PO5-640-EB11 Questions Before Buying

Alijoh

Hi. I am considering buying the above-mentioned machine as I like the looks of it greatly, but have the following questions/concerns and appreciate if anyone who has this machine or knows the answers can help me. I should also mention that I also have a work Acer Nitro laptop at work and a Predator Helios 300 right now for my home gaming/entertainment, so I am kind of an Acer loyalist! and truly like the Predator brand and products.

1. Can there be any upgrades to the PC's components in the future? For example will it be possible to upgrade the current 12th gen Intel CPU to higher generations in the coming years? Or the GPU from the current 3080 to the next generations? This also applies to the PSU too, so upgrading that would also be required. In general, is the motherboard on this machine able to receive component upgrades?
2. How about unlocked components? Will the motherboard/BIOS allow for operations such as CPU/GPU undervolting?
3. From the pictures on Predator website, it seems that the built-in PredatorSense software on the Orion desktop machine has fewer features than my current Helios 300 laptop! For example there is no GameSync tab in the software, so one can't specify a specific game to have a special fan control or overclocking. Is this correct?
4. How is the cooling performance on this machine? I read in other threads that some people were considering to upgrade the CPU cooler on this machine.

Thanks.

William_mk2

@Alijoh

We are glad that you are showing up your interest in purchasing a brand new computer PO5-640-EB11. 

Please visit the website – support.acer.com – chose your country – click on shop.  It will show you all the latest and new computers.  You can see all the models from low end to high end configurations.  You can look at all the models one by one.  Please chose the best one which suits your budget and needs.  You can also buy desktop, laptop, monitor and accessories. 

Alternatively, on the top right corner you can find the phone no to contact Acer store.  If you need more details you can call and check with them.

If you are going to buy a new computer with latest specifications i dont think so you will ever need any upgrade for the next three years in related to cpu or gpu.

But however you can always visit the websites to perform a scan on your computer to determine the latest memory and hdd upgrade.

I would like to provide some additional info which will really help you. 

Kindly go through the details given below. The info provided below will be very helpful to get the current memory and ssd details of your computer and the options to upgrade it.  

Please visit the website given below. There is an option to "start your scan " and " select your computer " . Please chose the options and try it. It will show you the memory and SSD’s details and the best upgrade options for you.. 

https://www.crucial.com/

It will tell you what you currently have and what you can add for memory and SSD's. 

Note: If you decide to buy you can always compare the prices by visiting other websites or stores and then you can decide. We are providing the info of scan app just to show you the upgrade options. You can even download similar scan apps from other memory upgrade websites too.      

To check the compatibility of ram which you can use on your computer.. Get CPUz and check it with that in SPD section of all the RAM and specs that you have, its a quick and simple way to check all OEM specs and what you have in your system. 

Alijoh

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1161046#Comment_1161046

Hi. Thanks a lot for the lengthly response, but unfortunately my main question was about the possibility of upgrading the CPU and the GPU, not the RAM or Storage. Since the Predator Orion 5000 uses an Acer's proprietary motherboard, I want to know if a new CPU or GPU can be installed on the motherboard in the years to come.

Thanks,

GotBanned

It's very unlikely that Acer (or other prebuilt PC manufacturers that use proprietary motherboards) will provide a new BIOS that supports 13th gen CPUs. What would they gain by doing this? Nothing. Most likely they would only lose future sales by doing this.

GPU should be upgradable depending on the size of the new GPU and whether the PSU has enough power and has the needed cabling (see nvidia 40-series). As for AMD RX 7000 series GPUs, upgrading should be pretty easy because they look use two 8-pin PCIe power cables.

Wafer

Did you end up buying it? Isnt this model comes with 16gb? Did it came with two 8gb ram or one 16gb of ram?

billsey

You typically can't upgrade generations of CPU and chipset without a motherboard upgrade. Everything else is likely upgradable without a motherboard change. Also, in the case i=of 12th vs 13th gen the socket itself is different (1200 vs 1700), so there is not way to use software to support a different generation.

Alijoh

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1162490#Comment_1162490

Thanks for the reply. Well, then I should be considering only the GPU upgrade when the need arises in 2-3 years. CPU upgrade won't be that big of a deal anyways because the GPU is much more important for my purposes (gaming only, no content creation).

But how about the PSU? Is it modular? For a new GPU upgrade, it is almost certainly required to have a new, more powerful PSU as well. It would be problematic if the PSU can't be upgraded.

Alijoh

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1162093#Comment_1162093

Hi. I have placed the order but it will arrive couple of days from now. The one I have ordered comes with 16 GB of Ram, and from the pictures or videoes I have seen of similar products, it will come in 2 x 8 GB format. But why do you ask? Are you concerned about single channel vs dual channel? I have heard that for the new DDR5 memories, single vs dual channel is not that important anymore. It was the previous DDR4 generation of memories in which the single channel performance was much worse than dual channel.

GotBanned

OFF TOPIC

Not to nitpick, but 12th and 13th gens use LGA 1700 socket, while 10th and 11th gens use LGA 1200. Physically CPU upgrade between generations would be possible, but lack of BIOS support will most likely cause havoc and definitely now worth the risk.

/OT

billsey

The PO5-640 uses a standard ATX style power supply so an upgrade is fairly easy.

Alijoh

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1163568#Comment_1163568

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate it.

NeoGeo

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1162490#Comment_1162490

I believe the 12th and 13th gen of intel processor both use LGA1700 however i'm not sure if the Acer predator series would require a bios update, as the 13th gen are compatible with the previous gen - it's too expensive just to test without confirmation from Acer themselves. Dell and Alienware don't provide bios updates for previous gen motherboards to support the new processors , while it makes sense for profits as a business , it doesn't as a consumer and it's one of the primary reasons i left Alienware ( had the R13 ) and came to Acer predator as it has a lot more upgradability, in the R13 you can't even change the motherboard or power supply meaning you can't use the case if you want to change things out.

Alijoh

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1163725#Comment_1163725

Thanks.

As long as the PSU and the Graphics card can be upgraded, it should be okay. Even if the CPU can't be upgraded, that would not be such a big deal as I don't do any CPU heavy tasks, mainly gaming which requires the GPU.

Although now that I have the desktop, I am having an issue with high CPU temps. In some games such as Cyberpunk or Warzone 2, the CPU hits 95C even with the gaming fan profile! I am not sure why. But in other games, such as Warhammer 3, the CPU temp stabilizes in the mid 70s. I should also mention that my ambient room temperature is about 26C.

GPU temp is not high, mostly in the 70s.

I might go for a CPU cooler upgrade as well.

NeoGeo

The po5-640 an po7-640 share the same case and from what i've seen the same mATX motherboard - differences between them come down to the AIO cooler on the 7000 vs the ARGB fan cooler on the 5000, power supply differences and the 7000 has a standing GPU on a riser cable using a baffle plate - From what i've seen with an aio cooler and riser/baffle combination a 5000 can be turned into a 7000, exactly the same. Going off that information i would say that you can easily switch the power supply and Graphics card on the 5000, the case has alot of room and i think even a rtx 4090 could fit if that's something anyone would want in the future.

The above shows why the acer predator line of gaming pc's are the best prebuilts, underated but stiill the best, as you can literally switch out everything , barring the 3000 series which seems to have proprietary motherboard.

Regarding the temps - A 240MM top mounted AIO should bring it down significantly , differences in temperatures on different games could be down to how much rendering and work the CPU needs to do, so some are more CPU intensive then others, the gaming mode is very loud a possible solution and one i'm using at the moment

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Noctua-NF-A12x25-PWM-Premium-Quiet/dp/B07C5VG64V/ref%3Dpd_lpo_1?pd_rd_w=fEPPh&content-id=amzn1.sym.2d229339-2f42-4596-a90d-b81a4f52d6d3&pf_rd_p=2d229339-2f42-4596-a90d-b81a4f52d6d3&pf_rd_r=ENHYPM19S05S7ZWKBY5A&pd_rd_wg=Y9ae2&pd_rd_r=68bedca6-a616-4254-ac4c-9756cba07fba&pd_rd_i=B07C5VG64V&psc=1

Switched out the 120mm AIO fan for one these i had laying around and gaming mode isn't loud and the cooling is way better, the only reason i'm looking to switch to a 240mm AIO is mostly aesthetics although if i get even better temps i won't say no.

Alijoh

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1163841#Comment_1163841

Hi again. Thanks a lot.

I agree, I love the predator products. I also have a Helios 700 i7 11800H and RTX 3060. The Predator products really feel premium and performance is great too.

It is great that I can upgrade the PSU and the GPU in the future. Thanks for the info.

Regarding the CPU cooler, I checked the link you sent for the Noctua fan. Did you just switch the fan alone, or the heat sink as well? The Noctua fan has max. 2000 RPM which is similar to the stock fans (I can see that the COU fan is about 2100 RPM in the PredatoSense software). So I am wondering if it has the same RPM, how did you get better thermals? Maybe the shape of the fan is more effective?

I also like an AIO cooler, but to be honest, I love how the stock fan looks with the RGB lighting in the middle of the fan. Maybe I can use the stock fan on the AIO radiator as well? Or on a Tower Air Cooler if I get one?

NeoGeo

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1163857#Comment_1163857

So for me i have a aio cooler so there's a pump on the cpu and pipes going to 120mm radiator which has a fan on it, i changed the fan on the radiator. This fan is of a lower RPM then stock but performs better due to the design, Noctua do make different cheaper fans, but they won't work aswell as this one, you could use the RGB fan, but that depends on if you want better thermals or looks.

I play MW2 4k@120fps with no drops at all, so that's where i've done my testing, intially my cpu was going up to over 90 degrees , that's a core i9 12900k which are known to run hot, now same settings the max peak is around 70 degrees on the processor with just a fan change, and signaficantly less noise, so its perfectly usable like this.