Acer Plans Custom Radeon GPUs for DIY Market

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Acer to make Predator-branded Radeon graphics boards.

Acer
(Image credit: Acer)

Acer reportedly plans to expand the lineup of its graphics cards for the DIY market with AMD Radeon-based offerings. Acer-badged graphics boards featuring Radeon GPUs will complement the company’s Intel-powered offerings and enable Acer to address more DIY gamers. Meanwhile, for now, Acer is reportedly not interested in offering Nvidia GeForce-based products, according to BoardChannels (via VideoCardz). 

Acer has installed its graphics cards into its own Predator gaming PCs for ages, but last year the company rolled outs its first Intel Arc-based Predator graphics cards for DIY enthusiasts. For now, the lineup includes the entry-level Predator Arc A380 and the mid-range Predator Bifrost Arc A770 OC 16GB. Meanwhile, Acer cannot address higher-end market segments since Intel does not have any high-end GPUs for now. 

While the rumor about Acer's plans to offer Radeon products to the lineup lacks details, it looks logical for the company to adopt higher-end Radeon graphics processors — which are ranked among the best graphics cards available — in a bid to address gamers who want higher performance than the Predator Bifrost Arc A770 OC 16GB can provide. Meanwhile, given that Acer uses a variety of Radeon-based graphics cards in its PCs, it will likely offer a broad range of Radeon boards for the DIY market as well. 

Acer's timing to enter the graphics card market is interesting. On the one hand, demand for desktop graphics cards hit bottom in Q3 2022, which will make it hard for a new entrant to sell many cards as it will have to fight against established players in a shrinking market. On the other hand, it will be easier for Acer to negotiate more favorable GPU supply deals with Intel and AMD. Then again, Acer already has tight relationships with both companies. 

In any case, a new supplier of graphics cards may be a good thing for the industry, as more competition ultimately means better products and lower prices. 

Acer and AMD have yet to comment on the rumor.

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Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • 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!
    :)
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • PlaneInTheSky
    Been gaming on PC for years, and I have no idea what "DIY Gamers" is supposed to mean.
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • Avro Arrow
    PlaneInTheSky said:
    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! :D
    Reply
  • King_V
    Avro Arrow said:
    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.
    Reply
  • 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
    Reply
  • Avro Arrow
    King_V said:
    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.
    YouFilthyHippo said:
    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:
    4DMg6hUudHENow, 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!:
    UnvxSkqJ8icNow, 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.
    Reply
  • King_V
    Avro Arrow said:
    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.
    Reply
  • renz496
    Avro Arrow said:
    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.
    Reply