1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,920 I think Acer has finally figured it out. 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:11,519 For the first time ever, as far as I know, Acer has done a pre-built gaming 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:17,119 rig that ships with NVIDIA's topofthe-line graphics card installed. 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:19,840 And the Predator G1 borrows a lot more 5 00:00:17,119 --> 00:00:25,920 from enthusiasts and boutique system builders than just the idea of packing a 6 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:28,640 proper GPU inside. Let's take a closer 7 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:35,760 look. 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:42,320 Intel's Skull Canyon Nook features a sixth generation Core i7 processor and 9 00:00:40,239 --> 00:00:46,480 Thunderbolt 3. You can learn more at the link in the video description. 10 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:51,840 Inside the box, you'll get the following: a Predator G1 gaming PC, some 11 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:55,760 extra screws and cables, a surprisingly competent set of peripherals. The 12 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:59,600 mouse's clicks are pleasantly tactile and it includes extra buttons for back 13 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:04,080 forward and toggling between three preset DPI settings. And the keyboard is 14 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:07,520 dual color LED back lit with a toggable gaming mode and Kaiwa mechanical key 15 00:01:06,159 --> 00:01:11,520 switches mounted to what seems to be a steel back plate. Then if you get the 16 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:16,159 special edition launch bundle, there's also a copy of The Division and this is 17 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:20,720 a new one, an Acer Predator themed luggage with cutouts to carry your 18 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:24,479 gaming rig for when you travel. Leaving last but not least, two standard PC 19 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:31,200 power cables and two laptop power bricks in a neat looking holder. That Wait a 20 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:33,360 minute. What? Two power bricks? Yes, my 21 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:37,200 friends. The idea that I pitched to Cooler Master's product manager almost 22 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:42,159 three years ago of moving the power supply or two as it were outside an 23 00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:47,439 otherwise standard desktop chassis for improvements to both thermals and size 24 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:50,880 cuz I'm a genius has officially come to 25 00:01:47,439 --> 00:01:53,280 life courtesy of Acer of all people. 26 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:57,920 Well, whatever. Let's see if it worked. But first, I need to know if they impose 27 00:01:55,759 --> 00:02:04,079 limits on the hardware that can be used in the Predator G1. So, let's pop her 28 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:07,920 open. which reveals a very interesting 29 00:02:04,079 --> 00:02:11,360 layout. The centerpiece is a Core i76700 30 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:14,319 nonK quadcore hyperthreaded CPU, so no 31 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:19,040 overclocking. There's 32 gigs of DDR4 RAM and a cleverly positioned blower 32 00:02:16,879 --> 00:02:25,200 case fan that should draw air across the front where a 512 gig M.2 to SATA SSD, a 33 00:02:22,879 --> 00:02:30,000 slim DVD writer and a two TBTE hard drive reside across the memory sticks 34 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:34,879 and CPU area. And finally, over the motherboard heat sinks that cool both 35 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:38,480 the CPU power delivery modules and the 36 00:02:34,879 --> 00:02:41,280 DC toDC converters that take 19vt 37 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:46,560 external power and turn it into the 12, 5, and 3.3 volt juice needed by your 38 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:50,720 computer guts. Not something that you often see on a pre-built motherboard. 39 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:55,120 Mind you, there's not much about this motherboard that's normal. Contrary to 40 00:02:53,040 --> 00:03:00,239 the statement made by this unfortunate Acer spokesperson who's totally getting 41 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:04,560 called out right now. Like a mini ITX 42 00:03:00,239 --> 00:03:08,159 board, it has only a single PCIe 3.06x 43 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:11,599 expansion slot, but it's closer in total 44 00:03:08,159 --> 00:03:14,159 size to an MATX board. So, what is the 45 00:03:11,599 --> 00:03:18,640 extra space being used for? A number of things. LED headers for the threezone 46 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:22,720 LED illumination that can be configurated regrettably not to all 47 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:28,480 operate on the same cycle for some reason using Acer's Predator Sense 48 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:30,799 software. One of only a couple bloy 49 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:34,879 pre-installed applications by the way. There's more room for memory sticks. So, 50 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:40,239 thanks to its four DIM slots, the Predator G1 can be upgraded to 64 gigs 51 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:45,360 of RAM. There's power distribution for the converted input power. The inclusion 52 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:48,319 of an extra PCIe power port and cable is a really nice touch, by the way, for 53 00:03:46,799 --> 00:03:54,159 someone who might want to upgrade the graphics card in the future. And the 54 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:58,720 very open CPU socket area, which should help the performance of the fairly OEM 55 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:03,120 looking cooling solution that Acer has pre-installed. We'll talk about how well 56 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:07,439 this works later. For now, there are a couple more items to highlight in here. 57 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:12,239 Acer has included an extra 2 and 1/2 in drive cage with pre-run cables and 58 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:16,639 screws in case you want to add another 2 and 1/2 in SSD or hard drive, which is 59 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:21,919 much appreciated. And I want to take a closer look at the way the GTX 1080 60 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:27,360 graphics card is installed. So, it's covered with a Predator branded shroud, 61 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:32,160 but the unmistakable green glow visible from the bottom tells us two things. 62 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:37,919 It's a Founders Edition, and it's installed upside down. So Acer used a 63 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:41,680 hard PCB link to extend the PCI Express 16 neck slot, meaning that you can't 64 00:04:39,919 --> 00:04:46,960 admire your graphics card with the side panel off, but shorter links are less 65 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:51,440 prone to signal degradation. And in theory, the way that they're pulling 66 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:55,280 fresh air in from the other side panel, keeping it contained then within its own 67 00:04:53,280 --> 00:05:00,639 cooling zone and exhausting it out the back should deliver really solid thermal 68 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:05,440 results, which we'll get to. But first, a look at the outside. So, the top and 69 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:11,360 front of the Predator G1 features Acer's aggressive tank tread styling that I 70 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:16,320 personally think works better here than it did on the G6 due to the machine 71 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:22,639 smaller size. There's a power button flanked by two headset holders for some 72 00:05:19,759 --> 00:05:28,720 reason, the optical drive we saw on the inside, and front IO, so an SD card 73 00:05:25,199 --> 00:05:31,759 reader, a USB 310 GB type-C port, a USB 74 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:34,240 3 5GB typeA port, and a couple of audio 75 00:05:31,759 --> 00:05:41,440 jacks. Around the back, the rest of the IO is actually pretty lackluster. The 76 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:44,080 3DPs, HDMI, and DVI provided by the 77 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:51,199 graphics card are accompanied only by 7.1 audio jacks with no digital output, 78 00:05:47,199 --> 00:05:53,600 four USB3 5GB ports, and the DC input 79 00:05:51,199 --> 00:05:58,400 jacks that may be at least partially responsible for the limited number of 80 00:05:55,520 --> 00:06:03,520 USB ports on this machine. Remember that external USB devices can draw up to 7 81 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:08,000 1/2 watts each through the USB charging specification. And while the dual power 82 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:12,960 supplies confused the bananas out of my power meter, some napkin math tells us 83 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:18,240 that we're not that far off of their rated output. So then, let's answer the 84 00:06:16,479 --> 00:06:22,639 big question. Was this approach worthwhile when Silverstone just 85 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:29,199 released a power supply that we featured in our most compact gaming PC V2 over 86 00:06:25,919 --> 00:06:32,319 there that's cheaper, smaller, delivers 87 00:06:29,199 --> 00:06:34,240 50% more power, and with some creativity 88 00:06:32,319 --> 00:06:37,280 should be possible to integrate into a similar size chassis, especially if 89 00:06:35,759 --> 00:06:43,440 you're willing to give up the optical drive. Well, actually, it's looking 90 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:45,600 pretty good for the G1 while being no 91 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:50,160 louder than the graphics card would be on its own. in another enclosure or even 92 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:55,600 on an open air test bench, the Predator G1 managed to turn in better thermal 93 00:06:53,199 --> 00:07:01,199 performance than its bigger brother in spite of its much smaller size. Not to 94 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:05,919 mention that it's summer now versus March when we were checking out the G6. 95 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:10,240 And it did all this while being rock solid stable throughout my testing, 96 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:15,840 avoiding any and all thermal throttling on the CPU and letting the GTX 1080 97 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:20,960 boost its clocks, albeit not fully, even with a synthetic stress test running on 98 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:22,400 the CPU and the RAM concurrently. 99 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:26,479 That means that whether we're talking about light workstation use, or gaming 100 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:32,479 on a conventional screen, a G-Sync monitor, or in VR, the Predator G1 will 101 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:37,120 perform. All of which leads us then to a pretty interesting conclusion. Acer has 102 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:43,039 learned a lot over the last few years, going from poorly balanced gaming PCs 103 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:49,199 with lackluster graphics cards and overpowered CPUs with too much RAM to 104 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:54,400 correctly configured gaming PCs that unfortunately suffered from OEM grade 105 00:07:51,919 --> 00:07:59,120 thermal management. all the way to this compact, no compromises mini gaming rig 106 00:07:57,599 --> 00:08:04,080 that stood up to everything I could throw at it as long as I didn't want to 107 00:08:00,639 --> 00:08:06,000 overclock or run the drives in RAID or 108 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:10,479 anything like that. Okay, custom still has some advantages. They still have 109 00:08:08,639 --> 00:08:16,400 some things to learn about making a product really feel premium. The inside 110 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:20,160 should be black to go with the black PCB motherboard, which is a step forward in 111 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:25,199 itself, by the way. The cable should be sleeved and NVMe M.2 2 SSD should have 112 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:29,440 been included for a flagship product. And I'd like to see the next Predator 113 00:08:27,199 --> 00:08:34,959 aesthetic reimagining move to more premium materials. 114 00:08:31,919 --> 00:08:37,680 But with that said, the main complaints 115 00:08:34,959 --> 00:08:43,039 about pre-builts from the 2000s, crappy motherboards and power supplies, limited 116 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:45,440 to no upgradability, and high prices are 117 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:50,640 quickly fading away. Which isn't to say that the Predator G1 is cheap. Okay, the 118 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:55,120 price is still high, but you're getting a lot of firepower in a surprisingly 119 00:08:52,959 --> 00:08:59,440 compact little battle station if you're willing to pay for it. So, thanks for 120 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:03,519 watching, guys. If this video sucked, you know what to do. But if it was awesome, get subscribed, hit that like 121 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:08,080 button, or even check out the link to where to buy the Predator G1 in the 122 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:10,880 video description. Also linked in the description is our merch store, which 123 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:15,279 has cool shirts like this one and our community forum, which you should definitely join. Now that you're done 124 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:19,360 doing all that stuff, you're probably wondering what to watch next. So, click that little button in the top right 125 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:22,640 corner to check out our latest video over on Channel Super Fun.