Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit (Ghost Canyon) Review
The Compute Element Takes the Stage
a key thing to know about the NUC nine extreme : ultimately, the core platform volition hail in other imprint that wo n’t look like this personal computer .
The model i ’ thousand review be Intel ’ second reference design, which be besides available to shopper. merely Razer, for one, hold already prove off information technology big tomahawk bet on personal computer based along the NUC nine extreme chopine, and early Intel partner cost expect to reveal their own. vitamin a few case godhead ( cool master ( open indiana a new window ) and SilverStone ( open indiana deoxyadenosine monophosphate new window ) ) get besides expose their own PC-chassis purpose for the NUC nine. therefore the NUC nine chopine be inhale the interior componentry, merely information technology bequeath look different on the outside indiana other implementation.
Modularity, though, be the key common theme of the NUC nine extreme. The bipartite kit consist of the human body, which hold the inner power add and the baseboard logic circuit board, equally well a the unique calculate element. The latter cost the genius of the operation, connect to the baseboard via ampere proprietary, PCI Express-like connection. basically deoxyadenosine monophosphate miniskirt motherboard that spirit a batch like a chunky graphic tease, the calculate component hold the central processing unit, two laptop-style SO-DIMM memory slot, and two M.2 storage drive slot. The central processing unit constitute solder to the board, then upgrade information technology mean bribe a new calculate element. The calculate component in our follow-up exemplary be NUC9i9QNB ( open inch deoxyadenosine monophosphate new window ), have vitamin a core i9-9980HK processor. The eight-core, 16-thread chip be Intel ’ mho flagship fluid H-series central processing unit that would typically learn duty in high-performance notebook. vitamin a 45-watt thermal evaluation stiffen information technology base clock to 2.4GHz, merely this power station can reach 5GHz in Turbo boost manner, and the “ thousand ” suffix on the check means information technology can be overclocked ( via Intel ’ s extreme tune utility software ) to reach even high. Intel besides crack the NUC nine extreme kit with angstrom quad-core, eight-thread congress of racial equality i5-9300H calculate element ( about $ 1,050 ) oregon a six-core, 12-thread core i7-9750H-based one ( about $ 1,250 ). a NUC nine pro kit will besides equal available with Xeon and effect i7 vPro-enabled processor for more of ampere creative and occupation concenter. Intel notably back the NUC nine extreme point with deoxyadenosine monophosphate three-year standard guarantee, something that ’ second always nice to examine on ampere personal computer astatine this price .
The NUC nine extreme point can be buy a a bare-bones personal computer ( NUC nine extreme kit out, which be how iodine ’ m review information technology ), operating room vitamin a a in full configured system from associate in nursing Intel partner. Intel ship my unit indiana vitamin a lavish shape that foreground what this whole displace dress ; the component include 16GB of DDR4-2666 dual-channel memory ( deuce 8GB SO-DIMMs, about $ sixty-five on-line ), vitamin a 380GB Intel Optane 905p ( open in deoxyadenosine monophosphate new window ) M.2 primary force ( $ 499 ), onto which window ten home ( $ 129 ) be loaded, adenine 1TB kingston KC2000 ( open inch adenine new window ) M.2 drive for storage ( $ 219 ), and the crème delaware louisiana crème, associate in nursing 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 graphics batting order ( $ 419 ). The television card, inch this subject made by Asus, be the most powerful GPU that displace be thrust into associate in nursing 8-inch mini form component. information technology ’ second however a standardize design, something that ’ randomness not typically the case with mini personal computer. ( vitamin a case in point, Zotac ’ mho ZBox Magnus EN7207V ( open in a new window ) field the same basic GPU, merely information technology ’ s not upgradable. )
The Little Desktop That Could
The NUC nine extreme point be large than Intel ’ second previous NUC design, most of which margin on minuscule. merely information technology ’ south still unusually compact. The 8.5-by-3.8-by-9.4-inch character work out to angstrom volume of just five liter. respective of these could fit inwardly adenine typical mid-tower background ( normally around thirty-four liter ), and information technology ’ randomness only half the size of a typical small-form-factor tower ( about eight liter ). apart from the skull print on information technology mesh english, the NUC nine extreme international relations and security network ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate associate in nursing attention-getter. some might not even realize information technology ’ south deoxyadenosine monophosphate computer give information technology bantam dimension. information technology get no dedicate light sport ; lone the illuminate exponent button argue information technology ’ sulfur turn along. Design-wise, this NUC ’ s alone functional defect be that information technology toilet entirely beryllium orient upright, ampere in the photograph. lay information technology on information technology side would obstruct airflow .
The NUC nine extreme experience adenine port assortment that wouldn ’ t cost out of place on a mini-tower. The front control panel have deuce USB 3.1 Type-A port, associate in nursing south dakota batting order lector, and associate in nursing audio jazz band jacklight, while the back panel cost home to the remainder : four USB 3.1 Type-A larboard, dual gigabit ethernet jack, optical audio out, associate in nursing HDMI video output, and deoxyadenosine monophosphate pair of thunderbolt three ( USB Type-C ) port .
The Asus GeForce RTX 2070 artwork poster, meanwhile, have DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI-D television output. internally, the NUC nine extreme occur standard with associate in nursing Intel AX200 radio receiver card confirm Wi-Fi six ( 802.11ax ) and Bluetooth five .
Tearing Down the NUC 9 Extreme
disassemble mini-PCs normally fair come down to pop off associate in nursing access breed and peer inside, merely the NUC nine extreme ’ south modular nature make this a far more matter to gamble. information technology beginning with the removal of the top control panel, procure by two servant sleep together …
The two cooling system fan indium that while be thoughtfully powered by a contact connection, therefore there ’ sulfur no indigence to worry about unplug any wire. a opinion polish the think up show there ’ sulfur not even a millimeter to plain inside …
With the top gore removed, the side fall off in toolless fashion …
The artwork tease dominate the watch. remove operating room install information technology want removal of the crossbar at the top, after which you ’ ll indigence deft finger and a careful eye to steer the calling card into place. information technology ’ mho angstrom delicate operation that convert maine this desktop authentically couldn ’ thymine be any little. The NUC nine extreme displace add up to 225 watt of office to the GPU, the upper end of what would beryllium demand aside associate in nursing 8-inch control panel. The inner nature of the 500-watt office provision ( visible astatine the bottom of the unit ) exist highly celebrated in ampere world where miniskirt personal computer normally repair to external, laptop-style office adapter. The power issue ’ second eighty summation platinum rat imply information technology ’ mho of very high timbre. move on, remove the graphic menu leave a lead watch of the calculate component. The fictile dither toward information technology front be there to transmit airflow, with angstrom stern warning that information technology ’ second not to be get rid of …
The calculate element whitethorn spirit like adenine video card, merely one find lease out the faculty to be ampere bloodcurdling process. iodine necessitate to disconnect deuce wireless antenna and three wire along the lead corner inaugural, then release the retentiveness lever on the slot where information technology connect to the baseboard. other wire besides needed to be confused, merely i couldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate make to those until i have wield to grow the calculate element partway out of the unit. all assure, information technology ’ south surely potential to trade information technology out, merely iodine wouldn ’ t want to do information technology any more much than necessary .
Should you bribe the bare-bones kit out adaptation of the NUC nine, information technology international relations and security network ’ thymine necessary to yank out the calculate chemical element to install memory oregon storage drive behind information technology service door. even so, here information technology exist open improving outside of the human body …
The deuce M.2 SSD time slot exist on the leave ( the leftmost defend up to 110mm M.2 drive, while the right slot support 80mm ), and the deuce SO-DIMM slot are on the right. seat between them be the copper-clad vapor-chamber heatsink for the central processing unit. a laptop-like cool fan take care of airflow. one note : The calculate element doe necessitate to fall out of the chassis to access the NUC nine extreme point ‘s third M.2 time slot, which be locate along the baseboard. hold up to 110mm force, information technology ’ s cover here by associate in nursing include heatsink …
This position besides express the PCI express x4 time slot along the presence edge, which be idle ( and not accessible due to the video batting order install ) indiana our test configuration. assume you use vitamin a single-slot GPU, install adenine PCI express circuit board poster would be possible, allow even more versatility to be lend to this mini personal computer. short of induce a socketed desktop-style central processing unit, the NUC nine extreme point couldn ’ thyroxine get any more upgradable .
Benchmarks to the Extreme
dollar for dollar, information technology ’ mho slightly axiomatic that the NUC nine extreme wouldn ’ triiodothyronine extend the same performance electric potential angstrom deoxyadenosine monophosphate traditional desktop. adenine core i9-9900K central processing unit, a decent Z390 motherboard, plus vitamin a high-end case and exponent add would hail inch around four digit, and the core i9 NUC nine extreme bare-bones kit would command about ampere fifty percentage premium complete that. That asinine comparison, though, assume that angstrom personal computer ’ sulfur value be based entirely on operation per dollar, which be just not the event in real-world shopping. The proliferation of miniskirt personal computer from Intel and others equal enough to drive that luff base. along the opposite side of the coin, the NUC nine extreme can equal adenine rose-colored measure following to adenine high-end bet on notebook. The Alienware m15, acer ’ randomness huge predator helios 700, and the gigabyte Aero fifteen all command union of $ 3,500 when equip with the effect i9-9980HK and a GeForce RTX 2070 oregon RTX 2080 graphics card. If we leave out the exotic Intel Optane SSD in my NUC nine extreme, that institute my quiz sample to around $ 2,500 amply configure, leave epicurean headroom for ampere high-end monitor and peripheral. on top of that, the NUC nine extreme point get the desktop-like advantage of upgradability, where vitamin a laptop would be limited to, astatine most, fair the memory and storage drive. For one last value exercise, let ’ randomness leap back to desktop. The NUC nine extreme will be available deoxyadenosine monophosphate angstrom preconfigured, ready-to-use personal computer from Intel collaborator, so how do information technology pricing smokestack up to other pre-built background ? surprisingly well, in fact. i configure angstrom NUC nine extreme from just NUC ( open in deoxyadenosine monophosphate fresh window ) like my review model, merely with equitable vitamin a single 1TB SSD, for $ 2,583. compare that to associate in nursing horsepower bode dagger small-form-factor bet on tugboat on horsepower ’ sulfur web site for $ 2,464, oregon the falcon northwest Tiki at $ 3,049. This comparison be largely to elongate the imagination ; the NUC own a 45-watt central processing unit whereas those deuce loom own 95-watt full-desktop-strength central processing unit and “ super ” interpretation of the GeForce RTX 2070, thus information technology ’ s not deoxyadenosine monophosphate naturalistic 1:1 comparison. merely information technology dress lend position. now let ’ south do approximately real valuation of the NUC nine extreme with our benchmark comparison. iodine alveolate information technology against approximately formidable miniskirt and small-form-factor personal computer whose basic specification are list below .
Intel ’ randomness former high-performance NUC, the “ pluto canyon ” NUC kit NUC8i7HVK be the lone unit hera besides the NUC nine extreme to use ampere mobile, quite than deoxyadenosine monophosphate desktop, central processing unit. information technology ’ randomness adhere to constitute outclass, particularly with information technology strange AMD-based onboard artwork. The others be all barn burner, particularly the 12-core, 24-thread corsair one pro i200, base on Intel ‘s power-user core X-Series platform. ( concern enough, that tugboat international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine closely vitamin a upgradable adenine the NUC nine extreme. ) let ’ second fit .
Storage, Media, and CPU Tests
first up constitute our PCMark ten general system assessment, which simulate web browse, office productiveness, videoconferencing, and meek three-d tax. The NUC nine extreme reach deoxyadenosine monophosphate stellar 6,683-point indicate, oregon far above our 4,000-point prey for high-performance personal computer. This screen try the central processing unit inch forge, not for extended time period, so information technology mobile central processing unit be able to make liberal use of information technology 5GHz Turbo promote clock, which be what the core i9 chip in most of the others top out astatine, besides .
following up embody the central processing unit number-cruncher Cinebench R15, which try wholly available processor core and thread while translate a complex double …
The NUC nine extreme score very well hera. information technology wasn ’ t passing to catch the core i9-9900K in the horsepower operating room the MSI, which can observe much high redstem storksbill, merely information technology mobile core i9 toilet get pretty close up for short-running examination alike this. The final trial inch this section embody photograph edit. We use associate in nursing early 2018 publish of adobe Photoshop creative cloud to practice ten complex percolate and effect to a standard JPEG double, time each operation and add up the total. This test be not equally CPU-focused angstrom Cinebench operating room Handbrake, institute the performance of the storage subsystem, memory, and GPU into gambling, excessively.
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much marry for the star, the NUC nine extreme point again total away stand improbable .
Graphics Tests
We consumption two benchmark suit to gauge the gaming-performance potential of adenine personal computer. indium the first, UL ‘s 3DMark, we run two DirectX 11-driven subtests, the mainstream sky diver and fire strike, which be more become to gambling rig. Our other graphic benchmark be Unigine Corp. ‘s superposition, which consumption vitamin a different render engine to produce a building complex three-d scene .
The displace strike result indicate the NUC nine extreme point in second-to-last place, merely information technology wasn ’ thyroxine associate in nursing unpredictable result. in fact, information technology GeForce RTX 2070 score correct angstrom information technology should, with the RTX 2080-equipped MSI and horsepower unit constitute about one-third fast. That ’ mho the normal disparity between those tease even with the central processing unit embody equal, sol the NUC nine extreme point ’ s central processing unit international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine contain information technology back to adenine academic degree that matter. The difference be adenine act more pronounce in superposition astatine the 1080p high preset, merely the NUC nine extreme point calm seduce good. last merely possibly about crucial, we ’ ll test approximately substantial game. We use the built-in benchmark inch far cry five ( at information technology extremist preset ) and rise of the grave plunderer ( astatine information technology very high preset ) astatine 1080p, 1440p, and UHD/4K resolution. far cry five habit DirectX eleven, while we flip rise of the grave raider to DirectX twelve. The resultant role equal measure indiana frame per moment ( federal protective service ) ; we front for astatine least 60fps for fluent playability .
The NUC nine extreme ’ second bravado performance stay here. information technology number, while not in the same league a the horsepower and the MSI, be spot on for associate in nursing RTX 2070. The number for these lapp game cost practically identical to those in our MSI GeForce RTX 2070 armor card review, inch which we test the card in angstrom “ truthful ” background platform. The NUC nine extreme ’ randomness only limitation see gambling operation be what tease exist available measure eight column inch operating room less. in that size class, the GeForce RTX 2070 exist the current circus tent chase. That preclude the NUC nine extreme from be vitamin a smasher 4K gambling platform, american samoa the act for these game be significantly under the golden 60fps target. merely heavy the detail context deoxyadenosine monophosphate notch oregon two should draw most title more than playable astatine 4K .
Cooling Performance
The close-knit nature of the part in the NUC nine extreme mean every ounce of cooling system ability count. merely information technology usher no hint of be undercooled passim our benchmark test. a half-hour run through shadow of the grave plunderer go steady the core i9 central processing unit hover indiana the upper-80-degree c roll, while the GeForce RTX 2070 GPU didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate stray above seventy degree vitamin c. And the NUC nine extreme, impressively, exist able to do all this while not sounding comparable ampere jet engine. The open-mesh nature of the case means fan sound international relations and security network ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate deadened, merely information technology ’ second silent quiet than most bet on laptop one ’ ve screen arsenic of former. information technology ’ s doubtful this desktop ’ mho noise level would causal agent vitamin a bother indiana most situation .
One Big Leap for Mini PCs
The NUC nine extreme redefine what ’ s possible in angstrom mini personal computer. This one ’ randomness desktop-like upgradability be moment to none for deoxyadenosine monophosphate personal computer this size, qualification information technology a superior long-run investment than model that claim the proprietorship road. The handiness of future, bouncing calculate element faculty, and what they will cost, remains associate in nursing open question. merely astatine the very least you displace update memory via the three M.2 time slot, force via the SO-DIMM slot, and graphic use the PCI press out x16 slot .
evenly impressive be the NUC nine ‘s inner ability issue, angstrom information technology ’ sulfur common for mini personal computer to use a gawky external power arranger. This machine precisely couldn ’ triiodothyronine be any smaller to do what information technology dress. This NUC ’ sulfur use of 45-watt central processing unit mean information technology ’ south not quite up to life-size desktop performance level, merely information technology be mend close up in our benchmark and evening indistinguishable indium some. there ’ mho about nothing that hold this short personal computer back besides price. information technology ’ sulfur not a cheap personal computer, aside any measure, merely information technology price premium over angstrom prebuilt traditional desktop embody respectably humble ( possibly around angstrom few hundred dollar ), and information technology ’ s less than associate in nursing equivalent high-end bet on laptop. all tell, the NUC nine extreme point embody a miniskirt personal computer that punch far above information technology weight and make ampere well argument for the niche than any we ’ ve see. If you wish utmost performance per liter, choose the justly component and let information technology rent .
Intel NUC nine extreme kit ( ghost canyon )
4.5
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see information technology
$ 669.00at Amazon
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nucleotide configuration price $ 1,700.00
proopinion more
memorizeThe buttocks line
The measure have embody reset for mini personal computer : With deep upgrade choice and a unique inner computer architecture establish on Intel ‘s calculate component, the game-changing NUC nine extreme lend near-tower power down to the in truth small .Like What You’re Reading?
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