Acer Predator GM9000 2TB SSD Review - High Performance Efficiency

TweakTown Rating: 92%

Our Verdict

Intel or AMD, PC or PS5, Acer's Predator GM9000 2TB offers cool running and elite performance wherever its employed.

Pros

• Sequential throughput
• Single-sided design
• Real-world performance

Cons

• None

Should you buy it?

AvoidConsiderShortlistBuy

Buy at Amazon for $140.99 USD

Buy at Newegg for $211 USD

Buy at Amazon for $412 CAD

Buy at Newegg for $230.1 CAD

Buy at Amazon for £139.99

Introduction & Drive Details

A little over six months ago, we got our first taste of Silicon Motion's next-gen PCIe Gen5 SM2508 controller. This long-awaited arrival delivered stunning performance even in pre-release form and did so far more efficiently than anything else in its class. Although it didn't make it to the top of our performance hierarchy, it came so close that we knew it was just a matter of time before this controller would power a new performance champion.

As a matter of fact, our newly crowned and current performance champion, the Micron 4600 2TB OEM SSD, is indeed powered by the very same Silicon Motion SM2508 controller. We believe this controller is currently the best of its kind in circulation because it is simultaneously the highest-performing and most power-efficient 8-channel PCIe Gen5 controller available.

That brings us to our test subject for today, the Biwin made Acer Predator GM9000 2TB. This new enthusiast offering from Acer's Predator brand is also powered by Silicon Motion's SM2508 controller. Acer's newest is designed with high efficiency as its primary objective, something that has not been achieved with any retail 8-channel controlled PCIe Gen5 SSD previously. This efficiency manifests itself as the drive runs relatively cool while its current direct competitors need substantial thermal mitigation to deliver throttle-free performance.

The Predator GM9000 pairs the SM2508 controller with Micron 2,400MT B58R flash. This is a different BOM than both SM2508 SSDs we've previously reviewed. As we see it, based on our inferred retail pricing derived from Amazon UK, Acer's Predator GM9000 is priced as an incredible value, in fact, best-in-class value. It appears that for just over 10 cents per GB, you can have 2TB of power-efficient, single-sided, 14,000 MB/s capable storage. If we are correct in our inferred pricing, this is indeed an unprecedented price-to-performance ratio in USD.

Based on our results and others we've seen, the GM9000 is roughly 10% less performant in the real world than the top-performing PCIe Gen5 SSDs we've encountered to date. Currently, the only retail competition in its class is the plethora of Phison E26-controlled SSDs that, although they do outperform the GM9000, are nowhere near as efficient, all requiring significant thermal mitigation. Additionally, the GM9000 is single-sided at 2TB, giving it another significant advantage over its E26-controlled competition.

Okay, now let's dive in and see what Acer's Predator GM9000 2TB can do for you by the numbers.

Drive Details

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Current price points and endurance are both excellent, as is its 5-year limited warranty.

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Acer offers a free copy of Acronis True Image software as a value-add. With it, you can easily migrate your system to your new Acer SSD. Get it HERE.

Jon's Test System Specifications

Intel Test System

AMD Test System

Because we at TweakTown like to be first at everything whenever we can, we will present our storage performance results for the test subject on both Intel Core Ultra 200 Series and 9000 Series AMD platforms going forward for the foreseeable future. Because Intel still delivers the best real-world storage performance, our running chart will continue to be Intel-based until AMD can deliver better real-world storage performance than its rival.

Please note that we have completely retested all the 50 SSDs that comprise our comparison products using our new Intel Ultra Core 9 285K test platform. Results going forward cannot be compared with our previous 14th Gen Intel results or previous AMD results, as we've updated there as well. We believe it is important to keep our platforms current in terms of the latest hardware and operating system versions. We have also updated our OS to Windows 11 Pro 24H2. Overall, the pecking order has remained the same, just at roughly 5% lower real-world performance than before.

Best Deals: Acer Predator GM9000 2TB SSD

	Today	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$140.99 USD	$140.99 USD	$132.99 USD	Buy
	$211 USD	$197 USD	$194 USD	Buy
	$412 CAD	$389.50 CAD	$419.50 CAD	Buy
	$230.1 CAD	$230.1 CAD	$230.1 CAD	Buy
	£139.99	£129.99	£109	Buy
	$140.99 USD	$140.99 USD	$132.99 USD	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 4/22/2025 at 9:14 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Sony PlayStation 5 - M.2 Storage Expansion

PS5 Read Performance

With Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 5 console now enabled for M.2 NVMe SSDs to be used as fast storage expansion, we are including results for PS5-compatible SSDs we test as a part of our reviews going forward.

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For SSDs that don't have an adequately sized PS5 compatible heatsink or other SSDs where the heatsink provided doesn't fit right and can be removed, we both use and recommend Sabrent's unparalleled PS5 heatsink available HERE.

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We only chart SSDs that can deliver a minimum of 5,500 MB/s read, which is Sony's original recommendation.

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Here we see the GM9000 2TB as one of the best options going for PS5 fast storage expansion.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Max IOPS, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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We employ CDM as our standard measurement for both sequential throughput and Q1T1 random read. In terms of sequential throughput, the drive delivers exactly as advertised and then some, even in our more demanding user state. Excellent. Sequential read is right in there with the best E26-powered competition. Sequential write comes in significantly better than its Phison-powered competition.

Max IOPS

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Max random read performance for the GM9000 2TB is 2 million IOPS we have no problem exceeding this quoted performance metric. Same goes for its max random write factory spec of 1.6 million IOPS. Impressive.

ATTO

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ATTO gives us a clear picture of what transfer sizes a particular SSD favors in terms of QD4 sequential throughput. We chart 128K transfers. At a queue depth of four, the GM9000 2TB favors sequential transfers of 1MB or larger when serving data to the host (reading) and 128KB or larger when programming (writing) data.

Real-World Testing: Transfers, 3DMark SSD Gaming Test, PCM10 Storage

Transfer Rates

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Our 100GB data transfer test is not your ordinary 100GB of data, ours is a crushing mix composed of more than 62K files. Write performance random or sequential, is an infrequent operation and such, we do not consider it to be an important performance metric in the consumer space. An example being how many times a game is installed vs. how many times it's played. Among the best in its class.

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Unlike programming (writing) data, serving data to the host (reading) is typically an important performance metric as it relates to the consumer space. Again, among the best in its class. Excellent.

3DMark SSD Gaming Test

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. We consider it superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs on the actual game itself. This test is the same as running the actual game, just without the inconsistencies inherent to application testing. In short, we believe that this is the world's best way to test an SSDs gaming prowess and accurately compare it against competing SSDs. The 3DMark SSD Gaming Test measures and scores the following:

• Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Call of Duty Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
• Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
• Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
• Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
• Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to most DIY consumers, especially for the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. Now we've reached the point where results start to matter as they are a direct reflection of user experience.

We consider a score of 6,000 here to be a milestone achievement, and our test subject delivers that and a bit more. Although not a top 10 performance, it is still nonetheless impressive.

PCM10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them. The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

This test writes 204GB of data and covers a broad range of common consumer tasks, including booting Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and startup times for games such as Battlefield V, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data, which is why we use it to rank SSDs in terms of user experience.

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Exactly like the previous test, we consider a score of 6,000 here to be a milestone achievement, and our test subject indeed delivers that to us. Although not a top 10 performance, it is still nonetheless impressive.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test.

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Of all the benchmarks we run, it can be argued that this one offers the best reflection of a typical consumer use case scenario. Again, the performance advantage goes to its Phison E26 controlled competition. We would like to see a bit more here, but still plenty good enough for our liking.

Final Thoughts

As our real-world performance figures indicate, Acer's Predator GM9000 2TB delivers real-world performance at a very high level, just not quite as much as its current 8-channel controlled PCIe Gen5 retail competition. However, because it is so efficient, single-sided and potentially priced so much better than most of its competition, we would choose it in most cases over its current retail competition.

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We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience (performance where it matters most) as expressed by PCMark 10 storage and 3DMark gaming storage tests. Currently, we consider a user experience score of 15K or more to verify an SSD as a TweakTown Elite performer. Intel or AMD, the Predator GM9000 2TB is absolutely an elite performer.

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Massive performance, unparalleled efficiency, and elegance of design have earned the Biwin-made Acer Predator GM9000 2TB one of our highest awards.