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If you’re shopping for a new computer, you’ve probably heard from a lot of people that you should just make your own. Although creating your own can often be more affordable and provide a great deal of satisfaction once it has been meticulously put together and has passed the POST test (the part where you exhale in relief that it actually works), Prebuilt systems are useful since many users lack the time, experience, or confidence to do their own research and design a gaming PCs.
We love Acer’s Predator Orion desktop gaming PCs because they consistently deliver great performance and dependability at an affordable price. The Orion 7000 PO7-640, which we tested, is a part of Acer’s 2022 update, which includes cutting-edge components as well as a significantly enhanced aesthetic overhaul. With an Nvidia RTX 3090, a 12th Gen Intel Core i9, 32GB of DDR5-4000 memory, and a PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD.
Simply put, the Orion 7000 PO7-640 is outstanding. The build quality and cable management are far better than on its predecessors, and component cooling is much better than I had anticipated. Performance is out of this world. A few things could be improved, such as replacing the unattractive generic green-PCB RAM sticks with something more beautiful and providing a larger SSD, but these are items you can simply replace yourself if necessary and do not detract from the overall quality of this PC.
The Orion 7000 has outperformed every benchmark set before it, as you might anticipate, and has outperformed every gaming PC I’ve ever tested. It’s been difficult for us to obtain desktop PCs due to the GPU shortage, but fortunately, we have enough information to make useful comparisons with PCs that have the RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 as well as older-generation Intel CPUs.
Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Design
With dimensions of around 19.9 x 19.1 x 8.6 inches and a weight of enough to make moving the Acer Predator Orion 7000 difficult, it has a large footprint. It may theoretically fit on your desk, but since it’s so large and heavy, you’d better first make sure your workstation can support it. The front I/O panel is placed on top of the case by Acer to make sitting on the floor more convenient due to the size and weight of the casing.
In relation to that, the Predator Orion 7000 casing is stunning. You can peek inside and observe the RGB-lit components in operation thanks to the tempered glass panels on the front and right sides of the black plastic and metal chassis. To gain access to the interior, you can swing open the glass panel on the side of the case by unscrewing two screws at the back of the case, which can be done by hand. You can buy this CPU from its official website.
Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Features
Although the new hardware upgrade for 2023 has already begun, the Acer Predator Orion 7000’s hardware is more than decent. The Intel Core i9-12900K CPU, which has 16 cores and 24 threads and can run at up to 5.2 GHz, is undoubtedly the system’s star. The CPU can only use a maximum of 241 watts when it is in Turbo mode, hence the power usage is 125 watts. In light of the complete system, the 800-watt power supply never reaches its limits.
A GeForce RTX 3080 with 10 GB of GDDR6 VRAM and 32 GB of swift Samsung DDR5-4000 MHz RAM are also available. The PCIe Gen4 x4 connection to the 1 TB M.2 SSD should also make it incredibly powerful. Of course, WiFi6E, Bluetooth 5.1, and fast 2.5G LAN (Intel Killer E3100G 2.5G) are all included in the bundle as well. In other words, Acer didn’t cut corners with the hardware.
Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Graphics
Next, we discuss the RTX 3090. Although the BFGPU was first released in late 2020, it is still as relevant now as ever. Simply said, it’s still far and away the most potent video card for consumers, and one of the finest graphics card for gaming.
There isn’t much that can currently challenge this card, which has 24GB GDDR6X VRAM, a 384-bit memory interface, and 19 Gbps bandwidth. You won’t need anywhere near this much for a very, very long time, despite the fact that a few games with higher demands on video RAM have started to appear in the last year.
Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Gaming Performance
When we ran our typical benchmarks on the Orion 7000, the PC seemed to be mocking me for giving it work that belonged in a grade school. Even when we launched Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p resolution on the ray tracing ultra preset, we couldn’t hear the fans spinning, so it was tough to get the desktop computer to sweat (which ran at 73.5 frames per second, by the way).
However, this computer is built exclusively for 4K gaming. When tested at greater resolutions than we usually do, the Orion 7000 performs well (1080p). Most games on the Orion 7000 performed smoothly at well over 60 frames per second with ray tracing enabled.
4K gaming should be just as good. When put to the test on our test bench, which was equipped with gear similar to that of the Orion 7000, the 12th-gen Intel CPUs and RTX 3080 performed brilliantly. Most games could now run at 4K 60 frames per second or greater thanks to this. At 4K, Control ran at 51 frames per second, Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 74, and Cyberpunk 2077 at 37 frames per second with ray tracing active. Doom Eternal, a less demanding game, operated at 176 frames per second with the best 4K settings. Multiplayer games like Overwatch and Fortnite run quickly as well.
Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Performance
Here’s the bottom line: the Acer Predator Orion 7000 performs above and above expectations. But given the strength of the hardware, that’s not likely to come as much of a surprise. As you might anticipate, using the most potent processor and graphics card available together quickly handles almost anything you throw at it. Very nothing, as shown by our benchmarks, stands in the way of this machine’s potential, so I’m not being overly dramatic when I say that.
The Acer Predator Orion 7000 handled all the industry-standard benchmarks with an efficiency that astounded me, achieving results that were previously unthinkable only a few short years ago. The Gen 4.0 SSD is the only significant drawback, especially for a system of this price.
Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Connectivity
You get several USB ports that are designed to accept a range of devices with ease. USB 2.0 Type-A connectors are compatible with keyboards, mouse, and other low-powered devices. With USB 3.2 Gen 1 and Gen 2 ports, data transmission speeds of up to 5 and 10 Gb/s are achievable, making them ideal for devices like PC controllers, audio interfaces, and microphones, among other things.
Pricing and Availability
As befitted a system costing this much, the Predator Orion 7000 performed admirably in our series of gaming performance tests, consistently producing 100+ frames per second in games at 1080p and hitting 60 fps or above in nearly every game we played at 4K. In light of this, this is certainly an excellent machine for you if you want to play 4K PC games.
We compared the Acer Predator Orion 7000’s performance in our testing to that of similarly priced gaming PCs in the same tests to give you an idea of how it stacks up against the competition. In summary, Acer’s device performed just somewhat better than the Alienware Aurora R13 we evaluated earlier this year and almost as well as the Origin PC Millennium (2022) we recently reviewed. This is consistent with the price, as the evaluated Aurora R13 only cost $2,979 whereas the Origin PC Millennium review unit we tested cost $5,184 when customized.
Acer Predator Orion 7000 review: Conclusion
The Acer Predator Orion 7000 is the company’s top-tier gaming computer and is all you would expect it to be. It includes the most up-to-date CPU and GPU, as well as adequate RAM and storage, to guarantee that you have a superb gaming experience with the top PC games available. Additionally, it is outrageously costly, however the recent market’s amazing inflation and supply restrictions have made the price tag seem a little more reasonable than it should.
The Acer Predator Orion 7000 is a superb gaming computer if you have the money to spend on one. I suggest the Acer Predator Orion 3000 or the Alienware Aurora R13 if you’re looking for something less expensive that still offers the same sublime combination of performance and aesthetics. Although none can match the power of the Acer Predator Orion 7000 review unit, both are excellent entry points into the world of PC gaming and are thousands of dollars less expensive.