It appears to be like like a NUC, it smells like a NUC, however this isn’t a NUC: Asus ditches the Intel naming for brand new AMD-powered mini PC, however restricts its GPU selection

For those who’ve been wanting a mini PC refresh with the most recent Nvidia Blackwell tech, Asus’ common NUC line is again once more, besides probably not, or solely sort of, as a result of though the most recent mini PC appears to be like a heck of rather a lot like a NUC, it is dropped the NUC title, possible provided that it is rocking AMD silicon.

Asus has simply introduced the ROG GR70 mini PC, which stands upright and form of appears to be like like a small PS5. Nonetheless, it’s full of much more energy, with the processor selection of a Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, Ryzen 9 9955HX, or Ryzen 9 8940HX.

NUC or Subsequent Unit of Computing was a selected type of small type issue pc kits that was initially launched by Intel again in 2013 (although it was proven off a 12 months prior). In 2023, Asus took over the NUC product line and began creating mini PCs alongside Intel components.

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Dropping the NUC title right here is presumably a selection made as a result of AMD CPU the GR70 is packing. Asus is not dropping the NUC branding solely, nevertheless, because the Intel-powered 2025 model of the ROG NUC, utilizing the very same chassis design, has been round for the reason that summer season. Although the Intel machines will let you select as much as an RTX 5080 cell GPU to your mini marvel.

On the AMD aspect, you will get the GR70 with both an RTX 5060 or RTX 5070. Notably, the GPU decisions are the cell variations and are locked to the CPU selection. You possibly can decide the RTX 5060 with the 8940HX and the RTX 5070 for the opposite two.

There are different customisation choices, with the mini PC going as much as 96 GB of DDR5 reminiscence, and as much as 2 TB of SSD storage. The entrance IO comes with one USB Sort-C 3.2 Gen 2 port and two USB Sort-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, alongside an audio jack and energy button.

Then, the rear IO has one USB 4 Sort-C port, 4 USB Sort-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, two HDMI ports, two Show ports, and an Ethernet port. For a machine that is simply 282.4 x 187.7 x 56.5 mm, it has a wholesome smattering of ports.

The Asus web site claims the brand new GR70 has a “DIY-friendly design”, with a single thumbscrew getting you entry to the internals. The reminiscence and SSD could be swapped out with none instruments.

The selection to go along with a cell GPU not solely means it is much less upgradable, but in addition much less highly effective. A regular RTX 5070 that you just pop right into a rig will outperform the cell RTX 5070, so take into account the mini PC’s efficiency nearer to a laptop computer boasting the identical specs than a full-on rig. This does, nevertheless, enable Asus to optimise house and fine-tune the expertise slightly. Asus claims that the ROG QuietFlow cooling within the “sub-three-litre chassis” permits it to maintain “temperatures cool whereas additionally preserving working noise at a minimal.”

We do not but have confirmed pricing on this vary of mini PCs. That being stated, we do have pricing in China, with the RTX 5070 / 9955HX3D model with 32 GB of RAM coming in at 14,999 Chinese language Yuan. This roughly works out to round $2,100.

For those who do not thoughts a standard-sized rig, $1,700 will get a Ryzen 7 9800X3D setup with both an RTX 5070 Ti or RX 9070 XT, 2 TB Gen 3 SSD, and 32 GB of DDR5 RAM. Naturally, we count on considerably of a value premium for a small bespoke mini PC like these Asus gives, however we’re nonetheless ready on American pricing. The very console-like design of the GR70 definitely appeals to me, and we’re large followers of the NUC 970 that Asus launched final 12 months. This is hoping the NUC title is the one factor Asus dropped in the case of this mini PC.

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