First Asus ROG NUCs feature Intel CPUs and discrete Nvidia RTX GPUs

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Bottom line: Intel ceased to develop new NUC small form factor systems in 2023, with Asus taking over to advance the platform with updated designs and hardware components. Now, the company is ready to offer its first gaming-oriented NUC under the ROG brand, featuring up to an RTX 4070 mobile GPU.

Asus agreed to build its own NUC PCs under a non-exclusive agreement with Intel, and the original line of mini PCs is now evolving further by merging with the ROG family of gaming products. After teasing the new devices a few months ago, the PC manufacturer is now officially launching its first high-end ROG NUC PCs.

Asus describes the mini PCs as ultrasmall yet "ultrapowerful" systems, offering ample performance for gamers, enthusiasts, and creators alike. The ROG NUC line features either a Core Ultra 9 or Core Ultra 7 Intel mobile CPU, coupled with a GeForce RTX 4070 or RTX 4060 discrete graphics processor of the laptop variety. Memory configuration includes 16 GB of DDR5, which can be upgraded up to 64 GB (32 GB x 2).

Storage includes a 512 GB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 SSD, with three additional empty M.2 slots available for further expansion.

The ROG NUC offers two wireless connectivity options (Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3) and a wired 2.5G Intel LAN connection. Available ports include an SD Express card reader, several USB ports (up to USB 3.2 Gen2), one HDMI port, and two DisplayPort 1.4a ports for monitors.

ROG NUC mini PCs are compatible with the ROG Raikiri Pro controller for "console-like" gaming on the sofa, the manufacturer says. They also support Aura Sync RGB tech to customize gaming setups with additional ROG peripherals and devices (and some in-house lighting effects).

While boasting the gaming capabilities of Intel's Core Ultra 9/7 hybrid architecture for Windows 11 x64, Asus highlights how the ROG NUCs can offer plenty of computing power for "AI professionals" and LLM researchers as well. The GeForce RTX 40 GPU series includes specialized Tensor Cores capable of properly accelerating machine learning algorithms. However, 16 GB of RAM is likely the bare minimum needed to enjoy a satisfying chatbot experience without relying on the cloud.

Using cutting-edge components in newer gaming systems isn't cheap, and the ROG NUC line will come at a premium.

The Core Ultra 7 model is listed with a suggested price of $1,630, while the Core Ultra 9 model has a $2,200 price tag. Neither system is yet in stock on the Asus e-store.

Permalink to story:

First Asus ROG NUCs feature Intel CPUs and discrete Nvidia RTX GPUs

 

[Dr Roboto]

I don't understand. Why not just buy a laptop and add an external monitor and keyboard/mouse? NUCS are a niche thing, but that niche used to be low SWaP at a really affordable price for an all in one. What is the point of a $1,600 ($2,200) NUC that is just a laptop without the screen and no portability. Help me understand?

 

[daffy duck]

Asucks harder and harder every week. Delusional but expected pricing.

 

[Dimitriid]

I don't understand. Why not just buy a laptop and add an external monitor and keyboard/mouse? NUCS are a niche thing, but that niche used to be low SWaP at a really affordable price for an all in one. What is the point of a $1,600 ($2,200) NUC that is just a laptop without the screen and no portability. Help me understand?

It's mostly nonsensical I won't try to justify them at all, but there's a tiny bit of a method to this nonsense: Most of the market is either really small devices or 'embedded' meant for office workers (Small footprint and power consumption are desired when you need to run 3000 computers on your building for example, something far easier to service than All-in-one pcs and far cheaper than a laptop) as well as other more industrial pcs sometimes called 'Edge computing'

As you can guess these are usually not powerhouses at all and almost never actually require anything more than intel hd graphics or the bare-minimum AMD graphics that come on their non-laptop chips. Just getting video out and video playback is usually more than enough for these use cases.

Now there's no way any offices are actually lining up orders of any of these Asus NUCs at all, however Asus is kinda doing the super car/race car marketing strategy: They make the best and most compact possible tiny device that's technically available for purchase as a show of strength, to boast about their supposedly superior technological capabilities and such. Of course it's more like a resume entry for when it's time for other manufacturers to place an order for 500,000 tiny motherboards to use on the aforementioned office and 'Edge computing' devices to show 'Hey these guys Asus came up with a super tiny, super powerful device maybe they can be a good option for our upcoming devices'

There are some actual consumers (A.k.a. Regular people not businesses or office managers or anything) that do like tiny pcs but for almost all of them, the real winners on the market right now seem to be Ryzen tiny cube pcs packing Laptop APUs like the 8845hs which are far more reasonably priced, can easily be a 'home lab' for you to run as a server and can probably do some nice gaming if you temper your expectations to well, handheld PC specs and resolutions they'll do fine.

 

[opckieran]

I don't understand. Why not just buy a laptop and add an external monitor and keyboard/mouse? NUCS are a niche thing, but that niche used to be low SWaP at a really affordable price for an all in one. What is the point of a $1,600 ($2,200) NUC that is just a laptop without the screen and no portability. Help me understand?

This particular product might not be the greatest example, but, if you look on the lower end of the price spectrum, you’ll see some more specialized products with multiple Ethernet ports and low power SOCs. Those are great for diy home firewalls, proxmox, file servers, media servers, you name it.

Otherwise, some prefer a sub-sff fixed device with more power/thermal headroom and expandability than they’d get with a laptop. Especially if they’re planning on using peripherals anyways. Laptops these days don’t have as much in terms of port selection as these NUCs either.

 

[toooooot]

I don't understand. Why not just buy a laptop and add an external monitor and keyboard/mouse? NUCS are a niche thing, but that niche used to be low SWaP at a really affordable price for an all in one. What is the point of a $1,600 ($2,200) NUC that is just a laptop without the screen and no portability. Help me understand?

I have used many laptops in my life. And most mid-tier PCs felt faster and more responsive. Something about that power being drawn directly from the wall rather than the battery.
I assume this one has desktop cpu and gpu. If not, then I would pass it as well.

It does not, lol. You are right.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I don't understand. Why not just buy a laptop and add an external monitor and keyboard/mouse? NUCS are a niche thing, but that niche used to be low SWaP at a really affordable price for an all in one. What is the point of a $1,600 ($2,200) NUC that is just a laptop without the screen and no portability. Help me understand?

Well, the equivalent laptop will cost even more… basically this IS a laptop without the screen/keyboard/mouse .

Probably why they can sell it a bit cheaper…

Of course, you now have all the disadvantages of a small form factor (more expensive and less powerful) with the disadvantage of a “regular” desktop (non-portable).

I’d never buy one of these, but I suppose there are some out there…

 

[pcnthuziast]

Most of us commenting here are experienced buyers and enthusiasts and not teenagers. We have a frame of reference that the audience who would be intrigued by these devices, probably doesn't have. Also there are people with means, where the price is rarely ever a concern. Those types might buy something like this entirely for the aesthetic, cool factor and brand appeal. The TS community isn't the market for this overall, but the devices are certainly valid and completely usable. Just grossly overpriced.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Most of us commenting here are experienced buyers and enthusiasts and not teenagers. We have a frame of reference that the audience who would be intrigued by these devices, probably doesn't have. Also there are people with means, where the price is rarely ever a concern. Those types might buy something like this entirely for the aesthetic, cool factor and brand appeal. The TS community isn't the market for this overall, but the devices are certainly valid and completely usable. Just grossly overpriced.

Very true - this could be a way to eat into Apple's Mac Mini profits as well...

 

[Watzupken]

I don't understand. Why not just buy a laptop and add an external monitor and keyboard/mouse? NUCS are a niche thing, but that niche used to be low SWaP at a really affordable price for an all in one. What is the point of a $1,600 ($2,200) NUC that is just a laptop without the screen and no portability. Help me understand?

That's why I believe mini PCs with dedicated graphic solution never took off. They are generally too expensive as compared to a laptop which is a complete package, and they are too weak as compared to a compact ITX build. Having said that, I think there is a market for mini PCs because they are very compact and for me, I used to install one behind my monitor which I use for light surfing and work. If the iGPU is good enough, you can still play some games on it. But I don't believe Asus will sell anything cheap.

 

[Bobbydpue]

I assume this one has desktop cpu and gpu. If not, then I would pass it as well.

Why not read the article and find out? It takes seconds to skim the article to look for the components.