The Dell G5 (i5090-7166GRY-PUS) is a fairly powerful gaming PC, for as long as you keep your settings in the full-HD range. This gaming desktop can crack both demanding games and productivity tasks with ease, and may you need to throw in upgrades down the road, all you need is a single screwdriver.
The cheapest Dell G5 5090 configuration comes with pretty modest parts, while the more fancier model we’re reviewing still can’t afford to offer 4K gaming or tons of storage space. Still, taken on its own pricing and merits, the 5090-7166GRY-PUS is a capable machine with a lot to offer the full-HD folks. If you are not comfortable building your own rig, the G5 is a strong competitor against other best gaming PCs in its price range.
Design
The Dell G5 is a bit of a mixed bag. It doesn’t have the gamer-charm both inside and out, but it gets some points for being a small machine that could easily fit in small spaces. It’s surprisingly small at 14.5 x 12.1 x 6.7 inches and 18.6 pounds, meaning you can put it right on top of your desk if you don’t have enough space, and the chassis is rugged enough to live on the floor without getting kicked over accidentally.
Not to be too boring, the front has an elegant crosshatch pattern and a diagonal blue LED strip. You’ll certainly like the LED, but you might as well be disappointed by the lack of a dimming option, without having to go into the BIOS and no way to change colors. Unlike its high-end models, this chassis lacks a transparent side panel. On midrange gaming PCs like the SkyTech Shiva, it comes in way of glass rectangle on the left side, through which you can see the inner cable work and workings at all times, gracefully illuminated by LED lights.
Ports
The Dell G5 5090 – in its natural habitat, should have enough ports to cater for all accessory-laden gamers. The front panel holds three USD-A ports, one USB-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack and a 3.5mm mic jack.
Around the back, there are three more audio jacks (for connecting subwoofers or surround sound), additional USB-A ports, an Ethernet port, a DVI port, an HDMI port and a DisplayPort. The computer also features an internal Qualcomm DW1810 chip for 802.11ac wireless and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity.
Productivity Performance
This version of the Dell G5 5090 comes equipped with a 9th-Gen Intel Core i7-9700 processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD storage. Despite some few challenges with upgradability due to the G5’s limited internal space, you’ll still find plenty of performance on this unit.
For productivity tasks, the 8-core, 8-threaded Intel Core i7-9700 processor on the G5 scores 1,256 points and 7,132 points on Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core benchmarks. These synthetic scores give the G5 strong performance, just like the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo, powered by a mobile Core i9-9980HK silicon.
Gaming Performance
While it might not be the powerhouse that’s the Alienware Aurora, but if you’re largely playing your games at 1080p resolution, the Dell G5 delivers satisfying performance, just like the Periphio Gaming desktop. While we’re not sure a 1080p-optimized machine deserves more than $1,000, the i5090-7166GRY-PUS performs well enough without straining.
In real-world gaming, the souped up Nvidia RTX 2060 (with 6GB DDR6) graphics card runs Fallout 76 at 58 frames per second, Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 101 frames per second, all on Very High graphics. The Fallout 76 performance was slightly underwhelming, since even consoles can run this game at over 60 fps (but not with perfect consistency).
Just compare and contrast these numbers to our category averages: 87 fps for Far Cry, 121 fps for Shadow of War and 97 fps for Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Bottom Line
The Dell G5 5090 is a compact gaming rig that can play most games at an affordable price. It has easily accessible ports, but a proprietary motherboard and power supply mean that parts beyond the RAM, CPU and GPU can’t be upgraded easily.
This is a machine that you simply buy to play PC games on out of the box, not one t tinker with later. For the price, it does the job well, and we have to hand it to Dell; there are lots of configurations to choose from.
For those looking for something as a starting base for future DIY endeavors of PC building, I’d gladly suggest getting a cheap version of the HP Omen Obelisk, which uses absolutely standardized parts for easy upgrades.
But if all you need is having lots of ports, this Dell G5 (i5090-7166GRY-PUS) will serve you, as a gaming PC that you can set up and play with in a matter of minutes.
Recommended Configuration
Dell G5 Gaming Desktop
The Review
Dell G5 5090
The Dell G5 5090 is a compact gaming rig that can play most games at an affordable price. It has easily accessible ports, but a proprietary motherboard and power supply mean that parts beyond the RAM, CPU and GPU can’t be upgraded easily.
PROS
- Delivers reliable full HD 60fps gaming
- Fast processor
- Good value
CONS
- 12GB of storage is a little thin
Review Breakdown
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EDITORS RATING
