Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC review: a flashy makeover for those who want that RGB

The Acer BiFrost Arc A770 OC is more beauty than performance

An Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC on a gray deskmat
Great Value
(Image: © Future / John Loeffler)

TechRadar Verdict

Anyone interested in Intel’s Arc A770 GPU but wants a bit more RGB flash may find the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC an attractive buy. Just understand that the compatibility issues and bulkiness that are ingrained with the original GPU are still there, and its overclocked GPU doesn't really lead to any noticeable performance gains.

Pros

  • +

    16GB VRAM

  • +

    Solid 1440p performance

  • +

    Cool visual design

Cons

  • -

    Compatibility issues with older games

  • -

    Too much power draw for its performance

  • -

    A bit on the bulky side

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Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC: Two-minute review

Following years of anticipation, Intel jumped into the GPU market dominated by AMD and NVIDIA with some respectable results last year. 

Both the Intel Arc A750 to the Intel Arc A770 showed real promise and managed to undercut the best graphics cards both chipmakers had to offer despite, at least on price if not necessarily matching performance benchmarks. 

Regardless, the A770's price just kept it from being one of the best cheap graphics cards for those looking for a GPU that could provide good ray-tracing alongside hardware-accelerated AI upscaling. Though it couldn’t match the sheer raw 1440p power of an AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT or Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti, general performance was more than respectable for the $349 launch price. 

With third-party variants of the A770 available, the Acer BiFrost Arc A770 OC might be a more attractive buy, especially now that the Intel Limited Edition cards are no longer being manufactured. There are a few things that lean in its favor including customizable RGB lighting through the Predator BiFrost Utility and overclocking capabilities. 

Sure, the lighting that comes with the BiFrost Arc A770 OC looks more attractive than the original A770, but that’s pretty much the biggest plus when it comes to this GPU over the Intel reference card. Performance power doesn’t increase much even with overclocking, which means that the dual-8-pin connection pulls even more power for no real reason, but you can make adjustments to its power draw if that's an issue. Be sure to make sure Resizable BAR is activated through your motherboard's BIOS settings as well because performance will absolutely tank if you don't. 

As mentioned previously, the Acer BiFrost Arc A770 OC comes feature-packed with ray-tracing and AI upscaling capabilities. When it comes to ray-tracing, it’s not going to deliver performance that matches AMD let alone Nvidia, but that doesn’t mean that ray-tracing performance wasn’t good. 

When tested with the Dead Space Remake and Cyberpunk 2077, framerates stayed within the 30 fps ball-park. On the other hand, Intel’s XeSS AI upscaling technology is as good as DLSS and AMD FidelityFX in games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023), Forza Horizon 5, and Hi-Fi Rush. Though 1440p performance is generally great, for more fps, brining it down to 1080p delivers better overall results.

There are around 70 games that support XeSS so far with more popular games like Fortnite, League of Legends, and Counter Strike 2 missing from the list. During playtesting some games performed horribly including Crysis Remastered and Forza Motorsport (2023) even when dropped down to borderline potato settings. 

An Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC on a gray deskmat

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

As in TechRadar's original A770 review, older games may have performance issues due to driver compatibility, since games developed with DirectX 9 and Direct X 10 were not made with the Arc GPUs in mind, meanwhile, AMD and Nvidia drivers have over a decade of legacy support for these games built-in since earlier versions of the drivers were developed back when those games were first released. That said, DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 performance is much better, and Intel's drivers are being actively improved to support these games.

One thing that surprised me is that the A770 provides pretty decent performance when using Adobe Suite software like Premiere Pro and Photoshop if your project scope is kept reasonable. In the meantime, it’ll be interesting to see Adobe provide official support for the graphics card in the future.

Acer does have a Predator BiFrost Utility that allows users to change RGB lighting within its card, but outside of that, it’s not as useful as Intel’s own Arc Graphics utility driver. Both allow users to have various system overlays alongside overclock power limit, temperature limit, and fan speed. One thing's for sure, even when running at full power, the Acer BiFrost Arc A770 OC wasn’t incredibly loud compared to other power-hungry GPUs available.

An Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC on a gray deskmat

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC: PRICE & AVAILABILITY

  • How much does it cost? US MSRP $399 (about £320 / AU$560)
  • When is it available? Available now
  • Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

The Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC is currently available now in the US, UK, and Australia. Right now, there are ways to get around the $399 MSRP with some stores like Newegg selling the GPU for around $279. With the original A770 going for as high as $429, the BiFrost Arc A770 OC could be considered a better buy. 

For gamers on a more restricted budget looking for the best 1440p graphics card capable of playing many of the best PC games of the past couple of years, the BiFrost Arc A770 is definitely more accessible than comparable Nvidia and AMD graphic cards. Individuals who are working with a higher budget should definitely consider getting the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, which is just $50 more at $449 and provides much better 1440p performance. 

An Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC on a gray deskmat

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC: Specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OCIntel Arc A770
Price$299$329
GPUACM-G10ACM-G10
Base Clock2200 MHz2100MHz
Boost Clock2400 MHz2400MHz
Shader Count40964096
Ray Processors3232
AI/Matrix Processors512512
L2 cache16 MB16MB
Memory Pool16GB GDDR616GB GDDR6
Memory Clock2000 MHz2184MHz
Memory Speed (Effective)17.5 Gb/s17.5 Gbps
Memory Bus256-Bit256-bit
Memory Bandwidth560 GB/s559.9 GB/s
TDP225 W225W
Suggested PSU650 W550W

An Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC on a gray deskmat

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Should you buy the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC?

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC Scorecard
ValueA great priced GPU that can somewhat keep up with the big boys at AMD and NVIDIA. 4 / 5
DesignAcer’s take on the A770 definitely looks cooler than Intel's original design. 4 / 5
PerformanceThe GPU performs well enough at 1440p for newer games. Just understand that older games may have wonky performance. Then there’s the reality that support for XeSS upscaling is relatively small compared to competitors.3 / 5
Average ratingIt doesn’t make the exact same impression that the original A770 did a year ago but the design and cheaper price of entry makes it attractive. 3.67 / 5

Buy the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC if...

You need for budget level price with nearly mid-tier performance
With solid ray tracing and AI upscaling capabilities, the 1440p performance on the BiFrost A770 OC is commendable.

You require a GPU to match your RGB ready desktop’s flyness
The dual fan design and RGB lighting does look cool compared to the original A770.

You aren’t worried about playing decade-old games
Like the Intel original, the A770 is pretty good with modern DX11 and DX12 games, but DirectX 9/10 support is always going to be a problem. 

Don't buy it if...

You want the best midrange GPU
Due to developer support at the moment, the A770 lags behind AMD and NVIDIA, which means performance won’t be the best for many of the top-tier games.

You want a GPU that uses less power
The Acer BiForst Arc A770 uses a lot of power but the performance doesn’t really reflect that.

You want to play older games
For those who have been using Steam for the past 10 years or more may have compatibility issues with a number of games on your list.

Also consider

If my Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC review has you looking for other options, here are two more graphics cards to consider...

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti

Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti
Though the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti is good for 1440p gaming, it's very dependent on DLSS 3 owing to its more limited VRAM.

Read our full Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti review

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT
The RX 7700 XT is a fantastic 1440p graphics card, but it is going to be more expensive, depending on which AIB partner card you get.

Read the full AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT review

How I tested the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC

  • I spent around two weeks with the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC
  • I used the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC for gaming and creative test

Testing with the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC happened over a two-week period on a second home computer where I split between gaming and creative tasks. On the gaming side, titles played during testing included Crysis Remastered, Call of Duty Modern Warfare III, Forza Horizon 5, Forza Motorsport (2023), and Dead Space (2023)

Creative usage was split between Premier Pro and Photoshop.  I’ve been testing gaming desktops alongside components for around three years for TechRadar and fully understand how GPUs are supposed to perform compared to similar tech. 

We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed February 2024

Ural Garrett

Ural Garrett is an Inglewood, CA-based journalist and content curator. His byline has been featured in outlets including CNN, MTVNews, Complex, TechRadar, BET, The Hollywood Reporter and more.