Acer Updates The Compact Juggernaut: Predator Orion 3000 Hands-On
by Brett Howse on June 23, 2020 9:45 AM ESTToday at the Next@Acer conference, Acer is announcing an updated version of their compact gaming desktop, the Predator Orion 3000, and the company was able to send us a pre-production unit for a hands-on. As this is a pre-production unit, final performance is not yet fine-tuned, but we can go over the new chassis design, as well as the internals of this mid-sized tower PC.
Acer Predator Desktop | |||||
Orion 3000 | |||||
CPU | 10th Generation Intel Core i5 Processor 10th Generation Intel Core i7 Processor |
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GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX Options: GTX 1650 GTX 1660 NVIDIA RTX Options: RTX 2060 RTX 2060 Super RTX 2070 Super |
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RAM | Up to 64 GB DDR4-2666 | ||||
Storage | PCIe NVMe Options: 128 GB / 256 GB / 512 GB / 1 TB M.2 2280 2 x 3.5-inch SATA bays Up to 2 x 3 TB HDD |
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Networking | Killer E2600 Gigabit Ethernet Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.1 |
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Cooling | Dual Predator Frostblade RGB fans | ||||
I/O - Rear | 4 x USB 3.2 2 x USB 2.0 3.5 mm audio |
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I/O - Front | 1 x USB Type-A 1 x USB Type-C 3.5mm audio |
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Dimensions | 15.4 x 6.8 x 15.2 inches (HxWxD) | ||||
Starting Price | $999.99 | ||||
Availability | September 2020 |
Acer’s updated Orion 3000 chassis is a well-thought out design, with some excellent features, and a compact and stylish design that would fit well on any gaming desk. Acer offers the Orion 3000 with a black perforated side panel, or you can opt for an EMI compliant tempered glass side if you want to check out the RGB-lit interior. At 18 Liters, the Orion 3000 is also surprisingly compact considering the powerful components inside.
Keeping everything cool are two Predator “Frostblade” fans, with 16.7 million colors to choose from in the PredatorSense App. The RGB also continues with two accent lights along the front of the case, and with or without the clear side panel, the lighting is plenty to create a glow around the system. Powering up the system was impressive, not only because of the random RGB color scheme, but also because the Frostblade fans were tuned for a very low noise level. The system, even as a pre-production sample, was nearly silent at idle.
The Orion 3000 isn’t just about style though. Acer has some wonderful functional elements to their design as well. The top of the case houses a built-in carrying handle, which makes the small desktop very easy to move around, and although I am not sure if Acer came up with the idea of including a headset holder built into the chassis, but it’s a brilliant idea and one I wish my own case offered. The power button is very prominent and easy to access, and for the new design Acer has moved the front panel ports behind a small door to keep them concealed when not in use. Whether or not you’d like them behind a door probably depends on how often you use them, but the door looks like it could be removed without too much effort.
As this is a pre-production unit, the cable management will likely be adjusted somewhat in the next couple of months, but even so it did not impede airflow at all.
The case has room for two 3.5-inch SATA drives, as well as an NVMe slot for the built-in storage, of which Acer is offering up to 1 TB for the boot drive. The system will have a single PCIe x16 slot for the GPU, so any expansion will have to be over USB. There’s onboard Gigabit Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6 to cover any networking needs.
Acer will be offering a wide-range of performance, with Core i5 and Core i7 models, and up to 64 GB of DDR4-2666 memory. On the GPU front, Acer is offering the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 and 1660, and RTX 2060, 2060 Super, and 2070 Super options. The sample we were provided featured a 500-Watt power supply, which should be plenty to handle everything Acer is offering.
The redesigned Predator Orion 3000 will be available in September, starting at $999.99 USD.
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edzieba - Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - link
'Compact', with a full ATX PSU, a 3.5" HDD, and a huge plastic carbuncle attached to the front and top. Ditch the plastic, the rust-spinners, and move the PSU to the top over the empty space next to the DIMM slots, and you could half the size.PeachNCream - Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - link
Acer usually focuses on the budget end of any particular market segment so even a computer made to appeal to a hobbyist gamer will cut corners to hit a price point which is why you will see things like mechanical hard drives and inexpensive plastic coverings.In some ways, they do a pretty good job giving buyers performance for price, but one has to be willing to accept some of their choices as a compromise. At least it's better than pre-2010s Acer computers. There was some spectacularly bad hardware wearing the company logo back when Vista was Microsoft's current OS.
shabby - Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - link
Jugger... not!DanNeely - Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - link
The mobo looks like a stretched ITX board, is that a standard form factor or something proprietary?damianrobertjones - Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - link
"As this is a pre-production unit, the cable management will likely be adjusted somewhat in the next couple of months, but even so it did not impede airflow at all."No, no and no. What were the marketing people thinking? Make it look as sexy as it can be, or don't bother trying.
mark625 - Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - link
The Onion 3000? Does it have layers?Seriously, though, that is a lot of plastic. Oh and the ports are behind a door, aargh! I hate that. And the motherboard seems to be a non-standard size. It looks like mATX height, and E-ATX width. You would think with all that real estate there would be room for an M-2 slot or two, but I don't see any. Maybe it's blocked by the video card.
So no Onion for me! Which is okay, because I just build me a 3700X system a couple of months ago. Very happy with it.
Cheers!
mark625 - Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - link
P.S. The dimensions given appear to be wrong. There's no way it's 15.4 in X 10.5 in. The metal skeleton of the case appears to be very nearly a square, nothing like 3:2 proportions. And the plastic seems to add width and height equally. Hm.DanNeely - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
13.4" x13.8" x 6.4" on the product website for the previous generation.https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/predator-mod...
Brett Howse - Thursday, June 25, 2020 - link
Sorry there was a typo in the spec sheet Acer sent me. I contacted them and got the correct values. Table is updated. Good catch!r3loaded - Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - link
> Killer E2600 Gigabit EthernetJUST. NO.