Acer Predator Orion 7000 Review - Slick and Powerful
As I get older, it seems the appeal of a pre-built system grows with every year. Back when I was a young fella, taking my first steps into PC gaming, building your own PC was all the rage. It was even one of my first ever jobs in the late 90s. But these days, I don’t have the patience or the persistence to build my own. Luckily, there are so many great options in the market for crusty old gamers (and not so crusty, of course) who want the power of the PC, without the need to build or bleed (I mean, do you remember the old PC cases? Most of them felt like they were built out of razor blades) for your hobby. One of the better options I have had the luck to use is the Acer Predator Orion 7000, a seriously powerful machine that will appeal to anyone who wants to push their gaming rig to the limit.
The Predator Orion is undoubtedly a gaming rig. It comes at you with RGB and a kind of angular pattered design that puts me in the mind of the modern Transformer movies. Thankfully, the Predator’s quality is significantly higher than what Michael Bay had to offer. In a lot of ways, this case offers no surprises. This is what people expect gaming rigs to look like, but there are touches of quality everywhere that take it to the next level. Sturdy build quality, easy-to-access insides and nice finishes take this baby from the standard case to the high-end section with ease. Popping the top is simple, and there is heaps of room to get even the largest of hands (aka, mine) inside and fiddle to your heart’s content. There has been some clear thought put into this design. There is no denying it is a large case, but not excessively so. I mean, you could hardly call it a shrinking wallflower, but it won’t dominate your desk or room with its sheer size.
The software side of things is probably the Predator’s weakest component. The custom stuff for managing the lights, fiddling with voltages and updating drivers is a little clunky and seems like a bit of an afterthought. This is hardly a deal breaker, but it is obvious that some work could go into making the user experience a bit tidier, especially for those who love to overclock and tweak to insane levels. That said, those folks are probably still building their own PCs, so I could be making a mountain out of a molehill. Either way, just know that there is a little resistance in the software that just isn’t there with some other brands.
The system I reviewed was the top-of-the-range model. It came with a 5090, Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU, a 2TB SSD and a whopping 64GB of DDR5 RAM. As you can imagine, this isn’t the cheap model, rocking in at a hefty $9k on the Acer website. That said, there is a cheaper model that drops it to $7k (I said cheaper, not cheap) that comes with a 5080, 1TB SSD, and 32GB of DDR5 RAM and frankly, only those seeking the absolute uncompromising best would get any advantage in buying the most expensive model. Frankly, it is overkill, and while I recognise that overkill offers a pleasure all on its own, in this current market, it is hard to justify for a few extra frames per second.
Money worries aside, this sort of power does do wonders for your gaming. Let’s just say there isn’t a game out there that could cripple this system, and I dare say that will hold true for years to come. In fact, I would say that future-proofing is probably the only argument that seems logical when going for the more expensive model. I threw everything I had at this PC and couldn’t make it buckle. Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Avatar, Death Stranding 2, Dying Light: The Beast, Indiana Jones, Cyberpunk and Alan Wake 2 all ran at max settings in 4K without breaking a sweat. Not even ray-tracing set to stupidly high levels could bring this bad boy down, still easily getting over 60fps (most often over 100) without using DLSS. Power has its privileges after all.
One of the coolest things about the Predator is, well, the cooling (sorry about that). No matter how hard I was pushing it, no matter what game I was playing or 4K video I was encoding, this system was whisper quiet. Easily the quietest system I have ever used. My own system (water-cooled), which I used to think was pretty darn quiet, now seems like a jet engine in comparison. The combination of airflow, fan design and the water system is all working as a tight unit to keep this machine operating in stealth mode. It is impressive to see (hear) in action, and frankly, it surprised me more than a little bit.
If I have one issue with the hardware side of things, it is the same issue I seem to have with basically all modern PCs. In this day and age, where everything on the planet is powered by USB-C, why do we have a system with only 2 USB-C ports? I mean, come on, I want 20 of them (ok, maybe not 20, but you get the idea), not a measly 2. Why so stingy? It is maddening, and it is a trend I wish would change and change soon. I am sick of having to attach a USB hub to any PC just to power my basic office setup. In the grand scheme, it is certainly not a dealbreaker (especially because almost all PCs have the same problem), but the cranky old man in me wants to yell at the clouds about it.
What it all boils down to is that the Predator Orion 7000 is a powerful, extremely well-built system that is likely to give you years and years of gaming without ever needing an upgrade. It has a sleek design and finish, beasty innards, and it is whisper-quiet despite the monster performance. To top it off, if you do need to add another HDD or a new video card, there is plenty of room to tinker and toy with the parts inside the case, a plus for those wanting to get 4+ years out of their purchase. There is no escaping the fact that this is an expensive machine, but that is to be expected considering the build and the current market, so justifying the top-end model may be a stretch, but I am positive that even the lower-tier will more than satisfy even the hardest of hardcore gamers. Frankly, despite the hit your wallet will take, this is a great system that will meet all of your gaming needs for years to come.
