Acer Predator Atlas 8 tested: Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 stands no chance despite same price

The Acer Predator Atlas 8, Acer’s first handheld console for the US market, is finally here. When it goes on sale, it will only be available with the Intel Arc G3 Extreme and 24 GB of LPDDR5X memory. This puts the portable console in direct contention with the latest Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20, which also costs $1,299.99. However, this might not be a favorable battle for the Xbox Ally X20, as the Acer Predator Atlas 8 is much more powerful.

YouTuber ETA Prime’s gaming and synthetic tests show that the Intel Arc G3 Extreme is in a league of its own when compared against the now-aging Ryzen Z2 Extreme. In 3DMark Time Spy at 35 W, the Acer Predator Atlas 8 scored an impressive 6,607, while the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X scored 42% lower at 4,091. The MSI Claw 8 Ex AI+, another console with the Intel Arc G3 Extreme, breached the 7,000 mark. This shows that the Predator Atlas 8 is not the fastest Intel Arc G3 Extreme-based handheld console.

Nevertheless, the Acer Predator Atlas 8 is a superb gaming handheld. Playing AAA titles on the console appears to be easily possible.

Acer Predator Atlas 8 gaming performance

ETA Prime’s testing reveals that the Predator Atlas 8 can push Forza Horizon 6 above 70 FPS at 1200p with medium settings, no image upscaling, and a 30 W TDP. You can lower the TDP much further if you drop down to 900p or use XeSS to augment performance.

For reference, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 could only breach 50 FPS at 1080p with medium settings and a 28 W TDP. So, the Intel Arc G3 Extreme is much faster at similar power.

Thanks to XeSS Multi-Frame Generation, you can even manage 60+ FPS in games that are just too demanding to brute force. In Crimson Desert, for instance, the Predator Atlas 8 can play the game at an average of 78 FPS at 1200p with high graphical settings, 2x XeSS MFG, and a 35 W to 40 W TDP.

Finally, Spider-Man 2, a game that doesn’t really like iGPUs, can run at 60+ FPS at 1200p resolution with medium graphics and XeSS set to “Quality”.

In short, the Acer Predator Atlas 8 is a pretty powerful handheld console thanks to the awesome Intel Arc G3 Extreme. ETA Prime notes that the console’s Turbo power mode, which is meant to push TDP to 35 W, doesn’t work well in Forza Horizon 6. This suggests that Acer needs to iron out some software kinks, which means the handheld console might perform better after some updates.

The Acer Predator Atlas 8 will exclusively be available at Best Buy for $1,299.99 starting November 1. While the console is much faster than the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20, some gamers might be disappointed by the IPS display. The much slower Xbox Ally X20 also costs $1,299.99 but comes with an amazing OLED panel. Be sure to check out our in-depth review of the Asus console.

For folks who want the same performance as the Xbox Ally X20 but want to save some money, the Xbox Ally X is considerably cheaper than the Ally X20 despite packing the same Ryzen Z2 Extreme APU.