Lenovo Launches LOQ Tower 17IRB8: An Affordable Pre-Built With Intel 13th Gen

While many components used to build a new system have and are coming down in price (except graphics), it's an excellent time to build that new gaming PC. Going prebuilt is the way forward for those who want to plug in and play without all of the hard work, and there are plenty of options on the market, from the entry-level to the high-end. One such example that looks to bridge the gap between both and aims down the middle is Lenovo, with their latest LOQ Tower 17IRB8 gaming system.

Although Lenovo is a more prominent force in their notebook offerings, at CES 2023, they unveiled their range of prebuilt Legion gaming PCs for the high-end market. For those without deep pockets but still looking to play the latest PC titles, Lenovo has a new gaming-focused range called LOQ. Lenovo LOQ targets the mid-range market and has unveiled its first new prebuilt gaming PC from the series, the Lenovo LOQ Tower 17IRB8.

Catering to the mid-range with a more accessible price point for most users, the LOQ Tower 17IRB8 can be customized with support for up to an Intel Core i7-13700. While the LOQ Tower 17IR8B doesn't feature any overclockable K-series chips, the svelte 17-liter blue accented black micro-ATX frame combined with more affordable parts means that cooling could pose an issue. Instead, the LOQ Tower 17RB8 opts for up to and including Intel's 65 W Core i7-13700 processors and can be paired with 32 GB of DDR4-3200 memory.

Focusing on graphics support, Lenovo advertises NVIDIA's latest GeForce RTX 4000 series graphics but hasn't mentioned which cards it will support; this will likely be around the GeForce RTX 4070 level or maybe the RTX 4070 Ti. For storage, the Lenovo LOQ 17RB8 can be equipped with up to 1 TB of PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 and two 2TB SATA HDDs, although this will add extra cost to the overall price. 

Regarding I/O options, the Lenovo LOQ 17RB8 includes four USB 2.0, one 2.5 GbE, one HDMI 1.4b video output, and a single green 3.5 mm audio out jack. There's one 3.5 mm combo audio jack on the front panel, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, and two USB 3.2 Type-A ports. The LOQ 17RB8 also features a Wi-Fi 6E CNVi supports the 6 GHz band and BT 5.2 devices.

As with all of Lenovo's Legion desktops, Windows 11 comes preinstalled as standard, with three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to sweeten the deal. Pricing on the Lenovo LOQ 17RB8 starts at $980 and isn't expected to hit retail shelves in North America until the fall.