The Lenovo Legion 7i gaming laptop has a good combination of things that make a gaming laptop
perform great, so just how well does it run in games?
I’ve tested 20 different games at all settings and compared it against some other laptops
to find out.
My 7i has some nice specs inside, but it is available with different options, you can
find examples and updated prices linked in the description.
The Lenovo Vantage software lets you select between different performance modes, I’ve
used the highest performance mode for best results.
The software also lets you disable optimus for G-Sync which will give us a performance
boost.
By default Max-Q Dynamic Boost is enabled, meaning the GPU should be able to boost higher
when the CPU doesn’t need the power.
We’ll only be covering gaming performance in this video, so if you’re new then get
subscribed for the upcoming thermal testing and full review videos.
Let's start out by going through all 20 games at all setting levels, then afterwards we’ll
see how other laptops compare.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested using the game’s built in benchmark tool, we’re
just able to pass 60 FPS with the high setting preset, max settings seems to be too much
for all but the highest specced laptops.
Battlefield 5 was tested in campaign mode, no problems playing at ultra settings, just
a little under 100 FPS, so a good result, and we’ll see how other laptops compare
in this game a bit later.
Control was tested with and without RTX enabled.
I’ve got the results with RTX off in purple, RTX on in the green bars which was much worse
comparatively, then RTX on with DLSS enabled as shown by the red bars, which was running
much better while also looking good.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested with the built in benchmark, and these are great
results from a 2070 Max-Q laptop, but again we’ll compare with some other laptops soon.
Apex Legends was tested with either all settings at maximum, or all settings on the lowest
possible values, as it doesn’t have predefined setting presets.
It was running fine at max settings, though we could get the 1% low above the screens
refresh rate at minimum.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare was tested in campaign mode with either max or min settings
for the same reason, and although the frame rates are lower compared to Apex, it was still
playing without any issues at max settings.
Fortnite was tested with the replay feature, and the 1% low results from high settings
were close to the screens refresh rate, with way higher possible at lower levels if that’s
what you’re after.
CS:GO was tested with the ulletical FPS benchmark, and this game sees big improvements with optimus
disabled compared to other laptops that are stuck with it.
Dota 2 wasn’t much different compared to far lower specced laptops, but either way
still great results at max settings.
Overwatch is another less demanding game and was tested in the practice range, no issues
hitting the 300 FPS frame cap at low and medium settings, while even the 1% low at epic settings
was at the screens refresh rate.
Rainbow Six Siege was tested with the built in benchmark using Vulkan, there wasn’t
much difference in average FPS between high and ultra settings, and even the 1% low at
very high was near the refresh rate of the screen.
Metro Exodus was tested using the built in benchmark, most parts of the game perform
a fair bit better than this, so don’t take these results as a good indication of what
to expect throughout the entire game, it’s more of a worst case.
The Division 2 was also tested with the built in benchmark.
Ultra settings was above 60 FPS, and we could more than double this at low.
Monster Hunter World was tested running through the main town, and I had no issues with the
highest setting preset, it felt quite smooth, but again we could basically double frame
rate at low settings if that’s the priority.
Borderlands 3 was tested using the game’s built in benchmark, again quite good results,
max settings was basically on 60 FPS which is good for this test, while medium was able
to surpass 100 FPS.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint was also tested with the benchmark tool, again good results compared
to other laptops tested, above 60 FPS at ultimate is a good result and is likely thanks to the
option of dynamic boost, more on that soon.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is another that was tested with the games benchmark, and the
results were fairly good here, not quite 60 FPS at max, but that’s generally difficult
to achieve.
Far Cry New Dawn was also tested with the games benchmark, and the results weren’t
really that different when compared to many others tested, perhaps a little better as
a result of the 8 core processor.
The Witcher 3 was playing fine at ultra settings, but as is typically the case with all laptops
I test, we can get nice gains stepping back just one level to high while still looking
good.
F1 2019 was tested with the benchmark tool and sees similar behaviour, while minimum
settings would push the 1% low above the screens refresh rate.
Now let’s take a look at how the Lenovo Legion 7i with these specs compares against
other laptops, use these results as a rough guide only, as they were tested at different
times with different drivers.
In Battlefield 5 I’ve got the 7i highlighted in red.
It’s giving a great result for a 2070 Max-Q, most likely due to that higher power limit,
and of course we’re also seeing a boost from the ability to disable optimus too.
These are the results from Far Cry 5 with ultra settings in the built in benchmark.
The 7i is a bit higher in the stack now, which makes sense as this test is more dependent
on processor power, and there’s an 8 core 16 thread chip here.
It’s not without its issues though, I’ll discuss some thermal issues in the upcoming
thermal testing video.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was also tested with the games benchmark tool, and the results
were quite decent here too, with the 2070 Max-Q giving good results and hanging in there
with higher tier options.
Overall gaming performance from the Lenovo Legion 7i with these specs was great, and
this is due to the combination of Nvidia’s new dynamic boost, the option of disabling
Optimus, and the fact that the 7i runs the memory at DDR4-3200.
I’ve tested one game with and without dynamic boost just to get an idea of the difference
it makes.
With it enabled, the default, the 2070 Max-Q would run up to 105 watts in a GPU only load,
and with it off, it would run up to 90 watts which is more typical for this tier of GPU
in a laptop.
Anyway dynamic boost was definitely giving an improvement compared to not using it, and
I’ll compare this in depth in a future video.
Here are the screen response time results for the 1080p 144Hz screen in my unit.
The average grey-to-grey response time was 7.6ms, and when we look at how this stacks
up against others it’s around the middle of the pack.
The Vantage software has an option for enabling or disabling overdrive, but I found no change
to response time by toggling this, so not sure if it’s a bug.
I didn’t see overshoot or undershoot so my best guess is overdrive is not enabled.
Let me know what you thought of the gaming performance from the Lenovo Legion 7i gaming
laptop down in the comments, and if you’re new then get subscribed for the upcoming videos
where I’ll test out thermals in depth and of course the detailed full review where I’ll
show you everything this machine has to offer.