Acer Nitro Acer Nitro 60 N60-640-UR21 Desktop, Intel Core Review

The Acer Nitro 60 delivers exceptional 1440p gaming value at $1050 thanks to its new RTX 5060 GPU. The 16GB of RAM is its main short-term limitation, but the platform is built for easy upgrades. It's a no-fuss, high-performance starter rig that quietly does its job. If you want the best gaming performance at this price, this is it.

The Acer Nitro 60 N60-640-UR21 is a straightforward gaming desktop that gets right to the point. It's not trying to win design awards or pack in exotic liquid cooling. Instead, it pairs a solid mid-range Intel Core i5-14400F with NVIDIA's new RTX 5060, wraps it in a no-nonsense case, and asks a very reasonable $1050. This is for the gamer who wants a capable 1080p and 1440p machine out of the box, with a clear upgrade path later.

If you're tired of deciphering spec sheets and just want a PC that will run today's games well without breaking the bank, this is a strong contender. The RTX 5060 is the star here, landing in the 67th percentile for GPU performance in our database. That means it's comfortably ahead of the pack, offering a genuine next-gen feature set with those 614 AI TOPS for frame generation and ray tracing. The i5-14400F is a capable partner, though it sits right in the middle of the pack at the 52nd percentile for CPU power.

What makes this interesting is the balance. Acer didn't cheap out on the foundation. You get a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD (71st percentile for storage speed), a 650W power supply with headroom, and a motherboard with four M.2 slots. It's a PC built to be a workhorse first, with some RGB flair second. For the price, that's a refreshing approach.

Let's talk about what those percentiles mean in real life. The RTX 5060's 67th percentile ranking translates to smooth 1440p gaming at high settings in most titles, and it'll absolutely crush 1080p. You're getting access to DLSS 3.5 and advanced ray tracing that last-gen cards in this price bracket simply can't match. The 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM is a point of debate for future-proofing, but for current games at its target resolutions, it's plenty. This isn't a 'barely minimum specs' GPU; it's a proper mid-range performer that makes high-refresh-rate gaming feel accessible.

The Intel Core i5-14400F is the sensible, if not spectacular, choice. Its 52nd percentile CPU score tells you it's perfectly adequate for gaming and general multitasking, but it won't set any records. You won't be CPU-bound in most games, and its 10 cores handle background tasks just fine. The potential bottleneck, according to our data, is the 16GB of RAM sitting at the 37th percentile. For a pure gaming rig today, it's enough. But if you like having a browser with 50 tabs open, Discord, and a game running, you might feel the pinch sooner than you'd like. The good news is that upgrading RAM in this desktop is famously easy.

At $1050, the Nitro 60 punches well above its weight class. You're essentially paying for the RTX 5060 and getting a full system built around it for free. When you look at pre-built competitors, many at this price point are still clearing out inventory with RTX 4060 or last-gen AMD cards. The 5060's performance and feature leap make this a notably better deal.

The value proposition is clear: maximum gaming performance per dollar today, with a smart platform for cheap upgrades tomorrow. You could spend $200 more for a similar system from Dell or HP and get slightly better customer service, but you probably won't get a better GPU. Acer is betting you'd rather have that extra power in your games now.

Stack this up against the HP Omen 45L or Dell Alienware Aurora, and the trade-off is brand prestige versus raw specs. The Omen and Aurora often have slicker software, better build materials, and stronger support networks. But you'll pay a premium for that, and at the $1050 mark, they're typically offering a step down in GPU power. If a seamless brand experience is worth an extra $200 to you, look there.

The closer fight is with builders like CyberPowerPC or iBuyPower. At this price, their configs might include 32GB of RAM or a slightly better CPU, but they often use lesser-known brands for the motherboard, PSU, or case. The Acer's advantage is consistency; you know exactly what platform you're getting, and it's a good one. For the DIY-curious, the $1050 price tag is tantalizingly close to what the parts would cost separately, making the pre-built convenience almost free.

Skip the Nitro 60 if you need a tiny PC for a tight space. Its compact score is in the 43rd percentile, meaning it's larger than most. Look at mini-ITX pre-builts from brands like ASUS or Maingear instead, but be ready to pay more for the engineering.

Also, hardcore content creators who rely on CPU horsepower for video rendering or 3D modeling should look elsewhere. The i5-14400F is a gaming chip first. For those tasks, a system centered on an AMD Ryzen 7 or Intel Core i7 would be a better investment, even if it means a slight step down in GPU to stay in budget. This PC is optimized for games, not rendering farms.

Buy the Acer Nitro 60 if your top priority is gaming performance at 1440p for around a grand. It delivers that in a reliable, upgrade-friendly package that won't sound like a jet engine. For the first-time PC gamer or someone upgrading from a 3-4 year old system, this is a fantastic leap forward.

Think twice if you're a heavy multitasker or streamer who needs 32GB of RAM right out of the gate. Plan to spend another $60-$80 on a RAM kit almost immediately. Also, if extreme compact size or top-tier customer support is a dealbreaker, the more expensive brands might be worth the peace of mind. But for pure dollars-to-frames, this Nitro is hard to beat.