Acer Aim Predator.

For anyone who is not living under a rock then you definitely would know about the particular Acer Aspire Predator. It抯 captivated this market with its engineered motherboard, unusual specs, all draped in on the list of sexiest casings, known to be able to mankind.
Under the Lid
It comes with all the advantages of unified hardware and none on the drawback as Acer definitely will let enthusiasts to overclock or change parts without the need for harm to the warranty. It抯 the console of PCs without worrying about lame.
So how truly does one benchmark a pre-built COMPUTER? It抯 not like a large huge number of good performance pre-built computers out truth be told there. In fact the simply other machine worth mentioning is going to be Alienware but looking for one of those designed for reviews is near unachievable. It was decided how the Predator should be rough against our Intel and also AMD test beds for getting some clarity.
The Predator offers some impressive specs. The review model was included with an Intel Core some Quad Q9550, 8GB DDR2 900 memory, 2x 9800GTXs as well as a total of 1TB hard disk space. Combine that all having a DVD Writer, a Blu Ray/DVD author drive, a Creative X-Fi Platinum eagle, and the most notable of cases and also get the impression of the fact that Predator is not a machine to get taken lightly.
The entire package also ships having a Logitech G5 laser gaming mouse plus a Logitech G 11 key pad demonstrating that Acer lower exactly zero corners.
The predator is every bit good looking too; while actually an exceptional plastic, the case is functional together with being attractive. The 120mm radiator admirer is ninja grade quiet and even more than capable of preserving the modest water-cooling install under wraps. Acer has included the hot swappable system for your hard drives complete with clearly labeled OS drive which will keep the noobs from injuring their OS while allowing average folks to frantically copy Linux distros around the next LAN. These drives are hidden behind a bit door which is worryingly weak and results in fears of snapped clear plastic and tears. The optical drive bays contain claw-like doors that look really impressive whilst being the biggest throwback for the machines namesake; a rear end ugly alien.
This is all covered by the main door which in turn opens Lamborghini style. Gleam multi card reader having a USB 2. 0 dock, and if your USB flash drive just isn't excessively large then it will eventually easily fit behind the actual door. On the top of the case are more HARDWARE, FireWire, and eSATA ports - in the event your Lambo door is normally closed.
The accompanying Acer G24 24" LCD is a story without treatment. Worthy of a isolate review, it regularly motivated oohs and aaahs because of everyone who saw this. With its burnt red bezel the Acer G24 not just has the looks to accompany the Predator furthermore, it has the image quality you need to do the Predator justice.
Most of us cannot however, forget concerning our test rigs. Our AMD test rig comes dressed up in a Lian Li ArmorSuit PC-P80 in which AMD had customized having a Spider/Crossfire theme. This custom case incorporates a price tag of more than $700, which in addition to make sure you making us gulp must also be factored into your own final conclusion. AMD even went in terms of to have green and also red cold cathode florescent lamps fitted. AMD combined its Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition that has a Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H, 4GB Adata DDR2-800, in order to top it all of any Sapphire HD4870X2.
The Intel test rig is usually significantly older and somewhat less impressive within the looks side. It includes a Raidmax Aztec chassis but we popped in the recent review processor from the shape of the amazing Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 to pay. Intel threw in the D975XBX2 board and 2GB DDR3-1066 mind. The system originally came with a 8800GT but all of us swopped this out using a 8800GTX that we had boating. The value of the AMD system can be a nice round $2100 while Intel rig tops in from a $2600; both these rigs are around half the expense of the Acer Predator, making a great interesting comparison.
The predators biggest strength was so it was an all spherical gladiator, every component was top notch and because of this we setup our rigs being better in just a particular department. Our tests integrated a SuperPi 1. 5 mod 1M function, a Cinebench Rl0 four core run, a circular of H264 encoding, 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark 06, and of course Crysis and World in conflict. The results were not even close to shocking. All CPU intensive benchmarks were from the Intel's favor with the Predator to arrive a close second; while all GPU biased trials saw the AMD developing tops with the Predator to arrive second.
What we did learn was how the Phenom X4 9950 BECOME really lets its program down, and the results stop by show once again that if AMD wish to have any chance of making a direct impact on the high performance desktop market there must be a vastly superior computer chip and soon. Popping a lot more powerful AMD GPU to the Intel machine would undoubtedly tear the predator the latest one but that much should already be painfully obvious. The Predator is the perfect middle ground when it comes to performance and convenience but it really is priced beyond madness a great number enthusiasts will scoff at spending a lot of on a fairly good pre-built system
For far less you possibly can build a water cooled system with greater than just a mid-range quad heart and two previous development CPUs. Why the Predator doesn't accompany at least two GTX 260's can be a mystery, it's not just like the Predator was assembled 24 months ago; in fact this test unit had producing labels dated as lately as August 2008. This Predator looks awesome, and once you learn how to remove the side panel and you just see inside you realize simply how much effort Acer actually went through. The Predator is an attractive PC, it looks excellent, it performs well, but it's not necessarily worth the asking fee of $4000. The AMD and Intel try out machines are powerful rigs much beyond average Joe's spending budget but still half the expense of the Predator.
Acer designed the Predator for being the ultimate solution for non-enthusiasts to have what the enthusiasts experience and for the we salute them, but unfortunately they've already now taken it from as an enthusiasts-only experience to the wealthy-only experience.
Acer knows it features a good reputation and are banking on the point that consumers are always interested in warranty to make the Predator a nice-looking solution rather than receiving a custom rig from the neighborhood PC shop, but how does a warranty have to hold such a hefty selling price?