Acer Predator Orion 5000 (2024) review: Set up right for 1440p might

Acer earned a particular commendation with its Predator Orion 3000, which proved to be our high choose for finances gaming PCs. And with the Predator Orion 5000 (PO5-655-UB21), it affords a stepped-up expertise with the newest elements for an affordable value. This mannequin of the Acer Predator Orion 5000 opts for some succesful mainstream components, together with an Intel Core i7-14700F CPU and RTX 4070 Tremendous GPU, and builds round them in a sensible, economical method with out making selections that sacrifice efficiency.

The consequence is a reasonably trendy, efficient machine that may readily deal with 1080p and 1440p gaming even with the settings cranked up. It’s not an ideal PC, and it fumbles in a few areas, nevertheless it’s in no way a foul choice. Even for those who can construct a gaming PC your self, you received’t have the ability to save a lot cash in comparison with what Acer asks for this method, and that helps cement the straightforward suggestion for this machine on our information to the very best gaming PC.

Specs

The Acer Predator Orion 5000 sits within the mid-range of the market, with componentry that’s equipped for wonderful 1080p efficiency and respectable 1440p capabilities. It contains a highly effective Intel Core i7-14700F CPU, and both an RTX 4070 Tremendous or RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous GPU, the previous of which is in our evaluate mannequin and is at present sitting on the high of our greatest graphics card information.

Each GPUs present entry to Nvidia DLSS 3, which is a superb expertise for attaining larger body charges and resolutions than the GPU can deal with natively, significantly with superior options resembling ray tracing enabled. It’s a decent configuration that’s geared in direction of getting respectable gaming efficiency for an affordable value.

The CPU isn’t caught with the inventory Intel cooler, as a substitute getting an Acer mannequin with RGB lighting, though it’s nonetheless not a beefy tower cooler. It sits on high of an Intel Core i7 14700F, which has the identical eight P-Cores and 12 E-Cores (for a complete of 20) because the Core i7 14700K, however solely boosts to five.4GHz, and as such outputs much less warmth.

That’s why it has a decrease TDP score than the Core i7 14700K, with a 65W base energy and 219W max turbo energy, in contrast with 125W and 253W respectively on the 14700K. The ‘F’ on the top of its identify implies that this CPU doesn’t have an built-in GPU enabled, however that’s not an issue when you have got an RTX 4070 Tremendous graphics card additionally plugged into the motherboard.

The graphics card in our check configuration truly makes use of a blower-style cooler not often seen on current gaming graphics playing cards. These coolers have fallen out of favor lately, and so they can typically make a variety of noise when the GPU works arduous. The system additionally contains three RGB-lit case followers to drag airflow by way of the inside and out the again.

Acer provides 32GB of DDR5 reminiscence with this method because the default, which is lots for most individuals’s wants, together with gaming. It’s a stable bonus over the 16GB and even 8GB some techniques equipped with some techniques, and offers you some headroom to have plenty of apps and browser tabs open on the identical time. On the draw back, it does solely run at 4,500MHz, which is sluggish for DDR5, even when it’s faster than most DDR4 kits.

There’s 1TB of NVMe storage additionally on deck, courtesy of an SK Hynix drive, although it’s not extremely quick for a PCIe 4.0 SSD. All of this {hardware} is packed into an Acer micro-ATX motherboard, which is a bit of disappointing because it limits improve and add-on potential, particularly when the case has room for a full-size ATX motherboard.

The entire system is powered by an 800W energy provide from LiteOn which will get 80 Plus Gold certification. That’s an excellent bonus, as not all pre-built techniques trouble to put in an environment friendly energy provide. This desktop additionally comes with Home windows 11 Dwelling and is fortunately not overloaded with a bunch of extraneous software program. You received’t discover a bunch of pre-installed apps, doubtful video games, or unusual utilities of questionable utility clogging up the system if you first begin it up.

Options

The Acer Predator Orion 5000 is a fairly fashionable system, nevertheless it isn’t decked out with all the newest options. Fairly than making the bounce to Wi-Fi 7, for instance, it settles for Wi-Fi 6E networking. Fortunately, that’s nonetheless lots good, even you probably have a Gigabit Web connection, and it proved quick and steady in my testing.

For many who need extra, this machine does additionally supply a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, offering a lift over the everyday Gigabit Ethernet ports, though your router may even must assist a 2.5Gbps connection if you wish to get full benefit of it on your private home community.

You get an excellent smattering of ports too, however once more, not one of the newest and biggest. On the highest panel, you’ll discover three USB-A ports providing 5Gbps speeds and one USB-C port additionally capped on the identical pace — no 10Gbps ports or 20Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 ports there. The highest panel additionally contains two 3.5mm jacks for headphones and microphones.

The rear panel affords considerably higher connection choices however nonetheless comes up a bit of missing. It affords one 20Gbps USB-C 3.2 Gen 2×2 port, two 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (one Kind A and one Kind C), in addition to 4 USB 2.0 ports. Three extra 3.5mm audio jacks are additionally discovered right here, rounding out the ports wanted for numerous analog audio setups. Notably, there’s no Thunderbolt or USB 4.0, although. In the meantime, the graphics card gives an HDMI 2.1 port and three DisplayPort 1.4 ports.

Acer’s Predator desktop computer systems include a one-year restricted guarantee, however critiques of the corporate on Trustpilot should not favorable. The guarantee additionally doesn’t explicitly cowl transport, which might depart patrons with a substantial transport expense ought to they want guarantee service on this weighty and sizable system.

Design

The Acer Predator Orion 5000 seems trendy, nevertheless it’s not altogether intelligent or polished in its meeting. The entrance of the desktop has an fascinating extension that contains a glass panel, an illuminated Predator emblem, and in depth venting alongside the sizes. The glass panel seems in on two entrance followers, with giant plastic buildings surrounding them, however these don’t meaningfully channel airflow. This does present a sublime manner for Acer to put in a glass entrance panel with out suffocating the system, although Acer hasn’t put any finer mesh filters right here to maintain the followers from pulling in mud.

That’s a reasonably frequent theme throughout the remainder of the design. Wanting over the system, there’s loads of air flow, however the one space with a superb filter that may preserve out mud is on the underside of the facility provide. The Acer Predator Orion 5000 is a system you’ll wish to hit with compressed air frequently.

The remainder of the case is a little more primary elsewhere. It’s largely steel, save for the glass panel on the left facet. This facet panel options tool-less entry, with a easy swap to pop it open, however a single screw must be eliminated first earlier than that swap works. As soon as this panel is eliminated, you get entry to many of the system’s internals.

This features a handy drive bay that’s pre-wired, letting you merely slide in two 3.5-inch drives the place they’ll hyperlink up with the connectors in the back of the bay. 2.5-inch drives aren’t a local match right here, however they’ll go in in the event that they’re surrounded by a 3.5-inch adapter. On the alternative facet of the case, beneath the steel facet panel, you’ll additionally discover two 2.5-inch SSD drive holders.

Past the preliminary first impressions, the Acer Predator Orion 5000 begins to crumble a bit of in its design. The highest I/O panel simply stands proud of the case, for instance, which isn’t essentially unhealthy, however I’ve seen tidier work on cheaper techniques, such because the HP Omen 40L, which barely recesses its ports.

Additionally they don’t line up completely with the stamped holes for them, and the USB-C port visibly seems prefer it’s been tailored to suit a USB-A port’s gap. Even among the VRMs on the motherboard have chokes that aren’t neatly lined up. Whereas none of this impacts the efficiency of the system, it makes the construct look a bit amateurish.

The RGB lighting additionally runs right into a handful of points. Whereas it seems enjoyable and offers the system some aptitude, particularly with its default icy blue coloration, it begins to crumble as quickly as you attempt to customise it. Acer’s software program will allow you to customise the lighting in a number of zones, together with the entrance followers, exhaust fan, CPU cooler, and a sequence of small LED lights scattered across the motherboard.

Notably, this doesn’t embody the Predator emblem on the entrance of the case, so that you’re caught with that glowing blue. The instruments within the Predator Sense app for altering the colour additionally don’t line up with the colours that find yourself being displayed by the case.

For example, deciding on crimson within the app reveals as extra of a peach orange on the surface of the case. It’s potential to get a crimson nevertheless it takes some guesswork and checking. Fairly a number of of the lighting presets additionally didn’t appear to do something, making the entire strategy of customizing the system all of the extra inscrutable.

The airflow system could possibly be higher optimized too. Whereas there have been no issues with this Acer system’s elements overheating or followers making an excessive amount of noise, the underside consumption fan blows straight into the empty drive bay, for instance. The higher consumption fan additionally blows straight on the fringe of the graphics card, which is a blower-style card, so it actually solely advantages from air coming in beneath it.

The CPU cooler’s fan can also be positioned above the CPU, so it’s pushing air in one other course. Primarily, the air is flowing in a variety of instructions, and a few of that CPU cooler exhaust goes to blow again towards the air from the higher consumption fan.

Benchmarks

The Acer Predator Orion 5000 has some good muscle in it. The Intel Core i7 14700F CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Tremendous are nicely suited to taking part in AAA video games and esports with a mixture of high-quality graphics and quick body charges. To get essentially the most out of it, you may as well make the most of Nvidia’s DLSS expertise suite the place out there, particularly for those who’re aiming for 1440p or larger decision. However usually, the Acer Predator Orion 5000 will get the job finished with its {hardware}.

Throughout our benchmark suite, the Acer Predator Orion 5000 by no means didn’t ship playable body charges. Cyberpunk 2077 offered maybe its largest problem, with its in depth use of high-res textures, lengthy draw distances, and excessive ray tracing results within the Extremely RT mode we use for testing. Nonetheless, the Acer Predator Orion 5000 was capable of exceed 60fps at 1080p for each its common and minimal body charges, even with none assist from DLSS.

Bumping this as much as 1440p on the identical settings resulted within the system struggling a bit, however you may get a serving to hand from DLSS right here. The Acer Predator Orion 5000 can make the most of this upscaling expertise to enhance body charges, and it helps DLSS 3.0 Body Technology too. With the latter enabled, the Acer Predator Orion 5000 exceeded a median of 100fps at 1080p Extremely and 72fps at 1440p, that are each incredible outcomes.

With playable efficiency in Cyberpunk 2077, it’s unsurprising that the Acer Predator Orion 5000 holds nicely in different video games as nicely. Whether or not you’re gaming at 1080p or 1440p, the system carried out nicely in F1 23, hitting a median of 102fps and 75fps on the two resolutions, respectively. Efficiency is steady as nicely, with minimal body charges not straying terribly removed from the averages.

Complete Warfare: Warhammer 3 additionally proved a reasonably simple raise for the system. Even the minimal body price at 1440p sat nicely above 60fps. This means that avid gamers might go for a 4K decision on this method in the event that they’re taking part in much less graphically demanding video games, or they’re prepared to dial again some settings, or don’t thoughts dipping a bit beneath 60fps.

Crucially, the efficiency from the Acer Predator Orion 5000 us additionally constant. There have been solely minor variances between the outcomes between check runs, and we noticed this by way of our sequence of artificial benchmarks as nicely. The CPU provided very respectable efficiency in Cinebench R24, hitting 1,547 factors within the multi-core check due to its 20 cores.

Whereas the CPU has a reasonably easy cooler, it proves ample in most eventualities. In 3DMark’s CPU Profile check, we noticed little thermal throttling outdoors of the max-threads check, which noticed clock speeds sink as little as about 4.6GHz, whereas the CPU’s cores ran at speeds above 5GHz within the different gaming exams.

Value

The Acer Predator Orion 5000 configuration we examined is available in at $1,749, which additionally serves as the bottom value for this era of the Predator Orion 5000. This may be upgraded to incorporate 2TB of storage and an RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous improve for $2,099. It’s out there as a Greatest Purchase unique, and it’s typically typically on supply for simply $1,499.99, which is nice worth for the spec.

The value of this desktop is honest. The CPU and graphics combo alone prices near $1,000 for those who have been to construct your personal system. With storage, reminiscence, a motherboard, a stable energy provide, a good case, and a Home windows 11 license, you’ll quickly move the $1,500 mark, and taking place this route means you don’t want to fret about placing all of it collectively both.

Verdict

The Acer Predator Orion 5000 could also be a bit easy in some regards, nevertheless it has a splash of fashion out entrance and places your cash to good use within the type of succesful elements for gaming. In case you’re after excessive body charges in esports or excessive settings in AAA video games, the Acer Predator Orion 5000 delivers the products, and Acer isn’t charging an excessive amount of of a premium for the elements right here both.

There are many cheaper techniques with lesser elements, such because the HP Omen 40L we reviewed with an RTX 4060 Ti, however this spec of the Acer Predator Orion 5000 sits simply on the proper level, providing stable efficiency with out operating into main trade-offs, resembling having too little reminiscence, a 500GB SSD, or a weedy energy provide.

Alternate options

HP Omen 40L

In case you can’t fairly run to the price of the Acer Predator Orion 5000, you may get a good 1080p gaming spec for a cheaper price from the HP Omen 40L. This machine seems nice with its RGB lighting eerily glowing by way of the glass panels, and the spec we examined, with an RTX 4060 Ti and AMD Ryzen 7 7700 was superb for gaming at 1,920 x 1,080.

It’s value looking for a deal on this machine, although. You’ll be able to typically discover this spec going for simply $1,199.99 at Greatest Purchase, or typically even decrease, which is a lot better than the standard $1,479.99 value.

Learn our full HP Omen 40L evaluate for extra element.