![]() The keyboard deck is plastic but looks and feels upscale. I also like the braided USB cable and the textured detachable palm rest. The per-key RGB backlighting, a welcome surprise at this board’s price, is configurable in the Vantage app. The keyboard’s red switches have linear travel that’s ideal for gaming-albeit less so for touch typing than tactile switches. You still get a game mode button that disables the distracting Windows key and media buttons. Priced at $74 on Lenovo's online store, the Legion K500 mechanical desktop keyboard strives for minimalism, omitting the dedicated macro keys you’ll find on pricier aftermarket boards. However, note that these are not normally included in the box, and the product's list price does not reflect the enhanced keyboard and mouse you see below. With that in mind, Lenovo sent some of its Legion-brand peripherals for this review, a Legion M500 keyboard and a Legion M200 mouse, which are certainly more suitable. ![]() Lenovo bundles the Legion Tower 7i with an entry-level USB keyboard and mouse, but an elite gaming desktop like this deserves more appropriate peripherals. I am also intrigued that the Vantage app allows basic CPU and GPU overclocking, which isn’t a mainstream norm. The quietness of the Legion’s fans impressed me during testing rarely did the overall noise level become more than faintly audible and, for non-strenuous tasks like internet browsing, practical silence ensued. The 850-watt power supply is surprisingly modular, with all of its cables concisely routed and tied. The latter have both power and SATA cables pre-run for quick upgrades. More storage-drive possibilities reside behind the other side panel, where you’ll find two 2.5-inch anchor points on the motherboard tray and two 3.5-inch toolless bays in front of the power supply. Only one expansion slot is accessible: a PCI Express x1 below the RTX 4080. Two M.2 PCIe 4.0 slots are also included on this board, one above and one below the GPU, both appropriately topped by heatsinks. The two 16GB modules installed in ours look generic next to the heatsink-clad versions you’ll find aftermarket, but at least they’re rated for 5,600MHz, the fastest officially supported by Intel’s 13th Generation Core chips. Four DDR5 memory slots support up to 128GB of RAM (four 32GB modules). It has extensive voltage regulator module (VRM) heatsinks, which are essential with a CPU like this Core i9 that will draw lots of power. The ATX (9.6-by-12-inch) motherboard is based on the Intel Z790 chipset. The latter has a triple-slot three-fan cooler that weighs so much it must be anchored to the chassis via a metal brace. It’s impossible to miss the CPU's massive, 360mm front-mounted liquid cooling radiator, which isn’t too differently sized than the GeForce RTX 4080. Lenovo's blacked-out main compartment has aftermarket vibes with cooling as the dominant theme. (You'll see a warning sticker saying to do just that.) The glass panel tends to abruptly drop if you loosen the screws while the tower is vertical, so it’s best to lay it on its side beforehand. ![]() Opening the Legion Tower 7i is as simple as undoing two retainer-style thumbscrews on either side panel. The Inside: Easily Accessible and Upgradable Lenovo integrated the Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1 antennas into the chassis, so you don’t need to fuss with external antennas. You'll also find a physical switch for the RGB lighting back here.įurther down, the GeForce RTX 4080 has the expected one HDMI and three DisplayPort video outputs. Walking around the case, the motherboard’s backplane-which is well blacked out along with the backside of the tower-has another USB 2.0 duo, four USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 (good for 20Gbps), one 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, and six audio jacks including optical out (S/PDIF). Finally, the power button is on the right of this array. The USB 2.0 ports are perplexing a USB-C port (or two) would have been better, especially for virtual reality devices. On to the case, top ports include two USB 2.0, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, and two separate 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks. Naturally, you can also reduce brightness or disable the lighting zone by zone. You can choose preset lighting patterns or design your own in Lenovo’s Vantage app. This tower looks like a beacon with every lighting zone enabled. For even more luminance, Lenovo installed a white LED strip to bathe the entire interior. Parts with lighting include six 120mm fans (three for front intake plus two top and one rear for exhaust), the Legion front-panel lettering, the CPU cooler, and the Nvidia GPU, which has a clever RGB heatsink cutout. ![]() ![]() The Legion’s extensive RGB lighting means you’ll never have trouble seeing what’s inside. A see-through tempered glass side panel provides an uninterrupted interior view. Minus the grate, the case is nearly all metal and feels rock solid. ![]()
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