How to use my gaming laptop

Saz2020

Hi there. very new at gaming on a laptop so please bare with me. Few months ago I bought Acer Predator Helios 300 with GeForce RTX 2060. 8GB Ram. I bought this for various editing purposes like Photoshop, Illustrator ect. Im scared to use it as an actual gaming laptop as i don't know the first thing about pc gaming, settings,overclocking or anything like that. is there anywhere online ye could point me too in trying to understand how to use it. I had gotten to play the game "Control" on this and it looked amazing but the laptop felt hot after playing the game for a while and i didnt know what settings i should have it to continue so i stopped playing in fear of burning the graphics card. Thanks so much in advance

Ciano35

You’re not going to burn it out. Laptops get very hot, especially gaming ones, that’s just how they are. I have my gaming laptop nearly 3 years with a gtx1080 and i7-8700k, it gets very heavy use and would be roasting while gaming but never had a problem.

Forget about overclocking, it would probably only raise temperatures too high and it would start throttling. Just relax, download a few games and enjoy them make sure that you have the laptop on a hard surface with nothing blocking the fans.

Saz2020

Ciano35 wrote: »

You’re not going to burn it out. Laptops get very hot, especially gaming ones, that’s just how they are. I have my gaming laptop nearly 3 years with a gtx1080 and i7-8700k, it gets very heavy use and would be roasting while gaming but never had a problem.

Forget about overclocking, it would probably only raise temperatures too high and it would start throttling. Just relax, download a few games and enjoy them make sure that you have the laptop on a hard surface with nothing blocking the fans.

Thank you for that. I guess im just so used to consoles and their way of working that when the laptop gets loud and warm i freak. thank you for your reply

Ciano35

Saz2020 wrote: »

Thank you for that. I guess im just so used to consoles and their way of working that when the laptop gets loud and warm i freak. thank you for your reply

No problem! And the fans might get fairly loud as well but it’s completely normal. The laptop would shut itself off anyway if it got too hot. Also forgot to say don’t worry about changing the setting in games, they usually adjust themselves to suit your laptop specs when you first start the game. Enjoy!

Saz2020

Ciano35 wrote: »

No problem! And the fans might get fairly loud as well but it’s completely normal. The laptop would shut itself off anyway if it got too hot. Also forgot to say don’t worry about changing the setting in games, they usually adjust themselves to suit your laptop specs when you first start the game. Enjoy!

Thank you so much

Ciano35

Saz2020 wrote: »

Thank you so much

Any time! Let me know if you need help with settings and stuff

overclocking laptops is not really a thing.

the thermals are designed to handle the as-is hardware settings - you don't really have much leeway like you would in a desktop tower setup where you have much more space and the possibility of adding additional cooling.

with 2060 mobile you should be able to run 1080p high settings as a general rule for current games, ultra for older ones.

obviously don't know the cpu as you haven't said.

Saz2020

glasso wrote: »

overclocking laptops is not really a thing.

the thermals are designed to handle the as-is hardware settings - you don't really have much leeway like you would in a desktop tower setup where you have much more space and the possibility of adding additional cooling.

with 2060 mobile you should be able to run 1080p high settings as a general rule for current games, ultra for older ones.

obviously don't know the cpu as you haven't said.

Thank you, yes i forgot to say it's Intel 6 core i7-9750 2.60GHz

tedpan

Make sure you're using it on a desk/table. Gaming laptops need plenty of ventilation, never leave it sitting on a bed etc.

Darwin

As others have said ventilation is key. Propping up the back by about 2cm helps a lot using something like coasters, or try a laptop cooling pad. There is probably an option in the Predator sense software to put the laptop into gaming mode so the fans spin up max speed to keep everything cool. You can monitor your system temps while gaming using MSI Afterburner, here's a quick tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdxnOUT7Pnc

If your CPU is hitting 95c+ while gaming, it may start to throttle back the clock speed. You can try undervolting your CPU using Throttlestop. Here's a handy guide:

https://www.ultrabookreview.com/31385-the-throttlestop-guide/

sheepsh4gger

Saz2020 wrote: »

Hi there. very new at gaming on a laptop so please bare with me. Few months ago I bought Acer Predator Helios 300 with GeForce RTX 2060. 8GB Ram. I bought this for various editing purposes like Photoshop, Illustrator ect. Im scared to use it as an actual gaming laptop as i don't know the first thing about pc gaming, settings,overclocking or anything like that. is there anywhere online ye could point me too in trying to understand how to use it. I had gotten to play the game "Control" on this and it looked amazing but the laptop felt hot after playing the game for a while and i didnt know what settings i should have it to continue so i stopped playing in fear of burning the graphics card. Thanks so much in advance

Whatever you do - don't use it in bed. It covers the air vents. Use it on a clean desk and you should be fine.


These laptops get hot, it's normal. This is why a desktop computer is more suitable for gaming but there's nothing wrong with using a laptop.


Just install Steam from Valve, it's a launcher for games and I think Half Life 2 is still free (this is a limited think). Older games won't push it to the limit.


If you're really concerned there's a free program called 'open hardware monitor' that will shows you all temperatures.


If you're playing say Destiny 2 then you can go into the settings- drop the resolution to 720p, drop the level of detail etc. It will actually make you more competitive because of the higher frame rates with low settings.


If you want to get into PC gaming, Deus Ex 1 is a cherished classic

This is a good place for normies:
https://linustechtips.com/main/