ASUS Readies NUC Mini PCs Powered by AMD Ryzen AI MAX "Strix Halo" SoCs

[btarunr]

ASUS is working on a new line of NUC mini PCs powered by the AMD Ryzen AI MAX "Strix Halo" mobile processors that come with oversized iGPUs and CPU core counts as high as 16-core/32-thread "Zen 5." This was sniffed out in shipping manifests by Olrak29_ on its way to being tested by the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) for regulatory certification similar to CE, with the manifest describing the NUC model as the "NUC14LNS," meaning that this box is from the NUC 14 series. The manifest describes the NUC sample as featuring the top of the line Ryzen AI MAX+ 395.

The Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 maxes out everything on the silicon, featuring 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores across two CCDs with full 512-bit FPUs, with 80 MB of "total cache" (L3+L2) between them; a 50 TOPS-class NPU that can locally accelerate Microsoft Copilot+, and that large RDNA 3.5 iGPU with 40 compute units (2,560 stream processors), 80 AI accelerators, and 40 ray accelerators. What's interesting about this NUC is that it will not come with SO-DIMM slots, since the "Strix Halo" SoC features a 256-bit wide LPDDR5X memory interface. It will either have hardwired memory, or use a pair of LPCAMM2 modules (each with a 128-bit bus width), which is less likely. With all the rage about AI developers using M4-powered Mac minis to accelerate DeepSeek, is ASUS eying a slice of the AI market?



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[AnarchoPrimitiv]

I just want a company to sell a m-itx version of a strix halo....you know those weird aliexpress items where a random company solders a BGA mobile chip on a desktop board? The SFF builds would be something else....I guess the issue would be the memory though, these things need LPDDR5X soldered to the board... I'd like to imagine a world where "AI" didn't make HBM pricing go through the roof and the Strix Halo came with 24-32GB of HBM (at least 16GB) and then you'd just pair with regular DDR5

 

[HOkay]

I'd be really excited for these, if they weren't almost certainly going to be too expensive to be worthwhile

 

[CosmicWanderer]

Finally. I've been waiting for this from them.

It seems like the Intel exclusivity for NUCs has ended. Looking forward to the reviews, but chances are this will be my next mini PC.

Hopefully they sell barebone units, but that might be asking for too much.

 

[Daven]

Finally. I've been waiting for this from them.

It seems like the Intel exclusivity for NUCs has ended. Looking forward to the reviews, but chances are this will be my next mini PC.

Hopefully they sell barebone units, but that might be asking for too much.

You know NUC was just a marketing buzzword. The same SFFs have been available all along for AMD products.

 

[Durvelle27]

Give me 2

 

[Woomack]

Finally. I've been waiting for this from them.

It seems like the Intel exclusivity for NUCs has ended. Looking forward to the reviews, but chances are this will be my next mini PC.

Hopefully they sell barebone units, but that might be asking for too much.

NUC, as a brand, was sold by Intel to ASUS some time ago. This is why Intel doesn't have NUCs anymore.

 

[Daven]

NUC, as a brand, was sold by Intel to ASUS some time ago. This is why Intel doesn't have NUCs anymore.

Also NUC just means SFF. Apple, AMD customers and more have SFFs. There was nothing special about the NUC brand except its high price.

 

[igormp]

these things need LPDDR5X soldered to the board

Maybe they could use LPCAMM2, as mentioned in the OP.
Would be hella expensive still.

 

[bonehead123]

I'd be really excited for these, if they weren't almost certainly going to be too expensive to be worthwhile

Same here, but knowing AsSus like we do, this will always be true.....

Hopefully they sell barebone units, but that might be asking for too much.

Yea, right.....dream on my friend, cause then they would not be able to justify their uber-high prices, which usually comes from extremely high markups on ram & storage, almost as bad as the fruity boys

 

[CosmicWanderer]

NUC, as a brand, was sold by Intel to ASUS some time ago. This is why Intel doesn't have NUCs anymore.

You know NUC was just a marketing buzzword. The same SFFs have been available all along for AMD products.

I know that, and I'm referring specifically to Asus "NUCs" after Intel sold the brand to them.

There was very likely an exclusivity clause in that sale, which would explain why it took Asus so long to introduce a "NUC" with an AMD processor, despite the popularity of those processors.

 

[R0H1T]

There was nothing special about the NUC brand except its high price.

Tbf it was "slightly" upgradeable, so there's that. If you look at this space, however, Apple is the undisputed king since the M1 was released