Introduction
We are now living in a totally different world as more companies transitioned or at least offer work from home options for its employees. This then made owning a personal computing device as common as owning a mobile phone.
Related reading: Lenovo Legion 5i 2022 (i7-12700H + RTX 3070 Ti) Gaming Laptop Review
This has made it more complicated for some, especially in the past 2 years due to gaming becoming a primary entertainment medium. The gaming segment has been a premium market for a number of years but with the transition, features for gaming laptops have expanded, offering powerful components that can cater to both gamers and office-workers.
In this article, we’ll take a look at a laptop from Lenovo Legion’s gaming lineup: the Legion 5i 2021. This particular device is a mainstream model featuring the Intel® Core™ i5-11400H as well as NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card. We’ll be making a closer inspection of its system and its gaming performance in this extensive deep dive at the Lenovo Legion 5i. Read on!
Closer Look
The Legion 5i and Legion’s lineup of laptops in general has had great success in terms of design. So much so that the brand slogan is “Stylish outside. Savage inside,” referring to its IdeaPad pedigree which gives it its business-like style and function, while still maintaining its own identity and of course, hiding what’s under the hood: a reliable gaming system you can count on through and through.
The Legion brand has made some clear distinctions in their lineup which is easily distinguishable through its lighting, with Legion 5 having less extravagant lighting compared to Legion 7 devices. Though it is notable that both laptops feature the same clean aesthetic gamers love, the device we are reviewing is in the color Phantom Blue.
Our sample features a 2560×1440 screen, a more standard aspect ratio seen in many laptops today. . Some newer laptops will have a 2560×1600 display but the performance difference may be negligible for most. . You do have the option of going down to 1080p in game which should really flex that RTX 3060.
Power Draw, Clock Speed and Temperature
Back2Gaming is proud to partner with OCCT for this test to allow us to set various stress loads without using mixed-load benches like AIDA64. OCCT allows granular control on the testing.
It also features monitoring and logging for troubleshooting problems and performance analysis . OCCT is available for free for all users with a paid version for power users and businesses.
This stress test goes through different workloads with 5-minute breaks in between. The loads run for 10 minutes and goes through SSE, AVX and AVX2 workloads. The last test is a combined CPU and GPU test which should push our unit to a very intense loading scenario which should show us a good indicator on the peak load temps of this laptop.
Performance Testing – System
System Performance Test Methodology
All systems tested use the same version of the application and no data from previous reviews are used for this test. All games are updated to their latest version and are set to details indicated in their charts. Back2Gaming prefers running games in max detail with motion blur off.
Rendering
Blender
Office and Productivity
Office
Potentially the most used desktop software next to Windows OSis Microsoft Office. . This tests the responsiveness and system performance of the Legion 5i when doing common office-users tasks, such as copying, pasting, cutting, adding images, resizing, saving, etc..
Photo and Video
PugetSystems is a US-based system builder that provides high-performance computers built for workstation solutions. They developed an in-house benchmarking tool for various apps including Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Davinci Resolve and a few others. These benchmarks put a professional-level workload on systems and are scored based on a reference system.
The current version PugetBenchmark for Photoshop is scored against a Core i9-9900K system while the Premiere Pro benchmark is scored against a Ryzen 9 5900X. PugetBench is a plugin to the software it is named after and requires actual Adobe software to function. For a detailed description of the benchmark, see here (Ps) and here (Pr).
PCMark 10
PCMark is a global standard in benchmarking PCs to meet organizational as well as consumer requirements. PC Mark 10 is the latest version and provides details for office, multimedia use as well as extended features like battery testing for mobile devices, storage testing and a lot more advanced testing features.
BAPCo CrossMark
CrossMark is a cross-platform benchmark aimed to provide comparative data for different platforms. It uses application models and gauges system performance and responsiveness to generate a score.
SPECWorkstation
SPECworkstation is part of multiple benchmark suites provided by the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) aimed at providing a standard and unified benchmarking system to meet organizational requirements and performance expectations.
CPU
GPU
Performance Testing – Gaming
Games Testing Methodology
For a full-hardware workout, visit https://benchmarks.ul.com for our system warm-up and stress test of choice.
For benchmarking methodology, please see our game benchmark method guide.
Test results are gathered and produced on CapFrameX. This makes it easier to get both a line graph comparison and raw averages without extra tools. Simply the easiest tool for benchmarking and it is available for everyone to use, free of charge. Check it out at capframex.com.
Since this is a GPU review, we benchmarked the area of the games that put heavy load on the GPU.
All our test runs are repeatable, click the links below for area and details. Read our benchmarking methodology.
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: FPS Benchmark Workshop Map
- DOTA2 – The International Main Event – Day 6: T1 vs PSG.LGD Game 2 (48:00) – The 10-Man Buyback Fight
- Rainbow Six: Siege – Benchmark Mode
- Apex Legends
- PUBG Battlegrounds
- Call of Duty: Warzone
- Valorant
- The Witcher 3 – Woesong Bridge
- Grand Theft Auto V – Palomino Highlands
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider – Kuwaq Yaqu
- Forza Horizon 5
- Destiny 2 – The Tower
- Resident Evil Village – Church
- Final Fantasy VII Remake – Sector 5 Slums
- Cyberpunk 2077 – Little China, noontime
- Watch Dogs: Legion
- God of War
See our Youtube playlist for benchmark sequences.
Note: Some proprietary technologies of NVIDIA like PCSS, HBAO+, and HairWorks work on AMD GPU’s BUT to maintain uniformity amongst GPUs, these have been turned OFF.
You can click on any of the benchmark charts to enlarge the photo. You can also move forward and backwards to quickly navigate through our charts via gallery view. For this test, only the out-of-box normal mode will be tested.
Notes:
- All data are gathered from exactly the same system, with the exact configuration we list here. No data is reused from another system or from any variations of. We gather data from only one system as indicated here.
- Graphics cards are allowed to heat up prior to benchmarking. Cooler graphics cards may boost higher than normal.
- Following up on the above, we try to enjoy the game and play a bit before proceeding to the actual benchmark scenario. This allows us to detect any other problems like stuttering, frame skipping, or any other problems.
- Games that receive graphical updates that affect performance e.g. (DOTA2 moving from DX9 to DX11) will be retested completely.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, popularly known as CSGO, competes for Steam’s most popular game. It has found a resurgence in its popularity and has recently peaked in 2020 with the number of players that play the game. Based on Valve’s Source Engine, the game received major asset overhauls during the years since its inception nearly 10 years ago. Still, it’s a light game and can be played on fairly lighter systems but the competitive scene for CSGO has seen average players demand high FPS from their systems thus gaining favorable standing with GPU vendors just from the demand for higher FPS alone. CSGO is a game that can easily go past 500FPS on enthusiast systems on maximum settings. We’re including CSGO as requested by our community.
API: DirectX9 (default)
Maximum In-Game Settings
Texture Streaming Disabled
Vsync OFF
DOTA 2
Note: JUNE 2020 – DOTA2 has implemented a transition from DirectX9 to DirectX11 and new install of the game will prompt users to switch from DX9 to DX11. With that said, we are testing DOTA2 in DX11 from now on.
In contention for the most popular game on Steam and the biggest competition in eSports: DOTA 2 is powered by the Source 2 engine. The game is fairly light on low to medium settings but maxed out with heavy action on screen, especially during clashes which can really stress most systems. This is a game where frame times matter as responsiveness is very important in high-stakes competition. We’re looking at consistently low frametimes in this game for the best experience
Our test uses actual game replay, using the segment from game 2 of PSG.LGD versus T1 during Day 6 of the Main Stage. The clash during the 48:00 where we see a drawn-out fight which sees both teams expending all of their buybacks to secure this clash.
You can watch the replay of the actual game used in the benchmark in your Dota2 client. You can browse the TI10 replay files to see the actual match. You can download it for your own reference. (save it to your DOTA2 replays folder)
API: DirectX11 (default)
Best-Looking slider setting (Ultra)
FPS_MAX 0
Vsync OFF
Rainbow Six: Siege
Nearly 4 years later and Rainbow Six: Siege has become a phenomenon after a lukewarm beginning. The massive shift in focus of the game sees it stepping into eSports territory and the excellent mix of gameplay mechanics, good design and a dedicated dev team has put R6: Siege in a position it couldn’t even picture during launch. Rainbow Six: Siege focuses heavily on tactical and creative gameplay and its vertical levels and highly destructible maps encourage players to be quick on their feet so the action is always going. Powered by Ubisoft’s own AnvilNext 2.0 engine which powers some of Ubi’s recent visual masterpieces, R6:Siege also feature excellent graphics and can get very taxing at high detail settings. The game also features an Ultra HD texture pack download for those that want higher resolution textures but will of course demand more from the system.
API: DirectX 11
Ultra Settings
Anti Aliasing: TAA
Ultra HD Texture pack not installed
Ambient Occlusion: SSBC
Vsync OFF
The game automatically drops to 50% render resolution when Ultra preset is selected
Apex Legends
The battle royale genre sees multiple titles emerge and Respawn Entertainment’s most successful title to date, Apex Legends differentiates itself from main rival PUBG as it presents itself in true, fast-paced FPS. Existing in the same universe as Titanfall, Apex Legends sees contenders in traditional battle royale elimination format but gameplay heavily gears towards more familiar FPS mechanics. As a Respawn Ent. game, it is closer to COD versus PUBG’s more sluggish and heavier gameplay.
API: DirectX 11
Settings: High
Texture Streaming Budget: 6GB VRAM
FSP Cap Disabled
Vsync: OFF
PUBG Battlegrounds
Developed and published by PUBG Corporation, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (now officially PUBG Battlegrounds) was an ARMA3 mod which has gained a massive global playerbase after being released as a stand-alone game. PUBG Battlegrounds is now available for almost all platforms from PC to mobile but PC has been the definitive edition of the game. The game has evolved much since its release, receiving multiple polish to arrive at its current state.
API: DirectX 11
Settings: Ultra
Vsync: OFF
Valorant
Developed by League of Legends developer, Riot Games, Valorant is a first-person shooter featuring multiple heroes or agents which have unique skills to assist them within the games traditional team-based FPS combat. The game is gaining incredible success and has taken a large chunk of the now-incredibly massive CSGO playerbase as well, presenting a more refreshed take on classic TDM FPS but spices it up with skills, etc. Like CSGO and League, this game is light as a feather for the largest adoption possible. With 360hz monitors and input lag/system latency a major focus for these games, we’re now including it as reference for players.
API: DirectX 11
Settings: Max in-game details
Anti-Aliasing: MSAA x4 (highest in-game)
NVIDIA Reflex: Off
Vsync: OFF
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
CD Projekt Red’s latest installment in the Witcher saga features one of the most graphically intense offering the company has to date. As Geralt of Rivia, slay monsters, beasts and men as you unravel the mysteries of your past. Vast worlds and lush sceneries make this game a visual feast and promises to make any system crawl at its highest settings. This game has found great resurgence in its playerbase thanks to the release of Netflix’ Witcher series.
API: DirectX 11
Frame Rate: Unlimited
Nvidia HairWorks: Off
Ultra Settings
Motion Blur: Off
Blur: Off
Anti-aliasing: On
Bloom: On
Sharpening: High
Ambient Occlusion: SSAO
Depth of Field: On
Chromatic Aberration: Off
Vignetting: On
Light Shafts: On
VSync OFF
Grand Theft Auto V
The fifth and most successful installment to date in the highly controversial Grand Theft Auto series brings a graphical overhaul to the PC version of GTA V which many have lauded as a superior approach in porting a console game to PC. Featuring large areas and detailing, GTA V is a highly challenging application in terms of scene complexity.
Our benchmark uses a run from Palomina Highlands running through a lush area to a remote road all the way to a neighborhood in our car to simulate multiple scene changes.
API: DirectX 11
FXAA Off
MSAA 4x
TXAA Off
Very High settings
Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
Motion Blur disabled
Advanced Graphics enabled
Vsync OFF
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the latest installment in the reboot run of the classic Tomb Raider franchise. The game follows the story set forth by the previous game which Shadow of the Tomb Raider shortly follows after. Technology-wise, the game uses the Foundation engine updated to meet the demand of developer Eidos Montreal to push the engine to its limits. The game supports DirectX 12 and is one of the launch titles to support RTX technology namely DLSS which launched a couple of months post-release.
API: DirectX 12
Graphics Settings Preset: Highest
Texture Quality: Ultra
Texture Filtering: 8x Anisotropic
Anti-Aliasing: TAA
DLSS: OFF
Raytraced Shadow: OFF
Vsync OFF
Forza Horizon 5
Developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios, Forza Horizon 5 is the latest installment in the Forza series, picking up straight after the British escapades of Horizon 4, Horizon 5 takes us now to Mexico for another open-world racing spectacle, that is Horizon. Built on the proprietary ForzaTech engine, the game harnesses its power to provide an excellent experience on both PC and Xbox.
API: DirectX 12
Settings: High
Raytracing: Off
Vsync: Off
Resident Evil Village
Easily one of the best installment in the Resident Evil franchise, Village takes the best of what makes RE4 such an icon and mixes it up with vestiges of classic RE. Built on modern RE Engine, the game supports raytracing as well as other modern niceties. But for the most part, keeps a conservative PC gaming experience. Regardless, the game brings with it classic RE and the RE Engine’s best outing to date on a Resident Evil title.
API: DirectX 12
Detail Settings: Prioritize Graphics
Raytracing: Off
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Exclusively on Epic Game Store, Final Fantasy VII Remake’s PC port is a much awaited transition from Playstation-exclusive to PC release. Despite its exclusive nature of release on PC, the game still managed to carve a following, many thanks to Epic’s barrage of free games leading up to launch. Built on Unreal Engine 4, the game natively runs on DirectX 12 but like many other Sony Studio games, is a bit restricted when it comes to graphic options. Unlike Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy VII Remake is limited to framerate options.
API: DirectX 12
Vsync: Disabled thru mod
Cyberpunk 2077
The most anticipated game of 2020 has just received its sort of “launch patch” this 2022 with version 1.5 changing many things in terms of performance as well as few things in the graphics department. Perhaps the most anticipated game of the last decade, Cyberpunk 2077’s launch has been a rollercoaster to gamers on PC who are largely in agreement that it was definitely worth the wait bar the bugs. Made by CD Projekt Red and based on the REDengine4, Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most modern games introducing full utilization of raytracing amongst others. We do not enable raytracing in this test segment, that will be for the latest section of this review..
API: DirectX 12
Settings: Ultra Preset
Raytracing Off
DLSS Off
Vsync: OFF
Average FPS
The charts below summarizes performance for total, AAA and esports games to give readers an idea of what to expect from these laptops in gaming at a glance.
With our home region a predominantly esports-centric country along with neighboring countries, I felt it was easier to separate performance average based on the most popular esports titles around.
Value & Conclusion
Lenovo Legion has had very good success in the design department, but there are a couple of things Lenovo is almost always underappreciated for. One of this is the fact that Lenovo is responsible for pushing SSDs into the current market as well as pushing for QHD on laptops. With the majority of the market dipping back and forth between 1080p or 4K, Legion laptops focused on 1440p screens.
Today in 2022, we’ll be seeing more QHD screens but if you’re already on a Legion with QHD, it is pretty much standard fare for you. This dials us back to the laptop we’re reviewing, the Legion 5i which follows these principles and offers a mainstream product featuring the things I mentioned above. If you’ve seen a Legion laptop from 2020, you’d already have an idea how it works but let’s break it down further.
In terms of performance, the Intel® Core™ i5-11400H is heavily praised for kicking back the midrange market into serious competition offering great value with 6-cores and support for DDR4-3200 memory which really stepped up performance and compliments modern GPUs in providing a great gaming experience.
This model features an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 which should see mainstream games running fairly well. We see a 100FPS average across our extensive benchmark suite with esports games enjoying a respectable 144FPS with Valorant, CSGO, Siege and Apex Legends taking full advantage of the 165Hz refresh rate. Bumping the resolution offers more screen details and sharper graphics, but the RTX 3060 on laptops can manage lighter games on 1440p but be aware of heavier AAA titles that already punish your system so tweak around the settings to get the best performance for your game.
In terms of productivity, multimedia professionals and content creators will appreciate its performance which is very close to high-end desktop level in both photo and video which speaks a lot about how far we’ve come in terms of laptop performance. Lenovo has always made great choices in their components and the faster SSD does help in some applications, which makes very frequent calls to asset files.
Overall, it is a great mid-market option and while it is not the fastest CPU out there, you can push it further by using Lenovo’s turbo function which will drive the system into high-performance mode to eke out more performance.
Outside of its performance, the screen is great and as always, I only have high praises for the Legion TrueStrike keyboard which is a joy to type with and is my favorite keyboard design amongst all laptops. The keyboard is illuminated so working in the dark is easier so you don’t have to fumble on the keys and major props to Lenovo for designing a natural feeling number pad. With 90% keyboards now a thing, Lenovo’s design is much easier to transition to for desktop users who are dependent on their number pad.
A smart feature is the inclusion of a camera privacy shutter. The switch is located to the side but locks the screen. This is a minor addition but something I feel is compelling enough for some people especially in a time where a lot have transitioned to working from home.
All in all, if you’ve been keeping up with my reviews of Lenovo Legion laptops since they debuted with the new branding from a few years ago, you feel like this review sounds the same and you are right. Lenovo has nailed down the recipe in delivering the perfect laptop experience and leaves very little to improve upon in terms of aesthetic design but as parts get updated every year, we keep coming back to see what Legion brings to the table.
The Lenovo Legion 5i is available now starting at PHP72,995, visit legion.lenovo.com where you can find more information and even more of Lenovo’s products. For a list of authorized resellers, visit lenovoph.com/AuthorizedResellers. If you want to keep updated with their announcements and new products, you can follow them at @lenovolegionph on Facebook and Instagram as well.
Lenovo backs the Legion 5i with a 3-year industry-leading Premium Care warranty.