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| The Lenovo ThinkCentre X Tower is a well-equipped tower PC with up to 256 GB of DDR5 memory. |
CES is always a spectacle of innovation, but some announcements make you stop and recalculate your entire PC budget. Lenovo’s latest is one of those moments. Moving beyond its business-centric roots, the company has just unveiled the ThinkCentre X Tower PC, a formidable new contender designed to go toe-to-toe with the most demanding pre-built performance systems on the market. This isn’t just an office workstation in a fancy case; it’s a clear declaration aimed at creators, engineers, and power users who need uncompromising horsepower.
Let’s dive into what makes this new tower a potential champion of the desk-bound.
The Heart of the Beast: Core Ultra 9 and the Mighty RTX 5090
The headline specs are exactly what enthusiasts have been waiting for. Lenovo is promising configurations powered by up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor. While the exact SKU is still under wraps, industry patterns suggest it will be a high-efficiency, 65-watt variant, offering flagship multi-core performance without the extreme power draw of overclockable K-series chips. This choice signals a focus on stable, relentless performance for rendering, simulation, and development workloads.
But the true showstopper is the graphics potential. Lenovo confirms the ThinkCentre X Tower will offer the next-generation NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 desktop GPU with 32GB of cutting-edge GDDR7 memory. For workflows that scale across multiple GPUs, there’s also a fascinating option for dual GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics cards. This flexibility means the tower can be tailored for everything from 8K video editing and AI model training to immersive, multi-monitor creative environments.
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| The Lenovo ThinkCentre X also boasts a healthy amount of front I/O. |
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| The Lenovo ThinkCentre X sports a classy and minimal design. |
A Foundation for the Future: Loads of Memory and Versatile Storage
Understanding that raw CPU and GPU power is nothing without a robust supporting cast, Lenovo has equipped the ThinkCentre X with a forward-thinking platform. It supports up to a staggering 256GB of DDR5-5600 memory across four CUDIMM slots. In an era where high-capacity RAM kits command a premium, maxing this system out will be an investment, but for professionals whose time is money, it’s a justifiable one for massive datasets and complex virtual machines.
Storage flexibility is equally impressive. The tower provides a balanced mix of speed and capacity:
- Triple M.2 2280 Slots: (2x PCIe 4.0 x4, 1x PCIe 5.0) for your fastest NVMe drives.
- Dual SATA 3.0 & Dual 3.5-inch Bays: For massive archival storage or RAID arrays.
- This layered approach means you can install a blisteringly fast PCIe 5.0 boot drive, like the Crucial T710 (currently around $170 on Amazon), for your OS and active projects, while using the larger bays for a vast media library or backup destination.
Connectivity to Match: A Port for Every Purpose
The I/O panel reflects the tower’s professional pedigree, offering extensive connectivity:
- High-Speed USB: Dual USB-A (10 Gbps) and six USB-A (5 Gbps) ports.
- Thunderbolt 4: A versatile Type-C port for high-speed data transfers, networking, or driving displays.
- Dual Ethernet: For network-intensive tasks or team environments.
- Legacy & Specialty Options: An optional COM port, PS/2 port, and card reader round out the offerings, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of professional peripherals and legacy equipment.
The Big Questions: Price, Availability, and Final Specs
As is typical with CES announcements, some crucial details remain pending. Exact processor models, Ethernet speeds (though dual ports suggest at least one will be high-speed), and most importantly, pricing and availability, are still under wraps. We also know the tower will include an M.2 slot for Wi-Fi 7 and dual PCIe x4 slots for additional expansion cards.
One thing is clear: the Lenovo ThinkCentre X Tower is not playing it safe. By committing to top-tier components like the RTX 5090 and Core Ultra 9, Lenovo is positioning this system as a turnkey solution for professionals who need tomorrow’s performance, today. When more concrete details emerge, we’ll see if its price tag matches its ambitious specs. For now, it stands as one of the most intriguing and powerful pre-built revelations of CES.