Acer Unveils Predator PowerGem: Claims Thermal Pad Boosts CPU Performance by Over 12%

From IFA tech show in Berlin, Acer shared some of the latest innovations and products, including new laptops, a second-gen Thronos gaming chair, and the new Predator PowerGem. The PowerGem is a new thermal pad developed to cool CPUs. The company claims the new product will conduct heat nearly four times faster than copper and can improve CPU performance up to 12.5%. 

The result of this more efficient TIM Acer claims, yields over a 77.7% increase in power envelope handling yielding that 12.5% CPU performance bump. The product will still need a heatsink on top for a laptop, while the desktop still requires a heatsink and fan for its higher wattage. 

When talking to the representative, we asked for some context on the testing, but few details would be provided outside of the numbers being based on a typical laptop cooling solution using a copper vapor chamber. He also shared a belief that the TIM was better than liquid metal, but still needs more testing to confirm. We'd love to get a sample in house to see exactly how it fares against other more common TIMs. 

Outside of the increased heat conductivity, it is expected this could reduce the size of heatsinks/vapor chambers inside of laptops allowing for higher performing and potentially thinner and lighter devices. Acer plans to use the PowerGem in the new versions of its Helios 700 series laptops and Orion 9000 desktops. Jason Chen (CEO of Acer) also mentioned it can appear in the ConceptD lineup as well. 

If this new TIM/pad is all it's cracked up to be, the next question is will they sell the material to directly to users in the DIY market. Unfortunately, that point was not made clear. For now, we'll have to see these in the laptops and other future devices from Acer only.