Today at the Next @ Acer conference, Acer is announcing an updated version of its compact gaming desktop, the Predator Orion 3000, and the company was able to send us a pre-production unit for a practice. As this is a pre-production unit, the final performance is not yet tuned, but we can go over the new chassis design as well as the internal parts of this mid-size 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: |
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| RAM | Up to 64GB DDR4-2666 | ||||
| Storage | PCIe NVMe options: 128GB / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB M.2 2280 2 3.5-inch SATA bays |
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| Networks | Killer E2600 Gigabit Ethernet Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.1 |
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| Cooling | Dual Predator Frostblade RGB RGB Fans | ||||
| I / O – Rear | 4 x USB 3.2 2 x USB 2.0 3.5mm 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 10.5 inches (HxWxD) | ||||
| starting price | $ 999.99 | ||||
| Availability | September 2020 | ||||
Acer’s updated Orion 3000 chassis is a well thought-out design with some great features and a sleek compact design that fits well on any gaming desk. Acer offers the Orion 3000 with a black perforated side panel, or you can go for an EMI-compatible tempered glass side if you want to see the interior lit with RGB. At 18 liters, the Orion 3000 is also surprisingly compact considering the powerful components it contains.
To keep everything cool there 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 transparent side panel, the lighting is enough to create a glow around the system. Turning on 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 almost silent on idle.
However, the Orion 3000 is not just about style. Acer also has some wonderful functional elements in its design. The top of the box houses a built-in carry handle, making the small desk very easy to move around, and while I’m not sure if Acer had the idea to include a headphone holder built into the chassis, but it’s a brilliant idea and I wish to be offered my own case. The power button is very prominent and easily accessible, and for the new design, Acer has moved the front panel ports behind a small door to keep them hidden when not in use. Whether or not you want them behind a door will probably depend on how often you use them, but it looks like the door could be removed without too much effort.
As this is a pre-production unit, the cable management will probably adjust a bit in the coming months, but it still did not prevent air flow.
The case has space for two 3.5-inch SATA drives, as well as an NVMe slot for built-in storage, of which Acer offers up to 1TB for the boot drive. The system will have a single PCIe x16 slot for the GPU, so any expansion will have to be via USB. Gigabit Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6 are integrated to meet any network need.
Acer will offer a wide range of performance, with Core i5 and Core i7 models, and up to 64GB of DDR4-2666 memory. On the GPU front, Acer offers the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 and 1660, and RTX 2060, 2060 Super, and 2070 Super options. The sample they provided us featured a 500 watt power supply, which should be enough to handle everything Acer has to offer.
The redesigned Predator Orion 3000 will be available in September, starting at $ 999.99 USD.
