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Preview Acer Nitro 5 in 15- & 17-inch: Ryzen 5000H for gamers

A lot of processor, a lot of graphics? Ryzen 5000H accelerates and overtakes many a gaming machine with an Intel chip. However, the configuration with a responsive display and mass storage options is also appealing. We tested two pre-production models.
Acer Nitro 5, one Ryzen 5 5600H & one Ryzen 7 5800H
Acer Nitro 5, one Ryzen 5 5600H & one Ryzen 7 5800H

Acer wants to enter the new year with a thick performance plus for gamers and relies on AMD's Zen3 cores in the Ryzen 5000H. AMD wants to follow up the success of the Ryzen 4000H in 2020 with the 35/45-watt Cezanne chips. These were able to win over numerous editors and buyers because they often offered a higher performance in short and long phases. Intel's competition (Comet Lake) weakened massively especially in the long term performance, which is why Ryzen 4000H as well as Ryzen 4000U offered the better price/performance ratio

Acer relies on the following in the new Nitro 5 models Ryzen 5 5600HRyzen 7 5800H and Ryzen 9 5900HX. With the graphics it goes up to the GeForce RTX 3080 the entry is a GTX 1650We have two Nitro 5s in front of us, AN515-45-R05E in 15-inch and AN517-41-R3FK in 17-inch.

Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E (Nitro 5 AN515 Series)
Processor
AMD Ryzen 5 5600H 6 x 3.3 - 4.2 GHz, Cezanne-H (Zen 3)
Graphics adapter
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile - 4 GB VRAM, Core: 1380 MHz, Memory: 1500 MHz, GDDR6/TU117, 457.34, Radeon RX Vega 8
Memory
8 GB 
, DDR4-3200 Dual Channel
Display
15.60 inch 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixel 141 PPI, CEC Panda LM156LF-CL13, IPS , 3ms, glossy: no, 144 Hz
Storage
256 GB NVMe, 256 GB 
, + HDD 1TB Toshiba MQ04ABF100, 1000 GB free
Soundcard
AMD Raven/Renoir/VanGogh/Cezanne - Audio Processor - HD Audio Controller
Connections
3 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 1 USB 3.1 Gen2, 1 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: Combo
Networking
Killer E2600 Gigabit Ethernet Controller (10/100/1000MBit/s), Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/ac = Wi-Fi 5/ax = Wi-Fi 6/), Bluetooth 5.0
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 23.9 x 363 x 255 ( = 0.94 x 14.29 x 10.04 in)
Battery
57 Wh Lithium-Ion
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
Camera
Webcam: 720p
Additional features
Speakers: Stereo, Keyboard: Chiclet, Keyboard Light: yes, 24 Months Warranty
Weight
2.3 kg ( = 81.13 oz / 5.07 pounds) ( = 0 oz / 0 pounds)
Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

 

Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK (Nitro 5 AN517 Series)
Processor
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H 8 x 3.2 - 4.4 GHz, Cezanne-H (Zen 3)
Graphics adapter
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile - 4 GB VRAM, Core: 1380 MHz, Memory: 1500 MHz, GDDR6/TU117, 457.34
Memory
16 GB 
, DDR4-3200 Dual Channel
Display
17.30 inch 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixel 127 PPI, AUO B173HAN04.9, IPS, 3ms, glossy: no, 144 Hz
Storage
WDC PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-1T00, 1024 GB 
, + HDD 1TB Seagate ST1000LM049-2GH172, 1000 GB free
Soundcard
AMD Raven/Renoir/VanGogh/Cezanne - Audio Processor - HD Audio Controller
Connections
3 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 1 USB 3.1 Gen2, 1 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: Combo
Networking
Killer E2600 Gigabit Ethernet Controller (10/100/1000MBit/s), Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/ac = Wi-Fi 5/ax = Wi-Fi 6/), Bluetooth 5.0
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 24.9 x 403 x 280 ( = 0.98 x 15.87 x 11.02 in)
Battery
57 Wh Lithium-Ion
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
Camera
Webcam: 720p
Additional features
Speakers: Stereo, Keyboard: Chiclet, Keyboard Light: yes, 24 Months Warranty
Weight
2.7 kg ( = 95.24 oz / 5.95 pounds) ( = 0 oz / 0 pounds)
Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

 

Case and equipment

Nitro 5 - these are massive notebooks that you can also see the gamer on the outside.
Nitro 5 - these are massive notebooks that you can also see the gamer on the outside.

Although a large part of the case is made of plastic, both Nitro 5s make quite a quality impression. Acer has managed to create a deceptively real aluminum imitation on the lid. The mixture of black surfaces and red elements (fan, keyboard, touchpad, ...) makes the chassis neither look too drab nor too playful. Most buyers should be satisfied with a maximum opening angle of 150°.

Acer relies on slim bezel designs, whereby the screen's edges turn out a bit wider compared to some other competing products. With a footprint of 36.3 x 25.5 cm, the chassis is still quite compact by 15-inch standards. However, the build height of 2.4 cm is not as slim; Schenker XMG Core 15 and Dell G5 15 SE are better positioned here.

While the Killer E2600 Ethernet Controller is responsible for wired connections, the Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 takes care of wireless connections. The latter guarantees a high WLAN performance (over 1,300 Mbit/s during transmission and reception in the predecessor).

However, buyers of the AN515 with GTX 1650 GPU have to be content with a red illumination, here the colors cannot be switched in the RGB space - what is possible on all configurations with Geforce RTX Graphics. The keyboard's quality hasn't changed compared to the AN515-44: A well-defined typing feel goes hand in hand with an (almost) well thought-out layout. We still dislike the combined Enter/Del key.

The brightness and volume control on the arrow keys turns out to be practical. You can also find them blindly, but you need both hands to activate them.

Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E & Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E & Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E & Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E & Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E & Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E & Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E & Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK

Size comparison

363.1 mm / 14.3 inch 259.6 mm / 10.2 inch 26.1 mm / 1.028 inch 2.5 kg5.42 lbs361 mm / 14.2 inch 258 mm / 10.2 inch 28 mm / 1.102 inch 2.1 kg4.68 lbs365.5 mm / 14.4 inch 254 mm / 10 inch 21.6 mm / 0.85 inch 2.4 kg5.35 lbs363 mm / 14.3 inch 255 mm / 10 inch 23.9 mm / 0.941 inch 2.3 kg5.07 lbs358 mm / 14.1 inch 240 mm / 9.45 inch 23 mm / 0.906 inch 2.2 kg4.76 lbs359.8 mm / 14.2 inch 245.8 mm / 9.68 inch 19.9 mm / 0.783 inch 2 kg4.41 lbs297 mm / 11.7 inch 210 mm / 8.27 inch 1 mm / 0.03937 inch 5.7 g0.01257 lbs

Connections

Not only the looks remain unchanged compared to the 15- and 17-inch predecessors, but also the ports. Four USB ports, one of which is Type-C, and that's it. The latter cannot be used as a monitor output, and it does not support Display Port via Type-C. SD cards still cannot be inserted.

Thunderbolt is not on board, only one Type-C and three Type-A USB 3.1 Gen1
Thunderbolt is not on board, only one Type-C and three Type-A USB 3.1 Gen1
At least there is an Ethernet port for the Killer E2600
At least there is an Ethernet port for the Killer E2600

Display

The displays of our pre-production devices are not final. We will provide complete measurements including evaluation as soon as we have serial devices.

Performance: Nitro 5 has a lot of power

Acer offers its Nitro 5 series in numerous configurations, the strongest with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX as well as NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics. Our test models are more moderately equipped with the 6-core Ryzen 5 5600H and the Ryzen 7 5800H, respectively. Thus, a very high CPU performance is available.

The mass and working memory configuration is similarly variable, but is always based on two slots for M.2 PCIe and/or SATA SSDs, which support up to 2 TB NVMe SSD or 2 TB HDD storage. In addition, there is a port for SATA HDDs, which was occupied with 1 TB of mass storage in each of the test devices. Thus, the system is stored on fast SSDs, while the Steam library can be stored on the HDD

The working memory can be expanded up to 32 GB, and two slots are available for that. There is no onboard memory

HWinfo Summary Ryzen 5 5600H (15-inch)
CPU-Z: CPU Ryzen 5 5600H (15-inch)
CPU-Z: Cache Ryzen 5 5600H (15-inch)
CPU-Z: Memory Ryzen 5 5600H (15-inch)
CPU-Z: Ryzen 5 5600H motherboard (15-inch)
CPU-Z: SPD Ryzen 5 5600H (15-inch)
GPU-Z: Radeon RTX Vega 6 (15-inch)
HWinfo Summary Ryzen 7 5800H (17-inch)
HWinfo Summary Ryzen 7 5800H (17-inch)
CPU-Z: CPU Ryzen 5 5800H (17-inch)
CPU-Z: CPU Ryzen 5 5800H (17-inch)
CPU-Z: Ryzen 5 5800H motherboard (17-inch)
CPU-Z: Ryzen 5 5800H motherboard (17-inch)
CPU-Z: Memory Ryzen 5 5800H (17-inch)
CPU-Z: Memory Ryzen 5 5800H (17-inch)
CPU-Z: Memory Ryzen 5 5800H (17-inch)
CPU-Z: Memory Ryzen 5 5800H (17-inch)
CPU-Z: SPD Ryzen 5 5800H (17-inch)
CPU-Z: SPD Ryzen 5 5800H (17-inch)
GPU-Z: Radeon RX Vega 6 (17-inch)
GPU-Z: Radeon RX Vega 6 (17-inch)

How fast does the Ryzen 5000H calculate?

Things are moving pretty briskly, especially with the Ryzen 7 5800H, which squeezes into the top group and keeps pace with the HP Omen 15, Dell G5 15 and Schenker XMG Core 15. Like these gamers, our R7 5800H model has excellent sustained performance, but it is no faster than its 4800H predecessor. However, all of this depends on the cooling system and TDP configuration, as the Asus TUF A17 shows in the chart

The R5 4600H lags behind in the R15 loop, but also shows a very nice endurance load resistance. No Intel SoC in this comparison can be a threat to it either; you would have to use an Intel i7-10875H or even i9-10980HK

In Cinebench R15 Multi, the 5600H computes 18% slower than the 5800H, but is clearly ahead of the Comet Lake i7-10750H (-24%). AMD occupies all the upper places in this comparison, which could only be broken by Intel gamers with i7-10875H or i9-10980HK. However, such devices play in a completely different league in terms of price than our Nitro 5 AN515, which will be available with Ryzen 5 starting at 900 Euros

Not completely unimportant, both Nitro 5 test devices take the top spot in PCMark 10. The manufacturer has obviously used good SSDs and tuned the components.

LogViewer Cinebench R15 Loop: Red = 15" Ryzen 5 5600, Green = 17" Ryzen 7 5800H
LogViewer Cinebench R15 Loop: Red = 15" Ryzen 5 5600, Green = 17" Ryzen 7 5800H

Cinebench R15 Loop

01002003004005006007008009001000110012001300140015001600170018001900Tooltip
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E AMD Ryzen 5 5600H: Ø1515 (1493.48-1573.63)
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-44-R5FT AMD Ryzen 5 4600H: Ø1341 (1313.46-1397.77)
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK AMD Ryzen 7 5800H: Ø1858 (1830.24-1920)
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76 AMD Ryzen 7 4800H: Ø1773 (1724.58-1815.79)
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H Intel Core i5-10300H: Ø896 (889.24-899.4)
Lenovo Legion 5 17IMH05 Intel Core i5-10300H: Ø850 (539.07-902.4)
Aorus 5 KB Intel Core i7-10750H: Ø1145 (1045.12-1193.85)
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F AMD Ryzen 7 4800H: Ø1845 (1564.03-1971.71)
HP Omen 15-en0375ng AMD Ryzen 7 4800H: Ø1886 (1812.99-1909.31)
SCHENKER XMG Core 15 GK5NR0O AMD Ryzen 7 4800H: Ø1866 (1840.26-1926.13)
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core)
Average of class Gaming
  (169 - 855, n=243, last 2 years)
690 Points +30%
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
558 Points +5%
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
557 Points +5%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
  (528 - 538, n=14)
533 Points +1%
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
529 Points
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
529 Points 0%
HP Omen 15-en0375ng
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
486 Points -8%
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
482 Points -9%
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
477 Points -10%
Aorus 5 KB
Intel Core i7-10750H
476 Points -10%
SCHENKER XMG Core 15 GK5NR0O
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
475 Points -10%
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H
Intel Core i5-10300H
459 Points -13%
Lenovo Legion 5 17IMH05
Intel Core i5-10300H
312 Points -41%
Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core)
Average of class Gaming
  (930 - 13769, n=243, last 2 years)
7152 Points +96%
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
4815 Points +32%
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
4748 Points +30%
SCHENKER XMG Core 15 GK5NR0O
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
4435 Points +21%
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
4396 Points +20%
HP Omen 15-en0375ng
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
4380 Points +20%
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
4132 Points +13%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
  (3074 - 4059, n=15)
3690 Points +1%
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
3656 Points
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
3653 Points 0%
Aorus 5 KB
Intel Core i7-10750H
3075 Points -16%
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H
Intel Core i5-10300H
2217 Points -39%
Lenovo Legion 5 17IMH05
Intel Core i5-10300H
1397 Points -62%
Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit
Average of class Gaming
  (79.2 - 318, n=247, last 2 years)
265 Points +20%
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
234 Points +6%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
  (218 - 225, n=13)
222 Points +1%
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
220 Points
Aorus 5 KB
Intel Core i7-10750H
203 Points -8%
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
189 Points -14%
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
188 Points -15%
HP Omen 15-en0375ng
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
188 Points -15%
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H
Intel Core i5-10300H
187 Points -15%
SCHENKER XMG Core 15 GK5NR0O
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
187 Points -15%
Lenovo Legion 5 17IMH05
Intel Core i5-10300H
108 Points -51%
Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit
Average of class Gaming
  (400 - 5663, n=248, last 2 years)
2986 Points +90%
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
1972 (1142.92min - 1972max) Points +25%
SCHENKER XMG Core 15 GK5NR0O
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
1926 Points +22%
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H
1920 Points +22%
HP Omen 15-en0375ng
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
1909 (1812.99min - 1909.31max) Points +21%
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
1816 (1724.58min - 1815.79max) Points +15%
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
1573 Points
Average AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
  (1319 - 1723, n=15)
1564 Points -1%
Aorus 5 KB
Intel Core i7-10750H
1194 (1045.12min - 1193.85max) Points -24%
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H
Intel Core i5-10300H
898 Points -43%
Lenovo Legion 5 17IMH05
Intel Core i5-10300H
548 Points -65%
PCMark 10 - Score
Average of class Gaming
  (4477 - 9852, n=208, last 2 years)
7531 Points +26%
Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41-R3FK
GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, R7 5800H, WDC PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-1T00
6217 Points +4%
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E
GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, R5 5600H, 256 GB NVMe
5978 Points
Average AMD Ryzen 5 5600H, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile
 
5978 Points 0%
Dell G5 15 SE 5505 P89F
Radeon RX 5600M, R7 4800H, Samsung PM991 MZ9LQ512HALU
5936 Points -1%
HP Omen 15-en0375ng
GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G
5766 Points -4%
Asus TUF A17 FA706IU-AS76
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile, R7 4800H, Intel SSD 660p 1TB SSDPEKNW010T8
5617 Points -6%
Aorus 5 KB
GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i7-10750H, ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro (ASX8200PNP-512GT)
5452 Points -9%
SCHENKER XMG Core 15 GK5NR0O
GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, R7 4800H, Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 500GB
5427 Points -9%
Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH05H
GeForce RTX 2060 Mobile, i5-10300H, Samsung PM991 MZALQ512HALU
4887 Points -18%
Lenovo Legion 5 17IMH05
GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile, i5-10300H, SK hynix BC511 HFM512GDHTNI-87A0B
4077 Points -32%

Verdict

Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E & AN517-41-R3FK, provided by Acer Germany
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R05E & AN517-41-R3FK, provided by Acer Germany

Acer takes a logical step and equips its Nitro 5 series with AMD Ryzen in 2021 as well, but this time with Ryzen 5000H. After Ryzen 4000H celebrated many successes last year, this step is only logical. However, Acer also expands the lineup: After there was only an Intel-equipped 17-incher in 2020, it is now also available with AMD.

The Nitro 5 models are attractive devices for various purposes that can also be used for office tasks thanks to the inconspicuous look inside. Acer offers numerous configurations to pick up every buyer from 900 to 1600 Euros.

Nitro 5 offers a lot of computing power that you cannot get from Intel for the same money.

The computing power is beyond reproach, because it is usually better than that of Intel products in the same price range. Real gamers should keep their hands off the GTX 1650 and rather invest in a Nitro 5 configuration featuring the brand-newGeForce RTX 3000 series that deliver much more performance.

Beyond that, Nitro 5 offers cases, input devices and ergonomics that are suitable for everyday use. The RAM and mass storage configuration is very successful; two m.2 SSDs can be combined with a SATA HDD, which can offer up to 2 + 2 TB of space. Not so successful is the scarce connectivity, which does without Thunderbolt, DisplayPort and card reader. The power plug has moved to the back of the device.

The test devices are pre-production models. For this reason, there is no rating. The final assessment will be made in the test reports of the series models. The benchmarks and measured values mentioned here are therefore an indication; the final results might deviate

Price and availability

Acer Nitro 5 AN515 Ryzen 5 5600H & Nitro 5 AN517 Ryzen 7 5800H are currently only listed by very few stores for preorder.

Pricecompare

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Preview Acer Nitro 5 in 15- & 17-inch: Ryzen 5000H for gamers
Sebastian Jentsch, 2021-01-27 (Update: 2021-03-12)