Grab a mouse mat, modmat, or other GN products on our store -- get something quality in return for your support (which helps us buy these computers)! store.gamersnexus.net/ You can see why the ABS Challenger is the best prebuilt we’ve reviewed so far: ruclips.net/video/b2vrvQydVIw/видео.html Or you can see why the Dell G5 5000 is absolutely horrible here: ruclips.net/video/4DMg6hUudHE/видео.html And for something different, check out our AMD Super Resolution review here: ruclips.net/video/KCzjQ4qP124/видео.html
I have an idea for a video, wich would be a guide on the expectation of a pré built system for manufacturers, to clarify what consumer expect and want, so no flower heat sync, proper packaging etc... Any way thank you for all the work done :)
you consider getting one from microcenter ? they probably wouldnt be too bad if the company wouldnt change the terms of warranties in the middle of the term of your warranty, making the value of your microcenter replacement plan completely useless
AVA Direct - Been looking into these guys for a couple of months. Their options seem pretty good and pricing is decent just worried about quality. They also have a RUclips channel. Might be a good one to take a look at!
They still can put sticks in slots 1 and 2 or 3 and 4. Actually, I think, I've seen some strange Chinese Phenom motherboard that had two DIMM slots while being single channel
You know what? Scrap double data rate! Re-introduce the world to single data rate for the sake of nostalgia, and brand your system as 'Retro Gaming PC'.
The moral of all these pre-built "reviews" seems to be "If you're scared or nervous to build your own, what you should really be scared of is paying someone else to do it."
Myea, I feel like most people aren't actually dumb enough to mess up building their own computer. - AND, if they do, it could easily be rectified. - Of course, doing things randomly isn't gonna help, as you CAN mess up some things badly enough to damage parts. but if you generally follow instructions and the like, most people should be good, even if it takes a lot of time.
@@benisrood They've looked into case design. They don't want to get into the cost of tooling for something that would only be bought by the smartest and most geeky of enthusiasts. That said, I would love to go down to the studio and pick Steve's brain for a while about case modding, and such.
I would love to see each of these systems get a "user upgrade" amount of 10% of their cost and then see how they stack. The Lenovo could get better ram, Cyberpower a better cooler, Dell a trip to e-waste recycler, etc.
Their designers know nothing about enthusiast designs. They can't shake everything they have learned about making OEM designs. A classic case of it being harder to unlearn what you know than to learn something new.
You think it's genuine? Seems like he's constantly searching for anything to 💩 on. . If I sound cynical right now it's because I am. In all honesty I'm just reflecting back the attitude Steve approaches everything with. Because you know... He believes his own 💩 doesn't stink...
Protecting smd's from people replacing the video card woulden't be too hard to knock one off if you wern't experienced at seating expansion cards. Maybe?
I had a different idea. The thermal pad might actually be an air duct in disguise, so the air going in the direction of the PCIe slot cannot escape to the side.
The price of this thing is confusing. Bought a Lenovo Legion 5 desktop (Ryzen 5 3600, 3060, 16gb ram, and yes, 2 ram sticks, mesh front) for "only" 1000€
That's all too normal with Lenovo. They don't seem have to a global pricing system. It isn't unusual to find refurbished laptops on their refurbished sales site more expensive than new for the same specs. It has been that way as far as I can remember.
My dad bought one of these 6 months of ago for himself. It was originally $900, but he got a $200 discount on the OG price of it from Costco. I just checked the inside of it and I'm shocked, it has 2 sticks of ram (16GB in total), but the bottom fan on the front is placed as exhaust instead of intake. lmao, good thing he doesn't use it, which is sad in itself.
Hey! Mind if I ask: should the top fan be intake and the bottom exhaust? Or vice versa? Or should both be intake? There's online chatter about some Lenovos being shipping (accidentally) with two in-takes. Some folks online spoke to support and said one should be intake, one should be exhaust (not sure which configuration). What are you findings on this, if you don't mind me asking? Thanks!
@@SandyMiranda Both should be intake on the front, as it creates positive air pressure that leads to less dust accumulation inside the PC, when working with the back exhaust fan.
Hey. I just thought Id let you know that I also have this model from Costco and thanks to your comment I realized my front fan was backwards. Apparently this is a common mistake? Also, by opening the machine and poking around I realized my rear fan was actually RGB, but was plugged into the RGB board incorrectly. Three years later and now I have light on my RBG fan.
why didnt u make a review on the amd version of this like u said? its the best oem prebuilt on the market. mesh top and front. 2 fans on the front, 2 on top, 1 at the back and 1 cpu fan. so airflow is literally perfect, and best out of every oem. can get 16gb 3200mhz dual channel with a rtx 3000 gpu and ryzen 5000 cpu. 500gb or 1tb ssd and standard b550 board. i literally cant see any downside to it, feels almost like a self build
Hey Steve, I appreciate you making the video. I bought this prebuilt back in May with a 3070 and lately I've been worried about the lack of airflow. Is there a better case that you would suggest? The back of the case gets really hot to the touch and I'm reaching really high temps in HWMonitor when gaming. Thanks!
I would suggest looking into a Fractal Design Meshify. Very high airflow, and won't break the bank. I don't have one myself but GN has a video on the case and he gives it high praises.
sorry to necro, but in case you haven't yet bought a new case: I recently built a new system in a Phanteks P400a. the case got decent praise from GN and comes with 3 PWM fans. about $80-90 depending on retailer and whatever sales might be going on.
İ suggest you look at corsair4000d airflow or corsair 5000d airflow İ think they are pretty cool cases Check on their prices if they are resonable for you. Edit: Just noticed im 1 month late
10:00 the weird mismatched dust holes don't technically matter, but they do show that Lenovo clearly didn't care a whole lot while designing the final production dies- it should definitely raise some red flags about what other corners were cut or minor details ignored
It's weird to me because, wouldn't that increase the cost of the tooling? If they decided the prototype case design didn't have enough airflow, why not increase the amount of holes in the case? Why add different sized holes?
@@JeoshuaCollins this is clearly a prototype chassis that was nearing the final design, and Lenovo seems to be trying to ship the minimum viable product that still functions
@@JeoshuaCollins It is weird enough that I'm wondering if it was done on purpose for some reason. My best guess, and it is a wild one, is that it helped with the two fans sharing a chimney somehow.
@@CptJistuce Like maybe one fan was more restricted than the other and therefore the flow needed to be modified to even it out? Maybe, but then unrestricting the fan would seem like a better option.
It might actually be that the die that stamps out these holes is a replaceable 120x120mm insert into the larger die for the entire panel. Maybe they had one with missmatched holesize lying around from prototypeing and thought "whatever".
Since you mentioned the issue several times, it would have been interesting (and useful) to see what difference two 4GB memory sticks would have made to the performance numbers, even if just for one game. Just a suggestion.
@@kaidenbrooks7480 In this series, GN is specifically looking at the out-of-the-box experience of prebuilt systems, with the expectation that the end-user *specifically does not* need to futz around inside it to get it working properly. This one was competently assembled, which already elevates it above some of the competition (both in this price range and some substantially higher ones), but the poor RAM configuration seriously lets it down. That's an entirely valid conclusion to draw for the benefit of a GN viewer looking for a prebuilt system to recommend to their tech-illiterate aunt to give to their school-aged child - to construct just one plausible example.
28IMB05 model specifically had a lawsuit for its incessant crashing where Reddit's solutions become having to disable a USB hub manager or disable audio in the BIOS. I on the other hand took the free update to Windows 11 but Lenovo's driver updates are only for Windows 10... what a pain prebuilts can be.
I love this level of detail and analysis! Comparing this build to the version available November 2022 for $850 it really looks like the designers are listening!
Those “cheap” Lenovo keyboards and mice are surprisingly durable, as they’ve been the default keyboards in several work computers. While not a high performance device, they’re functional and hold up to the abuse of a retail store reasonably well. You should replace it with high performance input devices, but for stock keyboards, they’re not bad and will get your basic computing stuff done.
The mouse is absolute garbage, it has no dedicated spring mechanism and uses the plastic shell itself as the "spring" in the button. As a result, my mouse came with a right button pre-bent so that it was stuck in the depressed position. Bending the plastic back provided only a temporary fix before it became stuck again. Mice are so cheap, better to not include such junk vs insulting the customer with such garbage.
I don't buy anything Lenovo ever since they came under Chinese ownership. Product quality dropped significantly, and their customer service is complete bullocks.
The design of the tower cooler is definitely optimized to "survive being shipped to the customer" and just by visual inspection it does better on this front than most aftermarket enthusiast equivalents, which often rely on clipping the heatsink to the board and/or clipping the fans to the heatsink.
Thanks for the content Steve and thanks for all your help with building my last computer at the end of 2020. At least half of my computer is gamer's Nexus recommendations and optimizations. You're the man.
@@GamersNexus I got the Lian Li Lancool 2 mesh and using Arctic fans across the board. I got a 240 mm liquid freezer II for the top of the case. Cooling the 5800x and RTX 3080. Both of which I had to camp outside of Micro-center overnight for. But I've been having fun since December so it was worth it. Especially since I worked IT in a hospital most of covid up until that point. It was a nice reward for myself. Temperatures are excellent especially after I modded my gigabyte gaming OC with new thermal pads and MX4. The bottom fans giving my graphics card fresh air really lets me get the most out of my hardware especially since I am now gaming on the top floor which gets a little warmer than my old apartment.
@@GamersNexus Seeing as you paid for all of these systems would be nice to see you "fix" them all and show how much it would cost and resell them... even if i was simple things like putting the systems in proper cases with decent coolers...
@@rokku87 I have the exact same setup, sans the fans. Though I had everything except the cpu (which I got at the end of this march). Great setup, and again, thanks to gn and its community :)
I'd like to see you review an AVA Direct computer. I custom designed a computer on their website and it turned out great, but it would be interesting to see if that's the normal or was I just lucky.
"its better than dell" should be a tshirt...it would be interesting to see a pc from redux, been seeing a bunch of commercials for them on youtube and have been asked by friends if theyre any good...i offered to help them build their own but no go, which is good since i dont want to be their go to it guy
11:11 It's entertaining to see Steve react to the RF shielding. Shows he have not had much experience with the FCC or the EU equivalent. That small piece is steel is used to ensure that ad on cards are properly grounded and to cover up any gaps between the back panel and the back plate on the cards. Yes I know most who watch thins couldn't care less about the FCC, but big companies such as Lenovo can't afford to be as cavalier about it. The fines for selling equipment that pollute the radio frequencies can be quite high so they can't afford to skimp on details like this. That's also why you never see a machine from these manufacturers that has really open airflow. The grills tend to be more restrictive as that keeps the RF emissions under control. Wide open fan intakes and exhausts are not something you will ever find on a Dell or Lenovo machine.
"The only thing we expected when we ordered it was that we'd hate the case. And we do." That timing lmao. Why is it so hard to make a good case? It's not just a box to throw a bunch of parts into. Why is it so rare to find enclosures that aren't hot garbage?
What's bad is that this is actually good for an OEM case, clearly Gamers Nexus didn't dig too deep into them besides Dell and now Lenovo (focusing on SIs), because the rest of them are closer to Dell than to Lenovo's worst Legion case, yikes. And the funnier part is their AMD systems have a faaaarrr better case. Like it's no contest. But then that begs the question, why not have the same case on both systems, why give Intel such an abominable case?! Especially considering their reputation of being expensive and quality?! O_o
@@roundduckkira I'd assume it's related to product sales figures. OEM probably thought they'd sell more AMD rigs and so in turn invest better parts in that. It happened way back when Intel was the performance leader and they get priority over premium designs. (Matter of fact - the situation is reversed in laptop markets where Intel to this day still gets better OEM support as oppose to AMD.)
@@roundduckkira likely the AMD systems were designed more recently than the intel ones. so they get newer batches of parts, updated cases, better thought out designs. Meanwhile, updating the intel systems (especially one thats likely a clearance box given the 'aged' hardware) means throwing out parts that have already been delivered, or cancelling contracts for those parts already ordered but not delivered.
@@RuggedKnight that could explain it, the Intel casing looks like a hybrid of the AMD design and the previous generation Legion design which still has the spoiler and plastickiness and other issues and the drive caddy connection design (but more proprietaryish), but also lacking the newer and much improved Legion coolers and that "meshy" black front look the AMD system has, just faked. Then again tho the previous gen case did have a small mesh tho, not as nice as the AMD system, but still Edit: oh and the t7i systems, their higher end Intels, use a bigger version of the T5 AMD case, and the same case as their AMD T7 counterpart. Indeed Intel t5i seems to be older.
dis assembly play the game make an entry, no Rtx but frames got plenty, I'm on Atx your still up eating Pi's, no heatsinks your chipset bouta die messing with pros get you de lidded, put ina a bin and then locked up in a prison rammed up with sticks to refresh your memory, seems the c mos still complimentary hard to the core but you still need more, power supply's and chiplets to be available in stores.
First off, build your PC to the spec you claim TechTube, when we test, come equipped with games You claim to be a good build, but I wrekt your RAM We bust on bad builds, please airflow this sham
I think that thermal pad is meant to keep the cooler from sagging into the chip in that corner and the big plate on the GFX card is typically used on super cheap cases to spread the weight and stop the screw hole from ovaling out over time. Not sure if that's the case here but I've seen it on builds using cheap cases quite often back in the day.
All these SIs and other manufacturers should be thanking you for providing actual quality control. I'm certain you can point to changes that have been made in direct response to any number of your teardown videos. Good work as always GN!
What makes these OEM/SI systems so sad is the majority of the people buying them will never see a techtube review like this before purchase. The damn things should just work.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were deliberately taking advantage of the fact that there are very few places that offer easily digestible reviews and comparisons for these kind of machines, even less that would also be aimed at people who don't know much about computers in the first place.
22:31 - Just the glance at the taskbar and seeing the McAfee icon makes me wonder, how much must companies pay to companies like Lenovo to devalue their products.
Does the spoiler/wing on the back of the PC case improve the aerodynamics and flow of the air in the case somehow? Does this case have an issue with not enough downforce to keep it on the desk?
If you have a newer HP it will download HP Touchpoint Analytics (spyware)... even if you install a clean copy of Windows. This software causes some HPs to freeze/ lock-up, below is steps to disable it. How to Disable HP Touchpoint Analytics: 1. Press Windows key + R key shortcut to bring up the Run box. Alternatively, you can right-click on the Windows button and click on “Run”. 2. Type in _“services.msc”_ and hit Enter or click “OK”. 3. Look for "HP Analytics Services" in the list that shows up . 4. If you find it, right-click on it and select “Stop”. But we’re not done yet. 5. Double-click on the entry and in the “Startup type” selection, choose “Disabled”. 6. Click the "Recovery" tab, switch the three "Failure" drop-boxes to "Take No Action" 7. Un-check the box for "Enable actions for stops with errors" 8. You're Done EDIT: You may want to also do these steps and disable five services with "HP HSA services" in their names. .
I'm guessing Lenovo listened/prices dropped. Got a 5i for about 1250 CAD (950 USD). 3050, i5-13400F, 8x8 ram with the mesh case. The one caveat is that my cpu cooling is more basic than this, but thus far it hasn't gotten too hot. Goes well for 1080p, though I haven't had it for long so I guess we'll see.
Dawid is a soy filled annoying e-celeb who doesnt actually know anything technical about computers. Most of his opinions are directly from PCMR subreddit. The whole snobby pc reddit gamer comes off bad and unintelligible
I learned the hard way to stop using Lenovo. Bought a "Legion Tower 5" Model 90RB001LUS. Ran well for about a month before failing after boot with a 'blinitializelibrary failed 0xc0000001'. BIOS time constantly resets to 05/05/05 05:05:05, all other settings will stick except for time. Took a month and a half to get support to do anything, and sent it off to depot. Depot notes show he "Fixed the onboard display port and re-seated fans". There is no on board video out, no integrated graphics. It's been 5 months now, and Lenovo refuses to do anything. I've told them time and time again to just replace the board, but they just refuse to do anything. Do NOT buy Lenovo.
Hey Steve, I didn't know where to request it so I'm doing it here: With the release of Sharkoon's REV300 case, I'd welcome a proper thermal analysis of it's 45degree angled design. Thanks!!
That's ... so sad. It almost had potential to be a quality mid-tier box (okay, barely, but still...) except that someone (many someones?) really screwed up a lot of basics. Like ... exposing the chipset?!?! That was just ... weird. So was the card slot madness. The RAM ... meh ... bad choice, yeah, but you can probably upgrade in-store. Air-blockage. (It's weird to call it "air flow" when it clearly doesn't.) Even that weird differentiation in hole spacing just makes you scratch your head like WTF? And why did the case have a spoiler?! Just a tiny bit more coherent thought and this all could have been ... "good". But at least it's not Dell. And it didn't arrive broken. So ... there's that. "It just works," is a sadly low bar.
Is it possible for you to review the latest ones, this one is old. Now they are selling new ones with mesh in front, and 6 fans. Could you check on it? it seems not as bad anymore, and I feel like they are the best ones out their on prebuilts. The one i am talking about is Lenovo Legion T7 with specs; - NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX™ 3080 10 GB - Intel® Core™ i7-12700KF - 32 GB DDR5 RAM, 1 TB M.2 SSD - 360 mm Premium Max AIO - Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 This is in Europe dont sure how its in US. Its with DDR5 they kinda look dope and future-proof.
He mentions that. He got this one because they were pushing it hard on Twitter, and he wanted to get a system an average Grandparent, wanting to the the "cool grandma" or whatever would snag for their grandkid. It's not buying as an informed customer, it's reviewing what the companies are trying to get people to buy. He didn't customize it in options at all, this is one of Dell's "here you go, take it or leave it" options.
Great review! Id love to see you guys do a PCH/chipset breakdown like you have RAM and other stuff. I have a general idea of what modern ones do, but specifics and history with development and stuff, South bridge etc would be awesome. Just an idea! :)
Companies looking for an excuse to make a shizzy computer have a high price so they can make as much money as possible: "I know! We'll make a gaming pc with a first-gen intel core i3 with a gt 730, but... *R G B* because gaming gamers like their gaming *R G B*, right? Isn't that what the kiddies are into these days?"
The RX 5500XT being more "high end" than that is absurd, too. I have a 5700XT OC and it's decent, but in this market I payed $500 for it. That's pretty substantial, but if you note the difference in price (0:49 $1050 -> $1559), they clearly marked the price up even farther than that for a worse card. You would think that Lenovo would have better supply chain infrastructure than I do but...
Problem- 8GB Memory single channel. Steve- whine for 20 minutes about this being the greatest injustice in the history of mankind. Normal person- spend the extra $100 for the 16GB/512GB config or spend $40 for another 8GB.
25:18 - This. Please. Why the fuck do companies even bother making this garbage. There should seriously be laws against manufacturing literal waste. That keyboard is so fucking useless, in this day and age, especially with a $1500 system. People buying their first computer at $1500 have enough to buy their own peripherals. People skimping and saving to finally afford a $1500 upgrade computer are upgrading from something that has a better keyboard than that. It's just e-waste. That's all they've done. They've made waste.
Was wondering if you have a criteria list to follow when it comes to what you should expect in a low end system, a mid range system and a high end system. That would be nice for reference.
Unfortunately, with part makers constantly adding new parts to the market, and price fluctuations of different parts(ie ram, chips, etc) such a review would rapidly become irrelevant.
I bought one of these in late 2020 it didn’t have a hard drive, only the 250g ssd i7 10700 and a 2060 which I have since determined is a rebranded Zotac card. I got it for $980 it had two sticks of RAM 16g 3200 and one of the front panel fans was installed backwards causing the CPU temps skyrocket, fixed that figured someone on the line had a bad day or something, ran great. Every time their is an issue with the system it has something to do with the motherboard, the system started hanging and giving me BSODs randomly, figured it was the old hard drive I had put in the system ran some tests and uninstalled the drive worked fine for about a week and it started doing it again. After nearly 10 months and a case change there where rumors of bad audio drivers causing BSODs on the Lenovo forums, so I dug into the system for two days before I gave up and contacted the support page, they remotely uninstalled and replaced my audio drivers and updated my Bios. It worked, for a few days. I bought a desktop audio interface and disabled the built in audio controller in the Bios and bam no more blue screens or hangs. About a week ago the Wi-Fi card died so I replaced it with a newer intel based PCIe card and came to realize that the motherboard has no USB headers other than the USB3 for the case IO panel. Now I have working Wi-Fi but no Bluetooth until I can get an adapter that’ll give me a USB header, other than that runs like a dream. I wouldn’t recommend this system simply because of the motherboard other than that it’s decent and i took a look at the 2060 and it looks pretty decent no missing or weirdly placed thermal pads as far as I could see.
4:46 "we have been let down, tremendously, and our days have been ruined...". I mean - this cannot be more true to the spirit of a person who really wants a good gaming pc.
I don't get it. How come these pre-build companies like Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. don't have nerds who are given a budget and then they get to work and spec. out a PC properly taking into account performance, thermals, noise, etc? I get that some customised components need more engineering but those components look to be more like cases and motherboards. The customisations don't generally improve performance; maybe airflow as an exception. One thing I do like is the way the OEMs remove unessecary ports like onboard video connectors. This prevents a dopey user from plugging a monitor into a disabled video port when there's a discreet GPU.
One thing to consider looking into with these pre-builts, especially with something like a 10700 non-K, is whether the BIOS is enforcing the Intel "recommended" TDP limits by default and whether the user can bypass them. The performance difference between the Intel limits being on or off is going to be massive on a 10700 Non-K, and if you get stuck with no way to set your own or bypass them altogether, that is a massive performance difference vs a competing model that will (likely because they are using an off the shelf board).
Love the content as always! Very thorough. I would love to see how much a better RAM configuration would benefit this Lenovo, or how some simple changes you would make to these prebuilts would improve their performance, compared to how they were out of box. Just to actually see what kind of difference the OEMs could have had.
Sigh. To think this is the successor business to IBM's division which produced the legendary 1990s ThinkPad laptops and Model M keyboards. Reduced to bloatware and chinesium.
Do my eyes deceive me or could you not simply remove that led from the front case? It looks like it has those clips/tabs that you can just push in (towards the LED contraption) and then lift the contraption out enough to get it past the locked-in stage and then do that for all four clips/tabs. Apologies if I'm over-explaining it, just want to make sure that I'm clear in what I'm referring to. It frustrated me a bit that you didn't try that at the very least.
Kingdom for thick hd audio cable. Fractal Design installs shitty, unshielded hd audio cable and it serves as great internal antenna. All the electronics chatter you love in your front panel audio! Yes, thick cable has a reason. Won't help much probably though, always better to use direct outputs from motherboard.
I have the Lenovo Legion 7i Tower and I absolutely love the PC. It was more than double to price of this system but it is worth every penny to me. 3 120mm intake fans on the front with a mesh panel and a 240mm AIO exhaust. This cooling setup works well with the 10900k and RTX 2080 Super and keeps temps reasonably low! Also came with 32GB of RAM (2x16), 1TB NVMe SSD and a 1TB HDD. When I bought the PC I also got a nice 15% cash back from Rakuten so it was an even better deal!!!
wait...Microsoft wants me to buy a new system with Windows 11 (because for them, my 1800x is old as f*ck)...and the only option are the crappy pre-built PCs?? :(
Hey GN, I love this series. I really appreciate you guys. I ordered a Pre-Built from PCSPECIALIST and I have to say it is amazing. If you could order one from them and review it I would be happy to know what they did right and what they didn't.
I got the newest one with the new case, the RTX 3060, and the i5-13400f (wished it was the i5-13600k) for $930 on sale and i think if fixed a lot of the issues that this one had.
Steve, any MSI or Asus pre-built reviews in the pipeline? I already know Alienware sucks. My son’s S, E, Up Arrow key caps broke and fell off his laptop, and the T key doesn’t work at all!
What a piece of shit and a waste of materials and PC stock parts.....can people tell them if they cannot do it right to just stop making PCs for Gamers and high end users. They cannot even understand basic concepts like airflow. Most of these shell cases remind me of those less than 50$ chinese junk cases base with a hunk of plastic branding on it, maybe a splash of tempered glass used in a piss poor mannerism.
Grab a mouse mat, modmat, or other GN products on our store -- get something quality in return for your support (which helps us buy these computers)! store.gamersnexus.net/
You can see why the ABS Challenger is the best prebuilt we’ve reviewed so far: ruclips.net/video/b2vrvQydVIw/видео.html
Or you can see why the Dell G5 5000 is absolutely horrible here: ruclips.net/video/4DMg6hUudHE/видео.html
And for something different, check out our AMD Super Resolution review here: ruclips.net/video/KCzjQ4qP124/видео.html
I have an idea for a video, wich would be a guide on the expectation of a pré built system for manufacturers, to clarify what consumer expect and want, so no flower heat sync, proper packaging etc... Any way thank you for all the work done :)
I plan on pushing this up internally, hopefully notes will be taken for future builds.
Can I message you offline, for a custom order ? I'm out of Canada
you consider getting one from microcenter ? they probably wouldnt be too bad if the company wouldnt change the terms of warranties in the middle of the term of your warranty, making the value of your microcenter replacement plan completely useless
AVA Direct - Been looking into these guys for a couple of months. Their options seem pretty good and pricing is decent just worried about quality. They also have a RUclips channel. Might be a good one to take a look at!
Someone needs to invent 1/2 channel RAM, so system integrators can put it two sticks whilst maintaining a single channel.
hahahaha
They still can put sticks in slots 1 and 2 or 3 and 4. Actually, I think, I've seen some strange Chinese Phenom motherboard that had two DIMM slots while being single channel
Even better idea: Single channel board with four daisy chained slots. So then they can add a second stick and LOWER the performance!
You know what? Scrap double data rate! Re-introduce the world to single data rate for the sake of nostalgia, and brand your system as 'Retro Gaming PC'.
@@Hornbowman Is that you, Satan?
The moral of all these pre-built "reviews" seems to be "If you're scared or nervous to build your own, what you should really be scared of is paying someone else to do it."
FUD in its purest form.
underrated comment
That''s a good one ! 😂
@@tim3172 Not really. I feel like the D is missing, so this is more like FU.
Myea, I feel like most people aren't actually dumb enough to mess up building their own computer. - AND, if they do, it could easily be rectified. - Of course, doing things randomly isn't gonna help, as you CAN mess up some things badly enough to damage parts. but if you generally follow instructions and the like, most people should be good, even if it takes a lot of time.
"The e-waste that comes with Dell's warranty"
Lol
That had me dead 💀😂
@@morpheas768 we know, you don't need to write an essay explaining why
@@CatsMeow_ I disagree
"We have been let down tremendously and our days are ruined." I'm dead
I am so glad this joke didn't go unappreciated. I came down here in the comments in search for this.
At least our disappointment isn't immeasurable.
@@sethmoyer 🤣
you know that little spoiler/cowl on the back would be a great spot for a small display with thermals and/or post code readouts
Great idea! We don't need any of those at our prebuilt company, though, so please keep further good ideas to yourself! Signed, Dell, Lenovo, & HP
@@GamersNexus Wouldn't be so funny if it wasn't true.
and/or fan speed controls
@@benisrood They've looked into case design. They don't want to get into the cost of tooling for something that would only be bought by the smartest and most geeky of enthusiasts.
That said, I would love to go down to the studio and pick Steve's brain for a while about case modding, and such.
@AstroCat Only one stripe, though. You need dual channel memory to have two stripes.
I would love to see each of these systems get a "user upgrade" amount of 10% of their cost and then see how they stack. The Lenovo could get better ram, Cyberpower a better cooler, Dell a trip to e-waste recycler, etc.
Dell a trip to the e-waste recycler lmao
@@cat-.- LMFAO that killed me 😂😂
How is it 2021 and companies still struggle this much with air intake?
Not blocking the fans is now a long lost form of alchemy for case designers.
Their designers know nothing about enthusiast designs. They can't shake everything they have learned about making OEM designs. A classic case of it being harder to unlearn what you know than to learn something new.
gotta keep those Viruses out
Blame case that support dongle life...
@@dallatorretdu Lenovo cases can't catch viruses!
"McAfee is speeding up your app"
- Press X to doubt
I love that the start of this video was just Steve being confused and saying "What??" for like 26 seconds 🤣
Love these Intros 🤣
why is he so handsome though
I can't remember a pre-built review without
You think it's genuine? Seems like he's constantly searching for anything to 💩 on.
.
If I sound cynical right now it's because I am. In all honesty I'm just reflecting back the attitude Steve approaches everything with. Because you know... He believes his own 💩 doesn't stink...
@@obsidian.... dude these pcs are trash. objectively.
13:21 "It's not the worst I've seen"
That voice is the voice of a man who's seen too many things.
I feel like the “It’s better than Dell” award is really just an “It’s not complete shit” award
Oh it can still be shit AND be better than Dell.
@@cmnhrnytoad2003 You stole my comment.
@@JohnPlissken is it possible to steal the truth?
But this also won the coveted "it's not the worst thing you can buy" award!
the “It’s better than Dell” award is honestly pretty much a participation trophy.
Gamers Nexus: *Slaps Prebuilt*
Gamers Nexus: "You can fit so much e-waste in this baby"
"The case spoiler help the Intel CPU when switching gears." - Lenovo
That odd thermal pad on the video card may have been used as a bumper to protect the board.
Normally they just use a rubber brick, but you're right. That might be the case.
Protecting smd's from people replacing the video card woulden't be too hard to knock one off if you wern't experienced at seating expansion cards. Maybe?
I had a different idea. The thermal pad might actually be an air duct in disguise, so the air going in the direction of the PCIe slot cannot escape to the side.
@@friedrichschwarz1547 zg
You gotta play the kids "yay" sound effect when the award comes on screen. That's the only thing missing
editor needs to slap some fireworks and red amber alert together with the sound effect.
@@slumy8195 your editor needs to add descriptors. lol.
Those side panel edges are sharper than Steve’s tongue.
Pause
“The e-waste that comes with Dell’s warranty” LMAO
The price of this thing is confusing. Bought a Lenovo Legion 5 desktop (Ryzen 5 3600, 3060, 16gb ram, and yes, 2 ram sticks, mesh front) for "only" 1000€
Very confusing, then. This is the one that they were promoting on twitter at the time we were shopping, so went for this one!
Fuck here in the UK currys is selling a 3060 is still £650 on its own .... thats about 755€ or $896 !!!!
That's all too normal with Lenovo. They don't seem have to a global pricing system. It isn't unusual to find refurbished laptops on their refurbished sales site more expensive than new for the same specs. It has been that way as far as I can remember.
That seems like really fair pricing. My first pc was a Lenovo and it ran for 7 years before I sold it, hope yours does just as well
They also sell directly on eBay and I think prices there don't necessarily match their website, either
My dad bought one of these 6 months of ago for himself. It was originally $900, but he got a $200 discount on the OG price of it from Costco. I just checked the inside of it and I'm shocked, it has 2 sticks of ram (16GB in total), but the bottom fan on the front is placed as exhaust instead of intake. lmao, good thing he doesn't use it, which is sad in itself.
Hey! Mind if I ask: should the top fan be intake and the bottom exhaust? Or vice versa? Or should both be intake? There's online chatter about some Lenovos being shipping (accidentally) with two in-takes. Some folks online spoke to support and said one should be intake, one should be exhaust (not sure which configuration). What are you findings on this, if you don't mind me asking? Thanks!
@@SandyMiranda Both should be intake on the front, as it creates positive air pressure that leads to less dust accumulation inside the PC, when working with the back exhaust fan.
Hey. I just thought Id let you know that I also have this model from Costco and thanks to your comment I realized my front fan was backwards. Apparently this is a common mistake? Also, by opening the machine and poking around I realized my rear fan was actually RGB, but was plugged into the RGB board incorrectly. Three years later and now I have light on my RBG fan.
I just picked up a 2013 Lenovo prebuilt and the chassis is functionally the same. I would say if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but god is it bad.
"Saddest, loneliest thermal pad" lol 😂
can we get a gamer nexus's shirt that just says'.....but why?'
And one with "Thank you Steve!"
@@Y0G0FU back to you steve!
Yes definitely,a whole range of them!? With all those famous phrases 👌
and don't forget a "You can literally see it!" shirt
and a "3080 tie... fighter" shirt
why didnt u make a review on the amd version of this like u said? its the best oem prebuilt on the market. mesh top and front. 2 fans on the front, 2 on top, 1 at the back and 1 cpu fan. so airflow is literally perfect, and best out of every oem. can get 16gb 3200mhz dual channel with a rtx 3000 gpu and ryzen 5000 cpu. 500gb or 1tb ssd and standard b550 board. i literally cant see any downside to it, feels almost like a self build
2:48 "The e-waste that comes with Dell's warranty" Holy shit they're already dead, this is just savage
Hey Steve, I appreciate you making the video. I bought this prebuilt back in May with a 3070 and lately I've been worried about the lack of airflow. Is there a better case that you would suggest? The back of the case gets really hot to the touch and I'm reaching really high temps in HWMonitor when gaming.
Thanks!
I would suggest looking into a Fractal Design Meshify. Very high airflow, and won't break the bank. I don't have one myself but GN has a video on the case and he gives it high praises.
sorry to necro, but in case you haven't yet bought a new case: I recently built a new system in a Phanteks P400a. the case got decent praise from GN and comes with 3 PWM fans. about $80-90 depending on retailer and whatever sales might be going on.
İ suggest you look at corsair4000d airflow or corsair 5000d airflow
İ think they are pretty cool cases
Check on their prices if they are resonable for you.
Edit: Just noticed im 1 month late
Fractal, Corsair, and Phanteks all make great affordable airflow cases.
Nobody mentioning be quiet's Pure Base 500DX which is one of GN's favorites, smh.
"Better than Dell" is setting such a low bar lmao
Honestly, just buy a lenovo config with trash ram, get a set of ram of your choosing and install it yourself. Its a 20 second work lol
10:00 the weird mismatched dust holes don't technically matter, but they do show that Lenovo clearly didn't care a whole lot while designing the final production dies- it should definitely raise some red flags about what other corners were cut or minor details ignored
It's weird to me because, wouldn't that increase the cost of the tooling? If they decided the prototype case design didn't have enough airflow, why not increase the amount of holes in the case? Why add different sized holes?
@@JeoshuaCollins this is clearly a prototype chassis that was nearing the final design, and Lenovo seems to be trying to ship the minimum viable product that still functions
@@JeoshuaCollins It is weird enough that I'm wondering if it was done on purpose for some reason.
My best guess, and it is a wild one, is that it helped with the two fans sharing a chimney somehow.
@@CptJistuce Like maybe one fan was more restricted than the other and therefore the flow needed to be modified to even it out? Maybe, but then unrestricting the fan would seem like a better option.
It might actually be that the die that stamps out these holes is a replaceable 120x120mm insert into the larger die for the entire panel. Maybe they had one with missmatched holesize lying around from prototypeing and thought "whatever".
Since you mentioned the issue several times, it would have been interesting (and useful) to see what difference two 4GB memory sticks would have made to the performance numbers, even if just for one game. Just a suggestion.
yeah fr he acts like the average person couldn't stick ram in a computer..
@@kaidenbrooks7480 In this series, GN is specifically looking at the out-of-the-box experience of prebuilt systems, with the expectation that the end-user *specifically does not* need to futz around inside it to get it working properly. This one was competently assembled, which already elevates it above some of the competition (both in this price range and some substantially higher ones), but the poor RAM configuration seriously lets it down. That's an entirely valid conclusion to draw for the benefit of a GN viewer looking for a prebuilt system to recommend to their tech-illiterate aunt to give to their school-aged child - to construct just one plausible example.
@@kaidenbrooks7480You realize it's just as easy for a fucking computer company to do so. You aren't helping your case.
Ya know when he starts by saying, “ewwwww, gross” it’s gonna be an interesting video.
My interest and excitement starts peaking when Steve said the magic word:
"What? but why?"
28IMB05 model specifically had a lawsuit for its incessant crashing where Reddit's solutions become having to disable a USB hub manager or disable audio in the BIOS.
I on the other hand took the free update to Windows 11 but Lenovo's driver updates are only for Windows 10... what a pain prebuilts can be.
The new GN motto for prebuilts
“We have been let down tremendously, and our days have been ruined”
I love this level of detail and analysis! Comparing this build to the version available November 2022 for $850 it really looks like the designers are listening!
Those “cheap” Lenovo keyboards and mice are surprisingly durable, as they’ve been the default keyboards in several work computers. While not a high performance device, they’re functional and hold up to the abuse of a retail store reasonably well. You should replace it with high performance input devices, but for stock keyboards, they’re not bad and will get your basic computing stuff done.
I used one add my main keyboard for like a decade lol
their "preferred pro" keyboards are good, but the mouse I got from them was like the one in this video and it broke after less than a year of use
The mouse is absolute garbage, it has no dedicated spring mechanism and uses the plastic shell itself as the "spring" in the button. As a result, my mouse came with a right button pre-bent so that it was stuck in the depressed position. Bending the plastic back provided only a temporary fix before it became stuck again. Mice are so cheap, better to not include such junk vs insulting the customer with such garbage.
The Lenovo keyboards are really durable, but their mouses are trash!
Not this one but those that come on workstations.
I don't buy anything Lenovo ever since they came under Chinese ownership. Product quality dropped significantly, and their customer service is complete bullocks.
I like how the case has a ducktail spoiler
I know owo
This is how Lenovo likes to let you know it is half-assed ready to run forza
@@CaveyMoth kinda cringe bro
@@whatsanobeen lmfao
@@CaveyMoth cringe
They call it a spoiler because it spoils your hope of being able to use an under-desk PC mount
Another day another prebuilt let's goooo
The design of the tower cooler is definitely optimized to "survive being shipped to the customer" and just by visual inspection it does better on this front than most aftermarket enthusiast equivalents, which often rely on clipping the heatsink to the board and/or clipping the fans to the heatsink.
Thanks for the content Steve and thanks for all your help with building my last computer at the end of 2020. At least half of my computer is gamer's Nexus recommendations and optimizations. You're the man.
That's awesome! Really glad to have helped you build one. What'd you pick for the case?
@@GamersNexus I got the Lian Li Lancool 2 mesh and using Arctic fans across the board. I got a 240 mm liquid freezer II for the top of the case. Cooling the 5800x and RTX 3080. Both of which I had to camp outside of Micro-center overnight for. But I've been having fun since December so it was worth it. Especially since I worked IT in a hospital most of covid up until that point. It was a nice reward for myself.
Temperatures are excellent especially after I modded my gigabyte gaming OC with new thermal pads and MX4. The bottom fans giving my graphics card fresh air really lets me get the most out of my hardware especially since I am now gaming on the top floor which gets a little warmer than my old apartment.
@@GamersNexus Seeing as you paid for all of these systems would be nice to see you "fix" them all and show how much it would cost and resell them... even if i was simple things like putting the systems in proper cases with decent coolers...
@@rokku87 I have the exact same setup, sans the fans. Though I had everything except the cpu (which I got at the end of this march). Great setup, and again, thanks to gn and its community :)
Thanks Steve!
I'd like to see you review an AVA Direct computer. I custom designed a computer on their website and it turned out great, but it would be interesting to see if that's the normal or was I just lucky.
"its better than dell" should be a tshirt...it would be interesting to see a pc from redux, been seeing a bunch of commercials for them on youtube and have been asked by friends if theyre any good...i offered to help them build their own but no go, which is good since i dont want to be their go to it guy
11:11 It's entertaining to see Steve react to the RF shielding. Shows he have not had much experience with the FCC or the EU equivalent. That small piece is steel is used to ensure that ad on cards are properly grounded and to cover up any gaps between the back panel and the back plate on the cards. Yes I know most who watch thins couldn't care less about the FCC, but big companies such as Lenovo can't afford to be as cavalier about it. The fines for selling equipment that pollute the radio frequencies can be quite high so they can't afford to skimp on details like this. That's also why you never see a machine from these manufacturers that has really open airflow. The grills tend to be more restrictive as that keeps the RF emissions under control. Wide open fan intakes and exhausts are not something you will ever find on a Dell or Lenovo machine.
You're talking crap.
"The only thing we expected when we ordered it was that we'd hate the case. And we do."
That timing lmao. Why is it so hard to make a good case? It's not just a box to throw a bunch of parts into. Why is it so rare to find enclosures that aren't hot garbage?
"Hot garbage" I see what you did there 😉
What's bad is that this is actually good for an OEM case, clearly Gamers Nexus didn't dig too deep into them besides Dell and now Lenovo (focusing on SIs), because the rest of them are closer to Dell than to Lenovo's worst Legion case, yikes.
And the funnier part is their AMD systems have a faaaarrr better case. Like it's no contest. But then that begs the question, why not have the same case on both systems, why give Intel such an abominable case?! Especially considering their reputation of being expensive and quality?! O_o
@@roundduckkira I'd assume it's related to product sales figures. OEM probably thought they'd sell more AMD rigs and so in turn invest better parts in that. It happened way back when Intel was the performance leader and they get priority over premium designs. (Matter of fact - the situation is reversed in laptop markets where Intel to this day still gets better OEM support as oppose to AMD.)
@@roundduckkira likely the AMD systems were designed more recently than the intel ones. so they get newer batches of parts, updated cases, better thought out designs. Meanwhile, updating the intel systems (especially one thats likely a clearance box given the 'aged' hardware) means throwing out parts that have already been delivered, or cancelling contracts for those parts already ordered but not delivered.
@@RuggedKnight that could explain it, the Intel casing looks like a hybrid of the AMD design and the previous generation Legion design which still has the spoiler and plastickiness and other issues and the drive caddy connection design (but more proprietaryish), but also lacking the newer and much improved Legion coolers and that "meshy" black front look the AMD system has, just faked.
Then again tho the previous gen case did have a small mesh tho, not as nice as the AMD system, but still
Edit: oh and the t7i systems, their higher end Intels, use a bigger version of the T5 AMD case, and the same case as their AMD T7 counterpart. Indeed Intel t5i seems to be older.
"Dis Assembly" would be a cool name for a GN rap crew.
😂
dis assembly play the game make an entry, no Rtx but frames got plenty,
I'm on Atx your still up eating Pi's, no heatsinks your chipset bouta die
messing with pros get you de lidded, put ina a bin and then locked up in a prison
rammed up with sticks to refresh your memory, seems the c mos still complimentary
hard to the core but you still need more, power supply's and chiplets to be available in stores.
First off, build your PC to the spec you claim
TechTube, when we test, come equipped with games
You claim to be a good build, but I wrekt your RAM
We bust on bad builds, please airflow this sham
I'm gonna print this thread out and hang it up on my wall, well played guys 🤣
"benchmarks before disassembly" is also like a decent metal/rock band name
"My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined."
I think that thermal pad is meant to keep the cooler from sagging into the chip in that corner and the big plate on the GFX card is typically used on super cheap cases to spread the weight and stop the screw hole from ovaling out over time. Not sure if that's the case here but I've seen it on builds using cheap cases quite often back in the day.
i just got my legion with a 3050 and i5-1140. for 1080p you can pretty much play anything. Mine came with 2 sticks of 8gb ram
Mine coming in 16gb Ram fin be lit 3060 and razed 5600
All these SIs and other manufacturers should be thanking you for providing actual quality control. I'm certain you can point to changes that have been made in direct response to any number of your teardown videos. Good work as always GN!
Dell just puts e-waste in everything with a few warranties for more e-waste
What makes these OEM/SI systems so sad is the majority of the people buying them will never see a techtube review like this before purchase. The damn things should just work.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were deliberately taking advantage of the fact that there are very few places that offer easily digestible reviews and comparisons for these kind of machines, even less that would also be aimed at people who don't know much about computers in the first place.
What do you think about Lenovo Legion 7i Gaming Desktop - 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11700K - GeForce RTX 3070? It's currently being sold at Costco.
23:47 "Nobody benefits from this stuff"
Lenovo does, and that's all they care about
So, if I'm tracking the progress so far, the only decent pre-built to date is from ABS?
Love the review on the New Lenovo Legion 5i (pronounced 5ie)
5Tie*
22:31 - Just the glance at the taskbar and seeing the McAfee icon makes me wonder, how much must companies pay to companies like Lenovo to devalue their products.
Does the spoiler/wing on the back of the PC case improve the aerodynamics and flow of the air in the case somehow? Does this case have an issue with not enough downforce to keep it on the desk?
They removed the chipset heatsink to make it go faster and now it's too light to stay on the track. Downforce good.
With all that power, the only thing holding it back is a plastic spoiler and a single stick of memory.
And lack of a red stripe.
If you have a newer HP it will download HP Touchpoint Analytics (spyware)... even if you install a clean copy of Windows.
This software causes some HPs to freeze/ lock-up, below is steps to disable it.
How to Disable HP Touchpoint Analytics:
1. Press Windows key + R key shortcut to bring up the Run box.
Alternatively, you can right-click on the Windows button and click on “Run”.
2. Type in _“services.msc”_ and hit Enter or click “OK”.
3. Look for "HP Analytics Services" in the list that shows up .
4. If you find it, right-click on it and select “Stop”. But we’re not done yet.
5. Double-click on the entry and in the “Startup type” selection, choose “Disabled”.
6. Click the "Recovery" tab, switch the three "Failure" drop-boxes to "Take No Action"
7. Un-check the box for "Enable actions for stops with errors"
8. You're Done
EDIT: You may want to also do these steps and disable five services with "HP HSA services" in their names.
.
When your 1000$ Lenovo laptop from a year ago is the same as their new High end PC....
I am sure you can get even more expensive Lenovo desktop PCs...
I'm guessing Lenovo listened/prices dropped. Got a 5i for about 1250 CAD (950 USD). 3050, i5-13400F, 8x8 ram with the mesh case. The one caveat is that my cpu cooling is more basic than this, but thus far it hasn't gotten too hot. Goes well for 1080p, though I haven't had it for long so I guess we'll see.
One stick of RAM? Oh, Dawid Does Tech Stuff isn't going to like this...
One stick of RAM is Dawid’s nemesis
Dawid has already reviewed this prebuilt.
Dawid is a soy filled annoying e-celeb who doesnt actually know anything technical about computers. Most of his opinions are directly from PCMR subreddit. The whole snobby pc reddit gamer comes off bad and unintelligible
High praise from Steve:
"It's not the worst we've seen" AND "it's better than Dell" :D
And this is why you build your own pc.
I learned the hard way to stop using Lenovo.
Bought a "Legion Tower 5" Model 90RB001LUS. Ran well for about a month before failing after boot with a 'blinitializelibrary failed 0xc0000001'. BIOS time constantly resets to 05/05/05 05:05:05, all other settings will stick except for time.
Took a month and a half to get support to do anything, and sent it off to depot. Depot notes show he "Fixed the onboard display port and re-seated fans". There is no on board video out, no integrated graphics.
It's been 5 months now, and Lenovo refuses to do anything. I've told them time and time again to just replace the board, but they just refuse to do anything.
Do NOT buy Lenovo.
Hey Steve, I didn't know where to request it so I'm doing it here: With the release of Sharkoon's REV300 case, I'd welcome a proper thermal analysis of it's 45degree angled design. Thanks!!
That's ... so sad. It almost had potential to be a quality mid-tier box (okay, barely, but still...) except that someone (many someones?) really screwed up a lot of basics. Like ... exposing the chipset?!?! That was just ... weird. So was the card slot madness. The RAM ... meh ... bad choice, yeah, but you can probably upgrade in-store. Air-blockage. (It's weird to call it "air flow" when it clearly doesn't.) Even that weird differentiation in hole spacing just makes you scratch your head like WTF? And why did the case have a spoiler?! Just a tiny bit more coherent thought and this all could have been ... "good". But at least it's not Dell. And it didn't arrive broken. So ... there's that. "It just works," is a sadly low bar.
You know it's a good video when Steve starts off the video by saying "Why would you do that? We can't have nice things."
Is it possible for you to review the latest ones, this one is old. Now they are selling new ones with mesh in front, and 6 fans. Could you check on it? it seems not as bad anymore, and I feel like they are the best ones out their on prebuilts. The one i am talking about is Lenovo Legion T7 with specs;
- NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX™ 3080 10 GB
- Intel® Core™ i7-12700KF
- 32 GB DDR5 RAM, 1 TB M.2 SSD
- 360 mm Premium Max AIO
- Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
This is in Europe dont sure how its in US. Its with DDR5 they kinda look dope and future-proof.
Exactly
He mentions that. He got this one because they were pushing it hard on Twitter, and he wanted to get a system an average Grandparent, wanting to the the "cool grandma" or whatever would snag for their grandkid. It's not buying as an informed customer, it's reviewing what the companies are trying to get people to buy. He didn't customize it in options at all, this is one of Dell's "here you go, take it or leave it" options.
Great review! Id love to see you guys do a PCH/chipset breakdown like you have RAM and other stuff. I have a general idea of what modern ones do, but specifics and history with development and stuff, South bridge etc would be awesome. Just an idea! :)
Companies looking for an excuse to make a shizzy computer have a high price so they can make as much money as possible:
"I know! We'll make a gaming pc with a first-gen intel core i3 with a gt 730, but... *R G B* because gaming gamers like their gaming *R G B*, right? Isn't that what the kiddies are into these days?"
1660 Super being "higher end" is really depressing
The RX 5500XT being more "high end" than that is absurd, too.
I have a 5700XT OC and it's decent, but in this market I payed $500 for it. That's pretty substantial, but if you note the difference in price (0:49 $1050 -> $1559), they clearly marked the price up even farther than that for a worse card. You would think that Lenovo would have better supply chain infrastructure than I do but...
Problem- 8GB Memory single channel. Steve- whine for 20 minutes about this being the greatest injustice in the history of mankind. Normal person- spend the extra $100 for the 16GB/512GB config or spend $40 for another 8GB.
That "shouldn't exist" got me dying.
25:18 - This. Please. Why the fuck do companies even bother making this garbage. There should seriously be laws against manufacturing literal waste. That keyboard is so fucking useless, in this day and age, especially with a $1500 system. People buying their first computer at $1500 have enough to buy their own peripherals. People skimping and saving to finally afford a $1500 upgrade computer are upgrading from something that has a better keyboard than that. It's just e-waste. That's all they've done. They've made waste.
Was wondering if you have a criteria list to follow when it comes to what you should expect in a low end system, a mid range system and a high end system. That would be nice for reference.
Unfortunately, with part makers constantly adding new parts to the market, and price fluctuations of different parts(ie ram, chips, etc) such a review would rapidly become irrelevant.
I bought one of these in late 2020 it didn’t have a hard drive, only the 250g ssd i7 10700 and a 2060 which I have since determined is a rebranded Zotac card. I got it for $980 it had two sticks of RAM 16g 3200 and one of the front panel fans was installed backwards causing the CPU temps skyrocket, fixed that figured someone on the line had a bad day or something, ran great. Every time their is an issue with the system it has something to do with the motherboard, the system started hanging and giving me BSODs randomly, figured it was the old hard drive I had put in the system ran some tests and uninstalled the drive worked fine for about a week and it started doing it again. After nearly 10 months and a case change there where rumors of bad audio drivers causing BSODs on the Lenovo forums, so I dug into the system for two days before I gave up and contacted the support page, they remotely uninstalled and replaced my audio drivers and updated my Bios. It worked, for a few days. I bought a desktop audio interface and disabled the built in audio controller in the Bios and bam no more blue screens or hangs. About a week ago the Wi-Fi card died so I replaced it with a newer intel based PCIe card and came to realize that the motherboard has no USB headers other than the USB3 for the case IO panel. Now I have working Wi-Fi but no Bluetooth until I can get an adapter that’ll give me a USB header, other than that runs like a dream. I wouldn’t recommend this system simply because of the motherboard other than that it’s decent and i took a look at the 2060 and it looks pretty decent no missing or weirdly placed thermal pads as far as I could see.
4:46 "we have been let down, tremendously, and our days have been ruined...". I mean - this cannot be more true to the spirit of a person who really wants a good gaming pc.
I don't get it. How come these pre-build companies like Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. don't have nerds who are given a budget and then they get to work and spec. out a PC properly taking into account performance, thermals, noise, etc? I get that some customised components need more engineering but those components look to be more like cases and motherboards. The customisations don't generally improve performance; maybe airflow as an exception.
One thing I do like is the way the OEMs remove unessecary ports like onboard video connectors. This prevents a dopey user from plugging a monitor into a disabled video port when there's a discreet GPU.
One thing to consider looking into with these pre-builts, especially with something like a 10700 non-K, is whether the BIOS is enforcing the Intel "recommended" TDP limits by default and whether the user can bypass them.
The performance difference between the Intel limits being on or off is going to be massive on a 10700 Non-K, and if you get stuck with no way to set your own or bypass them altogether, that is a massive performance difference vs a competing model that will (likely because they are using an off the shelf board).
Good question. I always assume if it's a prebuilt, esp HP, BIOS is stripped of anything at all related to tuning power limits etc
December 2020, I purchased one of these but with RTX 2060 and 16 GB (8x2) DDR4 RAM. It was only $850 before tax, I guess I got lucky back then.
Love the content as always! Very thorough. I would love to see how much a better RAM configuration would benefit this Lenovo, or how some simple changes you would make to these prebuilts would improve their performance, compared to how they were out of box. Just to actually see what kind of difference the OEMs could have had.
Sigh. To think this is the successor business to IBM's division which produced the legendary 1990s ThinkPad laptops and Model M keyboards. Reduced to bloatware and chinesium.
Hahaha Steve sounded so defeated when he was giving the "Not the worst I've seen" award for the CPU cooler.
$1,050 Prebuilt Gaming Computer... well, it didn't not meet my expectations... lmao
I’m kind of curious about that cooler. It looks like an interesting solution to allow a 120mm fan tower cooler with a lower profile.
Do my eyes deceive me or could you not simply remove that led from the front case? It looks like it has those clips/tabs that you can just push in (towards the LED contraption) and then lift the contraption out enough to get it past the locked-in stage and then do that for all four clips/tabs. Apologies if I'm over-explaining it, just want to make sure that I'm clear in what I'm referring to.
It frustrated me a bit that you didn't try that at the very least.
I really hate how OEMs go the bare minimum, as if having a system that just boots is their main goal.
Kingdom for thick hd audio cable. Fractal Design installs shitty, unshielded hd audio cable and it serves as great internal antenna. All the electronics chatter you love in your front panel audio! Yes, thick cable has a reason. Won't help much probably though, always better to use direct outputs from motherboard.
I have the Lenovo Legion 7i Tower and I absolutely love the PC. It was more than double to price of this system but it is worth every penny to me. 3 120mm intake fans on the front with a mesh panel and a 240mm AIO exhaust. This cooling setup works well with the 10900k and RTX 2080 Super and keeps temps reasonably low! Also came with 32GB of RAM (2x16), 1TB NVMe SSD and a 1TB HDD. When I bought the PC I also got a nice 15% cash back from Rakuten so it was an even better deal!!!
Best prebuilt out there besides that Ram situation.
wait...Microsoft wants me to buy a new system with Windows 11 (because for them, my 1800x is old as f*ck)...and the only option are the crappy pre-built PCs?? :(
Hey GN, I love this series. I really appreciate you guys. I ordered a Pre-Built from PCSPECIALIST and I have to say it is amazing. If you could order one from them and review it I would be happy to know what they did right and what they didn't.
That case is so ugly. I dont know who would buy that. I would rather have a complete black mesh front than that shit
That one memory module probably bribed someone at lenovo for that thermal pad.
I got the newest one with the new case, the RTX 3060, and the i5-13400f (wished it was the i5-13600k) for $930 on sale and i think if fixed a lot of the issues that this one had.
I have that exact keyboard and it's lasted literally 5 years with no issues. It's not that bad.
Steve, any MSI or Asus pre-built reviews in the pipeline? I already know Alienware sucks. My son’s S, E, Up Arrow key caps broke and fell off his laptop, and the T key doesn’t work at all!
That might be one of the most hideous cases I've seen to date, my god.
What a piece of shit and a waste of materials and PC stock parts.....can people tell them if they cannot do it right to just stop making PCs for Gamers and high end users.
They cannot even understand basic concepts like airflow. Most of these shell cases remind me of those less than 50$ chinese junk cases base with a hunk of plastic branding on it, maybe a splash of tempered glass used in a piss poor mannerism.
Could have said "Spoiler Alert" in regards to the case design lol