Acer Predator GM7000 2TB SSD Review

1. Introduction & Drive Details
2. Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Anvil, ATTO
3. Real-World Testing: Transfers, Gaming, PCM10
4. Final Thoughts

TweakTown's Rating: 91%

The Bottom Line

High throughput and superior user experience make the Predator GM7000 2TB an excellent choice for gamers everywhere.

Buy at Amazon

Introduction & Drive Details

Probably best known for its laptops, Acer is a widely recognized PC brand across the globe. Acer also does desktops, tablets, monitors, projectors, wearables, and more. Acer is also a well-known brand in the gaming world. Under its Predator brand, Acer does some of the best gaming monitors on the planet along with other high-performance PC hardware and accessories.

Acer has even dabbled in solid-state storage and is about to get serious with it under its Predator line of performance hardware. The Predator GM7000 is Acer's first Gen4 SSD, and man is it fast. The Predator GM7000 is factory spec'd for up to 7,400 MB/s sequential throughput. Driving the GM7000 to that massive throughput is a controller we've seen quite a lot of lately, InnoGrit's IG5236 "Rainier" Gen4 x4 controller.

This controller, when paired with Micron 96L or 176L flash running on an AMD Gen4 enabled system, can indeed deliver throughput well over 7,400 MB/s, as demonstrated by the benchmark below:

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There you have it, almost 7,500 MB/s sequential throughput. The Predator GM7000 is a collaborative effort between Acer and BIWIN. BIWIN builds SSDs, many of which are sold under major OEM names like HP, so this team effort makes perfect sense. BIWIN brings the ability and expertise to manufacture SSDs, Acer brings its prestigious Predator branding. This sounds like it will be spectacular, now let's see what this new Gen4 contender can do for you by the numbers.

Drive Details

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BIWIN would not disclose what flash is arrayed on the GM7000, but we will make an educated guess based on its 4K QD1 numbers that it is sporting Micron 96L TLC. The beefy heat sink pictured is an add-on accessory that is meant to stay there permanently once attached.

Jon's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus XIII HERO - Buy from Amazon
• CPU: Intel Core i9-11900KF - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: XPG DDR4 D50 Xtreme 5000MHz 16GB (8GB x 2) - Buy from Amazon
• Video Card: Zotac 2080Ti AMP Edition - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 1000W 80+ Gold Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Buy from Amazon

Acer Predator GM7000 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$199.99	$199.99	$199.99	$209.99	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 12/26/2022 at 10:20 pm CST - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Anvil, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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Looking at our sequential read chart, we find the GM7000 delivering the second most throughput we've attained from our Intel test bench. The top four SSDs on that chart are all IG5236 controlled with Micron TLC flash arrays.

Anvil's Storage Utilities

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A read score of 9K again indicates the GM7000 is arrayed with 96Layer Micron flash. It's actually significantly better than the similarly configured VP4300 or Gammix S70 is dishing out, but it's much lower than the 176L arrayed S70 Blade. Likely 96L flash under the hood. We could get nosey and check with a flash reader to verify exactly what it is, but we will play along and just speculate.

ATTO

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This is a bit different than what we've seen from IG5236/96L SSDs to this point. Sequential write at QD4 128K is much higher than the VP4300 or the Gammix S70. In fact, it's the best we've seen from any IG5236 controlled SSD. It could be firmware, or maybe we are wrong about the flash. We think it's firmware.

Real-World Testing: Transfers, Gaming, PCM10

Transfer Rates

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Exactly what we expect to see from a 2TB IG5236 controlled SSD. Excellent.

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Again, top of the chart, again as expected.

Game Level Loading

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to the majority of DIY consumers, especially to the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. 7.3 seconds shows the Predator GM7000 2TB to be a superior gaming SSD.

PCM10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them.

The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

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This particular test writes over 204GB data and covers a broad range of common consumer tasks, including booting Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and startup times for games including Battlefield V, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data which is why we use it to rank SSDs in terms of user experience.

We want to see a storage bandwidth of 500 MB/s or better here, and the 2TB GM7000 proves it's up to the task.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

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The previous benchmark showed the GM7000 doing heavy consumer workloads at an above-average level. This benchmark shows the GM7000 2TB to be an elite performer where it matters most. Excellent.

Final Thoughts

Predator sounds dangerous, and the GM7000 has proven it is indeed dangerously fast. Nearly 7,500 MB/s throughput, superior gaming performance, and exceptional user experience are what the Acer Predator GM7000 is all about. Exactly what we expect to see from an InnoGrit IG5236 controlled SSD running on recent firmware.

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We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience (performance where it matters most) as expressed by PCMark 10 storage tests. We consider a user experience score of over 7K to verify an SSD as TweakTown Elite. The Predator comes in at 7,100 proving it is TweakTown Elite.

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We like what we see from this BIWIN/Acer collaborative effort in terms of performance. However, we do have a complaint as it relates to the add-on heat sink. We don't like that once attached, it's permanently attached. We made the mistake of attaching it prior to testing. We like to run without heat sink to see if the drive will throttle as we put it through its paces. We would like to see a removable heat sink, but that's certainly not a deal-breaker and mostly a non-issue if you know this upfront, so we are telling you.

Additionally, the GM7000 as sold without heat sink is a very good candidate for the PS5's onboard storage expansion slot, provided you use a heat sink that fits, as the one we were sent doesn't fit. The Predator GM7000 has proven itself a superior performer and worthy of one of our highest awards.

Pros

• User Experience
• Gaming
• Throughput

Cons

• Heatsink