already obvious (from the old review + previews) but that doesn't mean the Intel solution is generally better.

 

Anything further on this laptop anywhere? I cant find anything new on this at all. Its almost like Acer are not really interested in marketing this laptop.

 

B&H have a listing, " New Item - Coming Soon - $2,199.00", give them a call and ask about it, please come back and let us all know what B&H have to say.

Acer 17.3" Predator Helios 500 Gaming Notebook
B&H # ACPH5NH3GAA1
MFR # NH.Q3GAA.001
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...n_nI3QIVENtkCh3uuARCEAkYASABEgKoTPD_BwE&smp=y

Request Stock Alert

New Item - Coming Soon
$2,199.00
Free Expedited Shipping
Product Highlights

• 3.2GHz AMD Ryzen 7 2700 Eight-Core-Core
• 16GB DDR4 | 256GB SSD
• 17.3" FHD 1920x1080 FreeSync IPS Display
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 GPU (8GB HBM2)
• 10/100/1000 MB/s Gigabit Ethernet
• 802.11ac Wi-Fi | Bluetooth 5.0
• USB Type-C | HDMI | DisplayPort
• Windows 10 Home

Acer Predator Helios 500 Ryzen/Vega 56 (PH517-61-R0GX) On Amazon
09-08-2018, 08:06 AM
https://www.phoronix.com/forums/for...ios-500-ryzen-vega-56-ph517-61-r0gx-on-amazon

 

Too little too late?

Hopefully they spent their time tweaking the proc & Vega, but I doubt it.

Also weird that a Ryzen 2700 isn't used more for professional laptops, it would give Acer an edge against the competition. It's at its 'worst' performance as a gaming processor.

 

That's an odd response given you just suggested people buy an "old" 8700k + 1080 and skip the new RTX / 9xxx from Nvidia / Intel.

It's a new market for AMD, and Brands that have been stuck puking out Intel garbage for years - culminating with Intel failing to deliver 10nm - laptop makes should be eager to incorporate new AMD desktop and laptop CPU's / GPU's / APU's.

I'd imagine the Acer / Asus engineers competed over which of them had a shot at designing the new AMD "desktop" CPU laptops.

Each new AMD laptop release should be an improvement on the last, but there are so many variables between design and delivery, every laptop needs reviews by owners - and time to get to know the tuning of the new laptop.

I wouldn't worry about Ryzen 2 + Vega 56 mobile being "too late", Intel has failed forward for years - way too late year after year on delivering the promised 10nm, AMD is right on time in comparison.

With that shining example of 10nm failure set by Intel - disappointing so many PC and laptop makers - AMD has many nice windows of opportunity ahead of Intel's recovery, likely for the next few years, maybe much longer.

 

Why is it an odd response? For gaming purposes I would still advise to buy a 8700K DTR now instead of a 2700, or the 9900K when it arrives.

My point was tactically: that Acer should have marketed the 2700 as a professional cpu, because it would have scored well against the LGA and BGA Intel competition. Combining the 2700 with a neutered Vega will inevitably draw the comparison with Intel + nVidia gaming laptops (heck, the other helios 500). Result: AMD seems to offer an inferior product, performance-wise.

 

It's not inferior enough to mention any longer, the benchmarks have been improving as the AMD drivers and Windows updates bring performance improvements. The performance keeps getting better, and it's more than good enough.

Anyone looking for an AMD Ryzen desktop CPU laptop with a AMD Vega GPU aren't going to care if it's a little slower than higher priced Intel garbage ($2499 8950HQ / $2299 8750H) now will they?

Only an Intel fanboi would troll that line...

There's no need to focus the marketing to the professional market - or the gamer market, as AMD fans will come looking for AMD CPU / AMD GPU laptops whenever they arrive and in whatever form they take, giving us an AMD alternative to buying Intel crap one more time.

 

Surely AMD wants to market more broadly than to its already convinced fans? If the intel+nvidia helios 500 is priced at the same level* as the AMD variant and scores -even a little bit- better, why would an 'ordinary' consumer not buy the intel/nvidia system?

For a 'neutral' buyer, the strengths of the 2700 could be so much more convincing in a professional workstation than in a gaming laptop, as it would beat the 8750H, 8950HK, and 8700K hands-down in for example content creation applications. This would make LGA Ryzen an attractive alternative for professional laptops, and its reputation could in turn open up the gaming laptop market. Instead we'll get the 2800H, which is only a 4-core proc, targeted for budget gaming laptops, if we're honest.

* Of course, if it's priced considerably cheaper it could, indeed, convince consumers.

 

came across this, others may find it a useful read

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/548709/release-date-for-predator-helios-500-with-ryzen

 

The gaming performance is good enough, the customers are smart enough to know they are trading off top GPU performance for CPU multicore performance. Customers are also smart enough to search based on CPU and GPU, and not limit their searches to "Workstation" or "Gaming" laptops specifically.

For many years now the best performing laptops have been gaming laptops, and professionals have already crossed over looking for higher performance than offered in the limited range of workstation laptops. There are so many more high performance gaming laptop form factor options than found as "professional workstation laptops".

Plenty of AMD gamers would never think to cross over to a workstation build - usually much higher priced - and as I said the cross over the other direction by professionals looking for high performance laptops - finding them in gaming laptops - has already happened years ago.

I think you are out of touch with how the markets have gone, and are missing the point completely.

The 50% market share for AMD against Intel consumer CPU's indicates a very broad migration to AMD acceptance.

AMD only needs to convince makers to build any laptop with any form factor, using any of their lines of CPU's / GPU's / APU's, and there is a large built-in and growing fan base ready to buy them right now.

There are more desktop like APU's coming for laptops, follow up here:

AMD's Ryzen CPU's (Ryzen/TR/Epyc) & Vega/Polaris GPU's
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ga-polaris-gpus.799348/page-513#post-10796869

Don't worry about it, I am sure everyone else here looking for AMD laptops don't care about Intel / Nvidia performance advantages one little bit, I know I don't.

 

Nice, complete with an untuned out of the box CB15 + Time Spy 1.0 benchmark...

"Cinebench and 3DMark Firestrike. I haven't changed anything. So no undervoltage and fan on auto. Everything out of the box. The first attempt on Firestrike was slightly better (over 14,000). The fan was quiet during the test. At 3DMark it had trouble recognizing the video card.
My first game in League of Legens (full settings) stayed stable over 130 fps. Without power supply over 70 fps."


Those scores should be able to be tuned up a bit further, the problem we often have is inexperienced people get them and post out of the box results - just like reviewers - with system updates and other mis-settings applied - and then those results get quoted as being "crap". I hope we see owners with tuning experience get them and post results too.

No actual firm delivery date though, mostly a non-specific "soon" - we are already well past week 33, 34, 35, 37 mentioned, so maybe it will pay to continue to watch that thread for updates.

 

The point is that at last there is a first hand account with at least SOMETHING to read and try to get at some sort of idea of what this laptop setup may be.

The other point is that, this result may well be what the majority of users end up with....how many come to forums like this to figure out how to squeeze the last drop of performance out of it ? Some sure, but many who wont. So a lot of users will only see that level of performance.

I would say its good to know what the baseline performance is without any tweaks.

All in all, imho, its a useful post from the guy.

I would expect once the laptop is mainstream and the experts here get thier hands on it we will see just how much performance can be extracted from it and boy, i relish the day we can read that. But till then, this is all we have, and to me it has at least some use.

 

That's why I posted the results myself here, with an explanation as preface to the poor results.

Thanks for posting the link, but next time please help out by putting in the effort to post the interesting stuff directly here - you'd already found it and filtered out the interesting bits, why not go that extra step and write it up for us all to share?

I don't mind doing the work myself for you; I don't like to take all the fun away from the experience, and I like to see others enjoy it for themselves.

I've found quite often that such results posted can disappear, so I like to archive them here directly in case the link or the post disappears. Also, many people can't be bothered to actually click on the link and will start asking questions that could have been answered by reading the post(s) of interest, or posting the goodies here for all to see.

His results post is from 5 days ago now, you'd think he would have come back and posted updates... maybe he still will.

 

I thought posting the link and letting people do a little for themselves is also appropriate.

I mean, I didnt just say that I found this info and this is what was said and leave it at that .......i took the time to share the link.

I also think its cleaner to this thread to leave all that other data on the other site....and the whole thread can be read so the context to the thread is clear.

idk, I just thought that was a better way. Sorry if it offended you.

 

Hey, I'm trying to make a helpful suggestion based on 40 years of doing this, on how to help improve the communication of the interesting stuff we all find.

That's why I made the effort to filter and post the interesting details myself, like I said, it clears up and focuses the points of interest.

It's an out of the box result, and that's not as good as it's going to get. It's better than nothing, but not by much, and just like poorly done reviews poorly worked out results from owners half-hearted efforts - with no follow up - disappoint those looking for optimal results.

Often it's not clear on first scan what someone is thinking when they post their link, which of the dozens of posts at the other end of that link are of interest - unless it's a link to a specific post, which this one wasn't.

I'm trying to suggest that you aren't doing anyone any favors with a bare link with little more than " came across this, others may find it a useful read" - what was it exactly that was of interest?, let me go ahead and read a dozen posts and see if I can catch a clue.

It's always a good idea to include a link to back up any details posted - the source of the info - even if it's all been said in a post here - that's the other extreme of not posting enough info - not posting the link to the source.