Real-world gaming tests: The synthetic tests above are helpful for
measuring general 3D aptitude, but it’s hard to beat full retail video games for
judging gaming performance. Far Cry 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider are both
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system handles real-world gameplay at various settings. We run them at 1080p
resolution at the games’ medium and best image-quality presets (Normal and
Ultra for Far Cry 5 under DirectX 11, Medium and Very High for Rise of the
Tomb Raider under DirectX 12).
The 5i achieved pretty great results. On one hand, it stuck very close to the
GeForce RTX 2070 in the Legion Y740, likely because that was the down-tuned
Max-Q version of that GPU. On the other, it bested the AMD-based machines,
even the Zephyrus G14 using the same GPU. That could be a part down to CPU
and part to improved thermals (Lenovo’s so-called “ColdFront 2.0” thermal
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inch chassis), but it’s worth a few frames per second either way.
The Legion 5i also beat out the Helios 300 and its GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, though
that machine hung close and represents good performance per dollar. I also
found that the Legion 5i ran reasonably quiet and didn’t get especially warm, for
which we can again thank the thermal design. You’ll hear the fans more with the
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worth a couple of frames per second.