Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 Review: Maxing Out on Performance and Value

Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 34IRZ8

Execs

• Nice 1080p and 4K efficiency
• Some fast and simple improve choices
• Attractiveness and ample lighting
• Quiet operation alongside sustained speeds

Cons

• Lenovo’s nebulous pricing leaves some uncertainty
• Might use extra USB-C ports
• Restricted mud filtration

Whereas constructing your personal PC can typically be probably the most cost-effective technique to get a strong gaming PC, it comes with its personal share of hurdles. Some PC makers, nevertheless, have pre-built computer systems that may come near the value of a home-built system. Lenovo’s Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 is a type of, providing a good array of highly effective {hardware} packed in, wired up and cooled for under a small premium over what you’d pay in the event you tried to DIY. Whereas usually nice, the Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 could be a little shaky with pricing. It typically sits round $2,549 for the configuration examined right here, which is nicely under the value Lenovo suggests the machine is price.

Total, although, it proves a wonderful gaming machine with each fashion and substance. There are a number of methods Lenovo may have improved it additional, nevertheless. Unpleasant and non-overclocked reminiscence, disappointing I/O and minimal mud filtration are small letdowns in an in any other case compelling system. Nonetheless, the Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 shines the place efficiency is worried. 

Be aware: On our take a look at pattern the DDR5-4400 was truly 5,600MHz UDIMMS however restricted to 4,400MHz. We have been capable of repair this within the BIOS.

The Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 is completely a high-end, high-performance desktop gaming PC. There is not any “finances” configuration. The system begins at $2,899, together with an Intel Core i9-14900KF, RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous, 32GB of reminiscence and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 x4 storage. If you need a bit extra gasoline, the value bumps as much as $3,149 for our take a look at configuration, which swaps in an RTX 4080 Tremendous. A 3rd configuration doubles the storage on high of that graphics card improve, elevating the value to $3,249. 

However this is the catch: These are mainly nonsense costs. Lenovo lists “Est[imated] Worth” costs for its numerous merchandise, however they’re just about by no means the value you pay. Or ought to I say, do not pay these costs ever. Lenovo itself has fixed reductions, and there are sometimes hordes of coupon codes accessible that may decrease the costs even additional. As I write this, the bottom configuration I discussed sits at $2,249, and our take a look at configuration has seen its value fluctuate between $2,345 and $2,549 within the time I’ve spent reviewing it. In the meantime, the highest configuration, which has only a $100 uptick over the estimated worth of our take a look at configuration, truly sits at $2,849, that means {that a} 1TB storage improve prices $505. Which is to say, look carefully at the actual costs when procuring.

Lenovo is not the one place you should purchase these desktops, however it’s the most secure wager for guaranteeing you are trying on the proper product and getting the proper specs. Amazon can obscure related particulars (like precise mannequin names), whereas some shops would possibly cost nearer to the “estimated worth” pricing. Alternately, in the event you do not thoughts turning your personal tiny wrenches, I used to be capable of configure an identical DIY construct with a value of about $2,300 in PCPartPicker. So the pricing varies drastically, however Lenovo is not outrageously overcharging for its construct. 

No slouch with these elements

With an Intel Core i9-14900KF and RTX 4080 Tremendous, it stands to purpose that the Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 can be a efficiency beast. And guess what? All-around efficiency is beastly, with the system scoring 9,720 in PCMark 10. I do not know if I’ve ever seen a pc cross the ten,000-point threshold, and few come shut. 

For video games, the Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 reveals its stuff, readily attaining over 250fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at its highest settings and even reaching a 136fps common with the decision bumped as much as 4K. It achieved equally spectacular leads to Guardians of the Galaxy, working the sport at 1080p Excessive graphics with a median of 207fps or at 4K Excessive graphics at 148fps. Thoughts you, these are the outcomes with none decision scaling or DLSS options enabled. When you make the most of these, these body charges can leap up dramatically. 

The system additionally stays calm and secure all through. Working 3DMark’s Metal Nomad stress take a look at, which runs the benchmark 20 occasions in a row, the system maintained 98.6% constant outcomes, with scores starting from 6,641 to six,737 factors. The CPU would not wrestle to maintain cool with its 360mm radiator, settling at round 30 levels Celsius within the take a look at. And although the RTX 4080 Tremendous is receiving warmed air from the radiator, it leveled out under 70 levels Celsius. (The take a look at does hit the GPU tougher than the CPU.)    

We’ve not examined many techniques that may compete with Legion Tower 7i Gen 8. Of these, solely the Dell XPS 8960 (which is mainly an Alienware gaming PC in a enterprise swimsuit), and the HP Omen 35L come shut. As you may see within the charts under, the 7i Gen 8 comes out on high in practically each take a look at. Within the few the place it did not, it was a detailed second or, at worst, third. These techniques additionally had an RTX 4080 Tremendous, although their processors and different specs have been completely different.

These spectacular speeds have been achieved utilizing the Lenovo Vantage Balanced profile, which truly leaves some efficiency on the desk. So whereas a lot of its 3DMark scores sit barely under the typical for equally configured techniques, that may rapidly change with the Efficiency profile enabled. The Metal Nomad take a look at, as an illustration, went from a below-average 6,636 factors to an above-average 6,756 factors. Port Royal equally bumped from 18,139 factors to 18,325 factors. 

It is received appears to be like however may use a number of additional touches

Very similar to the Lenovo Legion Tower 5 mannequin I examined, the Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 will get a trendy case with a flashy entrance grille, a tame however elegant high grille and a big glass facet panel. The 7i has a bigger, 43-liter case designed to snugly match an ATX motherboard with only a bit of additional room for cooling and extra drives. The CPU is linked as much as a tall and shallow 360mm radiator connected to the entrance of the case, the place three RGB LED-lit followers pull air into the case and push it via the radiator. Similar to the Legion Tower 5, mud filtration is not on deck right here until you depend the radiator fins, so there’s liable to be some mud accumulation over time. 

Along with the followers pulling air in via the radiator, Lenovo consists of two extra followers exhausting air out of the highest of the case and one sending it out the again. This will create some adverse stress contained in the case to assist pull contemporary air via the radiator fins, however it could possibly additionally pull air in via the underside of the case, which fortunately has some filtration.    

Lenovo went onerous on the RGB lighting too. The pump on the CPU bears a rainbow mild ring and the entire 120mm followers within the system embody rainbow lighting. “Legion” is written on the entrance of the case, and that additionally glows with rainbow lighting. Dominating the inside of the case, the RTX 4080 Tremendous additionally has splashes of this rainbow lighting, with its title illuminated, in addition to a glowing border round a cooling pass-through radiator. A strip of lights alongside the highest fringe of the glass facet panel additionally offers a cool white glow to light up the case inside. Whereas a lot of the lighting defaults to a biking rainbow, it will also be personalized within the Lenovo Vantage software program with a number of completely different zones: entrance followers, high followers, rear fan, CPU pump, Legion brand and graphics card. Helpfully, the water pump LEDs can present responsive lighting to symbolize the CPU temperature.

Lenovo has achieved an honest job preserving the cables tidy, although there may be one bundle close to the rear exhaust fan that is simply bunched up and nearly touches the fan blades in our unit. Popping off the steel facet panel, a chamber on the backside offers area for a few onerous drives, and there are mounting factors for 2 SATA SSDs. Modifications on this area might be powerful, although, because it’s extremely tight, and the cabling is jam-packed. Fortunately, Lenovo pre-wired two SATA information cables to this facet, although their right-angle connectors may not work so nicely for SATA SSDs connected to the mounts. There may need been a bit extra space if Lenovo had eliminated a few of the cables from the modular energy provide and left them within the field, however it seems they’re all wired up as a substitute.

Whereas Lenovo has achieved good work on fashion, it isn’t all nice. I used to be stunned to see probably the most fundamental single-sided RAM sticks right here, with inexperienced PCBs uncovered and no warmth spreader in sight. Whereas the system consists of loads of ports (notably USB-A), it comes up barely missing for USB-C, with only a single port on the rear. It is not nice to see a high-end mannequin in 2025 lack a USB-C connection on the entrance panel. A minimum of the one USB-C port helps as much as 20Gbps. Lenovo does go above the fundamentals with a 2.5GbE port and the Wi-Fi 6E proved loads quick and secure in testing.

So in all, the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8a is a strong, enticing system with a (normally) first rate value.