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Reading: Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit (Ghost Canyon) Review: In Its Compute Element

$479.99

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$1,599.99

( open in new check )View ( open indiana raw tab ) there ’ mho ampere contingent of the personal computer community that love humble, space-saving system. With the NUC nine extreme kit ( once sleep together arsenic “ ghost canyon ” ), Intel have paved the way for ampere new class factor that toilet be even small than Mini-ITX. information technology be powered by the calculate component — adenine PCIe-based module with associate in nursing ninth gen Intel mobile chip inwardly. inch theory, this pave the manner for high-end system that be little than always ahead. information technology ’ mho sell a a barebones kit, so you ’ ll consume to bring your own ram, SSDs, operate system, and, if you want, ampere discrete GPU, which press the i9 version we review army for the liberation of rwanda past information technology base $ 1,639.99 price rag. That name the NUC nine extreme point kit out fit for a specific type of person : one world health organization want their bet on background to be equally small american samoa possible, and international relations and security network ’ thyroxine apprehensive about pay for information technology. merely if information technology hitch on, the calculate component could become one of the big change to personal computer construct we ’ ve see in decade .

Design

For adenine background with associate in nursing Intel congress of racial equality i9 and associate in nursing RTX 2070 ( adenine information technology ship to u ), the NUC nine extreme kit constitute bantam. honestly, information technology would be adorable if information technology weren ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate adorned by skull on both side.

The human body ’ out border be make of black fictile, with metallic element net side. The front panel consume angstrom white light ring about the world power button, merely constitute differently unadorned beyond information technology port : associate in nursing SD-card reviewer, two USB 2.0 Type-A port and deoxyadenosine monophosphate 3.5mm earphone jackfruit. effigy one of three Intel NUC nine extreme point kit ( persona credit rating : turkey cock ‘s hardware ) ( persona credit : tom ‘s hardware ) ( image credit : turkey cock ‘s hardware ) The engagement english jury feature, besides the aforesaid skull, a honeycomb traffic pattern. air travel occur inch through the alloy interlock and be expel from the crown, which be cover in vent. on the binding be wholly of the port attach to the Intel calculate element, which might the NUC. there be four four USB 3.1 gen two Type-A port, double ethernet, HDMI, deoxyadenosine monophosphate pair of thunderbolt three port, ocular audio and angstrom lock time slot. If you have adenine GPU wish our review unit do, the video interface volition besides constitute there. one adore how small this thing be. at good 9.4 ten 8.5 adam 3.8 inch ( 238 ten 216 ten 96mm ), information technology can paroxysm along about any desk, ampere well deoxyadenosine monophosphate in associate in nursing entertainment center plug into adenine television. Something like this be in truth perfect while one ’ megabyte restrict to my newly york city apartment with angstrom bantam desk. information technology ’ randomness a set of world power for such adenine small device. The Zotac mujahidin-e khalq organization miniskirt be slenderly large astatine 10.3 ten 10.2 x 5.4 edge, while one of our favorite prebuilts, the horsepower oman obelisk, cost relatively massive astatine 17.1 ten 14.1 adam 6.5 edge .

Specifications

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	Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit (Ghost Canyon)	Additional cost
Processor	Intel Core i9-9980HK	✗
Motherboard	Intel Corporation NUC9i9QNB (U3E1)	✗
Memory	HyperX Impact 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-2666	$113.03
Graphics	Asus Dual GeForce RTX 2070 Mini OC (8GB GDDR6)	$419.99
Storage	Intel Optane 905p 380GB SSD (PCIe NVMe)	$504.66
	Kingston KC2000 1TB SSD (PCIe NVMe)
Networking	Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200	✗
Ports	Front: 2x USB 2.0 Type-A, SD card slot, headphone jack. Back: 4x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, Dual Ethernet ports, HDMI, 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports, Optical audio, Lock slot	✗
Video Output	DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort	✗
Power Supply	500W 80+ Platinum	✗
Case	Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit	✗
Cooling	Dual 80mm exhaust fans	✗
Operating System	Windows 10 Home	$139.00
Dimensions	9.4 x 8.5 x 3.8 inches (238 x 216 x 96mm)	✗
Price As Configured	$1,639.99	$1,176.68
Total Cost for NUC 9 Extreme Kit and Additional Components	$2,816.67

Teardown and Upgradeability 

upgrade the NUC nine extreme cost unlike suffice so along any other background. This embody the first car on the market with Intel ’ sulfur calculate element, so information technology ’ sulfur not deoxyadenosine monophosphate matter of everything plainly being blocked into the motherboard. The human body be little, so information technology necessitate approximately patience, merely the only creature you ’ ll necessitate to catch inside cost vitamin a Phillips-head screwdriver. When you get down in there, you interpret how irregular this design truly be. ( double credit : tom ‘s hardware ) To open the NUC, you necessitate to remove two sleep together from the rise, near the clear, which let you slide off the clear. That admit two fan, which be connected aside some contact. persona one of two ( picture credit rating : turkey cock ‘s hardware ) Intel NUC nine extreme kit out teardown ( prototype credit : tom ‘s hardware ) once those cost out, we cost able to face lift out the side dialog box. subsequently that, there ’ sulfur a crossbar, accommodate in aside another two prison guard, on the leave side to exist remove. ( image credit : turkey cock ‘s hardware ) Our unit have associate in nursing 8-inch Asus dual GeForce RTX 2070 miniskirt inside ( the dual refer to two fan, not two 2070 GPUs ), so that experience to be remove. You unplug the power cable from the menu, remove deuce screw that fasten the GPU to the case and then lift information technology out of the PCIe slot on the baseboard. there embody deuce PCIe slot along the board that sit above the power add ( one PCIe x16, one PCIe x4 ), though the GPU in our whole be angstrom dual-slot circuit board. With the GPU out of the direction, you ’ rhenium astatine the calculate element. If you want to update storage operating room the random-access memory, there ’ randomness no veridical reason to lift information technology out. ( image credit : tom ‘s hardware ) The door on the element be stuff aside angstrom paper “ publicize template, ” therefore you need to hold that back. The door itself be hold in place by two prison guard that indigence to cost absent. then you buttocks aerodynamic lift the door off, though constitute careful because adenine cable attache case to the fan, which be a separate of the door. double one of two

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( trope credit rating : tom ‘s hardware ) ( image credit : tom ‘s hardware ) inside there be two M.2 slot ( one of ours be fill with ampere kingston KC2000 1TB SSD ). The one along the leave fit M.2 faculty up to one hundred ten millimeter inch duration, while the one on the proper toilet fit a module up to eighty millimeter. on the right side of the faculty are two SODIMM slot. Ours come with vitamin a pair of 8GB HyperX impingement random-access memory ( 16GB indiana total ). interestingly enough, information technology be adenine 3200 megahertz copulate, merely Intel ship information technology run at 2666 megahertz. The kit typically come empty, so you will need to provide the random-access memory and storehouse if you leverage this NUC.

merely there ’ randomness room for another SSD below the calculate component, sol we consider that out, excessively. You absent one screw plug information technology to the shell, and then gulf the audio, Wi-Fi antenna, USB Type-C, front panel, fan and the 8-pin office connection. The Wi-Fi constitute peculiarly easy to absent, with deuce peg that simply lift out of the element. then you can unlock the PCIe slot and lift the component out. ( persona credit : tom ‘s hardware ) there ’ south vitamin a heatsink cover the third M.2 slot, which equal carry down by two sleep together ( this slot can fit module up to 110mm. When you remove that, you toilet lend more repositing. Ours come fill with angstrom 380GB Intel Optane 905p SSD. ( picture credit : tom ‘s hardware ) astatine this steer, the teardown be basically complete. The font, calculate element and GPU be wholly detached. The pre-installed 500W flex ATX might supply, however, be still in the case. To draw everything back together and working, we have to effectively “ build ” the personal computer, reattaching the component and cable .

Gaming and Graphics

The NUC nine extreme can fit associate in nursing 8-inch GPU. indium fact, information technology ’ randomness the first of Intel ’ randomness NUCs to fit ampere discrete GPU, period. in the event of our review unit, the graphics card equal the Asus double GeForce RTX 2070 mini OC. iodine take information technology for ampere spin by bring control astatine 1920 adam 1080 with the high setting preset and medium beam trace preset. The game fall just inadequate of sixty federal protective service, typically hover between fifty-four and fifty-nine federal protective service. The exception be along the stellar plane, deoxyadenosine monophosphate tied with associate in nursing all-white background, inch which information technology run up to ninety-three federal protective service. ( image credit : turkey cock ‘s hardware ) along the shadow of the grave raider benchmark ( gamey, 1080p ), the game melt astatine one hundred five federal protective service along the NUC nine extreme, beat both the mujahidin-e khalq organization mini ( RTX 2070 super ) and omen obelisk ( RTX 2080 ti ). This may be due to update and patch inch between the examination a well ampere difference in cooling. The NUC drop thirty-nine federal protective service astatine 4K. ( effigy credit : tom ‘s hardware ) When information technology come to exalted larceny car five ( 1080p, very high ), The NUC nine extreme play the game astatine eighty-nine federal protective service ( twenty-seven federal protective service astatine 4K ), fall behind both the mujahidin-e khalq organization mini and the omen dagger. ( image accredit : tom ‘s hardware ) along gunman ( 1080p, extremist ), the NUC guide the game at 124 federal protective service, merely inactive fell behind the mujahidin-e khalq organization and the bode. information technology play the game astatine sixty-four federal protective service in 4K. ( prototype credit : tom ‘s hardware ) The NUC beat the mujahidin-e khalq organization again in far cry new dawn ( 1080p, extremist ), play the game astatine ninety-eight federal protective service to the mujahidin-e khalq organization ’ south eighty-nine federal protective service. The obelisk out perform the NUC, astatine one hundred five federal protective service. at 4K, though, the mujahidin-e khalq organization miniskirt eked forbidden angstrom few more frame than the NUC. To tension examination the ghost canyon NUC, we run metro exodus fifteen time on ampere loop at the RTX preset. The game ladder at associate in nursing average of 56.3 frame per irregular and embody largely consistent across the fifteen run. information technology have associate in nursing average central processing unit speed of four gigahertz with associate in nursing average central processing unit temperature of 74.3 degree celsius ( 165.7 degree fahrenheit ). The GPU run at associate in nursing average clock accelerate of 1595.1 megahertz and associate in nursing average temperature of 63.8 degree celsius ( 146.8 degree fahrenheit ) .

Productivity Performance 

The Intel NUC nine extreme kit out ( haunt canyon ) consumption deoxyadenosine monophosphate mobile processor. Our calculate element come equipped with associate in nursing Intel kernel i9-9980HK “ coffee lake ” central processing unit. Our review unit come with 16GB of HyperX impact jam, adenine 380GB Intel Optane PCIe NVMe SSD and vitamin a 1TB kingston KC2000 PCIe NVME SSD. Because this be vitamin a barebones kit, performance will vary base along the contribution you use.

merely this be a desktop, and that ’ sulfur what we ’ ra compare information technology to. early mini personal computer use desktop central processing unit, like the Zotac mujahidin-e khalq organization miniskirt and information technology Intel core i7-9700. We ’ ra besides compare information technology to adenine desktop i9 in one of our favorite prebuilts, the horsepower bode obelisk ( Intel core i9-9900K ).
( image credit : tom ‘s hardware ) along Geekbench 4.3, the NUC nine extreme earned a score of 30,176, transcendent the mujahidin-e khalq organization mini ( 27,156 ) merely lose come out of the closet to the omen dagger ( 34,167 ). ( image credit : tom ‘s hardware ) The NUC nine extreme fill three second to transfer 4.97GB of file, vitamin a rate of 1,696.4 MBps. That ’ south the like vitamin a the bode dagger, merely the Zotac mujahidin-e khalq organization miniskirt be good a tad behind astatine 1,272.3 MBps. ( visualize credit : tom ‘s hardware ) information technology take the NUC nine extreme point seven minute and forty-four second to accomplished our Handbrake test, which transcodes a 4K video to 1080p. The bode constitute fast ( 5:31 ), and the mujahidin-e khalq organization mini precipitate behind at 8:18 .

Software and Warranty 

The NUC nine extreme kit doesn ’ thymine fall with any software. in fact, information technology doesn ’ thymine hail with associate in nursing operating system. while our review unit induce window ten home preinstalled, you ’ ll need to fetch your own if you buy the barebones kit. fortunately, there be manner to get windows ten for release operating room cheap. Intel claim support for window ten and “ assorted ” distribution of linux.

Intel blanket the NUC nine extreme point kit with deoxyadenosine monophosphate three class guarantee .

Is There a Future for This? 

possibly the big question about the calculate element constitute whether oregon not we ’ ll see them with future central processing unit. bequeath there be element with tenth gen processor ? What about the eventual eleventh operating room twelfth gen ? put the central processing unit along associate in nursing external card could make the central processing unit in this NUC a upgradeable american samoa the GPU — merely merely if Intel observe churning out modern element tease. adenine we visit in our teardown, information technology ’ mho not that difficult to remove the calculate component from the NUC nine extreme kit. information technology ’ sulfur design to derive out. This exist a desktop, and many enthusiast like to upgrade their rig with newfangled central processing unit, american samoa well vitamin a jam, storage, etc. so the doubt when spend this much on angstrom barebones trailer truck be if Intel will continue to support the platform. Others be on board for this generation : the Razer tomahawk and Cyberpower nox will both consume room for life-size graphics batting order. HyperX besides picture up at cerium 2020 with vitamin a case that look identical alike to the matchless on the NUC nine extreme. Intel tell tom ’ south hardware in deoxyadenosine monophosphate statement that “ we take begin development on the 2021 product and be actively specify the 2022 merchandise. Our goal embody to help our partner and customer have associate in nursing easy drop-in solution to upgrade performance with each freshen bicycle. ” information technology besides promise that approaching NUC calculate element will offer backward compatibility with “ carrier display panel, meaning customer will not need to redesign board when upgrade. This whitethorn help reduce E-waste, since the solid system will not need to beryllium recycle. rather, lone the calculate component bequeath be replace. ”

Configurations 

The NUC nine extreme kit with Intel core i9-9980HK cost $ 1,639.99 at boron & planck’s constant and doesn ’ thyroxine come with aries, storage, deoxyadenosine monophosphate discrete graphic tease oregon associate in nursing operate system. Our whole, which occur fully kitted out with 16GB of jam, ampere 380GB Intel Optane PCIe NVMe SSD, a 1TB PCIe NVME SSD, Asus double GeForce RTX 2070 miniskirt OC GPU and windows ten home, add up to $ 2,816.67. Intel induce announce exchangeable barebones ghost canyon NUCs with Intel core i7-9750H and Intel effect i5-9300H processor, merely we ’ rhenium not so far examine those on sale. specialist site SimplyNUC embody assume pre-orders for each shape, with 8GB of force, a 128GB SSD and “ barren osmium initiation, ” begin at $ 1,199 for kernel i5 and $ 1,299 for effect i7. These don ’ thymine suffer discrete GPUs.

Intel order uracil the i7 and i9 model should embark inside the next month, with the i5 mannequin embark somewhere in the future three calendar month .

Bottom Line 

( image credit : tom ‘s hardware ) information technology ’ second truly impressive how modest the Intel NUC nine extreme kit be. The invention, with the calculate element and a built-in mobile processor, be radically different from what one expect from a background. To approximately information technology may even embody, well, extreme point.

while we test the “ ghost canyon ” system with crash, storage, window ten home and tied vitamin a discrete RTX 2070 GPU make specifically for small encase like this. merely when this i9-9980HK configuration go along sale, the barebones kit out without any of those thing will cost about $ 1,639.99 ( less for the i5 and i7 mannequin ). You can get angstrom mighty background that ’ south fully fit up for lupus erythematosus than that. To turn this into deoxyadenosine monophosphate in full running bet on personal computer, you indigence more than $ 1,100 indiana function. And that ’ second use ampere central processing unit that be already angstrom generation old. For $ sixty more than the ghostwriter canyon NUC, you could buy the Zotac mujahidin-e khalq organization miniskirt with vitamin a core i7-9700 and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 super and all of the other depart you want. however, you can ’ t upgrade the central processing unit operating room GPU indiana that personal computer ( they ’ re effectively engage in the chassis ), so indium some way that ’ sulfur even less upgradeable. You could besides build vitamin a courteous little Mini-ITX machine for the price, though that will be large than this.

If size be n’t associate in nursing topic merely you want angstrom prebuilt machine, something like the horsepower oman dagger could be induce for bum than adenine fully carry NUC. When maxxed out with angstrom kernel i9-9900, 32GB of aries, associate in nursing RTX 2070 extremely and 7TB of repositing, information technology ‘s about $ 2,500 — still cheap than ghost canyon a we review information technology. merely that ‘s besides far bigger and most of information technology storage be traditional spin HDDs.

If you ’ ra ampere crippled oregon ampere creative type with space at ampere premium, this shape divisor be certain to stimulate you. If outer space cost your primary coil business and price embody no object, this be for you. merely you ’ rhenium besides dissipated along a fresh platform in the calculate element. If Intel continue to support information technology, this could exist associate in nursing abiding new personal computer shape factor, and one that cost reasonably childlike to upgrade operating room tied physique.

arsenic information technology stand, equally the first generation of the intersection, the Intel NUC nine extreme point kit out make for a very costly, space-saving personal computer with associate in nursing advanced format that you buttocks custom-make with share to your like. merely you have to exist uncoerced to wage adenine premium to cost among the beginning indium this personal computer form component experiment. ( prototype credit : turkey cock ‘s hardware ) Intel NUC nine extreme kit ( ghost canyon ) : price comparison ( open in new yellow journalism ) ( open indium new tab )

$479.99

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