Lenovo Legion C530 Cube (i5-8300, GTX 1050 Ti) Mini PC Review

Every SKU includes a Realtek 8822BE WLAN module for 802.11ac connectivity and Bluetooth 4.2. We experienced no issues with the wireless during our time with the unit. The module is removable although it will be hidden underneath the graphics card should a longer one be installed. Some gaming laptops, like the Asus ROG Strix GL702ZC, are also equipped with this same Realtek module.

The right panel pops off with just a pull of a lever to expose the MATX motherboard. However, Lenovo says its dimensions have been reduced to 244 x 200 mm due to space constraints. The dual DDR4 slots, M.2 PCIe slot, three SATA ports, and CPU/GPU can all be easily serviced as needed. Additional 8-pin, 6-pin, and 2-pin rails are here should the GPU require more juice.

PCMark benchmarks rank our Lenovo desktop in the same ballpark as many Lenovo gaming laptops if not slightly slower because of its primary 1 TB HDD. We experienced a few BSODs that seemingly went away after we disabled Optane.

Our test unit includes a 1 TB Seagate HDD and a 16 GB M.2 Intel Optane SSD to accelerate HDD performance. Unfortunately, our unit would not boot into Windows correctly until we disabled the Optane SSD. Thus, our PCMark and storage benchmarks represent the system running off the primary Seagate HDD only with no aid from the Optane drive. The M.2 PCIe x4 drive supports NVMe SSDs.

The 7200 RPM HDD returns fast read and write rates of 184 MB/s and 128 MB/s, respectively, according to CDM 5 compared to around 100 MB/s on most 7200 RPM 2.5-inch HDDs. For budget-conscious gamers, we recommend a primary 64 GB or 128 GB SSD for Windows while relegating the 1 TB Seagate HDD to secondary storage. A classic SATA III SSD is still much faster than a typical HDD and less costly per GB than Intel Optane.

The GTX 1050 Ti has been well-documented and so it offers no performance surprises. Users can expect a performance level between that of the last generation GTX 960M and GTX 970M or about 25 to 30 percent slower than the GTX 980M. Upgrading to the GTX 1060 option will give a substantial performance boost of about 70 to 90 percent for significantly better gaming performance. There are no major performance differences between the 4 GB GTX 1050 Ti for desktop or laptops.

We can record no recurring frame drops or interfering background activity when gaming as exemplified by our constant Witcher 3 FPS readings below. See our dedicated page on the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti for more technical details and benchmark comparisons.

Internal fans include the GPU fan, CPU fan, air intake fan and exhaust fan. Fan noise when idling on desktop is quite high at about 41 dB(A) whereas the Legion Y730 laptop is almost silent under similar conditions. In defense of the C530, the desktop will likely sit further away from the user and its fan noise is lower-pitched to be less noticeable.

Fan noise jumps just slightly when gaming from 41 dB(A) to only 43 dB(A). Its range is much narrower here especially when compared to laptops. Some ultra-performance gaming laptops like the Aorus X7 DT can be as loud as 53 dB(A) when gaming.

There are only minor changes in surface temperature between light and heavy processing loads. When under high load, the front of the system becomes cooler than the rear since fresh air is drawn from the front grilles. Exhaust is warmest from the GPU at about 45 C. The surface ever becomes uncomfortably warm so long as the ventilation grilles have ample breathing space.

We stress the system with synthetic loads to identify for any potential throttling or stability issues. When subjected to Prime95 load, the CPU can be observed running stably at 3.8 GHz and at a core temperature of 71 C with no recurring dips. In fact, the CPU will hold this clock rate no matter how high the load may be to represent excellent Turbo Boost sustainability. In contrast, most Ultrabooks and mini PCs will typically run fastest during the first few seconds of an intense benchmark before throttling due to temperature management. The Asus Strix GL704, for example, can reach core temperatures upwards of 80 C or even 90 C compared to <70 C on our Legion C530. When running Witcher 3, our GTX 1050 Ti GPU is able to run at a steady core clock of 1595 MHz compared to its base clock rate of 1290 MHz.

Interestingly, the same GPU in the Legion Y730 is able to run at a faster clock of 1721 MHz when under the same Witcher 3 load. The Fire Strike benchmark above shows the Legion Y730 outperforming our C530 desktop by about 5 percent.

Idling will demand about 30 W to be three times more than most Ultrabooks and about two times more than a high-power 15-inch or 17-inch gaming laptop like the Asus GL704GM. When under higher loads, however, power consumption becomes nearly identical to the Lenovo Legion Y530 or Y730 equipped with the same GTX 1050 Ti GPU. Maximum power consumption is higher for the C530 since its processors are less likely to throttle when under extreme processing stress.

The Hades Canyon NUC is just a fraction of the size of the Legion C530 and yet it consumes 36 percent more power when running Witcher 3. Perhaps not by coincidence, its 3DMark Fire Strike score is also about 36 percent higher.

The 450 W PSU can handle cards up to the GTX 1070 should users choose to upgrade beyond the pre-configured GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 1060.