Acer Nitro 50 Review

expensive gambling desktops draw most of the care, with features and components arsenic flashy as their case lighting. But the world ? Most shoppers are looking for something a spot more reasonably priced. The Acer Nitro 50 ( starts at $ 846.99 ; $ 1,199.99 as tested ) is one of those more modest options, a humble tugboat that falls somewhere between the desktop entrance level and midrange in terms of price and office. With Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics and a alert Intel Core i7-8700 CPU, the Nitro 50 is a dependable HD gambling machine with few very drawbacks. Its plan and feature set do n’t peculiarly thrill, though, and the Editors ‘ Choice Dell Inspiron Gaming Desktop ( 5680 ) offers about identical features and components for $ 999, maintaining its top spot in this monetary value range .

Small, Affordable, and Configurable

The Nitro 50 ‘s compact size is one of its best features. The chassis is a slender little corner that has just enough room to pack in some bet on firepower. It measures 13.4 by 6.4 by 13.8 inches ( HWD ), for a trim footprint. typically, alone more expensive machines ( such as the Falcon Northwest Tiki ) battalion much office at this size, and less expensive options frequently ca n’t take upgrades ( see the MSI Trident 3 ). The Inspiron Gaming Desktop I mentioned is on the relatively compress side, but it ‘s still closer to a midtower than a compact at 18 by 8.5 by 17.23 inches. The Nitro 50 is downright modest in comparison .
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Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better bribe decisions. ( See how we test. ) Gamer Aesthetics
The red-and-black aesthetic may not be to everyone ‘s taste—it is, after all, the now-stereotypical “ game ” semblance scheme—but Acer dropped on entirely a few red accents, and the forcible design is rather meek. It ‘s alike in expressive style to the Lenovo Legion Y520 Tower ( $ 699.99 at Lenovo ), and compared to some of the flashy efforts like the MSI Aegis Ti3 or the Acer Predator Orion 5000, pretty sedate. even if not much is going on with the design in general, at least it ‘s improbable to offend, which I ‘ll take ahead of an over-designed alternative. The front man panel is fictile, but the side panels and frame are alloy, a dainty touch for the monetary value. talk of the side panels, it ‘s easy to remove the left one for interior access. This door has a wicket to see in to the interior, but you ca n’t see a lot through it. The access job is n’t tool-free—you ‘ll have to remove two raise screws with a screwdriver—but you merely pull the door away after .
Removable Panel
The encase ‘s compact size does have its downsides, as the inner is pretty cramped. You ‘ll spot a little open space over the motherboard if you want to quickly dust or switch out RAM, but the rest of the components are obscured. A metallic element bracket, onto which the intemperate drive is installed, runs vertically up the right-hand side, and you have to unscrew it to work about. even with that out, it ‘s a little hamper, fit for largely everyday maintenance and smaller upgrades, though you can make more wholesale changes if you want. Like the Dell Inspiron Gaming Desktop, given the price and power level, it ‘s meant for a plug-and-play shopper .
A Tight Interior
As for what occupies that limited distance, the trial model I have on hand ( the demand SKU is N50-600-UR14 ) is equipped with a 3.2GHz Intel Core i7-8700 central processing unit, 8GB of memory, a 1TB hard drive with 16GB of Intel Optane memory for SSD-like lode speeds, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics tease. Optane Memory is a relatively new solution for spinning hard drives that caches frequently accessed datum to improve load times. It ‘s more likely to be found in pre-built desktops like this one, and does successfully decrease burden times in stead of a costly SSD.
While the processor is very agile and that ‘s a becoming dollop of storehouse, the configuration is middle of the road, on the unharmed. The GeForce GTX 1060 is a moderate-power wag, good above the entry-level GeForce GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti, and 8GB of RAM will be disappointing to some users, but fine for most games .
This is meant to be an entry-to-mid-level desktop, after all, and that ‘s reflected in these shape options. The startle price for this system is $ 846.99, which gets you a Core i5-8400 processor, a GeForce GTX 1050, 8GB of memory, and a 1TB arduous drive. In fact, our relatively minor unit is the second-most-expensive shape Acer offers for the Nitro 50, behind entirely a $ 1,385.99 model that upgrades the 8GB of memory to 16GB and swaps the 1TB hard drive for a 256GB SSD. The GTX 1060 is the most powerful card available in any of the 11 models, which all scale down from there to diverse combinations of a GeForce GTX 1050 or GTX 1050 Ti alongside a Core i5 processor and different combinations of storage. You can besides switch over to the AMD side via a Ryzen 5 2500X central processing unit and a Radeon RX 580 graphics tease for $ 899.99 .
Front Ports
A boatload of ports is packed into this bantam background. On the battlefront font, in a inlet on the correct side, you ‘ll spot a USB 3.1 Type-A port, another in USB Type-C attire, and an SD calling card subscriber. besides on the front is a DVD burner, should you hush have a use for one. Around back are two more USB 3.1 ports and four USB 2.0 ports ( all USB Type-A ), plus three DisplayPorts, one HDMI out, and a DVI connection. The last three are all separate of the port panel on the GTX 1060 wag. ( An extra HDMI, situated on the I/O plate, is for use with the Intel integrated graphics on the CPU, in the event you were to remove the GTX 1060 card. ) For wireless connectivity, the Nitro 50 offers dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 .

Just Enough Nitro for 1080p Play

While the Nitro 50 is n’t billed as a powerhouse car, the Core i7-8700 is a great performer careless of its company components. On the PCMark 8 Work Conventional test, the Nitro 50 bettered the Inspiron Gaming Tower despite sharing the lapp chip, edged out the HP Omen Desktop ( $ 699.99 at Lenovo ), and trounced the Core i5-bearing Lenovo Legion Y520 Tower .
Acer Nitro 50 (N50-600-UR14) BM
The neck and neck multimedia test scores are a bit less decisive. The Nitro 50 was slower than the Dell Inspiron and HP Omen on both the Handbrake and Photoshop tests, and it landed good behind the Dell on the Cinebench test. This is all to say that, while the Nitro 50 can easily do general daily work with rest and is quite improving to the odd media job, you would n’t want to rely on it for professional media creation duties where time is money .
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I ‘ll cut to the chase on gambling, since we know what to expect from a typical GeForce GTX 1060 circuit board by now. If you ‘re planning to play on a Full HD ( 1080p, or 1,920-by-1,080-pixel ) monitor, this outfit ‘s a solid fit. This artwork calling card is n’t equipped for maxed-out 1440p or much in the means of 4K act by any elongate, but it ‘s a dependable 60-frame-per-second ( federal protective service ) performer at 1080p. The Unigine Heaven and Valley tests demonstrated this, as the Nitro 50 averaged 74fps and 79fps on them at utmost settings, flush offering a little headroom for more demand titles .
Acer Nitro 50 (N50-600-UR14) BM
You can see Nvidia ‘s hierarchy perform hera as it should, with the HP Omen Desktop ‘s GeForce GTX 1070 delivering another gradation above on these tests, averaging over 100fps. While the GTX 1070 can provide extra frames for the most demand titles and future-proof you better, you in truth only need that class of menu if you ‘re playing recent games at 1440p and high gear detail settings. As it stands, to keep the monetary value in check, the Nitro 50 and its GeForce GTX 1060 are a fine combination. Just do n’t expect to max out every game—while the tests averaged above 70fps, more delirious moments in demanding games can dip to 60fps or lower, so you may be better served dialing a few effects down to keep things running smoothly .

No-Fuss, Affordable Gaming

The Acer Nitro 50 is a fine gambling desktop for mainstream shoppers, occupying a quad precisely below midrange and, in our test configuration, above true entry-level price. performance is on-point and dependable for 1080p bet on and immediate enough for general tasks and light multimedia jobs .
Meet the Acer Nitro 50

On a component level, however, we did n’t note excessively much that distinguishes it from the Dell Inspiron Gaming Desktop, however, basically filling the same function at a higher monetary value. Despite being less expensive, Dell ‘s tower, as we tested it, offers more repositing via a combination of quick SSD and roomy hard drive, and it has a nice invention, while all else remains even. As such, the Inspiron Gaming Desktop retains our Editors ‘ Choice award. But if you like the Nitro 50 ‘s design, you prefer the outer space savings, or one of the other Nitro 50 configurations fits your needs, it ‘s a solid alternative .

Acer Nitro 50

3.5

See It
$ 933.00

at Amazon

MSRP $ 846.99

Pros

  • Small, pack tower .
  • authentic gambling performance for 1080p play .
  • Intel Optane Memory with 1TB hard drive .

Cons

  • Cramped interior .
  • only 8GB memory in test model .
  • Would prefer a truthful SSD plus a hard drive .

The Bottom Line

Acer ‘s Nitro 50 is a no-fuss, basic gaming background with modest world power for 60fps HD bet on that does n’t cost a fortune .

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