Acer’s new Predator Orion X is an RTX 4090 desktop I might actually buy

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Even when it comes to the best gaming desktops, I’ve never been tempted to buy a pre-built machine instead of building my own gaming PC. However, Acer is challenging my stance with its new Predator Orion X. It’s a small-format computer that can pack up to an RTX 4090, and for the first time in history, I’m considering buying one already built-in.

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Size is what sets this machine apart. It comes with a unique 15.4 liter chassis, which is small. There are smaller cases if you go the DIY route – my Lian Li A4-H20 is 11 liters – but the Predator Orion X is still extremely small for the hardware inside. It can pack up to an RTX 4090, which, as you can read in my RTX 4090 review, is a graphics card that barely fits in 30 liter and larger cases.

More than just a gaming PC

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How does Acer do it? The RTX 4090 comes with a custom liquid-cooled GPU block. Acer also cools the Core i9-13900KS with liquid inside the machine. Combined with 64 GB of DDR5-5600 memory and up to 2 TB of M.2 storage, the Orion X offers one of the fastest gaming PCs on the market at half the size of a traditional desktop PC.

It sounds great, but this type of build hints at a difficult upgrade experience. This is true for machines like the Corsair One i300, even if it doesn’t support the RTX 4090. Acer seems to have figured it out though.

Orion X is fully upgradeable and that makes it special. Acer has a machine divided into three zones. The first contains the CPU, power supply and SSDs, while the second houses the graphics card and two 2.5-inch SATA SSD slots. Finally, the third holds everything else, along with a 240mm liquid CPU cooler. Acer says you can access these zones separately, so you don’t need to completely disassemble the machine just to do a simple upgrade.

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The RTX 4090 and Core i9-13900KS combination is definitely the headline here, but Acer also offers other configurations. As for the GPU, you can also get either an RTX 4080 or an RTX 4070 Ti. They are not liquid-cooled like the RTX 4090 model. For processors, Acer offers Intel’s 13th generation Core i5-13400, Core i7-13700 and Core i9-13900 in different variants. For the Core i7 and Core i9 models, you can choose an unlocked or basic version, as well as versions with or without integrated graphics.

Price might be the only killer here. Acer says the Orion X starts at $3,000, likely with an RTX 4070 Ti and Core i5. I’m guessing the RTX 4090 and Core i9 combo will hit the $5000 range, but we’ll have to see where the price ends up when the desktop comes out in September.

Monitors galore

Acer is also bringing several new displays to the market. The Predator X34 V is definitely the more interesting of the two. It’s a 34-inch monitor with a 21:9 aspect ratio, but critically, it uses an OLED panel. It’s not clear if it’s a QD-OLED panel like the Alienware 34 QD-OLED or something different, but it’s got VESA’s DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification.

According to Acer, the display covers 99% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and comes with a 175Hz refresh rate and a 0.1ms response time. You also get AMD FreeSync Premium Pro for variable refresh rates. The only problem is the price — Acer is asking $1,300 for the display, while the Alienware 34 QD-OLED is currently $1,100. The monitor should hit the shelves in the last few months of this year.