The future of gaming is here as it seems as though the small NUC PCs are about to make their way to the wider market. The Hades Canyon NUC Mini PC was spotted recently by Korean Hardware site Playwares and the tiny PC combines an Intel Core i7-8809 CPU (four cores, eight threads, boost clock of 4.2GHz), with a 24 compute unit Vega core paired up with 4GB of HBM 2 memory. Despite its size, the NUC PC sure packs a punch.
It’s not a good time to be a PC gamer nowadays. Ever since the crypto boom in 2017, high-performance graphics cards have become really hard to find. This is because the cryptocurrency mining process requires high-performance machines that rely on these high-end GPUs. Mining also requires more than one GPU per PC thus most of the GPUs go to the miners leaving very little behind for the gamers. Therefore, it’s pretty hard for gamers to get a hold of a decent GPU, either it’s out of stock or it’s price is double or triple the original retail price.
With GPUs not an option anymore for gamers, other companies are coming up with new ways to make sure gamers can enjoy the latest games with the latest hardware. The NUC Mini PC is a prime example of that. The new Intel/AMD hybrid chips are a mix of the finest processor chips with superior Graphics capability as newer chips will combine Intel 8th gen processors with AMD Vega graphics chip to form the perfect gaming match for die-hard gamers. These chips are being made for the NUC PCs and don’t let their size fool you; they’re much more powerful than you think.
There are multiple NUC models that they’re going to be releasing soon. The NUC8i7HVK comes with an unlocked Core i7-8809G CPU which also includes an unlocked quad-core CPU with hyperthreading and the fast Radeon RX Vega M GH GPU.
Similarly, another model, the NUC8i7HNK comes with a Core i7-8705G which comprises of a quad-core CPU with hyperthreading but includes a lower-end Radeon card. The difference between the newer NUC models and the previous ones is the difference in Graphics power. Previous NUCs weren’t capable of running high-demanding games. The new NUCs will be able to perform much better and come with better specs in terms of graphics.
As for the Hades Canyon NUC Mini PC, its Intel CPU should perform as well as any last gen core i7 Intel CPU and the Vega chip should be at least one third as powerful as the AMD Vega 56. Although this may look like a downgrade on paper, the machine still holds up well with many games. The NUC is VR ready and it can easily play most AAA titles in 1080p which is more than enough for the majority of gamers out there.
However, if you’re more of a performance enthusiast, then this NUC has more to offer as well. The CPU, memory, and graphics cores have been overclocked allowing you to play games like Rise of The Tomb Raider at Ultra settings. For less demanding games like PUGB, the NUC machine can easily surpass 60 FPS when on maximum settings. Even though it’s a “Mini PC”, it holds its own with top games just fine.
With more NUCs to come in the future, which we expect will be even more powerful than the current ones, it goes to show that you don’t need large machines or towers to play your favorite games. In fact, the future of gaming might be in NUCs as they’ve proven to be more than capable of running high-end games despite lacking the size of a more ‘powerful’ machine.