Equipment rental: Lenovo Japan LLC
Lenovo’s “IdeaCentre 5i Gen 8 (13th generation Intel Core)” (hereinafter referred to as “IdeaCentre 5i Gen 8”) is a mini-tower-type desktop PC. Equipped with an optical drive that can play and write DVDs. It is not equipped with a GPU (GPU) and is suitable for accounting processing and work that handles text data and documents.
IdeaCentre 5i Gen8
Price at time of article writing
Specifications Price Core i5-13400 / 8GB / 512GB 64,900 yen Core i5-13400 / 16GB / 1TB 84,810 yen Core i7-13700 / 16GB / 1TB 109,890 yen Core i7-13700 / 32GB / 1TB 139,810 yen
*As of October 29, 2023
I played around with it for the review, and found the performance and functionality to be fair. It can be said that the price is relatively cheap for the Core i5 model. However, compared to the currently popular mini PCs, the bottleneck is that the casing is larger. The key point in choosing one is whether you can take advantage of its size.
point
✅ VGA compatible ✅ Optical drive installed ✅ Expansion board compatible ✅ Up to 1920 x 1080 when connected via HDMI
In this article, we will review the appearance, functions, and actual performance of the main unit using an actual device borrowed from the manufacturer.
Great deals on Rakuten on 10/30!
You can get IdeaCentre 5i Gen 8 at a great price by using the “Rakuten BrandDay” campaign, which is running until October 30, 2023. Depending on the SPU and conditions, the cheapest model may actually reach the 50,000 yen range. If you are a Rakuten user, please check it out.
Example of points you can receive (Core i5 model)
List price: 68,150 yen Coupon price: 65,150 yen Regular points: 592 shop points + 9x 5,3285 days with 0 + 2x 1,184 Rakuten card + 2x 1,184 Brand Day + 4x 2,368 total points10,656real price54,494 yen
*Actual points earned may differ.Please check the product page for the points you can earn.
Related article
BrandDay entry
Get 3000 yen off coupon
Day with 5 and 0
spec
OSWindows 11 Home CPUCore i5-13400 / Core i7-13700 Memory 8GB x 1 / 16GB (8GB x 2) / 32GB (16GB x 2) *2 slots, DDR4-3200, maximum 32GB Storage 512GB / 1TB Gen4 SSD Graphics UHD Graphics 730 / 770 (Built-in CPU) Form factor Mini tower type (13.6L) *2 proprietary M.2 slots (1 for storage, 1 for Wi-Fi card) Optical drive DVD super multi drive Drive bay 3.5 inches x 1 expansion Slot PCI Express 4.0 x16 x 1, PCI Express 3.0 x1 x 1 Communication Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, Wired LAN (1Gb) Power supply 310W Size / Weight Width 145 x Depth 287.98 x Height 340mm / Approx. 5.4kg No office
Body design
exterior
Exterior of IdeaCentre 5i Gen 8. The main body color is gray.The front panel is made of resin (plastic), but the rest of the case is made of metal.
The left side
right side
IdeaCentre 5i Gen8 front and back
Interface configuration
On the front is a slim DVD super multi drive, power button, headphone terminal, USB3.2 Gen1 Type-C (data communication only), USB3.2 Gen1 x 2
On the back: HDMI (max. 1920 x 1080 dots), VGA (D-sub 15 pin, max. 2048 x 1536 dots), wired LAN, USB 2.0 x 4
About replacing parts
How to disassemble the main unit
Please note that accessing the motherboard to replace parts can be a bit of a hassle.First, remove the case on the left side
Next, remove the front panel
remove optical drive
Remove inner frame
Now the motherboard has finally appeared
The motherboard is a proprietary standard, so general ATX motherboards cannot be installed.
Adding memory
There are 2 memory slots. Up to 2 DDR4-3200 DIMMs can be used
Adding an SSD
This is the M.2 slot. M.2 SSD can be replaced
A 3.5-inch drive bay is provided in the internal frame. Although it is not specified in the specifications, there are parts where 2.5-inch storage could be installed (unconfirmed whether this is possible)
Other parts
This is what the cooling area looks like. A very simple CPU cooler is used.
Power source is 80PLUS PLATINUM.Since it is probably a proprietary standard, slight modification will be required to use other power supply units.
PCI Express 4.0 x16 expansion slot. It is said to be full-height compatible, but depending on the size it may interfere with the frame. It may be possible to use older generation entry-level graphics cards with low power consumption (operation is not guaranteed)
Benchmark results
Trial machine specs
CPUCore i5-13400 (10 cores/16 threads) Memory 8GB x 1 DDR4-3200 Storage 512GB NVMe SSD Graphics UHD Graphics 730 (CPU built-in)
*Various benchmark tests were conducted with Windows 11 power plan set to “Balanced” and power mode set to “Optimal Performance”.
*Benchmark results may vary greatly depending on factors such as parts configuration, timing, environment, and individual differences.
CPU performance
The CPUs used are Core i5-13400 (10 cores, 16 threads) and Core i7-13700 (16 cores, 24 threads), which are designed for 13th generation standard desktop PCs.
When we conducted a CPU benchmark test on a trial machine equipped with a Core i5-13400, the performance was slightly lower than the average value for the same CPU in a highly loaded multi-threaded (multi-core) test. Single-threaded (single-core) tests show above-average results. This is a common phenomenon when the CPU is affected by heat. Since the structure cannot be said to be sufficiently cooled internally, there may be some kind of influence after all.
CPU multithreading performance
CPU3DMark CPU Profile Max threadsCore i7-13700
12017
Core i7-12700
9590
Core i5-13400
7358
IdeaCentre 5i Gen8(Core i5-13400)
6944
Core i5-12400
5960
Core i3-13100
4238
Core i3-12100
4044
*Other scores3DMark official websiteaverage value by
CPU single thread performance
CPU3DMark CPU Profile 1 threadsCore i7-13700
1103
Core i7-12700
1022
IdeaCentre 5i Gen8(Core i5-13400)
979
Core i5-13400
971
Core i3-13100
947
Core i5-12400
918
Core i3-12100
901
*Other scores3DMark official websiteaverage value by
Compared to CPUs used in mini PCs in the 40,000 to 60,000 yen range, the results are quite excellent.
Comparison of CPU performance for mini PCs
CPUPassMark CPU Mark ScoreCore i5-13500H
24011
Core i7-12650H
23679
Ryzen 7 5800H
21256
IdeaCentre(Core i5-13400)
20622
Ryzen 7 6800U
20598
Ryzen 7 5800U
18670
Ryzen 5 6600H
19125
Core i5-12450H
17812
Ryzen 5 6600U
17274
Ryzen 5 5600H
17119
Ryzen 5 5600U
15462
Ryzen 5 5625U
15181
Intel N100
5630
Intel N195
5463
*Other scoresPassMark CPU BenchmarksThis is an aggregated value, and is not the result of the actual machine.
graphics performance
For processing related to graphics, the built-in graphics function of the CPU is used. The results of the 3D benchmark test that measures graphics performance are quite low, so we cannot expect it to be effective in gaming or video editing. Basically, it is a model for handling character and numerical data.
GPU performance for desktop PCs (DirectX 12, WQHD)
GPU3DMark Time Spy GraphicsRTX 3050
6204
GTX 1650
3555
UHD 730
569
*Other scoresUL Solutionsaverage value by
Comfort when working with a PC
PCMark10 is a benchmark test that measures the comfort of working with a PC. Since it is intended for common tasks, the tests are relatively light. As for the trends in each test, “Essentials” (general use) is the CPU’s single-core performance, “Productivity” (business use) is the CPU’s multi-core performance, and “Digital Contents Creation” (content creation) is the CPU, storage, and GPU performance. It seems to have a strong influence.
In the test, the target value was largely cleared. Compared to mini PCs in the 40,000 to 60,000 yen range, the results are about the same or slightly inferior. You should consider other values rather than performance.
PCMark 10 benchmark results
Test score Essentials
(general use)
Target value: 4100
Verifier 10295
LarkBox7142
NucBox10603
IdeaCentre10299
M75q10256
Productivity
(Business use)
Target value: 4500
Verification machine 7574
LarkBox4879
NucBox9709
IdeaCentre7128
M75q9930
Digital Contents Creation
(Content production)
Target value: 3450
Verification machine 5392
LarkBox2515
NucBox6044
IdeaCentre6586
M75q5707
*Score target value isPCMark 10 official websitedue to
Comparison machine specs (mini PC)
Is it attractive that it can be modified and used?
Palm-sized mini PCs are now popular. The price is low, the performance is sufficient, and the best part is that it doesn’t take up much space to install. For everyday use and office work, a mini PC may be more useful. In the future, work PCs may be replaced by mini PCs.
In such a situation, why would you choose a mini-tower type or slim type? The built-in optical drive may be an advantage, but you can just add an external drive to your mini PC. One of the characteristics of desktop PCs is that they have 6 to 8 USB ports, but you don’t use them that often.
I personally believe that the advantage of conventional desktop PCs is that they can be easily modified. It’s not just about increasing memory and storage capacity, but if you feel like it, you can also include graphics cards, cooling parts, and other things. There is plenty of space inside, and I think there is a relatively high degree of freedom. In fact, there’s really no reason to choose that much anymore.
By the way, IdeaCentre 5i Gen 8 can only display up to 1920 x 1080 dots with HDMI output. If you want to use it with dual displays, WQHD or 4K resolution, etc., you may want to use a cheaper older generation graphics card. This is recommended for people who enjoy adding various parts.
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