Table of Contents
All across the world are jubilant over the news that GPU prices have begun to decline, but they are still significantly higher than they should be. Pre-builds like the Acer Predator Orion 3000 are thus still among the few dependable and reasonably priced ways to acquire a powerful graphics card. This compact PC, which lists for roughly $2800, includes an RTX 3060Ti, an 11th Gen Intel processor, 16GB of memory, and quick SSD storage.
Not bad, although the specs freaks are already lamenting the older generation CPU, which was never an issue for me. The smallest member of the Orion series, which also includes the large Orion 7000 and the medium-sized Orion 5000, is the Orion 3000. Despite lacking an RTX 3080 or water cooling, the Orion 3000 is still a strong performer for both work and play. And we genuinely enjoy it. also you can check our article on Acer Predator Orion 3000 review.
Acer’s 2022 relaunch of the Orion series introduced a number of upgrades that offset a few significant drawbacks, including as the highly noisy fans while they’re operating at full power and the restricted SSD storage. The RTX 3060 Ti is a powerhouse at 1080p but is unexpectedly capable at 1440p, and the new i5-12400F is fantastic, scoring extremely favourably in our benchmarks with great single-core performance. It’s quite simple to propose the Orion 3000 PO3-640 as a pre-built desktop that is reasonably priced.
Acer Predator Orion 3000 review: Design
The Predator Orion 3000 we evaluated was delivered in a single box along with a keyboard and mouse. The entire kit was simple to unpack, and the Orion 3000’s mid-tower case is substantial yet small enough to easily fit into most desk configurations. If you wanted to play PC games on a large screen, the Orion 3000 could also be placed next to a TV.
However, no one will mistake the Orion 3000 for anything other than a gaming PC due to its tapered design and large RGB-lit fan on the front, which may make it difficult to integrate into an entertainment Centre. The Orion 3000’s chassis is well-built and appealing to the eye on a desk. It has an oblong front panel with two LED light strips and a luminous power button on top. Acer’s 92×92 mm FrostBlade fan, which is illuminated by programmable RGB LEDs, is located close to the bottom of the front panel.
Acer’s PredatorSense software, which comes pre-installed and is used to control the internal RGB lighting as well as the two vertical light bars that flank the fan and run up the front panel, is used to customize the computer. The Orion 3000’s front panel is a little bit taller than the rear, and its top tapers back into a handle-like feature that makes moving the desktop a little bit easier. We haven’t brought our own PC to a LAN party in a while, but knowing that the Orion 3000 is portable should we need it is comforting.
Ports
The choice of interfaces can hardly be faulted. There are 8 USB ports in total, 7 of which are Type A and 1 Type C. The GPU comes bundled with 3x DisplayPort and HDMI. However, the only available network interface is Gigabit LAN. Here, a faster 2.5G or 5G LAN port would have been welcome. An SD card reader is also not available.
A device class’s port distribution is normal. The fact that most interfaces are located on the back is therefore not surprising. However, because of how the cover is constructed, it can be a little challenging to access the front USB ports. you can read our article on Acer Predator Orion 3000 review.
Upgrade Options
Acer has done a nice job of making sure you can easily access the Orion 3000’s internal components if you decide you want to upgrade it in the future. Once you pull off the aforementioned side panel, it’s simple to access the components in our review device because the wires were neatly routed and stowed away inside the case upon arrival. Even for someone with stupidly large hands like us, the chassis is spacious enough to make switching out discs, RAM, and connectors a breeze.
Since this is a pre-built loaner PC, we attempted to avoid tinkering with the components too much throughout the evaluation. Nonetheless, we had little issue opening the case and tinkering with component and cable arrangement. If you feel the itch, you should be able to replace the GPU, storage devices, RAM, and CPU with relative ease. However, since the motherboard is an Acer board with a distinctive design, doing so may prove challenging.
Acer Predator Orion 3000 review: Gaming Performance
Even while the Acer Predator Orion 3000 is an economical alternative, it doesn’t necessarily mean that its gaming performance suffers as much as you might anticipate from a low-cost PC. The Predator Orion 3000 can effortlessly breeze through even the most graphically demanding games, such Total War: Warhammer III and Cyberpunk 2077, while routinely achieving over 70 frames per second on Ultra settings in both games.
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 performed better than expected on our typical benchmark testing. For instance, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and Intel Core i5 processor combination in our review unit scored 7,160 points on the PCMark 10 test. This meant that the hardware of the Predator Orion 3000 outperformed 93% of other computers and came in higher than the typical high-end gaming PC from two years earlier.
Overall Performance
The UK version of the Acer Predator Orion 3000, which we have tested, houses an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060. It is a normal version of the GPU, which implies that it has Ray Tracing capability in addition to 1,920 stream processors and 6GB of memory. This device costs $1,399 in the US and features the RTX 2060 Super, which comes with a boost of 256 additional stream processors and two additional gigabytes of memory.
The entry-level Core i7 chip from Intel’s Comet Lake lineup, the Core i7-10700, still has eight Hyper-Threaded cores with base and turbo speeds of 2.9GHz and 4.8GHz. A 1TB Toshiba hard drive and 512GB Western Digital SN530 SSD are combined with 16GB of memory running at a mediocre 2,666MHz. There includes dual-band WiFi 6 and Gigabit Ethernet for decent connectivity (11ax). also you can learn our article on Acer Predator Orion 3000 review.
The motherboard is an Acer-made model with Killer Ethernet and respectable DTS:X Ultra audio, but aside from the extra memory slots and the SATA ports required for the drive bay, there are no further features or upgrade chances. There are also no more PCI sockets or a second M.2 connector. It has two USB 2.0 ports and four USB 3.2 Gen 2 connectors in the back, but only three audio jacks. Even though it has an 80Plus Gold efficiency rating, the PSU is subpar because it is not modular.
The PC Specialist Magmar R2 is superior to the Asus ROG Strix G15DH despite having a same barebones specification because to its feature-rich motherboard, faster memory, and speedier SSD. Despite all of this, the Acer Predator Orion 3000’s RTX 2060 provides strong gaming performance. The Acer operates at 121 frames per second in Wolfenstein: Youngblood and averages 88 frames per second in Far Cry New Dawn at 1080p and Ultra settings. There is sufficient speed to play in 1440p as well; those games run at 71 and 57 frames per second, respectively.
Acer Predator Orion 3000 review: Price and availability
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 gaming PC series is available for purchase in the US, the UK, and other countries. Depending on the specific requirements of each gamer, a variety of somewhat different configurations are offered.
The newest Orion 3000 series model includes the brand-new Intel Alder Lake chipsets. The base model costs $1,449 (£1,199) and comes with a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and 1TB of HDD storage. Users can choose between a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti or 3070 for the GPU in more expensive models.
Conclusion
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 is a portable gaming computer that uses the most recent CPU generation from Intel. Despite the PL2 restriction, the Intel Core i7-12700F provides excellent performance and is quick enough to handle the demands of modern games. With better cooling, more could have been done in this situation.
You receive a standard model with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 that meets Nvidia’s requirements. In recent games, the model does well and achieves steady frame rates at 1440p resolution. The rest of the equipment, which includes a 1 TB SSD and 16 GB DDR4 RAM, is rather ordinary. Here, using faster DDR5 RAM would have been more dependable in the future.