Today I have the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X gaming laptop for review. This is an updated model from the Nitro line, which was released just a few months ago. On board we have a bunch of AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card. Based on this, we can immediately say that the laptop belongs more to the medium, I would even say, budget class. Therefore, I expect from Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X comfortable FPS at 1080p resolution at high and ultra settings in games. Something more, like 2K + high and ultra settings + Ray Tracing, the video card, most likely, will not be able to handle it, at least not enough video memory. Although only tests will show how it really is, so let’s move directly to the review itself.
The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X is positioned as a gaming laptop. I would even say an affordable gaming laptop. Running through online shops, I realised that this model has almost no competitors right now. Yes, there are many laptops with RTX 3050 Ti on the market, but these models usually have old processors from 2021-2022. Here we have a fresh processor from AMD, which sets the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X apart from other competitors.
The price of the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X, at the time of writing the review, is about $1200.
The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X comes in a branded cardboard box measuring 540×337×77mm. The box contains:
The filling is rather minimalistic, there are no branded stickers, promotional materials or additional accessories. The notebook itself is securely fixed in a rigid transport foam, the power supply is in a separate cardboard box of smaller size. Everything is packed well, reliably, nothing dangles or rides back and forth inside the box.
At the first glance at the notebook you may think: “It’s not bad, it’s stylish”. On the lid of the notebook we see turquoise and red patterns and the company logo. A little higher, on the main part, there is a barely noticeable name “NITRO”.
At the back, Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X looks like a cool supercar, some kind of Lamborghini, thanks to its stylish ventilation cutouts designed to blow out air. In them we can immediately notice cooling radiators. At the back there is HDMI version 2.1, USB Type-C (3.2 Gen 2) with DisplayPort support and a power supply connector.
On the left, there is an RJ-45 network port, USB 3.2 Gen1 and a 3.5mm headset combo jack. In addition to the connectors, there are additional side vents.
On the right side are 2 USB 3.2 Gen2, operation indicators (battery, hard drive) and the same vents as on the left side.
There is nothing interesting on the front panel, the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X has no case backlighting.
On the bottom we have 4 rubberised pads to prevent the laptop from sliding around on the desk and additional ventilation holes.
We open the notebook (by the way, the lid with the display can be easily lifted with one finger) and see a stylised keyboard with red edging on the sides of the keys, a standard touchpad, the display itself with a Full HD 144Hz sticker, speaker holes and stickers listing the main advantages of this model. We will examine and test all this in more detail a little later.
The design of Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X is not bad, of course, without any memorable highlight or feature, but it looks good in general – stylish, laconic.
While I was looking at and twirling the notebook in my hands, I had time to appreciate both materials and build quality. They are in good order. The main material here is matte plastic. Fingerprints on it, of course, remain, by the way, as on many notebooks, but they can be easily wiped off with an ordinary cloth.
The colour is interesting, Acer called it Obsidian Black. If you look closely, you can see barely noticeable grey flecks in the basic black colour, as if the laptop is covered with glitter. It looks cool.
The build quality is good, there are no backlashes or creaks at all. The display does not wobble in the open state, and I have met several laptops with such a feature. The keyboard shell does not bend when you press it.
Read also:
The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X has an island keyboard with a standard WASD layout. Left Shift and Enter are standard elongated, Right Shift is slightly shortened. The arrows are of usual size, the number pad is slightly reduced. By the way, the power key of the notebook here is not a separate button on the case, but one of the keyboard keys. Hot keys are all in place and all work perfectly.
The keyboard has a static red backlight, there are no other colours or modes of operation in this model. However, I know that some Nitro models do have backlighting changes. You can determine whether the backlight changes in your keyboard by the bezel: if it is red, it means that the backlight is only static red, if the bezel is white ─ it means that the backlight can be changed in the NitroSense programme.
In addition to the red backlighting, each key has a red border. Together with the backlighting it looks pretty good. The WASD and arrow keys have a bolder border, which makes them stand out from the rest of the keys. The font is standard, well readable and evenly illuminated. The font on WASD is slightly changed to emphasise the attention. The keyboard feels great, it’s pleasant to type on it, you can feel a certain tactility, even though it’s a standard scissor notebook keyboard.
The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X has a regular-sized touchpad. There is nothing wrong with the clarity and speed of movements. The keys are pressed well, softly and each click is felt.
The laptop has a 15.6″ IPS display with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels and a refresh rate of 144Hz. The display is matte, which means that you won’t see glare and reflections from light sources on it. Another thing ─ colours, on matte screens they are usually a bit dimmer, and this laptop is no exception.
The aspect ratio here is a standard 16:9. The display supports AMD FreeSync, a technology that reduces image tearing in games and videos. Unfortunately, Acer doesn’t specify either on the official website or on the laptop itself the display response time. But we’ll find out for ourselves. TFT Monitor Test showed an average response time of about 6 ms, which is normal. The fact that this laptop has a good response time, I was once again personally convinced when I tested games and videos, I didn’t notice any ghosting effects during the whole time. Thanks to the fast matrix and high refresh rate of the screen, the image looked smooth and pleasant.
Everything is also within normal limits with backlighting, the tested model had only one spot at the top of the screen, and that only when the TFT test was running. In the speaker it is not visible at all, so there are no problems with backlight leakage.
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X has good viewing angles, even at an angle the image is clearly visible and there are no visible colour distortions.
For its segment, the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X has a pretty good stuffing. There is a new AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS as a processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti as a graphics card, 16 GB of RAM and NVMe SSD for 512 GB. More details about the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X components in the screenshots:
AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS ─ a new 6-nanometre mobile processor that AMD released in early January this year. 8 cores, 16 threads, base clock speed of 3.20GHz, boost clock speed of 4.75GHz, 16MB of level 3 cache, TDP 35 – 54W, Zen 3+ (Rembrandt). The processor has integrated graphics in the form of Radeon 680M. To understand the performance level, let’s run some benchmarks.
As benchmarks for the processor were chosen: Cinebench R15, Cinebench R20, Cinebench R23, Perfomance Test CPU Mark, Blender CPU Benchmark, Geekbench 6, AIDA64 Extreme (FP32 Ray-Trace, FPU Julia, CPU SHA3, CPU Queen, FPU SinJulia, FPU Mandel, CPU AES, CPU ZLilb, FP64 Ray-Trace, CPU PhotoWorxx).
Cinebench R15, R20, R23 test results:
Performance Test CPU Mark test results:
Blender CPU Benchmark test results:
Geekbench 6 test results:
AIDA64 test results:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti ─ an improved version of the RTX 3050, the most budget-friendly and entry-level graphics card in the 3000 line. It features 4GB of GDDR6 video memory, maximum video processor clock speed of 1885MHz, maximum TGP up to 95W, 128-bit bus.
The benchmarks chosen for the video card were 3DMark, Blender GPU Benchmark, Performance Test 3D Graphics Mark, V-Ray 5.
3DMark test results:
Port Royal and Speedway tests refused to start due to insufficient video memory.
Blender GPU test results:
Performance Test 3D Graphics Mark test results:
V-Ray 5 test results:
The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X has 1 DDR5-type RAM from SK Hynix with a maximum frequency of 4800 MHz, totalling 16GB. Operating timings are 40-39-39-77. The full name of the module is SK Hynix HMCG78MEBSA095N. The second slot for RAM is free, so we can immediately increase its amount up to 32 GB and at the same time provide a dual-channel mode of operation. To test RAM performance we will use the built-in tests of AIDA64 Extreme: read, write, copy and latency.
The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X has a 512GB NVMe SSD from Western Digital as its storage. The exact model is WD PC SN810 SDCQNRY-512G-1014. The speed tests are attached. For performance tests, as usual, we will use CrystalDiskMark (Default mode and NVMe SSD) and ASS SSD Benchmark.
For the sake of interest, let’s run a couple more benchmarks, but to understand the overall performance. For example: AIDA64 Cache & Memory Benchmark, PCMark 10 and CrossMark.
As you can see from the results of benchmarks, the performance of Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X is pretty good for its segment. According to my own feelings in terms of performance, everything is also excellent: the system is fast, no brakes were noticed during work. For ordinary tasks, such as office work, web surfing, watching videos, Photoshop, creating content, working in most programmes, the laptop hardware is more than enough.
But Acer Nitro 5 is primarily positioned as a gaming notebook. That’s why we are most interested in performance in games. Well, let’s finally get down to them.
Read also: Acer Swift Edge review: a sleek 16-inch laptop
Performance testing in games was carried out in 1920×1080 resolution, as this is the maximum resolution supported by the laptop display. The second reason for choosing only this resolution ─ the amount of video memory of the video card, 4 GB for 2K is not enough (what to say, it is not enough for 1080p quite often).
To save time and better understand the level of performance in a particular game, we will use ready-made presets: ultra, high, medium. Or their analogues offered by the game itself. So it will be easier to understand at what settings the game runs best, and then everyone can do fine-tuning purely for themselves.
Updated version of everyone’s favourite RPG. Graphics have improved, system requirements have increased, let’s take it for a test. We will test on ready presets: Medium, High, Ultra, RT Ultra.
A re-release of the cult horror game from Capcom. Modern graphics, effects and system requirements accordingly. The usual settings like Ultra, High, Medium are not present here, instead they are pre-prepared by the developers: Balanced, Prioritise Graphics, Ray Tracing, Max.
A novelty in the Harry Potter setting, not bad graphics, system requirements are loyal. As for the settings, everything is standard: Ultra + Ray Tracing Ultra, High + Ray Tracing High, Medium + Ray Tracing Medium.
How can performance tests without Cyberpunk 2077, let’s not break the tradition. Let’s go through the settings: Ultra, High, Medium, Ray Tracing Low, Ray Tracing Medium, Ray Tracing Ultra. The last presets could not be touched at all, you can see that our map on Ray Tracing Low is already hard, but just for interest I decided to run on them.
You can play modern games on Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X. The laptop pulls many titles in 1080p at high settings without problems. But still it should be noted that the laptop’s video card RTX 3050 Ti is weak, and 4 GB of video memory is not enough for today. Ray Tracing will quite often have to be switched off or sacrifice its quality. DLSS doesn’t really save the situation.
To understand how much the system consumes at its peak, i.e. at 100% load of each component, let’s give it a small stress test with AIDA64 Extreme. The built-in system stability test is ideal because it loads the CPU, video card, storage and memory at 100% simultaneously. And we will use HWiNFO64 to take the readings.
The maximum value for the processor is 60.075 W, and for the RTX 3050 Ti graphics card – 70.927 W. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the figures for SSD and memory, HWiNFO64 simply doesn’t show them, but, as a rule, these components don’t consume much. In total, in synthetics we get about 130+W. In games the system consumes about 100+W.
For effective cooling Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X has 2 fans (1 on the processor and 1 on the video card), good radiators and 4 vents for hot air outlet. Acer has a special proprietary software ─ NitroSense for fan speed adjustment. With its help you can choose a ready-made mode for fans (auto, maximum) or create your own one. Also in NitroSense you can choose a mode for the system: quiet, default, productive. And there is also a simple monitoring that shows only CPU and video card temperature.
The maximum temperature for the processor was recorded at 92.4°C. For the video card ─ 84.1°C. By the way, the critical temperature for this processor, based on the specifications ─ 95°C, and we are almost there. In principle, these figures can be considered quite acceptable for notebooks. We should also take into account that this was a stress test, where everything was loaded at 100%, cooling fans were set to “Auto” mode. In simple work tasks the temperatures will be much lower. In games, the temperatures are about the same. By the way, in games the processor heats up to 90-95°C without trotting.
For the sake of interest and to make the picture more objective, I suggest running the video card separately with FurMark.
The maximum recorded temperature for the video card is 74°C, which is noticeably lower than when everything was tested at once.
Summing up, we can say that Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X cooling is fine, but judging by the indicators it seems to be working at the limit of its capabilities. The processor heats up most of all. Though the processor’s temperature almost reaches the conditionally critical 95°C (according to the official specification), it still doesn’t trot and continues to work stably. Yes, I didn’t notice any trotting during the whole testing period. In principle, remembering other notebooks, I can say that 90-100°C is something like a normal temperature for a processor.
By the way, while testing the temperature mode, I felt the keyboard and the case. The keyboard, the case from the top, sides and, most interestingly, the bottom are almost not warm. Yes, the heat is felt, but compared to some other laptops Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X feels cooler. All the hot air is actively escaping from the sides and back of the notebook.
Read also:
In the “Auto” mode at maximum load in the stress test, the fans reached 5882 rpm for the processor and 6382 rpm for the video card. The noise level was in the range of 55-59 dB, if to believe the application on the smartphone. If taken purely by ear, I’d say the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X is pretty quiet. I’ve just met laptops much noisier, so I have something to compare it to.
If you set the fan profile “Max” in NitroSense, the noise will increase a bit – about 60-65 dB, and both fans will reach 7500 rpm. By the numbers it doesn’t seem to be much more, but it’s already loud by ear. It is better to sit down and turn individual settings, so everyone will find the best option and balance between the cooling level and noise.
The Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X features a 59Wh 4-cell Li-ion battery, which the manufacturer claims can provide up to 8 hours of battery life without recharging. The battery is charged from a conventional 180W power supply.
I went from 100 per cent to 20 per cent in about 3 hours. All this time I was surfing the web, watching YouTube and then a film online.
The sound in Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X is provided by Realtek ALC287 chip. The most ordinary sound card, nothing more or less. The sound from the speakers is not bad, but there are no bass, volume and other features that are often found in top models of laptops. If you connect good speakers or headphones, everything sounds quite decent.
The network card in the Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X is the Killer E2600 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, which supports 1Gbps internet connection speed over cable and should provide low ping in games. It’s not a bad network card. For wireless internet connectivity, there’s a state-of-the-art Wi-Fi 6E module. I checked my gigabit on Speedtest – yes, everything is fine, the speed is as it should be.
Wireless peripherals can be connected via Bluetooth 5.2. Of course, there is a built-in microphone and a webcam with 720p resolution. The picture quality of the inbuilt webcam is acceptable, it will do for communication and business calls.
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-47-R90X is not a bad laptop in general. It can be an optimal choice for those who need a relatively inexpensive and productive laptop for work, study and on which you can play something modern. If it had a more powerful graphics card, it would be more interesting in general. But then it would cost more.
Leave a Reply