Acer Introduces the Aspire Predator
Not to be confused with the 1986 Ron Jeremy film, "Deeper, Harder, Faster," Acer has just introduced its new enthusiast gaming rig with the innuendo-laden slogan "Faster, Deeper, Harder, Further." The slogan might be silly, but the system is meant to be taken seriously. The case looks as though it could have stepped out of the Transformers movie and its color is what Acer calls "deep metallic copper." It looks orange to us. Here is a peek at some of the specs of the highest-end model--the Eliminator--compliments of the lads over at TrustedReviews:
- Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650
- 8GB DDR memory @ 1,066MHz
- 2x Nvidia GeForce 9800GX2 512MB graphics cards
- 2x 640GB SATA 3Gb/s hard drives
- 2x 150GB Western Digital Raptor hard drives
- 1,000-watt power supply
According to TrustedReviews, this configuration should sell for €3,999 (about $6,290 U.S.). The system is water-cooled and comes with the Nvidia nTune utility pre-installed to provide users with "simple control over the traditional complex process of overclocking the CPU, RAM and graphic cards without the need to constantly reboot after adjustments."
All versions of the Predator use a motherboard that is based on the Nvidia nForce 780i SLI chipset that has three x16 PCIe slots--two of which support PCIe 2.0. Additionally, all systems come with either Vista Ultimate or Vista Premium, a combo DVD-RW/Blu-Ray drive, Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum sound card, 2x Gigabit LAN ports, 14-in-1 media reader, and Logitech G11 keyboard and G5 mouse.
TrustedReviews reports that there will four different configurations of the Predator, ranging in price from €1,699 (about $2,672) up to the €3,999 of the above-mentioned Eliminator. TrustedReviews also reports: "Unlike just about every other player in the gaming PC market Acer isn't allowing users to change the system specs at purchase, as it will be selling the Predator in stores only." This jives with Acer's statement: "[This] is an unprecedented opportunity for all expert gamers, who will now be able to take Acer's finest PC straight off the shelf in their favorite shop, and bring it home and fired up in an instant with peace of mind of owning new ground technology with backup service and support."
Curiously, Acer's site indicates that the Predator will be available with the option for a three-way SLI solution using three Nvidia GeForce 9800GTX cards. Additionally, Acer reports that there will be a TV tuner option for the Predator as well. If the system will only be available in standard SKUs, then the logical deduction is that we still haven't heard everything this is to know yet about the Predator's different configurations. Also, no word yet on when the Predator will start shipping. Stay tuned...
