deksman2

It would depend on the level of performance you want, coupled with what you want to use the GPU for and the budget at your disposal. The RTX 2060 would probably be a better option than 1660s or 1660ti as it would be more or less a side-grade vs the 1070 with comparable levels of gaming performance, however, that's not the only other thing. If you expect to use the GPU with some professional software for rendering and HW acceleration, then RTX 2060 would be a good thing to go for because I think the compute performance uplift on the RTX 2060 is pretty good vs 1xxx series. Alternatively, if its not too much more expensive (or even costs the same) the RTX 3060 would be best seeing how its performance is around RTX 2070 or better... plus, the 3060 is newer and has even better compute performance for rendering, etc. I'm actually using a refurbished product right now (my Acer Predator Helios 500 PH517-61 with Ryzen 2700 and Vega 56, and its been running perfectly fine) but if the 3060 is in a good condition (and depending on how it was previously used) it should be fine for you to use it. I'd inquire whether the bundled aspect includes refurbished CPU and GPU or just one of the items is refurbished... what/how they were used for and what condition they are in. Previously used CPU's and GPU's should still be fine to use for extended periods of time and really shouldn't fail unless there's a manufacturer's fault with the product. Plus, if they are refurbished, its possible that they were just used somewhat before without being stressed too hard (although I could be wrong). If the eqipment was used for mining crypto, you could probably still opt to get it (in which case I'd look into using proper thermal paste for the CPU and look into undervolting both the CPU and GPU if possible).

The thread in the archive was the one I was backing up. I was only able to get to page 135... there were no more pages after that on NBR itself... which was odd because that thread indeed went to 256 odd pages. As for the laptop... its a good thing you never got the Asus GL702ZC. I had it and it caused me nothing but problems. It was indeed extremely loud when fully stressed (like a jet engine) and after about a month of use, the laptop burned itself out. Asus repaired it by replacing the mobo, but then the laptop went and did the same thing again after another month or two... it just burned itself out. I was sick of that (along with the noise) so I went through a whole debackle with the reseller in UK and managed to get a full refund... and just shortly after that, I got the Acer Predator Helios 500 PH517-61 (this one). The Acer version was SO MUCH better... not to mention the fact it was more powerful. Better CPU (2700), better GPU (Vega 56), and this thing is DEAD QUIET while gaming. The only problem with the unit is that Acer never released BIOS updates for it which would have allowed us to swap out the 2700 for say 3700 or 5700x and use faster RAM with XMP Profiles... heck, I would have tried to upgrade to the 5900x instead as I think as powerful and quiet as the cooling is, it would have been able to handle a 105W TDP cpu (in fact, people managed to upgrade to 2700x without significant increases to functioning temperatures).

I archived 135 pages of the NBR thread on this laptop. The other 120 odd pages ceased to exist it seems (on Notebookreview). I don't know if its a bug or something else but 135 pages is what I could salvage. Here's the link https://archive.ph/1svOY

Hey guys... I figured we needed a thread continuation for this late 2018/early 2019 beast of a laptop with desktop grade hw. https://images.anandtech.com/doci/12844/Acer Predator Helios 500 AMD_575px.png Specs: CPU: Ryzen 2700, 8c/16th GPU: Vega 56, 8GB HBM RAM: 16GB (stock - preinstalled by Acer just below the keyboard) Storage: 256/512GB and 1TB HDD Display: 1080p 144Hz Some things to keep in mind: RAM slots seem to be limited to certain speeds due to lack of BIOS updates from Acer. Right now, the slots right below the keyboard (the ones housing factory installed RAM) seem to be able to operate at either 2400 to 2666MhZ (I included screenshot of STOCK RAM timings just so you know what is what - I'm excruciatingly bad with RAM timings when it comes to actually setting them up and I need to educate myself better on that front). The slots which are on the easily accessible side of the laptop seem to only go as high as 2133MhZ (at least on my laptop). Ryzen Master CAN be used to increase the RAM speeds on the slower slots, however, if you input incorrect timings, or the RAM refuses to run at the newly set speeds, you end up with a massive issue... namely, the laptop will probably refuse to run seeing how Ryzen Master affects the RAM speed on BIOS level - however, setting the RAM timings to factory RAM settings seems to work for most people when all slots are used. I tried raising this lack of BIOS update issue with Acer on Facebook and Twitter. On FB, they kept saying they are pushing things to the IT teams and that I should get an email back from them, but no one ever contacts me (I'm thinking that even if the guy keeps sending notifications to the IT department, the IT guys just keep ignoring it). I have included CRU utility along with screenshot instructions in the attachment on how to solve the Freesync not working when you do a clean install of GPU drivers (if you are just upgrading the drivers from the older version on which Freesynch worked though then you shouldn't need CRU utility as Freesync should work if you're just upgrading). That pretty much sums it up I think. I started archiving the old NBR thread for this laptop, but the process is ridiculously slow... plus for some reason, my fibre internet connection is also excrutiatingly slow today and I am also a bit swamped with college work, so I don't think I can maintain archiving the thread as it has over 200 pages. cru-1.4.2.7z