Well, it’s an OK idea…
Lenovo Ideacentre Y900 - Lenovo may be the largest PC seller in the world, but it isn’t a household name as far as PC gaming is concerned. The Chinese company wants to change that, especially as it pertains to the desktop space. Enter the Ideacentre Y900. The mid-tier desktop line features an edgy and aggressive design, but doesn’t look too gaudy. A good Ideacentre or just a bad idea? Read on….The Ideacentre Y900 uses a mid-tower chassis, and has some sharp edges, fancy red lighting, and a carbon fiber aesthetic, which gives the package some pizazz. The side doors open up unconventionally, and took us a second to figure out. Not only is there a latch on the back that you have to release, but there’s an unlock button on top for the side doors. Once you open up the case, you’ll notice that the guts include an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU, 8GB RAM, and a GeForce GTX 970. While we would have preferred 16GB RAM, there are two empty DIMM slots if you want to add more. The specs also make this VR-ready.
For storage, the Y900 comes with a 2TB hybrid HDD coupled with a 120GB SSD. The SSD is a bit small for our liking, as we recommend at least 250GB for the OS drive, but there is room for four storage drives in total. For cooling, the Y900 uses an interesting red glowing air-cooler that we’ve never seen before, coupled with a glowing red 12cm exhaust fan at the rear of SPECIFICATIONS Processor 4GHz Intel Core i7-6770K Mobo Lenovo Skybay RAM 8GB DDR4 Graphics GeForce GTX 970 Storage 120GB SSD/2TB HDD Optical DVD burner Case/PSU Lenovo Ideacentre Y900 the case. Everything is powered via an 80- plus bronze certified 625-watt PSU.
EIGHT AGAINST FOUR
When it came time to use that firepower, the Y900 performed modestly compared to our zero-point system. To be fair, our ZP has three GTX 980s and a 5960X CPU. In single-threaded CPU tests, performance was roughly on par. When it came to the multithread-heavy x264 test, however, it performed 43 percent slower. Ouch! But we are comparing an octa-core CPU against a quad-core one. In graphics, the delta was even bigger, as you’d expect. Across the board, we saw a delta of 56-68 percent. This means you’ll be able to max-out almost everything at 1080p, and even some games at 1440p, but it’s far from a 4K rig. For fun, we also ran the SteamVR benchmark, and the Y900 garnered a 6.4 fidelity score, which barely puts it in the“high” tier (“very high” is the best). This means it should be able to play most games on high in VR, but don’t expect to max-out settings.While our unit costs $1,600, which is expensive for a system with these specs, it also came with a mechanical keyboard, gaming mouse, and USB headset. The keyboard uses kailh switches and feels like red/brown ones, in that they aren’t superloud, like blue or green switches. The headset uses a USB interface, feels super- comfortable, and sounds competent. It also glows and has a removable mic. We weren’t as enamored with the mouse, however, which is a little too bulky for our taste.
While the Y900 isn’t a bad starter kit for the aspiring PC gamer, and does come with decent peripherals, there is a small price premium, especially if you have your own gaming gear. This isn’t a great Ideacentre, but you could do worse. –Jimmy Thang
SPECIFICATIONS
- Processor 4GHz Intel Core i7-6770K
- Mobo Lenovo Skybay
- RAM 8GB DDR4
- Graphics GeForce GTX 970
- Storage 120GB SSD/2TB HDD
- Optical DVD burner
- Case/PSU Lenovo Ideacentre Y900
