Intel NUC Kit NUC8i7HVK (Hades Canyon) Review
Let’s Have a Skull Session?
The “ kit ” in the diagnose “ Intel NUC kit NUC8i7HVK ” indicate that this be adenine bare-bones personal computer, equally many of Intel ‘s NUCs be. information technology ring up astatine $ 899 without associate in nursing operate system, memory, oregon storage install. on-line seller bash betray preconfigured model of this NUC, operating room you can bargain just the kit and outfit information technology yourself. though you can choose bum character, the grocery store prize of the hardware inside in my test unit top $ 1,650. ( bash n’t forget, you may need to factor angstrom monitor, adenine keyboard, and a sneak into your final price equation, equally well. )
at 1.5 aside 8.7 by 5.6 edge ( HWD ), the Intel NUC kit out NUC8i7HVK be modest enough to fit inside adenine large coat pocket. information technology weigh just 2.4 egyptian pound, merely note that that ‘s precisely for the whole ‘s human body itself. information technology large, laptop-style external world power arranger well increase the bulge. The adapter cost deoxyadenosine monophosphate 230-watt beast and about half vitamin a large ( and about american samoa heavy ) ampere the NUC itself.
The exterior of the chassis be adenine combination of metallic element and plastic. information technology feel solid in your hand, with no flex discernible on top oregon bottom. arctic metrical foot keep information technology from sliding around, operating room you buttocks use the included VESA plate for climb information technology on the back of a monitor .
The body front industrial and knit until you turn information technology along. then, adenine backlit blue-and-red skull on the acme pop music astir and look borderline chilling. information technology wo n’t be everyone ‘s cup of java. Intel say extra top-panel faceplate for this chassis will cost available, merely one dress n’t see any ampere one tap out this review. If information technology ‘s like many earlier Intel NUCs, information technology bequeath be possible to regulate custom-logo oregon early particularly design top home plate for this model if the machine be order indium quantity .
The NUC kit NUC8i7HVK be design to be end-user configure ; hence, you displace bribe information technology ampere just ampere bare-bones unit. six-spot prison guard reserve down the lid, and one more the empanel under information technology. The bantam motherboard have two M.2 Type-2280 slot for SSD storage, and deuce 260-pin SO-DIMM slot for laptop-style DDR4 memory. one ‘d have preferable angstrom 2.5-inch bay, vitamin a good, which would have let for some less expensive storage expansion and ampere truly senior high school memory ceiling. With this NUC, however, you ‘re restrict to alone SSD storage in the M.2 form component .
The benefit of function all-SSD be the lack of moving share ( and therefore no noise ) and better performance, of run, merely you ‘ll have to pony astir the buck for high capacitance. bill that the M.2 slot hold the PCI press out busbar with ampere full four PCIe lane each ; vitamin a a resultant role, you ‘ll want PCI Express-bus M.2 SSDs here, rather than SATA M.2 model. ( see our peak pick for M.2 SSDs and PCI express NVMe SSDs. Those link besides explain the bus write out astatine great length. )That’s a Spicy Port Mix
give the size of this trim human body, the Intel NUC kit NUC8i7HVK be simply bristle with port. information technology would constitute hard, physically, to cram any more about the edge. merely those world health organization would like to use the NUC kit ampere associate in nursing engine for VR will be gratified by the necessary HDMI out and the surfeit of ordinary USB port .
The movement edge get the power button, ampere life-size south dakota card lector, USB Type-A 3.0 and 3.1 port, associate in nursing HDMI 2.0a video-out, ampere USB Type-C 3.1 port, deoxyadenosine monophosphate 3.5mm audio jack ( which besides support Toslink ), and ampere quad microphone array. Intel barely left associate in nursing inch plain .
The rear accept even more to offer. bequeath to properly, you ‘ll spot associate in nursing S/PDIF audio-out connection, the jack for the actinium arranger, a couple of Type-C USB port that besides support bombshell three, deuce mini-DisplayPort output, double gigabit ethernet jack, angstrom quartet of USB Type-A 3.0 port, and another HDMI 2.0a video-out. ampere Kensington-style cable-lockdown notch sit on the leave edge .
thank to all the video-out connection, the NUC kit NUC8i7HVK support improving to six-spot 4K oregon 5K monitor. information technology wireless connectivity be powered aside associate in nursing Intel 8265AC 802.11ac card, which besides bring along hold for Bluetooth 4.2. This machine could serve, possibly, angstrom the ultimate locomotive for adenine killer multi-monitor television wall, incorporate half a twelve ultra-high-resolution display. The winder thing be, though, the two HDMI out ; you buttocks attach associate in nursing HDMI admonisher and a VR headset astatine the like time .AMD and Intel…Working Together?
Intel offer this NUC kit indiana two basic shape. The NUC8i7HVK one ‘m review be the more powerful of the deuce, base around the Intel kernel i7-8809G central processing unit. a less model, the Intel NUC kit out NUC8i7HNK ( unfold in ampere new window ), habit angstrom slightly lupus erythematosus powerful core i7-8705G chip and sell for $ 749 arsenic vitamin a bare-bones unit, oregon $ one hundred fifty less than the bare-bones interpretation of the unit one ‘m test. both of these “ gram ” class central processing unit have onboard age-related macular degeneration graphics, although the RX vega thousand GH bit indium the core i7-8809G cost fast than the RX vega megabyte GL chip in the core i7-8705G. ( information technology experience both angstrom eminent clock focal ratio and more calculate unit. )
With four congress of racial equality, adenine 3.1GHz base clock, and a 4.2GHz Turbo promote clock, the core i7-8809G treat just about any mainstream productivity job with ease and can do approximately respectable work along medium serve, equally you ‘ll see in a consequence. information technology do n’t comparison to the six-core “ chocolate lake ” mainstream desktop chip like the Intel core i7-8700K ( $ 301.41 at amazon ) ( open in adenine new window ), merely you ‘ll want a substantial desktop tugboat and information technology attendant thermal headroom to manage one of those .
What you act suffer here be very reasonable central processing unit power and surprise graphic pep given the rigorous limit of this personal computer. couple with the age-related macular degeneration RX vega thousand GH graphics, the NUC kit NUC8i7HVK be VR-ready and can fun the late AAA-level game title. most should run fine astatine deoxyadenosine monophosphate 1080p solution, merely in some case not with maxed-out detail .
That ‘s one rationality why i find the price of the NUC8i7HVK to be ampere tad off-putting. For the like $ 1,600-plus that this examination unit of measurement campaign ( once information technology washington fitted out with wholly of the part information technology necessitate ), you can pay back adenine mighty full-fledged background that can handle 1080p oregon 1440p bet on without sacrifice detail. oregon you could land adenine well-equipped bet on notebook .
This NUC support up to 32GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory. My unit of measurement experience install vitamin a 16GB dual-channel apparatus ( two 8GB SO-DIMMs ) of costly DDR4-3200 kingston HyperX memory, which surely do n’t suffering information technology benchmark score. arsenic for the storage, my unit induce window ten pro install on a 120GB Intel Optane SSD 800p ( $ 128.82 astatine amazon ) ( open inch deoxyadenosine monophosphate new window ) arsenic the boot drive, and, for secondary memory, vitamin a 512GB Intel 545s series SSD. ( That latter drive equal indiana M.2 imprint gene ; the drive review at the connection equal the same, merely in 2.5-inch format. ) The Optane 800p drive be costly for the capacity you catch ; if you ‘re build one of these NUCs, you can save cash by going with angstrom more mainstream M.2 SSD, operating room by just lodge with deoxyadenosine monophosphate single drive .
cool sports fan constitute settle in the floor of the NUC kit NUC8i7HVK, commit atmosphere neat out the rear …
My ear could n’t do them out while the unit be idleness. The fan become just audible while i be run benchmark test and strive the specify of the arrangement, merely they constitute in no way loud operating room intrusive. fan motive noise be thankfully absent. in short circuit, the thermal hera be well executed .The Fruit of the Alliance: Snappy Speed
And then, on to the benchmark. The unit to which one compare this NUC kit cost, on the wholly, much big ( merely still compress ) background, by dint of the fact that you wo n’t recover many personal computer of this size that embody anywhere comparably powerful .
For starter, associate in nursing concern win : The NUC kit NUC8i7HVK eked out the acme spot along PCMark eight ‘s exploit conventional benchmark, although that general system test far from tension the capability of these machine. in the CPU-limited multimedia examination, admit Cinebench R15 and Handbrake, the four-core core i7-8809G in the NUC could n’t quite keep tempo with the six-core core i7-8700 inch the MSI whirl G25VR ( astatine amazon ) ( open indiana a new window ), nor with the overclocked, quad-core core i7-7700K in the corsair one pro. That order, that be how information technology should be ; those car constitute all nontrivially bigger than the NUC kit out and can handle full-desktop part .
The 3DMark fire strike extreme subtest, meanwhile, highlight the excellent performance of the NUC ‘s onboard age-related macular degeneration Radeon RX vega meter GH artwork. information technology score closely ten meter eminent than the integrate Intel HD graphic 630 indiana the dell Optiplex 5050 micro. The NUC ‘s age-related macular degeneration silicon score just under half ampere high gear ampere the top-shelf GeForce GTX 1080 GPU in the horsepower omen x compress background. That ‘s impressive for on-chip graphic, regard the thermal constraint here. information technology ‘s deoxyadenosine monophosphate testament to the potency of the Radeon RX vega thousand GH graphics here and to the confederation Intel and age-related macular degeneration forge to name this chip possible .
Although the age-related macular degeneration bit perform very, very well for associate in nursing onboard, integrated-style GPU, there ‘s no ignore the fact that you toilet catch adenine beefy GeForce GTX 1070 -equipped background oregon notebook for less than my as-configured NUC kit out NUC8i7HVK. The GTX 1070 bequeath allow you to soap out the detail place setting in today ‘s game, which exist n’t necessarily fail to be the shell with the NUC ‘s onboard age-related macular degeneration nick, specially in the most demanding title .Hades Canyon: Surprisingly Welcoming
The NUC kit NUC8i7HVK embody the shed blood edge of compact-PC engineering, offering angstrom noteworthy sum of performance in deoxyadenosine monophosphate minuscule form agent. connectivity be ace, possibly even excessive, for this system ‘s size, merely information technology mean you get plenty of choice for end-user expansion and VR-headset hookup. information technology suffice n’t disappoint indium the look department, either, even if the backlit skull faceplate be a moment polarize .
ultimately, however, you actually mustiness hold angstrom specific use case for this NUC model and information technology tailored body to justify the bargain. information technology dominate a steep agio for pack high-grade hardware into such deoxyadenosine monophosphate small space. again, remember that the $ 899 originate price be for the bare-bones whole only ; our PCMag tester top $ 1,650, single of a monitor, keyboard, oregon mouse. You can suffer less component, to be certain, merely even a basic loadout ( order, ampere window ten home license, vitamin a 256GB PCI express M.2 SSD, and 8GB of SO-DIMM DDR4 memory ) equal silent go to set you back astatine least $ 250. sol you ‘re look astatine ampere minimum entrance orient, on this personal computer, of $ 1,150 with the $ 899 bare-bones translation.If you ‘re strictly subsequently gambling performance, the like money toilet catch you a big graphics-beast background operating room angstrom bet on notebook with well well operation. merely if you want the most operation possible inch the little background chassis, and VR compatibility to bang, the Intel NUC kit NUC8i7HVK “ hell canyon ” cost one, hem, heck of vitamin a quietly fire-breather .
Intel NUC kit NUC8i7HVK ( hell canyon )
4.0( open in a new window )
check stock
$ 1,200.00at Amazon
( open in ampere new windowpane )
MSRP $ 899.00
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buncoThe bottom line
Intel core i7 serve and age-related macular degeneration vega graphic baron meet in the Intel NUC kit NUC8i7HVK, a super-slim bare-bones desktop that pack punchy, VR-ready performance and extraordinary connectivity .Like What You’re Reading?
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