AMD INTEL PATRNERSHIP BRINGS YOU THE NUC 8 GAMING PC

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May 7, 2013
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Intel NUC 8 PC review: tiny gamer Intel NUC 8 PC review: tiny gamer - The Verge

A typical gaming PC is either big, gaudy, expensive, or a combination of all three. Even gaming laptops distinguish themselves from the rest of the laptop world by their bulk and gamer-style design, with lights, logos, and grilles galore. But the PC I’ve been playing games on for the past few weeks takes up less room in my bag than a hardcover novel.

Intel’s latest-generation Next Unit of Computing (ugh, I’ll just call it a NUC) is an honest-to-goodness gaming PC capable of running the latest AAA titles at frame rates that won’t get you instantly sniped. Yet it’s small enough to fit on top of my desk, under my monitor and uses far less electrical power than a typical gaming PC rig with equivalent capabilities.

GOOD STUFF
It’s super small
ALL THE PORTS
Powerful enough to game with
Easy expandability of RAM and storage

BAD STUFF
It’s expensive
You have to provide your own RAM, storage, and operating system
Not as future-proof as a full-sized gaming PC

Intel’s been making NUC computers for years as a way to demonstrate how much computing power can be packed into a small form-factor. The latest model (the NUC 8) is the first one that can really run games as they are supposed to be, and it’s even powerful enough to run high-end VR experiences. It’s able to do this thanks to a when-pigs-fly partnership that became a reality earlier this year: there’s an AMD graphics card right next to the eighth-generation Intel Core i7 processor on the NUC 8’s tiny motherboard that does much of the heavy lifting for gaming. While much smaller and less power-hungry than the discrete graphics card that gaming PCs typically use, the AMD Radeon RX Vega M still packs a wallop.

In addition to being a capable gaming rig, the NUC 8 is also a very powerful and fast workstation, able to crank through productivity and creative needs with ease. Using it as a workstation makes me think of it as a modern Mac Mini, but with far more power than Apple ever put into its tiny computer. The NUC 8’s size and power also make it an attractive home theater PC (HTPC) option in your entertainment console as something that can handle streaming video or living room gaming with ease, though AnandTech found that it didn’t support YouTube HDR video or UHD Blu-ray playback, which might deter some.

Despite its ultra-compact form-factor (the box weighs about three pounds and measures 8.7 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches, not much different than a typical cable modem), the NUC 8 has more ports than any other small form-factor computer. There are six USB-A ports, a USB-C 3.1 port, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, two mini DisplayPorts, two Ethernet jacks, two HDMI ports, two 3.5mm audio inputs, and a full-size SD card slot. One of the HDMI ports, two of the USB-A ports, the USB-C port, the SD card slot, and one of the 3.5mm jacks are located on the front of the machine for easy access, while the rest of the I/O is neatly arranged around back. This number of inputs and outputs allow the NUC 8 to support up to six displays at once and obviate the need for any external USB hubs or readers.

Even though it’s decidedly not traditional, the NUC 8 still has some gaming tropes built into its chassis. There’s a glowing skull on top that illuminates whenever the PC is on and there are multiple LED indicator lights on the front. The good thing is that there’s an app that lets you customize the colors and blink patterns of the skull and the LED lights to anything in the RGB spectrum — or turn them all off entirely, including the skull, if you want.

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