Acer Predator Orion X Prebuilt Review (13900KS + 4080)

After first getting hands-on with the Acer Predator Orion X late last year, I have been keen to follow up that initial coverage with a full review, and at long last we have been able to do that. As mentioned, this is the exact model that is in stock to buy from Curry's, currently priced at £3299 (reduced from £3799) so what you have seen in this review is exactly what you will get if you went out and bought this PC today.

There's no doubt the Orion X is strongest when gaming, where the Core i9-13900KS and RTX 4080 combine to produce more than adequate frame rates, whether you are playing at 1440p or 4K. Some may also appreciate the spaceship-inspired aesthetic (though it won't be for everyone), plus it is a relatively compact system at 14.6L volume, though smaller SFF cases are also available on the DIY market.

Unfortunately, there's a few too many odd decisions and component choices for us to be able to really recommend the Orion X. The biggest of these comes down to the CPU, as I really have to question if the i9-13900KS was the right option for this system. Not only is it now a last-gen part, but it is a notoriously hot and power-hungry processor, so the decision to limit the PL1 to just 150W just feels like a huge waste. Why opt for such a high power chip, only to throttle it later? To my mind, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D would make a lot more sense considering it's just as fast, if not faster, for gaming, but its TDP comes in at just 120W so it can easily run full pelt without any compromises.

On top of that, it's disappointing to see just a pair of 1TB PCIe Gen3 SSDs used here. Not only is 2TB total storage lacklustre at this price point, so is the decision to stick with Gen3 drives, meaning speeds are well behind the curve, considering Gen5 SSDs have been on the market for months now – if I was paying over three grand, I'd certainly expect the latest-and-greatest. On top of that, XMP is not enabled by default, resulting in memory bandwidth that's about 9% slower than it should be, a basic error we simply wouldn't expect to see from a high-end machine.

Overall, I can't shake the feeling that I just don't quite understand the Orion X's USP. It's a decent-enough compact system if you’re only ever going to use it for gaming, but I don't really see anything about it that stands out as a real point of difference, especially considering you can now get far smaller enthusiast ITX chassis, and there's plenty of things that I would change about it, too.

Those issues are only amplified by the fact the Orion X retails for £3299. Using PCPartPicker, I specced out a very similar system and the cost came to under £2500. I get that any prebuilt PC will always have a price-premium attached, but Acer is effectively charging £700 more than street pricing, which considering the system's flaws, is simply far too steep.

I think the Orion X could still be worth considering, but the price would have to drop considerably for this to make sense to a potential buyer, along with several other improvements. We found the system as reviewed for £3299 from Curry's HERE.

Update: Shortly after publishing this review, we noticed the Orion X has gone back up to the original £3799 asking price. It was already far too steep at £3299, but with the price now closer to four thousands pounds, it is simply not worth considering without major improvements.

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Pros

• Compact.
• i9 + 4080 works very well for 1440p or 4K gaming.
• Runs cool.
• Spaceship aesthetic will have appeal for some.

Cons

• i9 is limited to just 150W, significantly reducing clock speed and hurting multi-core performance.
• XMP is not enabled by default, resulting in a loss of memory bandwidth.
• Just 2TB total storage, running at Gen3 speeds.
• Relatively basic I/O.
• Roughly £700 more expensive than DIY pricing.
• Design won't be for everyone.

KitGuru says: There's some potential here, but currently the Predator Orion X makes too many compromises, and costs too much, to earn a full recommendation.

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