Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower case front and back pannel

Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower

Specification and Upgrade Options

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower is a pre-built business desktop computer first released in 2012. Although more than five years old, it is still a viable solution for home, office, and when properly upgraded – gaming. The motherboard is using the H61 chipset and supports 3th gen Intel Core processor, 16GB of DIMM DDR3-1600 memory, and dedicated graphics card.

Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower is a Mini Tower form factor computer. The Mini Tower is the largest chassis in the business class desktops segment. If you are looking for a system with maximum upgradability, Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower is a good option. Models in this category usually have 4x PCIe slots, several drive bays and better cooling.

Specification

Model
Form factorMini Tower
CPU optionsIntel Gen2&3 i3/i5/i7; Celeron; Pentium;
ChipsetH61
Dedicated GPU *GeForce GTX 1660 Super
RAMDIMM DDR3-1600
RAM slots2
RAM speed1600 MT/s
RAM max16 GB
USB ports(6x)USB-A 2.0;
Video portsDVI-D; VGA;
Other portsRJ45; Hdph; (2x) Mic; Line-Out; Line-In; Serial; (2x) PS2;
Optional portsParallel; Serial; Media card reader (USB 2.0);
SATA ports3
PCI slotsPCIe 2.0 x16; (2x) PCIe 2.0 x1;
M.2 slotsN.A.
Drive bays(2x) 2.5/3.5in; 5.25in;
PSUATX 280/320 W
Weight9.4 kg (20.72 lb)
Released2012
Manuallink
Price**Check Price

* Dedicated GPU warning: Check if your particular power supply model has enough power. Additionally some PSUs don't come with an auxiliary PCIe power connector and you may need to buy a SATA to PCIe power adapter.
** As an Amazon associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Can you upgrade Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower to play games?

Yes, you can upgrade Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower for gaming with better processors, graphics card, memory, and storage devices. However, like many other business pre-built PCs, this model may have proprietary elements like the power supply, the chassis or the power connector, which can make it difficult for users to install aftermarket PSUs to support better GPUs. You can also find that there is space constrains inside the chassis, making it difficult to accommodete larger GPU to boost the gaming performance.

Please explore the sections bellow to find ideas and suggestions on how to upgrade Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower.

Windows 11 compatibility

No, Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower does not meet the Windows 11 hardware requirements. According to Windows 11 specification, all models with Intel 7th Gen CPU or older are not officially supported. Processor with TPM 2.0 and a UEFI Secure boot BIOS is also required in order to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 through Windows Update.

However, anyone with PC that does not pass the upgrade test can download the official Windows 11 ISO, make a bootable flash drive, and install the OS manually.

GPU upgrade

You can upgrade Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower with a full size GPU. Models like NVIDIA GTX 1660 or GTX 1650 Super are good and safe upgrade option and will work with most Mini Tower form factor. However, keep in mind that the type of GPU you can install will depend on the available space in the chassis and the PSU power rating.

Before you begin shopping for a new GPU, it's important to consider the power supply unit (PSU) currently installed. This is because powerful GPUs require more power than the stock PSU can provide, which means that you may need to upgrade your PSU as well.

According to the manual, the maximum stock power supply available on Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower is 320W. However, to be absolutely sure, check the stock power supply power rating and use one of the GPUs from the table.

GPU upgrade options for Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower with the stock 320W power supply:

GPU Power consumption Memory Req.
NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super 130 W 6 GB DDR6 *SATA to PCIe adapter
NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti 125 W 6 GB DDR6 *SATA to PCIe adapter
NVIDIA GTX 1070 145 W 8 GB DDR5 *Dual SATA to PCIe adapter
NVIDIA RTX 3050 130 W 8 GB DDR6 *Dual SATA to PCIe adapter
* Typically, the stock power supply in a business PC does not have the necessary 6 or 8 pin connectors to power the GPU. In such cases, you may need to use a low-power GPU or a SATA to PCIe power adapter. Alternatively, you can change the entire PSU.

Processor

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower supports Gen3 Intel Core technology. The 3rd gen Intel Core CPUs have the code name Ivy Bridge. They use a 22nm manufacturing process developed by Intel. Here the maximum number of core are 6 with i7 processor. Desktops model use either the LGA 1155 or the LGA 2011 sockets and DDR3-1333 to DDR3-1600 RAM.

Best CPUs for Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower upgrade:

Model Cores (Threads) Base frequency Turbo
Core i5 3550 4(4) 3.3 GHz 3.7 GHz
Core i7 3750 4(4) 3.4 GHz 3.8 GHz
Core i7 3770 4(8) 3.4 GHz 4.9 GHz

Memory

Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower has two RAM slots. This is more than enough for most users. For those of you who need extra flexibility and RAM size, go for a model with 4 memory slots.

To cover the needs of your OS, games, and apps, Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower supports up to 16 GB of DIMM DDR3-1600 RAM. For office work, home use, and light gaming we recommend 8GB of RAM. For everything else, use 16GB or more.

Faster RAM speeds permit your processor to access the data stored inside the memory faster. This is important for the overall speed of your system. The motherboard of the Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower supports RAM speeds of up to 1600 MT/s.

Wi-Fi Support

Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower doesn't come with any on-board Wi-Fi support. In that case, you have two options to upgrade this model with Wi-Fi. You either use an external USB Wi-Fi adapter (wireless network dongle) or a PCIe-based wireless adapter.

The USB dongle is much more convenient and easy to install, but has less space for a decent antenna and can have thermal problems. On the other hand, the PCIe based adapter is much more powerful, more reliable, and has better antenna, but it is harder to install.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless adapter upgrades for Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower:

Model Speed Frequency Interface
WiFi 6E (Gig+) Kit 3000 Mbit/s 2.4GHz / 5GHz NGFF M.2 A/E Key
Rekong AX210 3000 Mbit/s 2.4GHz / 5GHz NGFF M.2 A/E Key
Gigabyte GC-Wbax200 2400 Mbit/s 2.4GHz / 5GHz PCIe
TP-Link Archer TX50E 2400 Mbit/s 2.4GHz / 5GHz PCIe
TP-Link Archer T9UH 1300 Mbit/s 2.4GHz / 5GHz USB 3.0

Ports

Ports are important and often people don't think about them when buying a PC. For example, if you don't have enough USB ports, using external devices becomes problematic. Before you buy any system, considering your use case, check the number of external devices you are going to use and plan the number of the extension ports accordingly.

USB ports

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower comes with six USB ports in total. Having more USB ports is always better, but also pay attention to the version of those USB ports. Higher version ports support faster transfer speeds. Unfortunately, this model doesn't come with a USB 3.1 port. If you need a faster connection for your peripherals, like external Solid State Drive, you will need to choose another model.

Video ports

The DisplayPort (DP) is now the most widely used digital interface for transmitting digital video and audio between display devices and PCs. It is unfortunate to see that the Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower doesn't have one. Check out the HDMI section and make sure that you are at least getting an HDMI port - a good substitution for the DP.

The HDMI port is another digital video port you can use to connect external display. It has very similar capabilities to the DisplayPort with few exceptions. However, the Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower doesn't have one. This is not a problem if there is on-board DisplayPort.

*Please keep in mind in order to use the video ports available through the motherboard, you need a CPU with integrated graphics card. If you have a dedicated GPU, use his ports instead.

SSD storage - M.2 sockets and SATA ports

The SATA port is one of the places where you can connect a stora gedevice. The Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower comes with three SATA port(s). Not enough SATA ports might limit your options for additional storage devices. Think about your use case and decide if the SATA ports provided by this model will be sufficient.

Unfortunately, the Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower has no M.2 PCIe soket and you have to rely on the available SATA ports to connect your drives.

The M.2 PCIe SSD connector in combination with an NVMe drive allows for higher transfer rates, compared to the old SATA interface. In some situations, NVMe device connected to the M.2 PCIe socket can be more than 5 times faster.

Power Supply

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e Tower comes with a 320 Watt PSU. Having a power supply with high power rating is important, especially if you are doing upgrade with addtional components, like dedicated GPU and more HDDs. Will this 320 W be enough, it all depends on your specific use. Please keep in mind that some models might have more than one PSU option. Whenever possible get the most powerful one, as it might make future upgrades easier.

Motherboard

Lenovo_ThinkCentre_M72e_Tower_motherboard.jpg motherboard layout