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    I'm back! Acer Predator Helios 300, and already modding it

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by mulzoffh, Sep 29, 2017.

  1. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    So! It has been forever since I've been on here. I had the world record for the gt 540m overclock on my 3830tg, and since I sold that I haven't been on here. Just got my Predator, and already time to show you guys some mods

    Cooling is already pretty decent on this laptop, but since I take everything to the next level, went with changing the thermal paste, and stripping the whole cooling system of it's black paint. More mods will be to come.


    Biggest thing! I'm sure everyone since the 600 series knows of the tdp power throttling, especially on Pascal. If you look on Google, there is a thing called the shunt mod. As far as I know, no one has attempted it on a laptop, until now. I figured out where the resistors were on this laptop, and gave it a go!


    Boom! Zero clock throttling. Haven't gone crazy into overclocking yet but you can clearly see my gpu chilling at 1.05v and 1890ish mhz. Doesn't move, I will upload the gpu z picture later, phone is being dumb.

    If you decide to do this mod, follow at your own risk. I can't help you if your soldering iron slips and melts the board.
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2017
    mulzoffh, Sep 29, 2017
    #1
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  2. kdskamal

    kdskamal Notebook Guru

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    Excellent. You have not mentioned the specs of your laptop. The Helios 300 comes in 2-3 configurations.
     
    kdskamal, Sep 29, 2017
    #2
  3. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    Sorry about that, I will have it in my signature soon enough. I7-7700HQ, GTX 1060, 16GB, 256GB SSD.
     
    mulzoffh, Sep 29, 2017
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  4. ThatOldGuy

    ThatOldGuy Notebook Virtuoso

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    You should link your mod in your signature :)

    Also, edit first post with follow at own risk disclaimer
     
    ThatOldGuy, Sep 29, 2017
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  5. Rengsey R. H. Jr.

    Rengsey R. H. Jr. I Never Slept

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    What is a shunt mod , and what steps are taken?
     
    Rengsey R. H. Jr., Sep 29, 2017
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  6. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    I am not sure if quoting outside links are okay here, but if you do a simple nvidia shunt mod on google, you'll see the thread as the first link.
     
    mulzoffh, Sep 30, 2017
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  7. downloads

    downloads No, Dee Dee, no! Super Moderator

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    It's OK to post outside links. Feel free to do it when needed.
     
    downloads, Sep 30, 2017
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  8. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    mulzoffh, Sep 30, 2017
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  9. Rengsey R. H. Jr.

    Rengsey R. H. Jr. I Never Slept

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    Rengsey R. H. Jr., Sep 30, 2017
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  10. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    Eh, using liquid metal yes. Personally, I do not like that method as it can drip onto the board and cause major mayhem. I personally took a 18ga wire, pulled a few copper strands out of it, twisted them together nice and short and soldered them to both sides of the resistor. Easy to take off if I absolutely needed to as well, plus more permanent and not having to worry about the thermal paste moving around.
     
    mulzoffh, Sep 30, 2017
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  11. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    Here is my Unigine Valley Benchmark scores. This is ultra preset with 8x AA, basically max settings. This is with +100 on the core on top of the shunt mod
     

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    mulzoffh, Sep 30, 2017
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  12. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    Here is my gpu under load in furmark in gpu-z. You see the moment it goes under load, the clocks go up and stay. They move around a tiny bit due to VREG, brings voltage from 1.062 to 1.05, so it starts at around 1974 mhz then drops to 1949 mhz with the small voltage drop. I am not sure why I hit VREG yet.
     

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    mulzoffh, Sep 30, 2017
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  13. brainer

    brainer Notebook Virtuoso

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    Very cool stuff you have done here! I have the same laptop as you do. I was wondering how is this different from the software approach using something like msi afterburner to make your gpu run at a constant frequency all the time and stay at a specific voltage?
     
    brainer, Oct 1, 2017
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  14. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    There is no software way of doing it without bios mods which aren't available yet. We can't adjust power limits in MSI afterburner, and on top of that the stock tdp wall stock clocks get smacked down by them.
     
    mulzoffh, Oct 1, 2017
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  15. DRevan

    DRevan Notebook Virtuoso

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    Stupid question:
    Is it mandatory to solder it? I have some heat resistant Kapton tape, cant I just tape a piece of wire there ?

    Also, which side of the motherboard are those resistors? Do I need to remove the mb and flip it or removing the bottom panel is enough?

    What is the GPU temp after this mod/oc after a few hours of gaming (with games that are using 100% GPU)?
     
    DRevan, Oct 12, 2017
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  16. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    It is not, but is the best method I believe as it won't come undone. They are on the underside so you will need to remove the MB to get to them. I see no more then high 70s without my laptop cooler, and with the cooling mods done so far. I just added my copper shims to the heatpipes tonight.
     
    mulzoffh, Oct 30, 2017
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  17. mulzoffh

    mulzoffh Notebook Geek

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    So a couple updates, I had a weird issue with my GPU pop up after good old punkbuster decided to crash a game and the 3d device at the same time. I could not get the 1060 to work for more then a couple minutes at a time. After a warranty replacement motherboard, I am not sure if my mod caused the problem or not, but alas I have dove into the correct way of doing it and I have successfully modded the vbios via hex to unlock the tdp limit adjustment, and raised it as well. My only problem now is we have a secureflash insyde bios, and with the mod done it does not let me flash the bios. Time to figure out a way around.
     
    mulzoffh, Nov 25, 2017
    #17