Check out our tear-down of the water-cooled GPU! th-cam.com/video/uDrFommpCuE/w-d-xo.html Really happy to have something unique and competently designed - especially the mechanics. The best news is we have even more positive videos coming up after touring design centers and seeing some factories! It's a nice break from all the negativity that GPUs brought us, and we have even more positive news soon. Check back regularly this next week!
"Competently Designed" is music to the ears of this retired engineer/DIY'er. There are several companies that don't let bean counters rule the roost and they are a blessing. They also keep other companies at least somewhat honest. Great review! 🙂
In 2023 they better have learned that GN has a gun to their head on the DIY market If Steve gives it the thumbs down, it's akin to to Caesar giving a thumbs down in the Coliseum to a defeated gladiator. We all love Steve's shit stirring talent
That hotswap ssd becoming an external carrier when it's outside is such a good idea. You never have to worry about a dangling external drive when you're working at home but you still have the flexibility to use it with other pcs
And if they sold them seperately (which if they truly want to go DIY as they mentioned) then you could easily switch between your game library on a dime in a small formfactor
I'd love to see one of those be sold individually that can be attached to the bottom of any case or even to the back of a monitor. Maybe I should make it happen lol
@@AxR558 Interestingly I have been noticing 5.25" hotswap bays are making a comeback in the product imaging of the HP, Dell, and Lenovo tower workstations. Not sure what triggered the return?! xD
@@NPzed I spotted it with one of Fractal Designs new cases - I'm still seriously considering it so that I don't have to run sata/data cables out of my computer to the internal DVD drive that sits on my desk 🤣
@@SamTheEnglishTeacher multifunction would be cool too. Many desk have all these things that could go right onto the case. Light, headphones, mic mount, flash/camera mount. Be awesome to see a desktop i.e flat design that even held a monitor to just make it the ultimate desk tool.
I think this case looks cheesy/trashy, which I wouldn't say is a good "character" trait, but looks are subjective of course, so whatever people like is fine. On the other hand, labeling the levers "Zone 1..3" seems pointless. What do levers popping off the panels of a case with a single internal space have to do with zones? Nothing. While we're at it, why do we need handles to pop off the panels at all? Seems pointless to me. These are objectively gimmicks. At least from an engineering perspective, the most beautiful systems are those from which absolutely nothing can be removed without detrimentally impacting functionality. The average consumer falsely believes the opposite, i.e. the best system is that to which nothing can be added. That's how we end up with the craptastic amounts of bloat the consumer IT space suffers from, in hardware and software. I don't know what sleek means, but there is nothing more beautiful than minimalism. Every natural system is minimalistic. Those system designs seem divine. Human designs never achieve that level of perfection, but the closer we can get to that the better IMHO. This case seems nowhere close to that.
Ever since I first saw this case my jaw dropped. I just love it. Glad to see GN digging it on first impressions too. Hivemind. Pricey but cool. Didn’t know it was coming to DIY. I was gonna rock a Torrent Nano but now im a tad torn. To bad it’s gonna take a bit to get released. I want it now lol.
This is the first product that has ever made me consider ITX. So much power crammed into such a small enclosure. And it looks very stylish. I imagine the thermals will be decent, so I'm excited to see GN validate (or or destroy) my expectations! That carrying case is something else... I love how much thought and craftsmanship went into the design and functionality.
I wonder if Acer will partner up and do a Starfield limited edition release when that game releases. Seems like a good marketing opportunity for both companies.
@@dazeen9591May be for you and me. But for people who do not have the knowledge to build a Mini-ITX system it might be an option. They pay money, we paid life time.
I genuinely like this case. It's bringing some workstation QOL functionally to a rather cool high-end consumer case. The space station theming is pleasing. The fact that little thing is packs a 4090 is peaking my interest. If that can sustain running at full load for 10+ hours at a time, I'm going to be very tempted.
Yeah, it has all the touches that are nice when working on a workstation class prebuilt (like a Dell precision, at least the older ones). Entire chunks of case that can just come off, latches for easy side panel removal... But those cases are proprietary and can't be re used.
I wish the PC building space would aim for higher efficiency and smaller size, and shift towards ITX and mATX builds. That way, we can get high performance but better cooling and compact size.
thats a cool case. You could put magnetic dust filters on the outside if needed, otherwise just more frequent cleaning. Thats not too bad to do with a small case at least. Also, that headphone stand could house an integrated LED to act as a work light when cleaning or putting parts in.
having steve pull apart your preproduction prebuilt PC for a video knowing how he absolutely tears 95% of them apart start to finish for small and big details is peak confidence.
I am normally not one for ITX cases, it's just not for me, but I am thoroughly impressed by not only ACER making something that looks cool and unique, but actually make it something that one can DIY with, and also has an upgrade path in the future! As for the modded carrier case, honestly? I think it'll be an amazing accessory if one does a lot of LAN parties (something where ITX cases shine) or you just travel a lot in general and you want a fully fledged mobile PC with you, but don't want to ruin the risk of it being damaged in shipping or whatever. If ACER makes the PC case with the PC case-case, I think it'll be a banger!
I'm so tired of mitx getting the DAN case treatment, matx is a much much larger market, especially in the budget to mid segments who all suffer from this HUGE hole of wasted space in the case, it would make a world of difference to flat everything out against each other instead of perpendicular! It would take even the smallest 14L cube cases to around 8!!
That prebuilt looks neat. I don't usually care much about small form factor or prebuilts, but maybe this one will change my mind. Can't wait to see a full review and teardown. Even that carrying case looks pretty cool, as heavy and impractical as it seems to be.
idk man, the heaviness kind of adds to the practicality of it: imagine somebody trying to rob this off you and run away, ain't no shot they're getting away!
Very nice. Well done Acer. As a m/ITX fan and builder, it's clear the team behind this know the pitfalls of a m/ITX build and servicing. The more latches rather than screws the better. Very cool carrying case. I'd be leaving that on at all times.
It's cool what Acer is doing right now with graphics cards and pre-built's and such, things that are different and unique to break out into the scene. Really looking forward to what they do next!
Not for me, I went with the Fractal North in white but that would have DEFINITELY been my jam back in the LAN days. Would LOVE to see a bunch of these show up at Quakecon. That carrying case is just too damn cool.
The Zone 0 carrier makes me think of the cat carrier from Alien. Big fan of the overall case design, Though would like to see the removable SSD housing be all metal, I have a Crucial X8 and you can definitely feel the heat coming off of the casing when it's in use. I'm sure a high end NVME drive could get pretty cooking in that plastic case.
Has to be pure marketing. Heat pipes are multiple times more thermally conductive (4,000 to 100,000 W/m-K which is more than pure copper) than water (around 0.5 to 0.7 W/m-K based off temp/pressure) so would be more effective with the same airflow over the same surface area of heatsink fins.
Acer is really doing big things in the PC/DIY market, hope to see these items in the future. Crossing my fingers for some affordability on the final products 🤞 Fun fact; Acer was the brand of monitors(3)I first bought when I got into pc gaming, for me and my two sons 😊
That's some lovely aesthetics! And the ease of building is really appealing. Shame about the price, but like you said, we're kinda used to the itx tax by now...
Which is how they could capitalize on the huuuuge segment that mATX has, I get DAN couldn't pay for the tooling but these boyos surely have to have some room for it, they would be the only ones with a DAN-like case that supports mATX!
16:40 They've should make a compartment for mouse and keyboard in the side protrusions, looks like a lot of space there. Even possible to put a portable monitor (I have one that is 3-10 mm thick).
These latches remind me of my parent's first PC, it was a no name Asian XT clone with a traditional MB (pre ATX) and a HGA clone graphics card. But the case was a unique mechanical design: 2 metal buttons on the side released the top half of the desktop case to swing up 90° for easy access to all internal components while swinging clear of all plugged in external cables (hinge was just rivet or screw at the rear where the 2 halves met, thus causing the the height of that lid to become rear cable clearance. When closed the lid would easily carry the weight of a CRT monitor, despite no center supports . This was before modern toolless designs, but everything was Philips screws and all connectors were standard . Airflow was the classic 80mm PSU fan pulling air through the case, passing the hot components last . This was a masterpiece of low cost mechanical design, entire PC, including all components, monitor and keyboard was down in the $999 range or below . Adding components was easy and cheap . Machine was recycled this century to make room for other stuff.
This thing is absolutely beautiful. It fires up the same areas of my brain that got full blaze when I was a young boy in the late '90s and all the cool stuff was coming in (Windows 98, fully 3D cartoons like Biocombat amd other flashy stuff).
As a Mac owner this is the first PC I have seen that actually has me interested in having one alongside my Mac. There are many Windows games that I simply boot camp to play and with the release of Apple Silicon I was going to just use my existing intel Mac as a dedicated windows machine mostly because no small form factor PC appealed and I really dislike towers
Glad to see more cases for ITX, there's really nothing wrong with ITX these days, they can make just as good gaming machines as ATX, we just need more cases and boards to support it.
That's actually sick. I've been toying with the idea of a mini ITX and going all out with the components but it's too difficult to get the cooling right without an open loop.
If by “space station inspired” they mean star citizen, absolutely. The font for the zones is spot on. I’m into it. Absolutely grabbing one of these cases once they’re available. Looks like my next rig is gonna be SFF
The design kinda reminds me of Asus TUF. Very cool little case! Nice to see someone doing something a little different. Looking forward to the DIY availability.
With that hot-swap ssd carrier i really hope that Acer would sell spare ones to fully utilise it's potential. It's really neat idea to use as base for backup storage with rotating drives
That side panel removal operation and captivity is something to strive for! Makes adjusting something in your case so much less of a hassle. I don't like the look but the functionality and size are looking quite nice! They should add a little flip-up lip to the headphones holder/handle so your headphones don't slide off and bump the power button etc.
@@dazeen9591might be plastic and steel but it's really well-designed with a bunch of mechanical elements which isnt cheap. the supply chain for this thing must be pretty complicated.
As a long haul trucker this plus the case would be awesome for me. As I live in my truck for 3-6 months at a time and the entire cab is essentially a 10'x8' box then add in seats, the bed, and the closests, and I have barely any room inside. Something small with a case would make moving between trucks or clearing it out when I spend time at home would be very nice.
Thats pretty neat, my only concern would be how secure will the GPU be when moving around in that case, 1 good thump is all it takes with these heavy cards.
Nand likes to be warm (60C), nothing to do with performance but longevity during write cycles. The controller however overheats and throttle hence the cooling.
Good call on the xmp check. It occurred to me tandomly a few days ago to have a friend of mine check his; he had a custom build done by NZXT, where he picked the parts but they built it for him. 10850k and 3080, 32gb ram, so pretty high end, he's had it since shortly after the 30 series launch. I had him look... his ram was running at 2333mhz. For two years. Ridiculous. I talked him through fixing it, but like... that's just so insane, his pc was bottlenecked that whole time by ram speed and he had no idea. XMP really needs to be on in prebuilts.
It's a niche product, if 220 is ok with you , you should be willing to pay 300 for it too. To me, ITX is supposed to be tiny and dense, this looks like a gimmick.
@@dazeen9591 Even 200-220 would be too much but at least for a new design and approach in ITX cases it would somehow be justifiable. 300 is way too much, that's what I mean.
@@NotAnonymousNo80014 I'm into ITX cases. Currently have a K39, a Rainjintek Ophion and some others. The K39 is pretty dense, doesn't get much denser than that to be honest! :D I've never spent over $150 for a case and the reasoning that if 200 is ok then 300 is ok too is in my case double my budget although 200 would be my top limit. Again, if I would ever spend 300+ on a case I would wait for reviews and opinions from others users (Reddit) on this subject.
the watercooled gpu does seem really intersteing but my problem with them and full closed loop cards like the msi seahawks of previous, once those pumps die (which happened to my 1080ti) its a whole lot more work to get it up and running again, in my case having to buy a whole seperate raijintek morpheous cooler which is a lot for someone who may not know as much or be as handy with pc's
I love the case. I’ve started to love the mini itx stuff lately. At the risk of pissing everyone off, I’d probably opt for more energy efficient performance and some dust filters on it. I know hitting it with compressed air to clean them is easy, but I never have enough time for anything.
Man, that case is super cool! The carrying case is also crazy cool! Hopefully sales goes well for Acer, because they need to be motivated to make more cool stuff like that!
This feels like a "Antec Lanboy mini" and I love the design. very modular, packed with features, and is very user friendly to work on. even has similar aesthetics, which I think look cool. good job acer.
I'd take a look at the Dan C4-SFX, I feel like the Orion X is too gimmicky and not a better choice as a standalone itx case compared to the C4-SFX. Also personally I find the C4-SFX more aesthetic as it's minimalist, I think lots of itx builders prefer the minimalist aesthetic.
@@GamersNexus true but even solid dust in the heatsink is terrible for performance :) i usually prefer the 15% less "cooling" power for easier maintenance. Btw i love your videos keep goin!
@@alessandroblue7 It's no harder to blow a can of compressed air the opposite way of normal flow through a heatsink than to blow it through a dust filter. In most cases you don't even have to remove anything.
The case is incredibly well made and easy to disassemble without tools. That top part with the AIO being removable with just pushing forward 2 springs while maintaining rigidity is impressive.
@@Noob._gamer pretty sure I have had to comment to you before... But no lmfao. It's far from dead. Used market is alive and kicking with insane deals same as older GPUs new. Ain't no one moving platform and leaving behind everything
I do like the orange color accents. These will be ideal to bring to.... YES you guessed it LAN parties or to eSport events. Would like to see this under load and I am really happy that they had you come out to us this Steve. I would advise the engineers to think about the cables, the length of them and how it fits in this case. I am just too OCD to accept all these cables bunched up. I know they want to try to keep it generic, but this is boutique, so make it desireable.
Heh. Just bought a G300a for a new build. It's good, fits a 360mm cooler, plus 3 fans, I am happy with it. This little Acer is a gem! I still can't get over the fact that 16x PCIe just can be shoved over a ribbon cable adapter and you lose no bandwidth.
Wow I must say I generally don’t care much for small form factor cases or even case review videos in general. It’s not that I don’t like them I just don’t typically find myself interested as much as I am other tech related content. All that aside, the thumbnail of this video really caught my attention. The case is really cool looking and even though I’ve not made it but a few minutes into the video I’m absolutely blown away and super impressed with the overall look and aesthetics of this PC. Great job and I’d really love to see this come to the enthusiasts side of the market sooner rather than later! Edit: my reaction to that carrying case: “😮 oh, that’s a thicc boi 😂”
The Acer case is pretty cool, but I honestly was more impressed that they went with what looks like 30mm thick fans on the top for the better cooling on the AIO. That is such an easy thing to overlook and is pretty neat to see.
I've always enjoyed Acer's offerings, even though I build my own personal rigs, I've acquired many of their machines over the years and still have a few humming away in my network. Wish they'd expose more settings both basic and advanced in their bios but otherwise I'm pleased with their prebuilt business class workstations.
I'm impressed. Congrats Acer. Cool design, like the hot swap ssd, it is a needed feature for some of us. Acer: "and one more thing" like we weren't impressed enough, that carry case was like a finisher combo, "finish him". Can't wait for the test to see the temps.
Great to see a company daring to new-think the box. I'm looking forward to hearing more about this. I'm far from a space nerd, not even into any space series or movies, but i like this none the less. Kudos Acer.
You know, I'm an old dude in my 40s, and I'd normally say designs like that are "too gamer" - but I really LIKE the embellishments that Acer added. It has a strong Mechwarrior / Star Citizen "futuristic space" feel to it, and if it performs as well as it looks like it could, I think they have a hit on their hands! And that over-the-top carrying case is too cool, even if I have zero for one, I respect their design language and effort for sure!
Another advantage (at least imo) is that this design is relatively timeless. Could easily have been a box from the Alien franchise, or another spacey thing.
idk if I'd ever build a mini-ITX myself, but this case certainly would be a frontrunner if I ever did. Utility with just enough sleekness to make it fun.
love the styling of this and the mini itx+ sizing. my mitts are too big for the really small itx cases and this looks like it might just be big enough to build in comfortably but small enough to still be desktop placement size.
That may be the first ITX case I actually like ... Love the way the top pops off which would make it really easy to clean the rad which I like to do at least once a year. The GPU setup looks really good too and am looking forward to thermal and performance testing
That is impressive! Never thought I'd see a class act like that in a modern PC, I love it! Even w/o knowing the price I know I couldn't afford it, lol!
Check out our tear-down of the water-cooled GPU! th-cam.com/video/uDrFommpCuE/w-d-xo.html
Really happy to have something unique and competently designed - especially the mechanics. The best news is we have even more positive videos coming up after touring design centers and seeing some factories! It's a nice break from all the negativity that GPUs brought us, and we have even more positive news soon. Check back regularly this next week!
When I saw that case the first time, I instantly wanted it. :D I hope it is sold soon, not as a pre-build, but the case alone.
"Competently Designed" is music to the ears of this retired engineer/DIY'er. There are several companies that don't let bean counters rule the roost and they are a blessing. They also keep other companies at least somewhat honest. Great review! 🙂
get a hair cut, watching you constantly flick your hair back is distracting as all fk
Glad to hear it. Lately the PC space on TH-cam has become very focused on drama and just hitting the low hanging fruit. Keep up the good work.
liked your audience behind you with phones out
Being asked to sign something by a large manufacturer has to mean they've got a ton of respect for you. Love it!
In 2023 they better have learned that GN has a gun to their head on the DIY market
If Steve gives it the thumbs down, it's akin to to Caesar giving a thumbs down in the Coliseum to a defeated gladiator.
We all love Steve's shit stirring talent
That hotswap ssd becoming an external carrier when it's outside is such a good idea. You never have to worry about a dangling external drive when you're working at home but you still have the flexibility to use it with other pcs
This is when we end up going back to having a 5.25" bay that has cartridge slots for m.2 carriers or 2.5" SSDs - and I'm not against that at all 🤣
And if they sold them seperately (which if they truly want to go DIY as they mentioned) then you could easily switch between your game library on a dime in a small formfactor
I'd love to see one of those be sold individually that can be attached to the bottom of any case or even to the back of a monitor. Maybe I should make it happen lol
@@AxR558 Interestingly I have been noticing 5.25" hotswap bays are making a comeback in the product imaging of the HP, Dell, and Lenovo tower workstations. Not sure what triggered the return?! xD
@@NPzed I spotted it with one of Fractal Designs new cases - I'm still seriously considering it so that I don't have to run sata/data cables out of my computer to the internal DVD drive that sits on my desk 🤣
I’m here for this boost in mini-itx content. Love the form factor. It’s so smol and neat.
Using the handle as a stand is a really cool idea. I love having more function and it saves more desk space.
I initially thought it was a lamp. Would be cool if they had some LEDs in there for lighting up desk below eyeline.
@@SamTheEnglishTeacher multifunction would be cool too. Many desk have all these things that could go right onto the case. Light, headphones, mic mount, flash/camera mount. Be awesome to see a desktop i.e flat design that even held a monitor to just make it the ultimate desk tool.
@@JosiahBradley I changed my mind. It'd put glare on the monitors if it was in front of them
That modular top is incredibly interesting because you can easily see how you would add a mic stand or light. It’s almost like a molle system.
Was thinking the same. They may give you a "headset arm" but nothing stopping me from 3d printing something else to plug in there!
Time is now for PC cases to start coming with Picatinny-style rails for attaching aftermarket attachments.
@@Hulker69 Would prefer M-LOK style. Holes are lighter than rails :D
@@JohnVanderbeck For real, printing something that hangs off to put my ps4 controller on would be awesome.
You probably wouldn't want a mic stand because of vibrations
Really love seeing some character in PC building! Not everything has to sleek and boring.
I think PC building has too much character. Fuckin' RGB bullshit everywhere.
I think this case looks cheesy/trashy, which I wouldn't say is a good "character" trait, but looks are subjective of course, so whatever people like is fine.
On the other hand, labeling the levers "Zone 1..3" seems pointless. What do levers popping off the panels of a case with a single internal space have to do with zones? Nothing. While we're at it, why do we need handles to pop off the panels at all? Seems pointless to me. These are objectively gimmicks.
At least from an engineering perspective, the most beautiful systems are those from which absolutely nothing can be removed without detrimentally impacting functionality. The average consumer falsely believes the opposite, i.e. the best system is that to which nothing can be added. That's how we end up with the craptastic amounts of bloat the consumer IT space suffers from, in hardware and software.
I don't know what sleek means, but there is nothing more beautiful than minimalism. Every natural system is minimalistic. Those system designs seem divine. Human designs never achieve that level of perfection, but the closer we can get to that the better IMHO. This case seems nowhere close to that.
@@a5cent Thank you for informing the entire world that you have terrible taste.
@73andy73 it does look really goofy. I would’ve loved it as a teenager though
I won't be happy until my PC is a floating metallic shape shifting cube personally.
Ever since I first saw this case my jaw dropped. I just love it. Glad to see GN digging it on first impressions too. Hivemind. Pricey but cool. Didn’t know it was coming to DIY. I was gonna rock a Torrent Nano but now im a tad torn. To bad it’s gonna take a bit to get released. I want it now lol.
This is the first product that has ever made me consider ITX. So much power crammed into such a small enclosure. And it looks very stylish. I imagine the thermals will be decent, so I'm excited to see GN validate (or or destroy) my expectations!
That carrying case is something else... I love how much thought and craftsmanship went into the design and functionality.
Absolutely love the scifi industrial design of that thing
sci-fi / industrial fans rejoice (im one of them)
Can't wait to see some of the paint mods people will inevitably do to the case.
Looks like something out of Star Citizen.
I wonder if Acer will partner up and do a Starfield limited edition release when that game releases. Seems like a good marketing opportunity for both companies.
Really reminds me of the Proxycon scenes from old 3DMark benchmarks.
Being called impressive by Gamers Nexus is high praise
Yeah that was the first thing i noticed as well
Price for that praise is paid in CNC'd aluminium
Impressive how overpriced it is 🥶🥶🥶
That pc will be sold out in 1 day or two😂😂😂
@@dazeen9591May be for you and me. But for people who do not have the knowledge to build a Mini-ITX system it might be an option.
They pay money, we paid life time.
As an ITX entusiast- it's so cool to see new innovative cases like this. Awesome job Acer!
Didn't expect Acer to be the one to make a cool case like that, that is actually functional!
I genuinely like this case. It's bringing some workstation QOL functionally to a rather cool high-end consumer case. The space station theming is pleasing.
The fact that little thing is packs a 4090 is peaking my interest. If that can sustain running at full load for 10+ hours at a time, I'm going to be very tempted.
Yeah, it has all the touches that are nice when working on a workstation class prebuilt (like a Dell precision, at least the older ones). Entire chunks of case that can just come off, latches for easy side panel removal... But those cases are proprietary and can't be re used.
Piquing, not peaking.
Acer was the last group I'd expect to get impressive
As an SFF boy, I would love to see more SFF coverage
Acer does make good systems. I look forward to the review of the prebuild.
I wish the PC building space would aim for higher efficiency and smaller size, and shift towards ITX and mATX builds. That way, we can get high performance but better cooling and compact size.
SFF is the future Old Man!
@@matasa7463 you can get a lot of performance into a phanteks evolv shift xt if you didn't want to go the pre built route.
thats a cool case. You could put magnetic dust filters on the outside if needed, otherwise just more frequent cleaning. Thats not too bad to do with a small case at least. Also, that headphone stand could house an integrated LED to act as a work light when cleaning or putting parts in.
having steve pull apart your preproduction prebuilt PC for a video knowing how he absolutely tears 95% of them apart start to finish for small and big details is peak confidence.
I am normally not one for ITX cases, it's just not for me, but I am thoroughly impressed by not only ACER making something that looks cool and unique, but actually make it something that one can DIY with, and also has an upgrade path in the future!
As for the modded carrier case, honestly? I think it'll be an amazing accessory if one does a lot of LAN parties (something where ITX cases shine) or you just travel a lot in general and you want a fully fledged mobile PC with you, but don't want to ruin the risk of it being damaged in shipping or whatever. If ACER makes the PC case with the PC case-case, I think it'll be a banger!
I'm so tired of mitx getting the DAN case treatment, matx is a much much larger market, especially in the budget to mid segments who all suffer from this HUGE hole of wasted space in the case, it would make a world of difference to flat everything out against each other instead of perpendicular! It would take even the smallest 14L cube cases to around 8!!
Too bad about the lack of ventilation.
@@silverhawkroman check out sfftime cases
@@silverhawkroman idk man matx too big for be able to fit in case smaller than 10l unless you are using psu smaller than sfx
That prebuilt looks neat. I don't usually care much about small form factor or prebuilts, but maybe this one will change my mind. Can't wait to see a full review and teardown. Even that carrying case looks pretty cool, as heavy and impractical as it seems to be.
idk man, the heaviness kind of adds to the practicality of it: imagine somebody trying to rob this off you and run away, ain't no shot they're getting away!
This is making me regret building a new PC back in January. I love my Hyte Y-60, but absolutely would have gone for this instead.
Not into ITX stuff, but man, more of this in the case market in general, that is a fricken awesome design
Very nice. Well done Acer.
As a m/ITX fan and builder, it's clear the team behind this know the pitfalls of a m/ITX build and servicing. The more latches rather than screws the better.
Very cool carrying case. I'd be leaving that on at all times.
More mini itx content please
if its this kind of quality, hell yeah! plx
Corsair airflow 2000 pleaseeee
Oh my that removable top. Chef's kiss. Working in SFF cases can be so frustrating. That looks like it will make it SOO much easier.
It's cool what Acer is doing right now with graphics cards and pre-built's and such, things that are different and unique to break out into the scene. Really looking forward to what they do next!
Not for me, I went with the Fractal North in white but that would have DEFINITELY been my jam back in the LAN days. Would LOVE to see a bunch of these show up at Quakecon. That carrying case is just too damn cool.
Rocking up to the Quake tournament with a 4090 is such an unnecessary power move
This definitely feels like the new standard by which high end prebuilts should be compared. Very neat.
Let's wait for rewiews of actual production models.
That's pretty impressive. That'd be a god tier LAN party rig. I run an S4 Mini 5600x/3060ti but I also need mine to be backpack portable.
Check out Sliger cases.
LAN parties in 2023?
@@ThunderingRoar sadly this
It's cool you're covering mini ITX cases. I just wish you'd do more ITX cases.
Agreed. They used to five or six years back.
The Zone 0 carrier makes me think of the cat carrier from Alien. Big fan of the overall case design, Though would like to see the removable SSD housing be all metal, I have a Crucial X8 and you can definitely feel the heat coming off of the casing when it's in use. I'm sure a high end NVME drive could get pretty cooking in that plastic case.
The Zone Zero would make a pretty epic dog / cat carrier with a little bit of ventilation!
I would love to see this GPU in a normal case performing temps and noise.
Has to be pure marketing. Heat pipes are multiple times more thermally conductive (4,000 to 100,000 W/m-K which is more than pure copper) than water (around 0.5 to 0.7 W/m-K based off temp/pressure) so would be more effective with the same airflow over the same surface area of heatsink fins.
I adore the "SOMETHING POSITIVE" in the chapter titles. It must be refreshing to cover something non rage inducing for a change!
Labeling the latches for the panels is just great. It's built into the aesthetic but serves a purpose.
Acer is really doing big things in the PC/DIY market, hope to see these items in the future. Crossing my fingers for some affordability on the final products 🤞 Fun fact; Acer was the brand of monitors(3)I first bought when I got into pc gaming, for me and my two sons 😊
That's some lovely aesthetics! And the ease of building is really appealing. Shame about the price, but like you said, we're kinda used to the itx tax by now...
Which is how they could capitalize on the huuuuge segment that mATX has, I get DAN couldn't pay for the tooling but these boyos surely have to have some room for it, they would be the only ones with a DAN-like case that supports mATX!
16:40 They've should make a compartment for mouse and keyboard in the side protrusions, looks like a lot of space there. Even possible to put a portable monitor (I have one that is 3-10 mm thick).
If this is an issue I will just take a notebook instead.
These latches remind me of my parent's first PC, it was a no name Asian XT clone with a traditional MB (pre ATX) and a HGA clone graphics card. But the case was a unique mechanical design: 2 metal buttons on the side released the top half of the desktop case to swing up 90° for easy access to all internal components while swinging clear of all plugged in external cables (hinge was just rivet or screw at the rear where the 2 halves met, thus causing the the height of that lid to become rear cable clearance. When closed the lid would easily carry the weight of a CRT monitor, despite no center supports . This was before modern toolless designs, but everything was Philips screws and all connectors were standard . Airflow was the classic 80mm PSU fan pulling air through the case, passing the hot components last . This was a masterpiece of low cost mechanical design, entire PC, including all components, monitor and keyboard was down in the $999 range or below . Adding components was easy and cheap . Machine was recycled this century to make room for other stuff.
This thing is absolutely beautiful. It fires up the same areas of my brain that got full blaze when I was a young boy in the late '90s and all the cool stuff was coming in (Windows 98, fully 3D cartoons like Biocombat amd other flashy stuff).
As a Mac owner this is the first PC I have seen that actually has me interested in having one alongside my Mac. There are many Windows games that I simply boot camp to play and with the release of Apple Silicon I was going to just use my existing intel Mac as a dedicated windows machine mostly because no small form factor PC appealed and I really dislike towers
Watching Steve say "impressive", "Acer" and "Pre-built" is something I thought I'd never see. Kudos to Acer for stepping up to the plate.
This is the type of case for showing off to your LAN party friends and I'm all for it.
Glad to see more cases for ITX, there's really nothing wrong with ITX these days, they can make just as good gaming machines as ATX, we just need more cases and boards to support it.
We need more itx mobos to lower the price, 100+ bucks for a simple mobo for more mobility is just ridiculous at this point!!
@@silverhawkroman Where are you finding LGA-1700/AM5 ITX motherboards for $100?!
@@notlNSIGHT He means $100 more than ATX I'm guessing.
That's actually sick. I've been toying with the idea of a mini ITX and going all out with the components but it's too difficult to get the cooling right without an open loop.
That's just not true. NR200(P) M1(EVO) T1 A4-H2O SSUPD cases all have great cooling without open loops.
Steve, I know you said you usually don't do ITX, but please give us more ITX reviews. There is a large community out there who appreciates it
If by “space station inspired” they mean star citizen, absolutely. The font for the zones is spot on. I’m into it. Absolutely grabbing one of these cases once they’re available. Looks like my next rig is gonna be SFF
SFF is where the fun is at when you've been building PCs for years
or The Expanse.
I love the latches that take off the sides and the top, really well done and aesthetically pleasing.
The design kinda reminds me of Asus TUF. Very cool little case! Nice to see someone doing something a little different. Looking forward to the DIY availability.
Had exact the same thought 😂
With that hot-swap ssd carrier i really hope that Acer would sell spare ones to fully utilise it's potential. It's really neat idea to use as base for backup storage with rotating drives
That side panel removal operation and captivity is something to strive for! Makes adjusting something in your case so much less of a hassle. I don't like the look but the functionality and size are looking quite nice! They should add a little flip-up lip to the headphones holder/handle so your headphones don't slide off and bump the power button etc.
Priced within reason they have something on their hands that can sell, impressive!
Priced within reason?? What universe do you live in?
Worse build quality + more gimmicks than any meta SFF case right now.
Totally worth $300 to me if the quality ends up being as good as it looks.
Heck no 💀
@@dazeen9591 Last time I checked you can't determine what something is worth to ME so yes, it is worth $300 to me.
@@JohnVanderbeck well you're just dumb in that case
@@JohnVanderbeck yeah, don't let people tell you what do or not to do with your money!
@@dazeen9591might be plastic and steel but it's really well-designed with a bunch of mechanical elements which isnt cheap. the supply chain for this thing must be pretty complicated.
As a long haul trucker this plus the case would be awesome for me. As I live in my truck for 3-6 months at a time and the entire cab is essentially a 10'x8' box then add in seats, the bed, and the closests, and I have barely any room inside. Something small with a case would make moving between trucks or clearing it out when I spend time at home would be very nice.
The “GPU“ etc. picture and text below the latches is just beautiful attention to detail
Acer really made the Ghostbusters ghost trap as a prebuilt 💀
Thats pretty neat, my only concern would be how secure will the GPU be when moving around in that case, 1 good thump is all it takes with these heavy cards.
You should always remove the GPU when moving around the case. No matter what case it is.
@@dazeen9591 I learned this the hard way when I prematurely killed my HD 7870 back in the day... 😔
Crazy how we went from "cooling your m.2 will hurt performance" to "they get too hot now so you gotta cool it down"
Nand likes to be warm (60C), nothing to do with performance but longevity during write cycles. The controller however overheats and throttle hence the cooling.
Good call on the xmp check. It occurred to me tandomly a few days ago to have a friend of mine check his; he had a custom build done by NZXT, where he picked the parts but they built it for him. 10850k and 3080, 32gb ram, so pretty high end, he's had it since shortly after the 30 series launch. I had him look... his ram was running at 2333mhz. For two years. Ridiculous. I talked him through fixing it, but like... that's just so insane, his pc was bottlenecked that whole time by ram speed and he had no idea. XMP really needs to be on in prebuilts.
Lovely case, love the design although $300 is a bit too much. Around the $200-220 mark it would have been perfect.
It's a niche product, if 220 is ok with you , you should be willing to pay 300 for it too. To me, ITX is supposed to be tiny and dense, this looks like a gimmick.
I could buy a smaller SFF case with better airflow for $150.
This crap thing is double that and worse in every way.
@@dazeen9591 Even 200-220 would be too much but at least for a new design and approach in ITX cases it would somehow be justifiable. 300 is way too much, that's what I mean.
@@NotAnonymousNo80014 I'm into ITX cases. Currently have a K39, a Rainjintek Ophion and some others. The K39 is pretty dense, doesn't get much denser than that to be honest! :D I've never spent over $150 for a case and the reasoning that if 200 is ok then 300 is ok too is in my case double my budget although 200 would be my top limit. Again, if I would ever spend 300+ on a case I would wait for reviews and opinions from others users (Reddit) on this subject.
@@PadPoet paying more for the case than for the GPU you're putting in it 💀
can't remember when the last time case make me think "wow that's nice "
I am going to do an ITX build for my wife’s PC. Loving that these cases are getting better and better.
Definitely need a full review of this one! Very cool! You can tell the engineers/design team had a lot of fun!
the watercooled gpu does seem really intersteing but my problem with them and full closed loop cards like the msi seahawks of previous, once those pumps die (which happened to my 1080ti) its a whole lot more work to get it up and running again, in my case having to buy a whole seperate raijintek morpheous cooler which is a lot for someone who may not know as much or be as handy with pc's
Awesome products and great creativity going on at Acer. I like where they are at and where they are heading.
I love the case.
I’ve started to love the mini itx stuff lately.
At the risk of pissing everyone off, I’d probably opt for more energy efficient performance and some dust filters on it.
I know hitting it with compressed air to clean them is easy, but I never have enough time for anything.
Man, that case is super cool! The carrying case is also crazy cool! Hopefully sales goes well for Acer, because they need to be motivated to make more cool stuff like that!
Looks really excellent!
This feels like a "Antec Lanboy mini" and I love the design. very modular, packed with features, and is very user friendly to work on. even has similar aesthetics, which I think look cool. good job acer.
I could see people 3D printing custom stuff for it, good job Acer, the underdog finally coming with top dog ideas.
I'd take a look at the Dan C4-SFX, I feel like the Orion X is too gimmicky and not a better choice as a standalone itx case compared to the C4-SFX. Also personally I find the C4-SFX more aesthetic as it's minimalist, I think lots of itx builders prefer the minimalist aesthetic.
C4 is infinitely better.. This goofy looking ass case would've been cool 10 years ago LOL
imagine putting 1$ magnetic dust filters on the sides... it would be too comfy and highend i understand them
Dust filters are terrible for performance.
@@GamersNexus true but even solid dust in the heatsink is terrible for performance :) i usually prefer the 15% less "cooling" power for easier maintenance.
Btw i love your videos keep goin!
@@alessandroblue7 It's no harder to blow a can of compressed air the opposite way of normal flow through a heatsink than to blow it through a dust filter. In most cases you don't even have to remove anything.
The case is incredibly well made and easy to disassemble without tools. That top part with the AIO being removable with just pushing forward 2 springs while maintaining rigidity is impressive.
Pretty cool that the Hot-swappable SSD is openly usable with any other system via standard USB C.
ACERS GPUS ARE STUNNING! WE NEED MORE OF THEM NOT JUST INTEL BASED! THAT IS ALL! EDIT! ITS A NVIDIA GPU! WOOHOO!
@@Noob._gameryour life must be so sad.
@@Noob._gamer pretty sure I have had to comment to you before... But no lmfao. It's far from dead. Used market is alive and kicking with insane deals same as older GPUs new. Ain't no one moving platform and leaving behind everything
@@Noob._gamer Ghey comment
That $300 price will kill it in the ITX market I fear. No reason to spend so much when the NR200 does pretty much the same thing for $200 less.
I do like the orange color accents. These will be ideal to bring to.... YES you guessed it LAN parties or to eSport events. Would like to see this under load and I am really happy that they had you come out to us this Steve. I would advise the engineers to think about the cables, the length of them and how it fits in this case. I am just too OCD to accept all these cables bunched up. I know they want to try to keep it generic, but this is boutique, so make it desireable.
Heh. Just bought a G300a for a new build. It's good, fits a 360mm cooler, plus 3 fans, I am happy with it. This little Acer is a gem! I still can't get over the fact that 16x PCIe just can be shoved over a ribbon cable adapter and you lose no bandwidth.
My first home PC some 25 years ago was an Acer. I've never really considered them since but this is really impressive!
16:38 I was thinking more like "Hardspace: Shipbreaker" the entire time.
the theme fits that game so much already!
That whole enclosure and case really channels old school Gundams and Veritech mecha...and that's very cool 🙂
I'd like to see more small form factor stuff as the industry supports more full functionality design and components. Excellent job Acer.
Wow I must say I generally don’t care much for small form factor cases or even case review videos in general. It’s not that I don’t like them I just don’t typically find myself interested as much as I am other tech related content.
All that aside, the thumbnail of this video really caught my attention. The case is really cool looking and even though I’ve not made it but a few minutes into the video I’m absolutely blown away and super impressed with the overall look and aesthetics of this PC.
Great job and I’d really love to see this come to the enthusiasts side of the market sooner rather than later!
Edit: my reaction to that carrying case: “😮 oh, that’s a thicc boi 😂”
The Acer case is pretty cool, but I honestly was more impressed that they went with what looks like 30mm thick fans on the top for the better cooling on the AIO. That is such an easy thing to overlook and is pretty neat to see.
Oh I looooooooove that industrial style design, and being so compact and functional is just superb!
This looks like a great product. Might be good for a LAN box. I'm excited to see how things turn out
I've always enjoyed Acer's offerings, even though I build my own personal rigs, I've acquired many of their machines over the years and still have a few humming away in my network. Wish they'd expose more settings both basic and advanced in their bios but otherwise I'm pleased with their prebuilt business class workstations.
I'm impressed. Congrats Acer. Cool design, like the hot swap ssd, it is a needed feature for some of us. Acer: "and one more thing" like we weren't impressed enough, that carry case was like a finisher combo, "finish him". Can't wait for the test to see the temps.
If I need to build an ITX system, I would seriously consider this. It's pretty well designed.
Great to see a company daring to new-think the box. I'm looking forward to hearing more about this. I'm far from a space nerd, not even into any space series or movies, but i like this none the less. Kudos Acer.
I've never done an ITX build but this case looks fun so maybe it's time to give it a try.
You know, I'm an old dude in my 40s, and I'd normally say designs like that are "too gamer" - but I really LIKE the embellishments that Acer added. It has a strong Mechwarrior / Star Citizen "futuristic space" feel to it, and if it performs as well as it looks like it could, I think they have a hit on their hands! And that over-the-top carrying case is too cool, even if I have zero for one, I respect their design language and effort for sure!
Another advantage (at least imo) is that this design is relatively timeless. Could easily have been a box from the Alien franchise, or another spacey thing.
idk if I'd ever build a mini-ITX myself, but this case certainly would be a frontrunner if I ever did. Utility with just enough sleekness to make it fun.
This is the first case I've seen in a long time that I actually thought looked cool.
I got the MicroTitan PC on MicroPowerPC and I absolutely love it. Incredible build quality, and super powerful. Probably the best PC I've ever had.
Good on Acer for funding this project, I hope it attracts plenty of buyers to encourage more of this.
love the styling of this and the mini itx+ sizing. my mitts are too big for the really small itx cases and this looks like it might just be big enough to build in comfortably but small enough to still be desktop placement size.
That may be the first ITX case I actually like ... Love the way the top pops off which would make it really easy to clean the rad which I like to do at least once a year. The GPU setup looks really good too and am looking forward to thermal and performance testing
I've always had a soft spot for Acer since my first PC monitor back in the mid 90s was an acerview 34T UVGA set.
Steve flying halfway around the world to sign Acer products - LOVE it 🤣
That is impressive! Never thought I'd see a class act like that in a modern PC, I love it! Even w/o knowing the price I know I couldn't afford it, lol!
I''m an Acer fan boy since I bought the 2019 Predator Helios 300.
I'm glad to see them continue to impress with design and value.