Source: Windows Central
It’s been a tough couple of years for PC avid gamers, with inventory shortages and rampant scalping taking a giant chew out of the enjoyment of constructing a PC. There’s not likely an finish in sight to the main GPU drought, and plenty of who by no means earlier than considered a pre-built PC are actually contemplating it due to the supply of essential {hardware}. Plenty of producers are able to oblige, however the pre-built market might be powerful to navigate on account of proprietary elements, deceptive product descriptions, and shoddy craftsmanship.
Lenovo’s Legion sector has been steadily bettering over time, with quite a few generational updates to its gaming-focused laptop computer and desktop PCs. One of the perfect gaming laptops of the 12 months (and one of my favorites) is the Legion 5 Pro (Gen 6), so I used to be excited to check out the Legion Tower 5i, additionally now in its sixth technology. I’ve been utilizing this mid-range pre-built gaming PC for a few week to see the place it excels, the place it falls brief, and, finally, whether or not or not it is value your cash.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6) assessment:
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6)
Bottom line: The Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6) is a pre-built gaming PC that ought to go well with informal avid gamers. It cuts a bunch of corners — particularly with the motherboard, RAM, and CPU cooling — nevertheless it performs effectively at 1080p and runs quietly underneath full load. As lengthy as you are not an fanatic who needs one thing nearer to a private construct, this ought to be thought of when purchasing for a mid-range pre-built PC.
Pros
Runs quiet underneath full load
Excellent airflow, loads of followers
Non-proprietary motherboard setup means simpler future upgrades
Competitive worth
Less plastic and acrylic than earlier fashions
Cons
Limited I/O
Single-channel RAM is underwhelming
OEM GPU is nothing particular
System RGB lighting appears to do its personal factor
Could grow to be a mud entice
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i: Price, availability, and specs
Source: Windows Central
Lenovo equipped Windows Central with a assessment unit of the Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6). The 26L case, which was overhauled for this newest technology to supply higher airflow and to take up much less area, nonetheless has ample room inside for cooling options and efficiency {hardware}.
My assessment unit consists of an eleventh Gen Intel Core i5-11400 processor (CPU), 8GB of single-channel DDR4 RAM, a 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe solid-state drive (SSD) coupled with a 1TB SATA 3.5-inch hard-disk drive (HDD), and an NVIDIA GTX 1660 SUPER GPU, which is one of our picks for finest graphics card.
Legion inventory is at the moment listed as “quickly unavailable” at Lenovo’s official web site, at the least for the Intel model. These PCs are nonetheless obtainable at third-party retailers, although you will not get the identical granular configuration choices as you’d at Lenovo’s web site. Best Buy has the identical config as my assessment unit listed at $1,000, whereas at Walmart it prices $1,300.
Lenovo has the Tower 5 with AMD Ryzen 7 5700G, NVIDIA GTX 1660 SUPER GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB HDD with 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD for about $1,330.
Following are the precise specs as present in my assessment unit.
Category
Specs
OS
Windows 10 Home
Chipset
Intel B560
Processor
eleventh Gen IntelCore i5-114006 cores, 12 threads
RAM
8GB DDR4-3200MHzSingle-channelFour slotsUp to 128GB
Graphics
NVIDIA GTX 1660 SUPER6GB GDDR6 VRAMDisplayPort 1.4HDMI 2.0DVI
Storage
256GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD1TB 7200 RPM HDDTwo M.2 SSD slotsTwo 3.5-inch HDD slots2.5-inch SSD slot
Ports
Rear:USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2)Two USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1)Two USB-A 2.0RJ45 EthernetThree audio outFront:Two USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1)3.5mm headphone3.5mm microphone
Wireless
Wi-Fi 6Bluetooth 5.1
PSU
FSP 80 Plus Gold400W, 100V – 200V
Dimensions
26L8.1 x 15.6 x 16.2 inches(205mm x 396mm x 411mm)
Weight
30.86 kilos (14kg)
Color
Raven Black
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i: Design and options
Source: Windows Central
The Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6) makes use of a 26L case that may match as much as an mATX motherboard. The case has been trimmed down a bit from earlier variations for a cleaner look, and a few further air flow has been added. There is a few plastic on the entrance panel, however Lenovo has gone principally with metallic for this construct. The “Raven Black” powder coating looks like a high quality job, and I have never seen any scratches or scuffs following a day of disassembly.
The Legion Tower 5i’s case is designed to supply glorious airflow, preserving your system cool underneath load.
The facet panels (which have captive screws) are each simply eliminated to permit for inner entry. You have tempered glass on one facet and metallic on the opposite facet. No extra acrylic for the viewing window. The prime of the PC has a big cutout with mounts for followers or an AIO radiator; in case you have neither put in, it acts merely as some further air flow.
Lenovo lists a bunch of non-obligatory cooling in some documentation, and it looks like it differs barely relying on the efficiency {hardware} you select. My assessment unit got here with two 120mm ARGB followers on the entrance for air consumption and one 120mm ARGB fan on the again for exhaust. They hyperlink as much as an RGB controller mounted behind the motherboard, which has a printed diagram subsequent to it for simpler tinkering. If you swap out the CPU cooler or add further followers, there are openings on the controller able to plug into.
All lighting is managed by way of Lenovo’s Vantage app that comes pre-installed. You can select a bunch of completely different presets, and there is even some ambient lighting to tinker with. Unfortunately, it looks like your lighting customization resets itself to the default configuration each time the PC is restarted.
The entrance panel overlaying the followers is sort of fully open for airflow. It’s grated, and there are a number of bigger openings in a down-facing channel slightly below the mesh. This is a giant step up in phrases of preserving the PC cool underneath load, however the lack of a wonderful mud filter might have the case filling up with detritus after a couple of weeks. The identical goes for the highest vent and the underside PSU vent. The grille seems good, nevertheless it’s probably going to let in fairly a bit of mud.
Ports on the entrance of the PC embrace two USB-A and two 3.5mm audio jacks for headphones and microphone. The again of the PC would not provide an entire lot both, with USB-C, two USB-A 3.2, two USB-A 2.0, Ethernet, and three 3.5mm audio-out hookups for five.1 sound. Depending on the GPU your mannequin comes with, video out ports will differ. My unit with GTX 1660 SUPER has DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI. Altogether, port choice is not notably beneficiant, however I used to be capable of join my foremost gaming equipment. There are 4 PCI enlargement slots on the again of the PC, with two taken up by the GPU.
Motherboard, cable administration, and {hardware}
Cable administration contained in the Legion Tower 5i is a bit of a blended bag. Behind the motherboard is clear with all the pieces touring the place it ought to. There’s not an entire lot of room between the metallic facet panel, so some further cabling is pushed to the opposite facet the place it is seen by the tempered glass. It’s not as clear as I’d like, and also you would possibly need to spruce it up when you’re preserving the PC in your desk to be considered.
There’s room for 2 3.5-inch HDDs under the PSU shroud, with a pull-out tray that makes for straightforward set up. It additionally seems like there is a brace for a 2.5-inch SSD behind the motherboard, subsequent to the RGB controller. And on the entrance facet, you may match two M.2 SSDs for sooner storage. Lenovo lists PCIe 4.0 help for individuals who need absolutely the quickest storage.
The PSU made by FSP is 80 Plus Gold with 400W of energy. It’s non-modular, nevertheless it’s not some proprietary factor like some pre-builts use. You ought to have the ability to swap it out for one thing providing extra energy when you determine to improve the GPU or CPU sooner or later.
Source: Windows Central
The mATX motherboard is a customized Lenovo job, however once more it isn’t one thing fully proprietary that makes it inconceivable to swap out. It’s simply an mATX board with B560 chipset utilizing common mounts. Lenovo did cut some corners right here, and fans will instantly discover the shortage of chipset and VRM heatsinks. The locked Core i5-10400 mannequin is not going to be overclocked anyway, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a noticeable omission.
The PC’s BIOS is proscribed (no XMP, no NVMe, and many others.), however for most individuals that is not going to be an enormous deal. Enthusiasts who need full management over their system aren’t probably going to be shopping for this PC anyway, and people who simply need to sit down and recreation normally simply need one thing that works as meant when it is turned on.
The CPU cooler that comes with the Core i5-10400 may be very underwhelming. Some of the higher-end fashions have a finstack cooler, however this flat one is about as barebones as you may get. You ought to have the ability to swap it out for one thing much more enticing and efficient when you improve the CPU.
Lenovo consists of only one 8GB stick of RAM with this mannequin, which means you are getting inferior single-channel efficiency. The motherboard would not help XMP, so the marketed 3200MHz RAM is definitely going to run at 2933MHz with CL22 timing. The RAM actually is not nice, and it is one of the primary issues I’d improve if I bought this PC.
Most boutique pre-builts (and Newegg’s ABS model) come with extra fashionable variations of GPUs, whereas the likes of Dell, HP, and Lenovo normally use some type of OEM inventory. In this explicit case it is made by MSI. It’s as much as the same old GTX 1660 SUPER specs and can carry out as such, nevertheless it’s nothing particular.
Altogether, the Legion Tower 5i’s design and options are a combination of disappointment and shock. Corners have been undoubtedly cut on the CPU cooling, RAM, and motherboard heatsinks, however the case has glorious (if a bit dusty) airflow, respectable cable administration, and an absence of proprietary {hardware} that inhibits future upgrades. Casual PC avid gamers — which this PC is aimed toward — are probably going to care extra about whether or not or not they will play their favourite video games. And as we’ll see within the subsequent part, it is as much as the duty.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i: Performance and gaming
Source: Windows Central
Before I took the system aside to test its construct high quality, I ran a collection of benchmarks and stress exams. I wished to see how effectively the system retains its cool underneath load, particularly with the upgraded air flow and pretty substantial case cooling.
I started with a full-system stress take a look at that ran for simply greater than half-hour. I used Lenovo’s “Performance” thermal mode for almost all of these exams. At the tip of the take a look at, CPU cores hovered across the 80 C to 85 C mark, pulling about 65W energy. The CPU’s clock remained steady at 3.2GHz. The GPU was at 64 C on the finish of the take a look at, pulling in about 88W and working at a 1.89GHz clock. Those CPU temperatures are actually on the increased finish of what you need to see, nevertheless it’s anticipated with the terrible cooler that is used.
The CPU fan maxed out at about 1550 RPM with occasional bursts however typically sat on the 1150 RPM mark. Case followers by no means went above 1250 RPM and principally sat under 1000 RPM. I have to stress how quiet this method is, even when it is maxed out. You can hardly hear it working when idling, and it by no means topped 40 decibels throughout the stress take a look at. And there’s evidently loads of airflow, with temperatures on the motherboard remaining regular at 21 C. Considering how closed up earlier fashions was once, this can be a large enchancment.
Source: Windows Central
I switched Lenovo’s energy plan to “Balanced” to see the way it affected efficiency. Running the identical stress take a look at — with out letting the system calm down — kicked the CPU fan as much as about 1600 RPM and introduced CPU temperatures all the way down to between 70 C and 75 C. Noise went up solely about three decibels. The CPU clock dropped to three.09GHz whereas the GPU remained at 1.89GHz. It appears as if Balanced mode merely runs followers sooner to decrease temps with out actually affecting efficiency. This was evident in benchmarks as effectively, with outcomes coming in basically the identical when working on Lenovo’s Performance and Balanced modes.
There was completely no thermal throttling throughout any of these stress exams, and the PC quiets again all the way down to imperceptible noise ranges as quickly because it’s allowed to idle. It’s clear that the added air flow on the case is doing its job. This PC ran a lot quieter and cooler than I used to be anticipating. Before entering into real-world gaming efficiency, check out how the Legion Tower 5i fared in a bunch of benchmark exams.
The M.2 PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD offered by Lenovo is not notably quick on the write facet of issues, however at the least the learn efficiency is robust. There is room for a second M.2 SSD if you would like so as to add extra fashionable storage, and the system ought to help PCIe 4.0 if you would like to go that route. The 1TB SATA HDD that Lenovo tosses in for bulk storage is at the least 7200 RPM, however this can be very gradual. If you do not spec a bigger M.2 SSD from the manufacturing facility, I’d suggest investing in a single of the perfect SSDs as quickly as your funds permits. Having solely a pair hundred gigabytes of quick storage will probably really feel cramped after a short while.
After working the artificial benchmarks, I sat down and examined a couple of demanding video games at each 1440p and 1080p. Starting with Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1440p with Balanced in-game preset, the Legion Tower 5i averaged 48.8 frames per second (FPS). Dropping all the way down to 1080p with the identical Balanced preset, the system averaged 64.3 FPS. This is one of probably the most demanding PC video games on the market, so this is a wonderful end result.
Source: Windows Central
Far Cry 5 at 1440p with a High in-game preset averaged 67 FPS. Dropping all the way down to 1080p, it averaged 93 FPS. And lastly, Shadow of the Tomb Raider averaged 63 FPS at 1440p and 91 FPS at 1080p, each with a High in-game preset. For the mid-range efficiency {hardware} inside, all of these outcomes are completely acceptable. I would not suggest making the step as much as 1440p full time with the GTX 1660 SUPER; it is going to fare a lot better at 1080p.
Having to wade by bloatware and spend your time uninstalling ineffective apps isn’t enjoyable, particularly on a brand-new PC. Lenovo’s Legion Tower 5i comes with McAfee Antivirus put in, in addition to another popups that happen if you first open the Vantage administration app. The scenario is not almost as dangerous as with another producers, however you’ll have to spend a bit of time eradicating the pointless junk from the PC.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i: Competition
HP OMEN 30L.Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central
Newegg’s ABS model of gaming PCs is thought for utilizing actual elements from actual producers in its configurations, which means there’s rather a lot much less of an opportunity that you’ll get caught with some shoddy proprietary {hardware}. For one thing in the identical worth vary, the ABS Master ALI587 ought to be thought of. It has a GIGABYTE B560 motherboard, Intel Core i5-11400F CPU, 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM, 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, EVGA RTX 2060 GPU, DeepCool Gammaxx PSU, DeepCool finstack CPU cooler, and DeepCool Macube case. It prices about $1,000 and is superior in virtually each manner save probably airflow and buyer help.
If you could have a bit extra money to spend and are leaning towards an AMD system, the ABS Master ALA270 is one other nice alternative. It makes use of an ASUS Prime B550 motherboard, Ryzen 5 5600X CPU, NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM, 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, all constructed into an ASUS TUF Gaming GT301 case. It prices about $1,400.
Our prime choose for finest gaming desktop PCs is the HP OMEN 30L. AMD Ryzen fashions begin at about $920, whereas Intel fashions begin at about $1,400. There are a ton of configuration choices you may type by, and for probably the most half — just like the Legion Tower 5i — the elements stay non-proprietary so as to improve sooner or later.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i: Should you purchase it?
Source: Windows Central
You can purchase this if …
You’re an off-the-cuff PC gamer who would not pay as shut of consideration to the finer construct particulars
You need easy body charges at 1080p
You need the choice to improve your PC sooner or later
You should not purchase this if…
You’re a PC fanatic with a eager eye for element
You’re excited by pushing 1440p at excessive body charges
You’d reasonably not deal with an abundance of OEM {hardware}
Lenovo’s sixth-gen Legion Tower 5i has some good new design decisions, together with extra air flow for higher airflow and for higher cooling help. It’s altogether a pretty case, and its dimension is not overbearing. It ought to match above or under a desk. Lenovo did not go with any proprietary elements that I can see, which means you will not battle a lot if you wish to improve sooner or later with elements you purchase individually. However, it is also utilizing a ton of OEM {hardware}. You’re not likely getting name-brand elements right here, which is able to probably flip off most fans. If you are extra on the informal facet — somebody who simply needs a PC that may play video games with out a lot fuss — it ought to be a a lot better match.
3.5
out of 5
The system runs pretty cool. There’s rather a lot of air flow, and although the mud filters are a bit too macro to catch all the pieces, the case has glorious airflow. When idling, it is exhausting to inform whether or not the PC is definitely on as a result of it is so quiet. You’re going to see CPU temperatures close to the highest of what’s thought of inside acceptable vary because of the terrible CPU cooler, however the system would not scream attempting to maintain it there.
If you are in search of a decently priced pre-built gaming PC that may deal with a easy 1080p gaming expertise, the Legion Tower 5i (Gen 5) will get the job completed. But there are loads of alternate options on the market if you cannot discover Legion inventory or when you’re in search of one thing with fewer cut corners.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6)
Bottom line: The Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6) is a mid-range desktop gaming PC that ought to attraction to informal PC avid gamers. It runs quiet, it delivers a powerful 1080p expertise, and it is priced competitively.
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