PC gaming is often positioned as some super expensive hobbyhorse — and it can be . But you do n’t call for one of the world’sbest gaming PCs , with a 49 - in ultrawide gambling monitoring gadget andan RTX 4090 , to get a great gaming personal computer . The Lenovo LOQ Tower 17IRR9 is a powerful little car packing some of the late hardware , at a very approachable monetary value . And it ’s great .
If you ’re depend for a smooth and adequate to gambling PC for 1080p play , the Lenovo LOQ Tower might be among thebest budget desktop PCsyou can corrupt .
Specs and pricing
Leaning into its value - orient designing , and off from themuted argument surrounding Intel ’s latest central processor , the Lenovo LOQ Tower 17IRR9 is work up on the foundation of the last - generation Intel Core i5 - 14400 CPU . This is a slightly newer version ofour favorite budget Intel CPU , the 13400 — so it ’s well placed for an low-priced gaming system .
Despite being a little older and budget - targeted , the 14400 punches well above its weight . It has 10 sum ( six carrying out and four Efficiency ) , making it fantastic for multi - threaded workloads and for powering some of the former games . It ’s much more efficient than the top fleck in its generation , too , helping to keep this system running cool and quiet , even when it ’s working hard .
It ’s paired with 16 GB of fast DDR4 memory , and backed up by the Nvidia RTX 4060 . Together , they should be capable to manage any secret plan at 1080p and high context , seduce this a potentially solid organization for esports gamers , or AAA gamers encounter on a 1080p monitor . It should also process well as a general home office and preparation machine that can handle some play when the kids have earned some screenland time .
At $ 879 , Lenovo has trimmed the fatness and made a PC that maximizes performative components , even if the cooling and motherboard are uninspiring .
Build quality and design
The overall excogitation of the LOQ Tower is sturdy and understated . It ’s not a flashy standout design , and it lacks some of the more premium , but subtle styling options you see on more expensive desktop . The support plate is just bare steel , and it ’s all keep together by standard roll in the hay . This chassis would n’t look out of place in an office or schooling .
Equally , you wo n’t realise the mark of marginal steel power supply in this organisation , and all the conducting wire are received and non - braided . A fancy - custom boutique personal computer this is not .
But the interior is well - thought - out , with plenty of room for tweaking your system or DIY installation of any future rise . Its side panels are easy to remove , and there are plenty of front panel interface to take advantage of . Even with the RTX 4060 being a compact , miniaturized edition of the standard card , there ’s still a GPU bracket foreclose any potential sagging , and the cables have been well routed and tidied so it ’s not a spaghetti - like mess when you open up the side control board .
Thermals and cooling
Noise level on the LOQ Tower were really impressive . Even when run really demanding tests like the Cinebench Multithreaded workload , which typically cause CPU coolers to spin up much louder than on their groundless place setting , it detain at much more achievable levels . It ’s not understood , but the sports fan disturbance is never belligerent and you certainly would n’t hear it while wear down headphones .
That might suggest fan speeds are low , lean more toward a easy hearing experience than high - performance , but temperatures of the various ingredient do n’t get anywhere near their thermic limits , and caloric strangulation is n’t anywhere in sight .
Since I like a quieter PC in general , I ’d credibly replace some of the fans with larger , quieter version and play with the fan curves , and if you ’re the same , that ’s well done with a modest investing .
Bloatware
Lenovo does let in quite a number of additional applications with its default Windows install . There ’s the common care apps to make it easy to cover repairs and replication , but there are also some additional ones that really do n’t feel like they need to be there . They might be worth uninstalling if you buy this system .
Even ignoring the fact that McAfee is one of the most iconic “ How do I uninstall decade ” hunting on Google , the fact that I do n’t even get to enjoy a free run is a routine irksome . I would imagine in a non - reviewer system , that wo n’t be the guinea pig , but expect pop - ups and notification junk e-mail when you first get your Lenovo LOQ Tower desktop online .
Performance
With the hardware inside this little pillar , I was n’t expecting it to blow the door off our benchmark and strike high frame rates at 4 G resolution , but the 14400 is a utterly subject CPU , and the RTX 4060 a very up to graphics identity card for 1080p play , so I had high hopes for its performance .
In Cinebench and Geekbench , we see the strong answer we ’d await this CPU , which leverages its extra E core to perform in particular well in multi - threaded workloads . Handbrake demonstrate enough encoding times , spotlight the strong point of the 14th generation ’s centre conformation in these kinds of involve work load .
Both the CPU and GPU acquit themselves well in the 3Dmark benchmarks , delivering absolutely playable scores in all but the Steel Nomad bench mark . There , the volumetric inflammation and ambient occlusion really caused the GPU to shinny , even with its modern architecture , which prove that it ’s not just ray tracing that can induce dips in public presentation in forward-looking cards .
Switch to the Light version , though , and this system was off and running .
turn over over to some of the real secret plan benchmarks we ran , though , and the LOQ Tower deliver tremendous results . With the RTX 4060 being a 1080p - focused artwork notice with some 1440p capableness , that ’s where we focus our testing efforts .
These event show that the RTX 4060 is more than well fitted out to manage even these demanding games , although it does bank on DLSS to get the shape rates really up there when you throw on configurations like ray tracing . skeleton generation helps both the most - demandingCyberpunk 2077andBlack Myth : Wukongsettings abide high-pitched and smooth , but it ’s not a scene that everyone will enjoy , so try it with and without to see if it ’s worth it to you .
In lighter esports game , this PC will have no worry driving the anatomy per 2d ( Federal Protective Service ) into the multiple hundreds for maximum reactivity and competitory romp .
Is the Lenovo LOQ Tower 17IRR9 worth it?
If you ’re in the marketplace for a compact play PC , but do n’t desire to spend over $ 1,000 , then the Lenovo LOQ Tower 17IRR9 — mouthful of a name apart — is aright up your alley . It has a minor footmark , is quiet in general day to day tasks , and has potent carrying out in more small play options .
That make this a great esports gaming microcomputer or for playing more demanding plot at 1080p and high configurations . Equally , though , thanks to its cosmopolitan still surgical procedure and dandy multitasking performance , it ’s perfect as a family microcomputer for homework , some light office work with heavy web web internet browser usage , and some light play on the weekend .
This is the variety of microcomputer that can be lots of things to tons of dissimilar people . It ’s an excellent home machine .
