Intel Launches Phantom Canyon NUCs: Tiger Lake and NVIDIA GPU Join Forces

[AleksandarK]

Intel has today quietly launched its newest generation of Next Unit of Computing (NUC) devices with some nice upgrades over the prior generation. Codenamed the "Phantom Canyon", the latest NUC generation brings a major improvement for the "enthusiast" crowd, meant mostly at gamers who would like to use a small form-factor machine and have decent framerates. This is where the Enthusiast NUC 11 comes in. With its 28 Watt Intel Core i7-1165G7 Tiger Lake CPU, which features four cores and eight threads clocked at the maximum of 4.70 GHz, this Enthusiast NUC 11 mini-PC is rocking the latest technologies inside it.

To pair with the CPU, Intel has decided to put a discrete GPU, besides the Integrated Xe model, to power the frames needed. The dGPU in question is NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2060 model with 6 GB of GDDR6 VRAM, based on the last generation "Turing" architecture. For I/O, Intel has equipped these machines with quite a lot of ports. There is Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 plus Bluetooth 5 module, a quad-mic array with beam-forming, far-field capabilities, and support for Alexa. There is a 2.5 Gb Ethernet port, along with two Thunderbolt 4.0 ports for internet connectivity and other purposes (TB ports support fast charging). When it comes to display output, the Enthusiast NUC 11 has HDMI 2.0b and a mini DisplayPort 1.4 port. You can run four monitors in total when using the Thunderbolt ports. On the front side, there is also an SD card reader, and the PC has six USB 3.1 Gen2 ports in total. You can find out more about the Enthusiast NUC 11 mini-PCs here.


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[dj-electric]

I really really wish this could have been an Ampere GPU product.
I know designing this and the collab between the two corporations take a long while, but this coming out after RTX 3060 Mobile availability leaves a bit to be desired.

 

[Turmania]

they should have waited for their own discrete GPU to release with it. this does not exactly inspire confidence if they do not put their own GPU inside it. Not that I expect much from Raja Koduri for starters though.

 

[Animalpak]

What about temps, im curious.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Unless if the RTX 2060 has gained PCIe Gen4 support (in the same way the GTX 1650's silicon somehow did, when it became the MX450), it seems none of Tiger Lake's PCIe Gen4 capabilities can be used here.

 

[Vya Domus]

All that talk about their graphics only to use an Nvidia GPU in the only product that could have showcased it the best.

 

[nguyen]

A very smart combination for a NUC since the 2060 is the cheapest GPU with tensor cores. People can play DLSS supported MMO like Fortnite and Warzone competively on this NUC.

 

[1d10t]

Intel now just like cheap wh*r* who always changes bed companions
These NUC would be a good demonstration for their upcoming Tigerlake H35 or their Xe GPU and yet, here we are.

 

[Vayra86]

Awww I thought Raja's Xe was so awesome it would take this job

Poor Volt... ehh Xe

they should have waited for their own discrete GPU to release with it. this does not exactly inspire confidence if they do not put their own GPU inside it. Not that I expect much from Raja Koduri for starters though.

 

[QUANTUMPHYSICS]

Nothing less than a 3080 will do.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Nothing less than a 3080 will do.

Yeah, they're gonna fit a 3080 into this form factor... Yup, that's gonna happen...

With its 28 Watt Intel Core i7-1165G7 Tiger Lake CPU, which features four cores and eight threads clocked at the maximum of 4.70 GHz, this Enthusiast NUC 11 mini-PC is rocking the latest technologies inside it.

With a 6c/12t CPU they could get away with calling it this, but not with a quad core..

Otherwise this is an excellent little system!

 

[biffzinker]

With a 6c/12t they could get away with calling it this, but not with a quad core..

Are you suggesting quad core CPUs should be co-signed to the lower end of the stack? Is this about them advertising this for Enthusiast?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Are you suggesting quad core CPUs should be co-signed to the lower end of the stack?

For all intents and purposes, that's where quad-cores have been for at least the last 18months.

Is this about them advertising this for ?

That could be debated, but if they're going to call something "Enthusiast NUC 11 mini-PC", it should at least have parts that plausibly measure up to the description. A sub-3GHZ quad core most definitely does not qualify in today's market.

Now to be fair, the quad core on offer paired with the RTX2060 will grant a fair amount of 1080p gaming goodness. But to call it "Enthusiast" boarders on false advertising.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Maybe cell phone gaming enthusiast

 

[lexluthermiester]

Hi,
Maybe cell phone gaming enthusiast

For that you'd need Android X86 and yeah, you could call this an Enthusiast system in that situation.

 

[biffzinker]

For that you'd need Android X86 and yeah

Since you mention Android, have you tried running Android in a VM/abstraction layer? I tried an older version of BlueStacks before it turned into something I don’t want installed.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Since you mention Android, have you tried running Android in a VM/abstraction layer?

If you're talking about actual AndroidX86 installed in a VM, yes I have, hardware acceleration is a joke.

I tried an older version of BlueStacks before it turned into something I don’t want installed.

Recent versions of BlueStacks are actually decent from what I've read, but I haven't tried the recent versions.

I run AndroidX86 as an installed OS on two different systems, a Dell Vostro laptop and a Dell T3500 with an X5675, 12GB of RAM and a GTX980. Runs great actually.

 

[Vayra86]

For all intents and purposes, that's where quad-cores have been for at least the last 18months.

That could be debated, but if they're going to call something "Enthusiast NUC 11 mini-PC", it should at least have parts that plausibly measure up to the description. A sub-3GHZ quad core most definitely does not qualify in today's market.

Now to be fair, the quad core on offer paired with the RTX2060 will grant a fair amount of 1080p gaming goodness. But to call it "Enthusiast" boarders on false advertising.

Intel's enthusiastic about it. Speak for yourself!

I mean look at this face!

 

[R0H1T]

I thought Raja's Xe was so awesome it would take his job

Much better now