Thursday, March 17th 2016
Intel Debuts the Skull Canyon Gaming NUC
Intel announced its first "gaming grade" NUC. As if the very concept of NUC wasn't disruptive to the small form-factor desktop segment enough, the company is upping the ante with one that's prepped for gaming. Codenamed NUC6i7KYK, the new Skull Canyon NUC is about double the size of the average NUC. It has sufficient muscle for sub-1080p gaming, but is also prepped for external graphics solutions, such as the Razer Core.
To begin with, the Skull Canyon is driven by a Core i7-6770HQ processor based on the "Skylake" architecture. This quad-core chip features HyperThreading, which enables 8 logical CPUs, 6 MB of L3 cache, 128 MB L4 cache, and Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580. The CPU cores run at speeds between 2.60 GHz and 3.50 GHz, while the iGPU ticks at 950 MHz. With 576 execution units, 72 TMUs, and 9 ROPs, the integrated graphics core is good enough for gaming at sub-1080p resolutions such as 720p and 900p.
If you absolutely need more pixel-crunching power, then the Skull Canyon features a 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 port, letting you use external graphics cards. The barebones version of the Skull Canyon will be priced at US $650, which is a bargain if you consider that the OEM channel price of the i7-6770HQ itself is $435. A fully-loaded variant with 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2133 memory, 256 GB SSD storage, and Windows 10 pre-installed, will be priced at US $999.
To begin with, the Skull Canyon is driven by a Core i7-6770HQ processor based on the "Skylake" architecture. This quad-core chip features HyperThreading, which enables 8 logical CPUs, 6 MB of L3 cache, 128 MB L4 cache, and Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580. The CPU cores run at speeds between 2.60 GHz and 3.50 GHz, while the iGPU ticks at 950 MHz. With 576 execution units, 72 TMUs, and 9 ROPs, the integrated graphics core is good enough for gaming at sub-1080p resolutions such as 720p and 900p.
36 Comments on Intel Debuts the Skull Canyon Gaming NUC
And this is too expensive to be disruptive anyway.
If this priced for something like $499 barebones. It would be quite interesting though.
Aside from that this looks great, the power of a high end desktop minus the GPU in a form factor about the size of a VHS cassette it brutal. Factor in that people who want more GPU power will be able to use the external PCI-E enclosures (which are finally emerging like 5 years after Intel first announced them and we saw prototypes) and the future is looking pretty cool. I may well look into this when it's time for my next system overhaul.
But I know this isn't something Intel plans to actually sell a lot of, it is just a platform for them to brag about their Iris Graphics.
Seriously, we all agree iGPUs aren't as good as dGPUs, but they've come a long way since the crappy GMA/HD Graphics of yore (especially the top ones with dedicated DRAM).
At least it has Thunderbolt 3, but again not enough to warrant the price.
And its working. There are already more laptops with TB3 via usb c then there were total laptops with TB1 and 2 COMBINED. Standard port that convinces people to use your tech so you sell many more units seems like a pretty good reason to me.
Also, since when is USB not a "regular port"? what is a "regular port"? the older TB used displayport connectors, were those not regular ports as well?
That aside, While its great intel has finally got iris pro into a NUC, where are the laptops using this chip? Why cant I buy a 14 inch laptop with iris pro?
I've actually been keeping my eyes on this for a bit and chose to postpone purchasing intel NUC i5 Iris 540 unit. I may go for this although I want an elegant case...
Edit: A quick google suggests that it comes with 2 lid. One with that stupid skull and another plain matte lid. That's good.
Anyway, there is a review for NUC with i5 (15w tdp) and iris 540. For the thermal limit, the unit is very good.
Plus, considering I can go out and get a full laptop with a quad-core i7, 16GB of RAM, and a GTX 956m for right about the same $1,000. This thing should be cheaper considering it doesn't have a screen or keyboard or battery.
And if you are looking for a gaming system in this small of a form factor, there are better options. You can configure a Zbox Magnus with an similar specs, but an i5, and more importantly a 970m for $1,000. That will be way better at gaming than this NUC.
If they want to call this a NUC, I'm cool with that, but don't call it a "Gaming NUC".
Meanwhile, what I think Intel is doing that is all-in-one chip solution which is similar to AMD's APC. What Intel has been trying to do is improve their iGPU generation by generation. And I think we can all agree that they've come a long way from GMA era or even the first introduction of Intel HD from Sandy Bridge era.
I am someone who keeps close eyes on power usages of my rigs and like things in compact cases. While their claim is "sub-1080p" is a letdown, I am pretty sure that they were talking about 1080p gaming with all settings maxed out. If you turn down some settings, I am positive that it can run modern games decently in 1080 as Iris 540 is already capable of such although at 30fps region.
While not many would care on this forum where power consumption and all that jazz aren't appreciated, all the CPU and GPU works are rated at 45w TDP. That itself is an achievement to my eyes.
However, if you stop thinking about cost, you could connect a discrete GPU to this NUC using Thunderbolt but, the enclosure and card is going to run you a pretty penny.
While the performance was good, the noise was a huge let down from what I've heard. They probably decided that it was better to be safer than sorry with 45w part and broke the usual NUC size.
Of course, the 100w product is going to be superior in terms of, in this case, GPU performance. Personally though, I need more CPU performance (in core count) than GPU.
ark.intel.com/products/93341/Intel-Core-i7-6770HQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz
The price will go down for sure though. I ain't gonna buy it when it comes out. I'd wait and let the price drop a little.
As for naming, Intel calls NUC6I5SYH (one with Iris 540) & NUC5i7RYH (one with Iris 6100) gaming capable NUC. So, by their own standards, this skull tail NUC fits the bill certainly.
Intel Boxed Core I5-6600K 250$
Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 150$
Kingston HyperX FURY Black 16GB Kit (2x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4 77$
Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB mSATA 90$
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv iTX Case 70$
EVGA SuperNOVA 550 GS 80+ GOLD, 550W 81$
Total cost 838$
All prices are Amazon and Prime.
Why should I buy Intel rubbish if I can pay less to get much more?
www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/my-latest-mini-itx-builds.218444/
I used a lian li case though and is much smaller than Phanteks Enthoo.
Why am I interested in the intel NUC? Cuz I like the idea of having just one chip doing it all at 45w tdp. There are people go for extreme system configurations. I am one of those but I go to the opposite end of spectrum.