Lenovo Legion Tower 5i 2025, Core Ultra 7 265F, 16GB, 1TB SSD, RTX 5060 Ti, Eclipse Black

The Legion Tower 5i's Core Ultra 7 265F sits at the 87th percentile, making it one of the better CPUs in this category. But the 24/100 compact score means you're getting a 15kg monster of a tower, and the 500W PSU limits future upgrades. At CAD 2,100, it's a CPU-first machine with some real compromises elsewhere.

The Core Ultra 7 265F is the star of the show here. At the 87th percentile, it's one of the better CPUs we've tracked in this category, and those 20 cores give you real multitasking headroom. Whether you're running VMs, compiling code, or just keeping 40 browser tabs open while you edit photos, this chip handles it without breaking a sweat. The 2.4GHz base clock isn't flashy on paper, but Intel's boost behavior on the Ultra 7 line does a lot of the heavy lifting in real-world workloads.

The RTX 5060 Ti with 8GB of VRAM is a solid performer at the 75th percentile. It'll chew through 1080p gaming at high settings and handle 1440p in most titles if you're willing to dial back a few settings. The 8GB VRAM is the limiting factor here, modern AAA games at higher resolutions are already pushing past that. The 16GB of DDR5 at the 56th percentile is about average, and honestly, for a machine at this price point, 16GB feels a little stingy. The 1TB NVMe SSD at the 74th percentile is fine, fast enough that you won't be staring at loading screens, but not the fastest drive we've benchmarked.

Stacked against the competition, the Legion Tower 5i has a clear identity but some real trade-offs. The HP OMEN GT22-3080 typically offers better GPU options at similar price points, which matters if gaming is your priority. The Apple Mac Studio M4 Max absolutely demolishes this machine in compactness and power efficiency, though you're locked into macOS and a much higher price. The MSI Aegis ZS2 tends to come with beefier power supplies and better upgrade paths, which makes the Legion's 500W unit look a little sad by comparison. The Dell Aurora and CLX SET are more direct competitors, and honestly, the Legion's 69/100 total score puts it right in the middle of that pack. You're not getting a bad machine, but you're also not getting a clear winner.

At CAD 2,100 from Memory Express, the Legion Tower 5i is a tricky value proposition. The CPU is the main justification for the price, that 87th percentile Core Ultra 7 265F is a lot of processing power. But you're also paying for a 15kg chassis with a compact score of 24/100, which means you're not getting any portability or space efficiency for your money. The 500W PSU is another hidden cost, if you ever want to drop in a more powerful GPU, you'll need to swap the power supply too. For a machine that scores 69/100 overall, CAD 2,100 feels like you're paying a premium for the Legion branding and the CPU, while accepting compromises on RAM, PSU headroom, and physical size.

The Lenovo Legion Tower 5i lands in our database with a 69/100 total score, which puts it in solid but not spectacular territory. The standout number here is the CPU, an Intel Core Ultra 7 265F with 20 cores running at 2.4GHz, sitting at the 87th percentile. That's a genuinely strong processor for the money. The RTX 5060 Ti with 8GB of VRAM comes in at the 75th percentile, which is respectable but not going to blow anyone's hair back in 2025. You get 16GB of DDR5 and a 1TB NVMe SSD, both hovering around the mid-70s percentile range. Nothing embarrassing, nothing record-breaking.

The weak spot is obvious from the spec sheet: this is a 15kg mid-tower with a compact score of 24/100. That's not a typo. If you were hoping to tuck this under a desk in a small apartment, you're going to feel every one of those kilograms. The 500W PSU is also worth noting, it's enough for the current config but leaves little headroom for future GPU upgrades. For workstation and developer use cases, the scores are 67 and 66.3 respectively, so this machine leans more toward general productivity and light gaming than hardcore rendering or compilation work.

If you care about desk space or ever plan to move your PC, skip this. The 24/100 compact score and 15kg weight make it one of the least practical towers we've tracked. Gamers who want high-refresh 1440p or any 4K gaming should also look elsewhere, the 8GB VRAM on the 5060 Ti will hold you back. And if you're the type who likes to upgrade components over time, the 500W PSU and 16GB of RAM at the 56th percentile mean you'll be spending extra money on upgrades sooner rather than later. This machine is for CPU-bound workloads where the 87th percentile processor can shine, not for people who want a balanced, future-proof system.

The Lenovo Legion Tower 5i is a machine with one great component and a bunch of okay ones. That Core Ultra 7 265F at the 87th percentile is the reason to buy this, it's a legitimately strong CPU that will serve you well for years. But the 16GB of RAM at the 56th percentile, the 500W PSU, and the 24/100 compact score all feel like corners being cut. If you're a developer or workstation user who values CPU performance above all else and doesn't mind a massive tower, this is a reasonable buy at CAD 2,100. If you want a balanced machine or care about upgradeability, the MSI Aegis or HP OMEN are probably better fits.