Lenovo Legion 5/5 Pro/7 2021 Discussion

It is terrible that regardless of which machine you have there is always a compromise. You really have to go with what has the least amount of compromises that you can live with. If the Legion 5i is really as good as the 7i but with the max of a 3070 instead of a 3080 I would say its the clear winner over the R5. If that machine had good speakers I would've liked it. But I have no idea how that thing made it out of prototyping with those speakers. Like that had me packing it up day one and sending it back. But that keyboard is something else. So if they fix their speakers it could be a good all around device.

 

Thanks for your input. Also forgot to mention that I need to set the TCC offset in the bios on the M15 in order to prevent cpu throttle / going to 100 degrees when gaming. I think the deal breaker is I shouldn’t need to limit cpu temps to avoid throttling in games, that’s ridiculous. As much as I love the laptop…

On the 5i I’ve never seen the cpu exceed 90 degrees when gaming. And I can undervolt.

5i it is. Makes sense.

 

What games are you playing that get the CPU so warm? I must be playing some non-cpu intensive titles.

I think overall the 5i is a better overall machine. So I think that's the best call. I miss the days when Alienware had the thicker machines and more or less said no to chasing the thin and light trend. They've really turned that around and are just trying to be as small as possible. At the cost of heat and poor consumer experience.

 

Not so fast - Alder Lake and Ti GPUs are coming very soon - time to re-start the search.

 

Nothing that's come out of CES thus far has blown me away. I'll be holding out to see if/how AMD will implement 3D Vcache on its mobile processors.

 

I'm interested in the 12th gen Yoga 9i. My C940 is having heat problems. As far as performance I'm keeping my 7i until the 4080 comes out.

 

I've played F1 2021, Forza Horizon 5, and Cyberpunk. In Forza and Cyberpunk the issue arose after playing for an hour or so, huge FPS drop for no reason. I'd go for the X15 but the prices are too high in my opinion.

I am not interested in next-gen mobile CPUs, at least not from AMD. They need to control heat issues and seriously offer an option (or 3rd party app a la XTU, TS) to under-volt before I'd buy an AMD laptop again. I will see zero performance gain 11th gen vs. 12th gen Intel CPU. I use the laptop for general daily use, office work / server, and gaming.

I'll also hold out and see what the mobile 4000 series GPUs have to offer. I have no use for a laptop beyond 1080p @ 120+ hz refresh rate. So the new 3070Ti and 3080Ti won't really give me any real gain over the 3070 at 1080p.

Then again, the 1600p display on the Legion 7 is stunning, so I'll never say never. But I'm in wait and see mode and happy with the 5i for now.

 

Hi guys,
i have a Legion 5 Pro with 5800H and 3070 RTX. I am very happy with it. There is the best laptop that I have owned.
I have two Question for you. I have seen that there is a new Bios from 2. dec. Shoult I install that bios? Are ther important changes?
My second question. Which amd-driver has you installed? Lenovo or amd?
Thank you for the answers.
Patrick
PS: I am learning english. I am very happy for some answers.

 

Dialing in the settings on my Legion 5i. I've settled on a CPU undervolt of -.070v, GPU OC of +220 core and +800 memory (freeze at +1000, settled on 800). Also have gotten a 140w Alienware 3070 vbios to work, Advanced Optimus / G-sync all work. For some reason this vbios works better than Legion 5 Pro 140w vbios. Haven't tried using external monitor. Pretty great result.

 

Just looked at the Lenovo support site for this, seems to be no major issues resolved with the new bios. There was a new bios for my non-Pro and it updated without issue. Really update or not is up to you.

I would also stick with the Lenovo AMD drivers. They are likely to be the most stable for the system. There's no harm in downloading the latest from AMD site directly, you likely won't experience any issues.

 

Thank you for the answer. I installed the new bios yesterday. I have noticed nothing. I thought the fans might change. I stay with the original driver.

 

It's that time again, 7i owners! New BIOS - H1CN45WW. So far, so good.

 

double post - sorry

 

Anyone know whether this 80wh battery will work in the Legion 5 gen 6? It's from last gen Legion 5.

https://lenovo.encompass.com/item/12543205/Lenovo/5B10W86192/

It looks physically identical and spec-wise, identical, to the batteries in the current gen:

https://lenovo.encompass.com/item/12710616/Lenovo/5B11B48825/

I prefer to buy from Lenovo direct rather than all of these 3rd parties that I see out there. I'd "think" this battery would work? Thanks for any input.

 

Are the speakers in the Legion 7 good at all?

 

They're OK, about average for a gaming laptop. Asus tends to have much better speakers if this is something that's important to you.

 

NVM, disregard.

 

I wish they could include a better speaker, I mean Lenovo did have some laptop with good sound quality.

 

Sorry if this has already been covered, but has anyone tested G-Sync via an external monitor on the Legion 7i? I'm not sure if this is possible via either the Thunderbolt ports or HDMI 2.1 port.

 

G-Sync is supported via DisplayPort using the Type-C ports on the back and left side of the laptop. You can use HDMI but the monitor needs to support 2.1 also.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for the response. I have heard of people encountering various issues with getting G-Sync to work on laptops. I've heard that GPU switching can cause issues. I'm curious if you or anyone else has tested it on the 7i. I will try to when I get the chance. Just ordered a cable to test it. I'll have to get my G-Sync monitor out of storage.

 

I have a Legion 7i and a G-Sync compatible monitor (Acer XB273K). I use a Type-C to DisplayPort 1.4 adapter connected to the rear Thunderbolt port, and it works perfectly. The ports on the Legion 7 that support video output (2x Type-C and HDMI) are wired directly to the NVIDIA graphics so variable refresh rate will be properly supported.

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

Here's something strange. If I connect my L7 via Type-C, the battery LED comes on no problem. As soon as I power on the laptop, the charge light shuts off, and it runs as if it's unplugged until about 30-60 seconds after fully booting into Windows. I tried with two different 100W capable GaN chargers and cables - no difference. I'm wondering if anyone else here is experiencing the same thing. If not, I'll probably initiate an RMA, but I need to know before my return window closes on the 16th.

 

Hello,
does someone has the BIOS Update "H1CN44WW" and can upload it for me? Unfortunately my device was shipped with the new one an I can't enter advanced BIOS mode anymore This would really help me a lot!

 

Okay you just need to edit the hyperlink

https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles/h1cn45ww.exe

to

https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles/h1cn4 4ww.exe

 

It might work but its hard to get one from Lenovo directly because they're often not in stock so people resort to buying from 3rd party sites that sells Lenovo genuine batteries. The most common problem with the 80wh batteries that you dont know what you gonna get especially after buying 2 of them in the past and they had the same problem and they were Lenovo genuine batteries. The most common issue that the laptop refuses to boot on battery no matter what and you would have to plug in the AC adapter each time.

If you do buy it from Lenovo directly it should work and its worth the upgrade.

 

I bought from Lenovo direct, but it is for last gen Legion 5. The battery specs are exactly the same, hopefully it'll work.

 

When you say Advanced BIOS, which do you mean? The default advanced settings in the Lenovo BIOS? or the one that lets you edit memory timing and more, which, from what I know, was never available on the 5i/7i models of 2021 (though there was a beta BIOS in the Lenovo Discord but didn't work out too well, from what I recall).

I need to know because I was about to update to the CN45 one on my Legion 7i 2021. I won't because of your comment until I know more.

 

Hi, stay on the previous Update and use the following Link. Worked perfectly for me

https://www.win-raid.com/t9926f16-TOOL-Lenovo-H-Bios-Unlocker-and-Locker.html

 

Thanks so much for posting this. Confirmed working on my Legion 5i 15ITH6H.

It unlocks the - entire - Advanced menu in the bios which is awesome. I didn't touch anything except to try disabling ASPM to hopefully get a bit more power, it had no effect, so I just reset everything back to default.

The one setting that catches my interest is the fan trigger menu (forgot where it is, it's deep within the settings). If I read it correctly, the fan(s) kick in at 90% at a temp of 87C and 50% at a temp of 55C. This could be great as one could set fan speed to 0 until temps hit say 65C, for a truly silent PC when doing basic tasks. If anyone wants to try it please post whether it works.

*Edit- it apparently isn't related as my CPU is sitting at 30C while typing this yet the fan is still running.

Excellent find!

 

If you or anyone else do end up testing this and the fan settings works, let us know . I don't want to install a custom BIOS yet as I don't wish to brick this and ruin my 3 year warranty.
But, I also don't like how the fan continues running even when the CPU is idling at 36c.

 

It isn’t a custom bios, it’s a small executable that just unlocks your bios. That’s the great thing about this.

Will keep exploring fan options. Not optimistic but never know!

 

The MSI GE76 that I had was fully unlocked with an advanced menu - it was cool until I found out that it didn't persist. Every power down you would need to re-do it. Just makes it pointless, IMO.

 

The settings stick with this method. I've adjusted the power limits to PL1 65, PL2 90, rather than default 90/135. Combined with CPU undervolt of -.070v it slightly helps temps and doesn't impact gaming performance.

FYI, anyone planning on buying a refurb L7 from Microcenter, don't do it. It isn't Lenovo refurbished, it's refurbished by some 3rd party center out in CA, Hub something I think it's called. The website says "manufacturer refurbished" which it clearly isn't and very misleading. You can't buy an extended warranty through Lenovo and are limited to either this random company's warranty or Microcenter's $300 extension warranty which is too much.

To add insult to injury, my screen had 3 dead pixels. I had to try it, considering next gen systems are likely to be insanely overpriced and wanted to take a stab at a "refurb" system. Not worth it.

 

Anyone here with good results after repasting?

Seen a bunch of people on reddit begging people not to repaste the legion 7 as they all had worse temps after.

Trying to figure out if it requires some special application or just dealing with incompetent redditors

 

Definitely worse on my 7i after repasting. I lost count of the times I repasted with different pastes, including the stock paste it came with.
2 or 3 cores thermal throttle in Cinebench R23. Sometimes 1 or 2 in some games. I can control it with undervolting cpu and gpu.
I wouldn't recommending repasting unless it is liquid metal.

 

That's so weird...

Why is that? Is their paste special in any way?
If you get worse results with better paste, that might be an issue of mounting pressure. If the pressure isn't great, then Liquid Metal won't be an effective long term solution either.

 

I know others have had good results with LM. The stock paste is a phase change tim https://www.ebuy7.com/item/657895537057 . Its as good, or better, than most aftermarket paste. I don't know what the deal is with repasting. Maybe the thermal module gets bent after removing or Lenovo has a way to torque it down exactly what it needs to be when manufacturing. I wish I knew. I ordered a new thermal module but its not in stock yet. The cpu sink is nickel plated.

 

Ah so it isn't regular paste.

Is that the same stuff they're using on the new GE76 from MSI?

Nickel plated CPU heatsink is a big plus

 

If you mean the new MSI with the 3080 Ti and their LM, no not the same. The tim on the Legion also comes in a paste, but if you use the paste you have to let it cure for 15 hours after applying. The sheet I linked to is already cured. The MSI LM has no gallium. I'd be interested to know how it reacts with copper.

 

Just a word of caution. Today I updated the Nvidia drivers on my 7i to the latest, 511.23.

Once the driver installation completed (via GeForce Experience) my screen went blank.

I restarted, booted in to a blank screen but I can tell windows is running. I have my laptop set to discrete graphics mode. I restarted again, switched the BIOS to dynamic, and windows started up to the desktop.

I downloaded and ran DDU in safe mode, removed the Nvidia driver. Restarted, downloaded GeForce Experience again, installed 511.23 again. Same issue when in discrete mode, blank screen when starting up.

Ran DDU in safe mode again and uninstalled 511.23.

Used Lenovo Vantage to detect and install Nvidia drivers. They are older (471.99) but are working fine in both dynamic and discrete mode.

I should mention that with 511.23 installed and dynamic mode on I was able to run games - I got a message from Nvidia that it could not switch modes but in game I could tell that it was using the Nvidia GPU - the frame rate was way to high for the game to have been using the iGPU.

So…. anyone else installed 511.23 successfully yet?

Update: I should mention that before attempting to install 511.23 I had been on the previously latest driver (don’t have the version number handy, it was released in December 2021) also installed through GeForce Experience.

I should also mention that I updated a desktop computer to 511.23 without issue.

 

Same thing happened to me earlier today with my 5i. I installed just the driver, not GFE. Uninstalling the driver through the nVidia (old) driver package caused a BSOD. Back in Windows I was able to re-install 497.29 without issue, discrete mode works again. Phew.

 

Optimized my Legion 5 17" to the max. Here are the results:

Tomb Raider 11800H vs 5800H (3070) 1080P Highest Details Preset vs. My Lenovo (NO GPU overclock) https://i.imgur.com/r7WC8ld.png Increase of ~21% !!!

Rank 1 5800H + 3070 Notebook Night Raid: https://www.3dmark.com/nr/588037

Rank 2 5800H + 3070 Notebook Fire Strike: https://www.3dmark.com/fs/26983452

Timespy CPU score is 11,343 https://www.3dmark.com/spy/25596802

CPU-Z val: https://valid.x86.fr/embae9

Zen Timings: https://i.imgur.com/mrCBo9m.png

Geekbench 5 CPU: https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/12122170

User Benchmark: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/49534845
2nd run: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/49557777

WinRAR: ~26,800 MB/Sec https://i.imgur.com/YYxAsOC.png

AIDA64 Read ~48457 | Write ~49000 | Copy ~47150| Latency ~63.1 ns https://i.imgur.com/UF3Sdea.png

 

I have 511.23 working just fine, in discrete mode.

 

Interesting. Which model/GPU do you have?

 

Legion 5 17" aka Legion 5-17ACH6H Laptop (Lenovo) with RTX 3070 140W.

 

3080 here -

I wonder what the rub is - happened to two of us that we know of.

 

I'm on Windows 10 that I installed about 3 days ago. I used Display Driver Uninstaller and then "perform clean install" with custom install drivers + PhysX + USB-C.

 

Hrmm, I am on Windows 11. It’s 99% the same as Windows 10 under the hood but I guess anything is possible.

Edit: mine is an upgrade from Windows 10