With throughput performance up to 7400 MB/s, the Predator GM7000 2TB SSD is a great choice for PC and console gamers.
Introduction and drive details
Acer is probably best known for its laptops and is a globally recognized PC brand. Acer also makes desktops, tablets, monitors, projectors, wearables, and more. Acer is also a well-known brand in the gaming world. Under its Predator brand, Acer makes some of the best gaming monitors and other high-performance PC hardware and accessories on the planet.
Acer has even dabbled in solid-state storage, and is about to take it seriously under its Predator line of high-performance hardware. The Predator GM7000 is Acer's first Gen4 SSD, and it's fast. The Predator GM7000 is shipped with up to 7,400 MB/s sequential throughput. Driving the GM7000 to this amount of throughput is a controller we've seen quite a bit lately, InnoGrit's IG5236 "Rainier" Gen4 x4 controller.
The controller does deliver over 7,400 MB/s of throughput when paired with Micron 96L or 176L flash memory running on an AMD Gen4 capable system, as shown in the benchmark below:
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You have it, almost 7,500 MB/s sequential throughput. The Predator GM7000 is a collaboration between Acer and BIWIN. BIWIN manufactures SSDs, many of which are sold under major OEM names like HP, so this kind of teamwork makes a lot of sense. BIWIN brings the ability and expertise to manufacture SSDs and Acer brings the prestigious Predator brand. That's going to sound spectacular, now let's see what this new Gen4 contender can do for you.
drive details
BIWIN won't reveal what flash memory is lined up on the GM7000, but we'll make an educated guess based on its 4K QD1 numbers that it uses a Micron 96L TLC. The sturdy heatsink pictured is an add-on that stays there permanently once attached.
Jon's Test System Specifications
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus XIII HERO
CPU: Intel Core i9-11900KF
Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45
RAM: XPG DDR4 D50 Xtreme 5000MHz 16GB (8GB x 2)
Graphics Card: Zotac 2080Ti AMP Edition
Case: Praxis Wetbench by PrimoChill
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 1000W 80
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Purchase
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Composite Benchmarks: CDM, Anvil, ATTO
CrystalDiskMark
Looking at our sequential read charts, we found that the GM7000 delivered the second-highest throughput we've gotten from Intel's testbed. The top four SSDs in this chart are all IG5236s controlled by a Micron TLC flash array.
Anvil's Storage Tool
The 9K read score again shows that the GM7000 is arranged with 96 layers of Micron flash memory. It's actually significantly better than a similarly configured VP4300 or Gammix S70, but well below the 176L arrayed S70 Blade. There may be a 96L flash under the hood. We'll probably be nosy and check with a flash reader to verify what it really is, but we'll keep playing and just speculate.
ATTO
This is a bit different from what we've seen since the IG5236/96L SSD. The sequential write of the QD4 128K is much higher than the VP4300 or Gammix S70. In fact, this is the best we've seen from any IG5236-controlled SSD. It could be firmware, or our perception of flash memory is wrong. We think it's firmware.
Real World Tests: Transmission, Gaming, PCM10
transfer rate
Exactly what we expected to see from a 2TB IG5236-controlled SSD. Excellent.
Again, the top of the chart, again as expected.
game level loading
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 Test
The PCMark 10 storage test is the most advanced and accurate real-world consumer storage test ever. You can choose from four different tests; we run two of them.
Full System Drive Benchmarks and Fast System Drive Benchmarks. The full system drive benchmark wrote 204 GB of data during the test. The Quick System Drive Benchmark wrote 23 GB of data during the test. These tests are directly related to mainstream user experience.
PCMark 10 system-wide driver benchmark
This particular test writes over 204GB of data and covers a wide range of common consumer tasks, including launching Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and including Battlefield 5, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch Include the start time of the game. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data, which is why we use it to rank SSDs based on user experience.
We'd expect to see 500 MB/s or more of storage bandwidth here, and the 2TB GM7000 proves it's up to the task.
PCMark 10 Fast System Driver Benchmark
Previous benchmarks have shown the GM7000 to complete heavy consumer workloads above average. This benchmark shows that the GM7000 2TB excels where it matters most. Excellent.
final thoughts
The Predator sounds dangerous, and the GM7000 has proven it is dangerously fast. Nearly 7,500 MB/s throughput, superb gaming performance and a great user experience are all the hallmarks of the Acer Predator GM7000. Exactly what we expect to see from an InnoGrit IG5236 controlled SSD running on the latest firmware.
We rank SSDs based on the overall user experience (performance most important) as expressed by the PCMark 10 storage test. We consider a user experience score of over 7K to verify that the SSD is TweakTown Elite. The Predator has 7,100 votes, proving it's a TweakTown Elite.
We like the results of the BIWIN/Acer collaboration on performance. However, we do have a complaint as it has to do with the additional heatsink. We don't like that once attached, it's permanently attached. We made the mistake of appending it before testing. We like to run it without the heatsink to see if the drive throttles as we get through its paces. We'd love to see a removable radiator, but that's certainly not a deal breaker, and it's basically not a problem if you know this in advance, so we tell you.
Also, the GM7000 without the heatsink will fit perfectly into the PS5's onboard storage expansion slot, provided you use the right heatsink, as the one we received didn't. The Predator GM7000 has proven itself to be superior and worthy of one of our top awards.
