Acer increases the TGP of multiple NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series gaming laptops by up to 30 W

NVIDIA may have ended its Max-Q branding as of the RTX 30 series for simplicity, but it has caused many headaches for consumers and manufacturers. Currently, NVIDIA lists a laptop GPU's TGP as a range, with the GeForce RTX 3080's ranging between 80 W and over 150 W. Similarly, a GeForce RTX 3050 laptop GPU can have a 35 W or 80 W TGP. NVIDIA requires manufacturers to list the TGPs of the RTX 30 GPUs in their laptops; determining the performance of a given card is harder than ever, in our opinion.

To add to the confusion, Acer has announced that it will be increasing GPU TGPs in four of its latest gaming laptops. Apparently, the company will increase the performance of all configurations for the Nitro 5, Predator Helios 300, Predator Triton 300 and the Predator Triton 300 SE.

Most changes are only 5 W, 10 W or 15 W, but these increases have not been implemented consistently across the four machines. For example, the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti has received a 5 W boost in the Nitro 5, but a 10 W lift in the other three machines. Incidentally, the GeForce RTX 3060 has received a 30 W boost in the Predator Helios 300, giving it a higher TGP than the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080.

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how these changes impact performance. Recently, Dell increased the limits of the RTX 3070 in the Alienware m15 R5 to little avail. Acer has not finished tinkering either and will eventually release firmware updates for all configurations within the Nitro 5, Helios 300 and Triton 300 series.

Purchase the Acer Predator Helios 300 gaming laptop on Amazon