Acer Nitro 5 AN515-57-79U4 Purchase Warning Harvey Norman or in-general

LGodgodgod on 31/12/2021 - 15:55
Last edited 07/01/2022 - 11:08

Hi All
I recently purchased Acer Nitro 5 from Harvey Norman particularly the i7 11800H model with RTX 3060.

I have had nothing but problems with this laptop. despite some people claiming that it comes with Thuderbolt it dosent.

the USB C port has not ALT mode whatsoever to push video signal so rules out a 2/3 monitor setup. you are stuck with single output monitor.

the system overheats but most importantly the power supply is insufficient so battery drains even gaming when plugged in.

moreover, you will loose most frames in-game if the power requirement is too much. for example CS-GO 1080P high setting I would go from 280-300+ frames to 5-10 FPS stutter mess in game for no reason whatsoever, CPU-GPU temps are at 70C but no biggie. the only thing I can point out is the dingy little PSU not enough to push 95W on the GPU and 50+ watts on the CPU at the same time with all other peripherals.

dont try to save a few bucks and DO NOT purchase Acer Nitro 5 3060 particularly the I7 version. BPC tech's Kraken laptop looks like a much better deal with ful;l powered 3070s or 3060s.

you have been warned.

my particular link is this one.
https://www.harveynorman.com.au/acer-nitro-5-15-6-inch-i7-11…

****Update 07/01/2022****

after a week of painful diagnosis, I finally contacted Harvey Norman 2 days ago and today they provided full refund. The laptop is out of stock everywhere so they couldn't offer me a replacement.

Harvey Norman tech was really good. The key issue with this laptop is the CPU power failure causing ssd power failure turning everything slow untill battery is fully charged up and power supply is less heated.

Again if you are looking to buy this laptop, you have been warned. There is some underlying issue with this laptop either it's the power delivery or something else.

Computing Acer Computer Gaming Laptop Laptop

Comments

  • Lukas on 31/12/2021 - 16:27

    Good to see another person documenting these issues, I purchased the i5, RTX3060 variant last week (AN515-57-54ZA) and am having the exact same power requirement issues after 30min to 3 hours of gaming depending on the game. After following up with Harvey Norman online support with videos and a description of the issue they are happy to accept a return (as there is no stock for them to exchange anyway) and they gave me a call from a local store to follow up.

    I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to fix the issue and have reformatted changed drivers etc, the only thing that works for me is to limit the CPU power draw (power options->Change plan settings->Change advanced power settings->Processor power management (plugged in maximum 99% or less should disable boost). I’ve still been getting random unexplained frame rate drops though. The system benchmarks almost twice as fast as my 4 year old Max-Q 1060 laptop but just seems overall unstable when given a heavy workload.

    My USB C port is correctly a thunderbolt though (from the $1198 deal) and can do video.

    • Lukas on 31/12/2021 - 16:51

      Do note that Harvey Norman are only one distributor of these laptops, the fault lies with Acer’s integration testing.

      I suspect they may have only verified the laptop for use at 1080p 144hz (stock screen) rather than with higher settings and additional device power draw that the hardware should be more than capable of doing.

      • Godgodgod on 07/01/2022 - 11:07
        +1

        Hey mate, after a week of painful diagnosis, I finally contacted Harvey Norman 2 days ago and today they provided full refund. The laptop is out of stock everywhere so they couldn't offer me a replacement.

        Harvey Norman tech was really good. The key issue with this laptop is the CPU power failure causing ssd power failure turning everything slow untill battery is fully charged up and power supply is less heated.

        Again you have been warned. There is some underlying issue with this laptop either it's the power delivery or something else.

        • typhoonadventure on 21/03/2022 - 18:01

          Contacted them as well and they've done nothing of the sort for me and palmed me off to acer who are trying to tell me its a cooling fan issue and to waste 6 weeks sending it off to them.

  • FireRunner on 31/12/2021 - 16:47

    What's the wattage of the PSU?
    Also I think a potential cause of stutter is the single SODIMM Ram configuration, especially if it's only 8GB

    • Godgodgod on 31/12/2021 - 19:18

      180w no video out via USB. I did update the bios

  • Muzeeb on 31/12/2021 - 16:49

    Ya get what U pay 4

    • Lukas on 31/12/2021 - 17:07

      Do you though? This laptop has fantastic performance and build quality for the price (the hinge, materials and fans are all good quality) and my particular unit won the silicon lottery on its graphics chip and benchmarks as fast as the lower power RTX 3070’s.

      • Godgodgod on 31/12/2021 - 19:24

        That's what I thought but lack of information and Acer opaqueness is not worth it. Get a kraken.

  • AppleLime on 31/12/2021 - 16:54

    Thank you for highlighting the issues. Much appreciated. Now I don't have to buy this for my son.

  • foxmulder on 31/12/2021 - 16:54

    Have same issue with Costco razer blade as it doesn't have alt display for it's USB c, return it as they accept return for change of mind even it's open and bought higher one from Amazon as of course for the reason of same easy return, but good thing I don't really have to.

    If your USB is USB 3.0 you can try using USB to HDMI adapter to get second display for your acer.

    • Godgodgod on 31/12/2021 - 19:22

      I have tried all types of adapters hubs no dice. USB C is only data which is strange as some people have reported it to be Thunderbolt for the same sku

  • Tavisophical on 31/12/2021 - 18:05

    Sorry to hear about your issues with this laptop. I'm relieved that I only went for the i3 version with the 3060 as I don't have any of the issues you have described.

    Did you update your laptop with the latest BIOS and firmware?

  • DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 31/12/2021 - 18:26

    I have an i7-11th gen/3060 variant. Works great. I can get video from the USB-C port.

    Update the BIOS and firmware if you haven't already.

    Is your power adaptor 180w? I have 2 Acer Nitros and my lower powered model uses a 130w charger while my 3060 uses a 180w charger.

    • Godgodgod on 31/12/2021 - 19:22

      180w no video out via USB. I did update the bios. Can you share me a bios link just want to make sure I haven't accdiently flashed a wrong bios

      • Lukas on 01/01/2022 - 14:33

        180w as well for i5 3060, one odd thing I noticed though is that its not Acer branded, did anyone else receive a Power Supply with Acer logo branding?

        • Godgodgod on 01/01/2022 - 15:42

          From nitro sense, can you try balance power and max fan settings? It kinda of works for me for the last day or so. I reduced the fan to auto today and it came up again while playing Saints row 4 not particularly demanding game from 2013

        • WT on 02/01/2022 - 23:20
          +1

          mine says delta inc

    • Godgodgod on 31/12/2021 - 19:25

      Also would be great to share a photo of the USb port does it have symbol of lighting or just USB?

  • Jugganautx on 31/12/2021 - 23:01

    Were you actually hoping to get less than 70 degrees on a laptop with pissy fans on it?

    Most people cant even achieve that on a desktop.

    • Godgodgod on 31/12/2021 - 23:12

      nope. i am not complaining about temps. i am complaining about sudden drop in fps from 300+ to 5-10 fps even when temps are only 70C.

  • qazwsx on 01/01/2022 - 03:12
    +1

    Bought the i5 rtx3060, had no problems so far. Can't complain for the price, it's been super value so far. Just need to add more ram and ssd storage - haven't checked on mine but reviews say Acer give only 1 stick so the 2nd ram slot should be available for expansion, and there's 2x m2 slots and 1x 2.5" bay which is crazy.

    • Godgodgod on 01/01/2022 - 12:38

      yeah well that what my thoughts were. expandability and price. however these issues of not having a third display via usb C is very annoying. and drop of FPS is very concerning.

  • bennyzhou on 05/01/2022 - 02:02

    I bought the same model(AN515-57 11800h 3060). No type-c video out nor thunderbolt. It might be disabled in the bios setting.

    Hash rate is 34M due to the hynix ram

    It however, can be flashed to 130w vbios. I tried different games. It did boost around 15%.

    I only use external monitor to minimise power stress to the psu

    • Godgodgod on 05/01/2022 - 08:16

      Same thing I only use external monitor. The sudden loss of fps is worrying. And the fact that some people have got video out via type C and some people don't. Dodgy

    • Tavisophical on 05/01/2022 - 10:19

      Anyone tried flashing the i3 10300h version to the 130w vbios?

    • Godgodgod on 05/01/2022 - 15:58

      Where can you find the vbios?

      • bennyzhou on 05/01/2022 - 21:20
        +1

        Tested working on an515-57. Watt usage display is correct.

        Make sure to backup old vbios first!

        https://drive.google.com/file/d/157viRXCzGOVuRj1smMzyZN9v3LH…

        This vbios can only improve gaming, no help for hash rate.

        The acer today release new bios for AN515-57 and AN715-54 (Same MB).

        • Godgodgod on 05/01/2022 - 21:27

          Thanks

        • Godgodgod on 07/01/2022 - 11:08

          Hey mate, after a week of painful diagnosis, I finally contacted Harvey Norman 2 days ago and today they provided full refund. The laptop is out of stock everywhere so they couldn't offer me a replacement.

          Harvey Norman tech was really good. The key issue with this laptop is the CPU power failure causing ssd power failure turning everything slow untill battery is fully charged up and power supply is less heated.

          Again you have been warned. There is some underlying issue with this laptop either it's the power delivery or something else.

        • Tavisophical on 07/01/2022 - 11:47

          Do you know if the AN515-55 is the same motherboard?

          • Godgodgod on 07/01/2022 - 12:58

            @Tavisophical: No different board be careful.

            • Tavisophical on 07/01/2022 - 12:59

              @Godgodgod: Thanks, not too worried as the increase in max power will also mean more heat/noise or same perf

              • Godgodgod on 07/01/2022 - 13:00

                @Tavisophical: I returned my laptop today and Harvey Norman tech confirmed a hardware fault causing CPU and SSD to loose power.

        • CVonC on 09/01/2022 - 00:25

          Where did you find this vbios?

          The acer today release new bios for AN515-57 and AN715-54 (Same MB).

          Does that mean my i5-11400h + 3060 can now go upto 130w instead of 95w O.O

          • bennyzhou on 09/01/2022 - 01:34
            +1

            @CVonC: It should be!

            I found the vbios in Chinese forum where thousands people flashed it on their Nitro 5 (3060).

            In China the Nitro 5 (intel H45 version) is a lot cheaper and all have thunderbolt. There is an AMD version (5800H with 3060, no thunderbolt but has Alt-mode) which can also flash this 130w vbios.

            Run CMD in admin mode and use internal screen, not external monitor!
            //To backup
            nvflash -b backup.rom

            //To flash, you need press Y twice in the dialog
            nvflash -6 super130w.rom

            //To revert to the backup vbios, you need press Y twice in the dialog
            nvflash -6 backup.rom

            • CVonC on 09/01/2022 - 17:19

              @bennyzhou: Awesome! I might give it a go.

              How did you confirm it can run at 130w? NVIDIA system info? GPU-Z sensors monitoring?

              • bennyzhou on 09/01/2022 - 17:33
                +1

                @CVonC: I can confirm.

                NVIDIA system info says 130w (before flashing, stock vbios was 95w)

                When playing game, using alt+R, I can see the actual power goes 115-130w.

                When mining, using alt+R, I can see the actual power is stable 130w

            • Ben1985 on 11/01/2022 - 01:15
              +2

              @bennyzhou: For reference, the attached RTX 3060 Mobile 130W vBIOS was dumped from an MSI GE76 Raider (10UE-430CA) laptop, which has been validated by TechPowerUp (URL: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/232998/msi-rtx3060mobile…). The SHA1 hashes are identical (d03c0104d6161ba38f883897538bb45d81c8bded). I figured this may instil more confidence than an unknown Chinese forum being the sole source.

              I just wanted to confirm that the Acer Nitro 5 model that you purchased is the AN515-57-79U4/NH.QEUSA.001? If so, is the HDMI output (and everything else) still working as expected? I'm considering doing the same, but didn't want to go down the rabbit hole of troubleshooting potential issues with I/O, power delivery, thermal performance, etc.

              • CVonC on 11/01/2022 - 06:39

                @Ben1985:

                For reference, the attached RTX 3060 Mobile 130W vBIOS was dumped from an MSI GE76 Raider (10UE-430CA) laptop

                Yeah I was googling it and someone on reddit was trying out all these different vbios' and got the 130W working with the MSI one. Seems like from the thread the HDMI port is still working properly.

              • bennyzhou on 12/01/2022 - 03:52
                +2

                @Ben1985: AN515-57-79U4/NH.QEUSA.001 is the exact model I bought.

                I only use HDMI to an external screen. All good. Thermal is OK using optimised power profile.
                Battery level drop may occur if you use built-in monitor and lights on the keyboard.

                Single ddr4 is another problem for the FPS in gaming.

                • Ben1985 on 14/01/2022 - 20:11

                  @bennyzhou: Thanks for clarifying.

                  I'm upgrading the memory (from 16GB to 32GB) and NVME SSD (from 512GB using PCIE3x4 to 2TB using PCIE4x4). Unfortunately, the motherboard is seemingly exceptionally picky regarding matched memory modules (i.e. brand and model) in order to run at the maximum supported JEDEC profile (i.e. #14, 3200MHz, CL22, 1.2V), as even when the memory modules are architecturally identical (e.g. 2Rx8) and support the same JEDEC profiles, the frequency is downgraded from 3200MHz to 2933MHz. I've ordered a couple of Crucial CT16G4SFRA32A memory modules, which will hopefully resolve the issue, and I'll simply sell the Samsung M471A2K43EB1-CWE memory module (which is what I intended to purchase originally, but found it next to impossible to source at a decent price).

            • bazingaa on 30/07/2022 - 22:41

              @bennyzhou: Thanks mate, worked on AN515-57-54QC. How is your experience with max CPU + GPU load ? do we need to use a 230 W power supply ?

  • Ben1985 on 08/01/2022 - 14:38

    In case anyone is considering purchasing this laptop (AN515-57-79U4/NH.QEUSA.001) in the future, I can also confirm that it does NOT support Thunderbolt 4 or DisplayPort Alternate Mode via USB-C. Hence, the display configuration is limited to a single external display via HDMI. The absence of this functionality is quite baffling, as it's present on the less expensive model (AN515-57-54ZA/NH.QDGSA.002).

  • CVonC on 08/01/2022 - 22:27
    +1

    I have the i5-11400/3060 with TB4.

    I had severe FPS slow down issues after just 10 minutes of playing L4D2 (like from over 500fps down to unplayable 10fps). The thing I noticed was that BD PROCHOT in Throttlestop was triggering even though the CPU was only around 79C. I also noticed that the CPU clockrate would be stuck on 800MHz after I excited the game and even windows was choppy af! So it seems like the CPU would hit the thermal limit at much lower temp than Intel's spec (100C). Also, it would take ages for the CPU to unthrottle itself out of 800MHz that I would just restart the damn laptop. What I tried was disabling the BD PROCHOT trigger so it would not throttle down. This worked and I was able to play for slightly longer periods. However, after I think maybe 20 mins, instead of throttling down, the laptop would just thermally shutdown (as in instantly turn off). Again, I had the temps being monitored and it only hit 79C.

    What I figured out was that I had set the power profile in Acer Care to "High Performance" instead of the default "Balanced (Acer Optimised)". I had never gamed with it set to the default power profile (I was only benchmarking it). Once I switched to this power profile, I have never ever gotten any throttling anymore!

    Not sure if you had set your power profile to High Performance as you didn't mention it. But setting mine to Balanced (Acer Optimised) solved the same problem as yours that I seemingly had.

    • Godgodgod on 08/01/2022 - 23:38

      Hmm interesting. I also had it set to high performance. Anyways I have returned it now, was fedup of constant slowdowns every 20 minutes. Mine had all the symptoms as yours. On max fans no dramas because temps didn't go high but the noise was too loud. Miss the performance of a 3060 but it was a love hate relationship.
      I got a Dell g15 today with 3050. Good quality build and no issues so far. But performance is less.

      • CVonC on 09/01/2022 - 00:28
        +1

        Yeah they must've coded something weird with that power profile instead of just being a typical wrapper for the windows power profiles. I was actually very close to returning it too cos of all the issues. Thankfully I figured it out. Sorry I didn't post it as a separate thread to let you know. I think I posted about it in another thread though (edit: found). I do understand your frustration though, specially since you were the one trying to get DP over USB-C to work. That other guy that did manage to get it work with also the i7-11800h never replied to you :/ I wonder if his one had the lightning bolt symbol on it. I'm assuming it did. And I'm also assuming your one didn't.

        • Godgodgod on 09/01/2022 - 08:15

          Yeah usb C was data only, no display. All good.

  • bennyzhou on 30/01/2022 - 00:24
    +2

    With the latest bios ver 1.14, decompress the file you will find 3 bios files.

    Open flatform.ini
    [MULTI_FD]
    Flag=1
    FD#01=MEMORY,FF6680F8,FF000000,01000000,GH5XGx64_NoPD.fd
    FD#02=MEMORY,FE0B0828,0000FF00,00000300,GH5XGx64_NoPD.fd
    FD#03=ID,GH51G,GH5XGx64_TI.fd
    FD#04=ID,GH71G,GH5XGx64_RTK.fd
    FD#05=ID,GH53G,GH5XGx64_TI.fd
    FD#06=ID,GH73G,GH5XGx64_RTK.fd

    You will see the difference for the non usb-pd version.
    Since the mainboard (AN515-57-79U4/NH.QEUSA.001) is actually GH51G. Change to the following line will force flash to the USB-pd version
    FD#01=MEMORY,FF6680F8,FF000000,01000000,GH5XGx64_TI.fd

    Thunderbolt 4 might working too.

    However it is only my guess. I haven't tried it.

  • typhoonadventure on 21/03/2022 - 18:03

    Having the same issue on the an515-57-55r8

    Harvey's have palmed me off to acer, acer are being useless.

    • CVonC on 22/03/2022 - 03:29

      Read my comment above.

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