Lenovo Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6) review: Mid-range desktop gaming PC with solid performance, lots of cut corners

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6 Review Source: Windows Fundamental

Information technology'due south been a crude couple of years for PC gamers, with stock shortages and rampant scalping taking a big seize with teeth out of the joy of building a PC. There'due south not really an end in sight to the major GPU drought, and many who never earlier thought about a pre-congenital PC are now because it cheers to the availability of crucial hardware. Plenty of manufacturers are set up to oblige, just the pre-built market can exist tough to navigate due to proprietary parts, misleading product descriptions, and shoddy adroitness.

Lenovo'due south Legion sector has been steadily improving over the years, with numerous generational updates to its gaming-focused laptop and desktop PCs. One of the best gaming laptops of the year (and one of my favorites) is the Legion five Pro (Gen half-dozen), so I was excited to test out the Legion Tower 5i, also now in its 6th generation. I've been using this mid-range pre-built gaming PC for about a calendar week to see where information technology excels, where it falls short, and, ultimately, whether or not it's worth your coin.

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i (Gen half-dozen)

Bottom line: The Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6) is a pre-built gaming PC that should suit coincidental gamers. It cuts a bunch of corners — namely with the motherboard, RAM, and CPU cooling — simply it performs well at 1080p and runs quietly under total load. As long as you're not an enthusiast who wants something closer to a personal build, this should be considered when shopping for a mid-range pre-congenital PC.

Pros

Runs tranquility under total load
Excellent airflow, plenty of fans
Non-proprietary motherboard setup means easier time to come upgrades
Competitive price
Less plastic and acrylic than previous models

Cons

Limited I/O
Single-channel RAM is underwhelming
OEM GPU is aught special
System RGB lighting seems to practice its own thing
Could get a dust trap

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i: Cost, availability, and specs

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6 Review Source: Windows Central

Lenovo supplied Windows Central with a review unit of the Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6). The 26L case, which was overhauled for this latest generation to offering better airflow and to take up less infinite, nevertheless has ample room inside for cooling solutions and functioning hardware.

My review unit of measurement includes an 11th 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.v-inch hard-deejay drive (HDD), and an NVIDIA GTX 1660 SUPER GPU, which is one of our picks for all-time graphics carte.

Legion stock is currently listed every bit "temporarily unavailable" at Lenovo's official site, at least for the Intel version. These PCs are still available at third-party retailers, though you won't get the same granular configuration options as you would at Lenovo's site. All-time Buy has the same config as my review unit listed at $one,000, while at Walmart it costs $i,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.two PCIe SSD for about $1,330.

Following are the exact specs as found in my review unit.

Category	Specs
OS	Windows 10 Home
Chipset	Intel B560
Processor	11th Gen Intel Core i5-11400 half dozen cores, 12 threads
RAM	8GB DDR4-3200MHz Single-channel Four slots Up to 128GB
Graphics	NVIDIA GTX 1660 SUPER 6GB GDDR6 VRAM DisplayPort ane.4 HDMI ii.0 DVI
Storage	256GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD 1TB 7200 RPM HDD 2 M.2 SSD slots Two iii.five-inch HDD slots 2.v-inch SSD slot
Ports	Rear: USB-C 3.2 (Gen two) Two USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1) Two USB-A 2.0 RJ45 Ethernet Iii audio out Forepart: Ii USB-A three.2 (Gen 1) 3.5mm headphone 3.5mm microphone
Wireless	Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.ane
PSU	FSP eighty Plus Gold 400W, 100V - 200V
Dimensions	26L 8.1 x 15.6 x 16.2 inches (205mm x 396mm x 411mm)
Weight	30.86 pounds (14kg)
Color	Raven Black

Lenovo Legion Belfry 5i: Pattern and features

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6 Review Source: Windows Cardinal

The Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6) uses a 26L example that tin fit up to an mATX motherboard. The case has been trimmed down a bit from previous versions for a cleaner look, and some extra ventilation has been added. There is some plastic on the front console, but Lenovo has gone mostly with metal for this build. The "Raven Black" pulverisation coating seems like a quality job, and I oasis't noticed any scratches or scuffs following an afternoon of disassembly.

The Legion Tower 5i's case is designed to offer excellent airflow, keeping your organization cool under load.

The side panels (which have captive screws) are both easily removed to allow for internal access. You accept tempered glass on one side and metallic on the other side. No more acrylic for the viewing window. The elevation of the PC has a large cutout with mounts for fans or an AIO radiator; if you have neither installed, it acts simply as some extra ventilation.

Lenovo lists a bunch of optional cooling in some documentation, and it seems like information technology differs slightly depending on the operation hardware you choose. My review unit came with two 120mm ARGB fans at the forepart for air intake and ane 120mm ARGB fan at the dorsum for exhaust. They link up to an RGB controller mounted behind the motherboard, which has a printed diagram next to it for easier tinkering. If you lot bandy out the CPU cooler or add actress fans, there are openings on the controller ready to plug into.

All lighting is controlled via Lenovo'south Vantage app that comes pre-installed. You can choose a bunch of different presets, and in that location's even some ambient lighting to tinker with. Unfortunately, it seems like your lighting customization resets itself to the default configuration every fourth dimension the PC is restarted.

The forepart panel roofing the fans is almost entirely open for airflow. It'south grated, and there are several larger openings in a downwards-facing channel just below the mesh. This is a big stride up in terms of keeping the PC cool under load, simply the lack of a fine dust filter could have the case filling up with detritus subsequently a few weeks. The same goes for the top vent and the bottom PSU vent. The grille looks good, merely information technology'south likely going to let in quite a bit of grit.

Ports at the front of the PC include two USB-A and two 3.5mm audio jacks for headphones and microphone. The back of the PC doesn't offer a whole lot either, with USB-C, 2 USB-A 3.2, 2 USB-A ii.0, Ethernet, and three 3.5mm sound-out hookups for 5.ane sound. Depending on the GPU your model comes with, video out ports will differ. My unit with GTX 1660 SUPER has DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI. Altogether, port selection isn't particularly generous, merely I was able to connect my main gaming accessories. There are 4 PCI expansion slots on the back of the PC, with two taken up by the GPU.

Motherboard, cablevision direction, and hardware

Cable management inside the Legion Tower 5i is a fleck of a mixed pocketbook. Behind the motherboard is clean with everything traveling where information technology should. There'south non a whole lot of room between the metal side console, so some extra cabling is pushed to the other side where it's visible through the tempered drinking glass. It's not as clean as I'd like, and you lot might want to spruce information technology upwards if you're keeping the PC on your desk to be viewed.

In that location's room for 2 3.5-inch HDDs below the PSU shroud, with a pull-out tray that makes for easy installation. It likewise looks like at that place'south a brace for a 2.v-inch SSD behind the motherboard, next to the RGB controller. And on the front side, you tin can fit ii Thousand.2 SSDs for faster storage. Lenovo lists PCIe iv.0 support for those who want the absolute fastest storage.

The PSU made by FSP is lxxx Plus Gold with 400W of power. It'southward not-modular, but it's non some proprietary thing similar some pre-builts apply. You should be able to swap it out for something offering more power if y'all decide to upgrade the GPU or CPU in the future.

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6 Review Source: Windows Cardinal

The mATX motherboard is a custom Lenovo chore, but again it's not something entirely proprietary that makes information technology impossible to swap out. It's just an mATX lath with B560 chipset using regular mounts. Lenovo did cut some corners here, and enthusiasts volition immediately notice the lack of chipset and VRM heatsinks. The locked Cadre i5-10400 model isn't going to be overclocked anyway, only it's all the same a noticeable omission.

The PC's BIOS is limited (no XMP, no NVMe, etc.), merely for most people that's not going to be a huge bargain. Enthusiasts who want complete command over their organization aren't likely going to be buying this PC anyway, and those who simply want to sit downward and game usually just desire something that works as intended when information technology's turned on.

The CPU libation that comes with the Cadre i5-10400 is very underwhelming. Some of the higher-end models accept a finstack libation, only this apartment one is almost every bit barebones as you tin get. You should be able to bandy it out for something a lot more attractive and effective if you upgrade the CPU.

Lenovo includes just one 8GB stick of RAM with this model, meaning you're getting inferior single-channel performance. The motherboard doesn't back up XMP, and then the advertised 3200MHz RAM is actually going to run at 2933MHz with CL22 timing. The RAM really isn't great, and it's one of the first things I would upgrade if I purchased this PC.

Near boutique pre-builts (and Newegg's ABS brand) come with more popular versions of GPUs, while the likes of Dell, HP, and Lenovo usually apply some sort of OEM stock. In this item case it'south fabricated by MSI. It's up to the usual GTX 1660 SUPER specs and volition perform as such, but it'southward zip special.

Altogether, the Legion Belfry 5i'due south blueprint and features are a mix of disappointment and surprise. Corners were definitely cutting on the CPU cooling, RAM, and motherboard heatsinks, only the example has excellent (if a flake dusty) airflow, decent cable direction, and a lack of proprietary hardware that inhibits time to come upgrades. Coincidental PC gamers — which this PC is aimed at — are likely going to intendance more virtually whether or not they tin can play their favorite games. And as we'll meet in the next department, information technology'south upward to the task.

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i: Performance and gaming

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6 Review Source: Windows Fundamental

Before I took the system apart to check its build quality, I ran a series of benchmarks and stress tests. I wanted to meet how well the system keeps its cool nether load, especially with the upgraded ventilation and fairly substantial case cooling.

I began with a full-organization stress examination that ran for just more than 30 minutes. I used Lenovo's "Performance" thermal mode for the majority of these tests. At the end of the exam, CPU cores hovered around the 80 C to 85 C mark, pulling about 65W power. The CPU'due south clock remained stable at 3.2GHz. The GPU was at 64 C at the end of the test, pulling in about 88W and running at a 1.89GHz clock. Those CPU temperatures are certainly at the higher cease of what you desire to see, simply it's expected with the awful libation that's used.

The CPU fan maxed out at near 1550 RPM with occasional bursts only generally saturday at the 1150 RPM marker. Example fans never went above 1250 RPM and mostly saturday beneath 1000 RPM. I must stress how quiet this arrangement is, even when information technology's maxed out. You can hardly hear it running when idling, and it never topped forty decibels during the stress test. And at that place's evidently plenty of airflow, with temperatures at the motherboard remaining steady at 21 C. Considering how airtight up previous models used to be, this is a large improvement.

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6 Review Source: Windows Fundamental

I switched Lenovo's ability program to "Balanced" to see how it affected operation. Running the same stress test — without letting the organization cool down — kicked the CPU fan up to about 1600 RPM and brought CPU temperatures down to between seventy C and 75 C. Racket went upwardly only nearly 3 decibels. The CPU clock dropped to 3.09GHz while the GPU remained at 1.89GHz. Information technology seems equally though Balanced mode simply runs fans faster to lower temps without really affecting performance. This was evident in benchmarks as well, with results coming in essentially the same when running on Lenovo's Performance and Balanced modes.

There was absolutely no thermal throttling during any of these stress tests, and the PC quiets back downwards to ephemeral racket levels as soon equally it's immune to idle. It's articulate that the added ventilation on the case is doing its job. This PC ran much quieter and libation than I was expecting. Before getting into existent-world gaming performance, take a look at how the Legion Belfry 5i fared in a bunch of benchmark tests.

The M.two PCIe iii.0 NVMe SSD provided by Lenovo isn't particularly fast on the write side of things, but at least the read performance is strong. There is room for a second M.2 SSD if you'd like to add more modernistic storage, and the arrangement should back up PCIe 4.0 if you'd like to go that route. The 1TB SATA HDD that Lenovo tosses in for bulk storage is at to the lowest degree 7200 RPM, but it is extremely slow. If you don't spec a larger M.ii SSD from the factory, I'd recommend investing in one of the all-time SSDs equally soon as your budget allows. Having simply a couple hundred gigabytes of fast storage will likely feel cramped after a short fourth dimension.

After running the synthetic benchmarks, I sat down and tested a few enervating games at both 1440p and 1080p. Starting with Carmine Expressionless Redemption 2 at 1440p with Balanced in-game preset, the Legion Tower 5i averaged 48.viii frames per second (FPS). Dropping downward to 1080p with the same Balanced preset, the system averaged 64.3 FPS. This is i of the well-nigh demanding PC games out there, so this is an excellent result.

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6 Review Source: Windows Fundamental

Far Cry 5 at 1440p with a High in-game preset averaged 67 FPS. Dropping downwards to 1080p, it averaged 93 FPS. And finally, Shadow of the Tomb Raider averaged 63 FPS at 1440p and 91 FPS at 1080p, both with a High in-game preset. For the mid-range performance hardware inside, all of these results are perfectly adequate. I wouldn't recommend making the step upward to 1440p total fourth dimension with the GTX 1660 SUPER; it will fare much better at 1080p.

Having to wade through bloatware and spend your time uninstalling useless apps is never fun, especially on a brand-new PC. Lenovo's Legion Tower 5i comes with McAfee Antivirus installed, as well every bit another popups that occur when you first open up the Vantage direction app. The situation isn't near every bit bad equally with some other manufacturers, only you volition have to spend a flake of time removing the unnecessary junk from the PC.

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i: Contest

HP OMEN 30L. Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Fundamental

Newegg's ABS brand of gaming PCs is known for using real parts from real manufacturers in its configurations, significant there's a lot less of a chance that you're going to get stuck with some shoddy proprietary hardware. For something in the same toll range, the ABS Master ALI587 should exist considered. It has a GIGABYTE B560 motherboard, Intel Core i5-11400F CPU, 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 RAM, 512GB Thou.ii PCIe NVMe SSD, EVGA RTX 2060 GPU, DeepCool Gammaxx PSU, DeepCool finstack CPU cooler, and DeepCool Macube case. It costs about $1,000 and is superior in near every way save mayhap airflow and customer support.

If yous have a bit more money to spend and are leaning toward an AMD organization, the ABS Chief ALA270 is another great choice. Information technology uses an ASUS Prime number B550 motherboard, Ryzen 5 5600X CPU, NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of dual-aqueduct DDR4 RAM, 512GB Yard.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, all built into an ASUS TUF Gaming GT301 case. Information technology costs about $1,400.

Our top pick for best gaming desktop PCs is the HP OMEN 30L. AMD Ryzen models start at about $920, while Intel models showtime at almost $1,400. In that location are a ton of configuration options you lot can sort through, and for the most part — like the Legion Tower 5i — the parts remain non-proprietary so that you tin can upgrade in the time to come.

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i: Should you buy it?

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6 Review Source: Windows Key

Yous should purchase this if ...

You're a casual PC gamer who doesn't pay as close of attention to the effectively build details
You want smooth frame rates at 1080p
You want the pick to upgrade your PC in the future

You lot shouldn't buy this if...

You're a PC enthusiast with a keen heart for detail
Y'all're interested in pushing 1440p at high frame rates
You'd rather not deal with an affluence of OEM hardware

Lenovo's 6th-gen Legion Tower 5i has some smart new design choices, including more than ventilation for better airflow and for better cooling back up. It's altogether an bonny case, and its size isn't overbearing. It should fit higher up or below a desk. Lenovo didn't get with any proprietary parts that I can see, meaning you lot won't struggle much if you want to upgrade in the future with parts y'all buy separately. However, information technology'southward also using a ton of OEM hardware. You lot're not really getting proper name-make parts hither, which will probable turn off well-nigh enthusiasts. If y'all're more than on the casual side — someone who simply wants a PC that tin play games without much fuss — it should exist a much better fit.

The organisation runs adequately cool. There's a lot of ventilation, and though the grit filters are a bit likewise macro to catch everything, the case has excellent airflow. When idling, information technology'south hard to tell whether the PC is really on considering it's so placidity. You lot're going to see CPU temperatures almost the pinnacle of what's considered inside acceptable range due to the atrocious CPU cooler, but the system doesn't scream trying to go on it there.

If y'all're looking for a decently priced pre-built gaming PC that can handle a smooth 1080p gaming experience, the Legion Tower 5i (Gen 5) volition get the chore done. But at that place are plenty of alternatives out at that place if you tin't observe Legion stock or if you're looking for something with fewer cut corners.

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen6

Lenovo Legion Tower 5i (Gen 6)

Lesser line: The Legion Belfry 5i (Gen 6) is a mid-range desktop gaming PC that should appeal to casual PC gamers. It runs quiet, it delivers an impressive 1080p experience, and it's priced competitively.

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