News Acer Plans Custom Radeon GPUs for DIY Market

[Admin]

Acer to expand lineup of graphics cards for DIY market with AMD Radeon offerings.

Acer Plans Custom Radeon GPUs for DIY Market : Read more

 

[RichardtST]

I love the design of the BiFrost, but haven't bought it because, well, Intel and software never get along....

I would totally make up an excuse to buy a Radeon Bifrost!

 

[artk2219]

Honestly it's probably one of the better times to get into the market, they may be able to pickup some stuff other companies have been offloading if they start cutting production. We'll see how it goes though. I've always had a soft spot for Acer, first computer my family ever owned and it ran for years with no issues, I wish I still had it kicking around.

 

[PlaneInTheSky]

Been gaming on PC for years, and I have no idea what "DIY Gamers" is supposed to mean.

 

[Avro Arrow]

As pretty as this is, there is something about it that worries me:

This looks like a blower-style cooler and those not only don't cool very well, they also tend to sound like jet engines:

This might be good for something like an mini-ITX case that has little to no airflow inside but I would take a triple-fan setup over a blower every time.

Having said that, I'm liking how Acer has decided to shun nVidia like ASRock did instead of bowing to them like so many other companies do.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Been gaming on PC for years, and I have no idea what "DIY Gamers" is supposed to mean.

A "DIY-Gamer" is a gamer that builds their own desktop gaming PCs instead of buying pre-builts (what I like to call "brand-in-a-box"). This is the main target market for computer parts because we don't buy entire PCs, we add or swap out pieces as we go in the form of upgrades.

The term "Gamer" includes people on consoles and the term "PC Gamer" includes people who play on pre-built PCs like Dell/Alienware, Acer/Predator, HP, iBuyPower, etc. Acer isn't aiming their video cards at these two groups because gamers who buy pre-builts generally just buy new PCs and consoles are consoles.

I hope that helps! 😀

 

[King_V]

As pretty as this is, there is something about it that worries me:

This looks like a blower-style cooler and those not only don't cool very well, they also tend to sound like jet engines:

This might be good for something like an mini-ITX case that has little to no airflow inside but I would take a triple-fan setup over a blower every time.

Having said that, I'm liking how Acer has decided to shun nVidia like ASRock did instead of bowing to them like so many other companies do.

It does, but . . I am not sure what's going on with it. Is that middle bluish-purple area also a fan?

Is it a combination of a blower-fan (the purple area) and a blow-through fan (the rainbow one at the end) where the heatsink/heatpipes extends past the board, and the rainbow fan is blowing through it into the case? I would guess that is the case, as I am assuming that they are doing a play on words with Bifrost.

 

[YouFilthyHippo]

Lol. Anything coming from Acer better be half MSRP, if build quality/lifespan history is any indications. I wouldnt pay more than $800 for a 4090 from Acer lol. This will be a dumpster fire for the ages.... Lol

 

[Avro Arrow]

It does, but . . I am not sure what's going on with it. Is that middle bluish-purple area also a fan?

Is it a combination of a blower-fan (the purple area) and a blow-through fan (the rainbow one at the end) where the heatsink/heatpipes extends past the board, and the rainbow fan is blowing through it into the case? I would guess that is the case, as I am assuming that they are doing a play on words with Bifrost.

I don't think that it's a combination because the long sides of the card appear to be sealed with a grille at the output ports. Only blower coolers have sealed sides to prevent heat from entering the PC's main case cavity.

Lol. Anything coming from Acer better be half MSRP, if build quality/lifespan history is any indications. I wouldnt pay more than $800 for a 4090 from Acer lol. This will be a dumpster fire for the ages.... Lol

Umm, I think that you missed something in the article:
"Meanwhile, for now, Acer is reportedly not interested in offering Nvidia GeForce-based products, according to BoardChannels (via VideoCardz)."

So, you couldn't get a 4090 from Acer even if you were insane enough to want one because they're not insane enough to get in bed with nVidia, a sentiment that ASRock seemed to share. In any case, I'm sure that their cards are fine because they've apparently been selling the Predator line for quite awhile already. Hell, even Dell's boring and basic-looking video cards work well while their PCs are absolute garbage:

Now, if you're willing to spend $5,000 on an Alienware PC, things get different. However, not in the way you're expecting because they actually get worse!:

Now, to be fair, I've personally never seen a "brand-in-a-box" desktop PC of any brand (that isn't IBM) that I thought was even remotely good or a good value so I understand your sentiment. The thing is, we're looking at a video card here and I seriously doubt that Acer actually makes it. These PC "manufacturers" are like automakers in the way that they out-source all the parts while they do the designs (often bad designs), assembly, marketing and customer support.

I don't know which OEM actually makes the Acer Predator but I can guarantee you that it's not actually Acer.

 

[King_V]

I don't think that it's a combination because the long sides of the card appear to be sealed with a grille at the output ports. Only blower coolers have sealed sides to prevent heat from entering the PC's main case cavity.

I read this and thought "wait, that's right, they are sealed... it has to blow out of the case."

Then I wondered still about the two completely different fan designs, and the question was driving me nuts.

I did a search, and, weirdly, even Acer's own product page doesn't reveal more.

BUT, the product page on NewEgg did. It definitely is a hybrid design of sorts, and the sealed sides are only partially covered, not 100% . . and that rearmost fan definitely at least partially blows through.

I'm really curious now as to whether this is a gimmick, or actually gains any benefit in cooling effectiveness. It's definitely strange-looking, though.

EDIT: and I did not watch the "Professor Science Explains" video, as I'm currently at work. Might give it a watch later for laughs, as I at least give points for the Indiana Jones-inspired look.

 

[renz496]

As pretty as this is, there is something about it that worries me:

This looks like a blower-style cooler and those not only don't cool very well, they also tend to sound like jet engines:

This might be good for something like an mini-ITX case that has little to no airflow inside but I would take a triple-fan setup over a blower every time.

Having said that, I'm liking how Acer has decided to shun nVidia like ASRock did instead of bowing to them like so many other companies do.

Shun nvidia? Maybe in DIY market but acer most likely reserve all the nvidia GPU allocated for them to be sold with their prebuilt or laptops.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I read this and thought "wait, that's right, they are sealed... it has to blow out of the case."

Then I wondered still about the two completely different fan designs, and the question was driving me nuts.

I did a search, and, weirdly, even Acer's own product page doesn't reveal more.

BUT, the product page on NewEgg did. It definitely is a hybrid design of sorts, and the sealed sides are only partially covered, not 100% . . and that rearmost fan definitely at least partially blows through.

I'm really curious now as to whether this is a gimmick, or actually gains any benefit in cooling effectiveness. It's definitely strange-looking, though.

EDIT: and I did not watch the "Professor Science Explains" video, as I'm currently at work. Might give it a watch later for laughs, as I at least give points for the Indiana Jones-inspired look.

A hybrid design... Maybe to try to get the advantages of a blower design while reducing the noise involved, who knows? It's pretty enough though, that's for sure. As for the videos, yeah, I totally get that because I'm at work myself as I type this and I wouldn't have time to watch either.

But yeah, watch them at home because Steve Burke is hilarious in both videos. I couldn't stop cracking up when I first saw those videos many months ago.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Shun nvidia? Maybe in DIY market but acer most likely reserve all the nvidia GPU allocated for them to be sold with their prebuilt or laptops.

Those were the words of the OP, not me. They said that Acer had no interest in producing GeForce cards. I think that the difference here is the difference between being nVidia's customer and being an AIB partner. I don't think that nVidia has any control over Acer when it comes to Acer being a customer of theirs for video cards but if Acer wanted to produce and sell nVidia cards independently of their PCs, they might have to deal with the same BS that made XFX and EVGA both say "to hell with this".

That's what I was referring to.

 

[renz496]

Those were the words of the OP, not me. They said that Acer had no interest in producing GeForce cards. I think that the difference here is the difference between being nVidia's customer and being an AIB partner. I don't think that nVidia has any control over Acer when it comes to Acer being a customer of theirs for video cards but if Acer wanted to produce and sell nVidia cards independently of their PCs, they might have to deal with the same BS that made XFX and EVGA both say "to hell with this".

That's what I was referring to.

the AIB system are created so company like nvidia/AMD can get maximum profit to begin with. Just look what happen with RX5600 XT before. while AMD finally agree with AIB request to sell the card at much lower MSRP AMD did not revise the price of GPU kit they were selling to AIB because AMD have certain amount of margin they want with the product no matter what. back then Sapphire told TPU that just to make the card within $280 MSRP is almost impossible. things like this will hit company like EVGA the hardest because they were mainly selling GPU (something like 80% of their revenue?) not much else. other partner selling GPU in DIY market is only a part (or small part) of their business. having access to nvidia product have a different meaning for them rather than just try to generate profit from selling nvidia GPU.