Consensus is not easy. We all have opinions, and some of them are based on actual experience and expertise. With the Acer Predator Orion 5000, the consensus is that this is a high-end and powerful gaming desktop meant for the most serious and ardent gamers out there.
For 20 years, I’ve been reviewing systems like this, both the name brand machines and even the lesser known brands. I’ve built gaming desktops myself, and many years ago was quite the gaming aficionado myself. I still remember the original Doom game on a PC (because there were no consoles to speak of) and even played the original pre-beta version where they had not added any enemies in the game quite yet.
In pursuing the comments and consumer reviews for the Predator, it’s clear everyone has arrived at a clear opinion on this desktop. It’s a monster. I decided to test several recent titles and crank up the quality settings (while lowering the difficulty settings to make the process a bit easier on myself). I loaded Flight SImulator X and was amazed at how smooth everything looked. I tested Elden Ring and Halo Infinite using the PC Game Pass.
I’m going to cover the specs on this machine in a bit, but I was floored by the overall performance. Elden Ring was so fast and light, providing a more immersive experience because of the high frame rates. I was able to look around quickly without any lag, something that is not always true when you raise the quality settings. Halo Infinite felt more nimble and quick to me than it does on even the most recent consoles.
My main takeaway from this system was simply that the games were more immersive because I never thought about slowdowns, poor performance, or lag. You just jump into the game and start exploring the level and don’t think about performance at all. Similar to what it’s like to drive a high-end sports car, the system fades into the background (in a good way). What you experience is not a lack of RAM or frame rate; you just experience the game.
Now, that’s not a ding. The Acer Predator Orion 5000 is quite stunning to behold as a gaming desktop. Two large fans glow red on the front, with a cool Predator logo that glows blue. Inside, a couple more fans spin and glow red as well. The clear side panel lets you peek inside to all of the crazy powerful components. We’re talking about an Intel Core i7-12700F 12-Core processor that runs up to 4.9GHz and a powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080.
My system came equipped with 16GB of RAM (DDR5 4400MHz) and two different drives, a 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD drive for most storage and then a 2TB 7200RPM SATA III HDD drive for more long-term storage. As a cool plus, the Acer Predator Orion 5000 supports DTS X Ultra Audio which was perfect timing for watching the television show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on another massive rig I’m testing (a Samsung 65QN90B 65-inch television that rocked my entire basement in surround-sound glory).
I also watched Top Gun: Maverick in 4K using the same surround sound system. The gaming performance is great for Halo Infinite but worked just as amazingly for movie night. We jumped out of our seats at a few scenes, mostly due to the incredible 4K video and DTS sound.
I suppose with any gaming desktop, saying “it’s fast” is not enough. For me, the Acer Acer Predator Orion 5000 is great because it has all of the latest Intel and NVIDIA components, and I didn’t have to piece together any of that gear on my own. It looks cool and runs perfectly. At the current Amazon price of $2,399 for the version I tested, I was impressed.
At Gearadical.com, we always point out one thing we didn’t like, and the only thing I’d mention here is that desktops have lost some favor with fans. Acer also makes gaming laptops, and if you do want to get more portable, the desktop is obviously a bit more cumbersome.