Intel NUC 11 Extreme Kit - Beast Canyon - NUC11BTMi9

Nachdem in der vergangenen Woche bereits alle technischen Daten zum Intel NUC 11 Extreme Beast Canyon aufgetaucht sind, können wir uns heute dem eigentlichen Test des Beast Canyon widmen. Der Mini-PC geht noch einmal einen anderen Weg der NUC 9 Extreme, der hinsichtlich der Grafikkarte einige Einschränkungen aufzuweisen hatte. Diese will Intel beim NUC 11 Extreme nicht eingehen und wählt zudem einen Prozessor, den es so eigentlich gar nicht geben sollte. Aber zu all diesen Details kommen wir auf den nächsten Seiten.

Durch den Intel NUC 11 Extreme wird erstmals das direkte Duell zwischen Tiger Lake (10 nm) und Rocket Lake (14 nm) mit acht Kernen und fast identischem Takt im Desktop möglich. Hier zeigt sich, was eine Generation in der CPU-Architektur, aber vor allem die kleinere 10-nm-Fertigung ermöglicht.

We’re long-time proponents of big, bold and bodacious desktop systems around here. We’ve been evaluating the latest and greatest PC hardware for over two decades after all, and many of us have ben PC enthusiasts even longer than that. As much as we dig fully-loaded, high-end desktops though, there’s just something awesome about a powerful small form factor system like the Intel NUC 11 Extreme we’ll be showing you today, codenamed “Beast Canyon”.

Intel's NUC 11 Extreme Kit isn't perfect, but if you can foot the bill this a highly likeable foundation on which to base a compact gaming rig.

Coming to the business end of the review, Intel's Beast Canyon NUC (NUC11BTMi9) is the latest and greatest performance-oriented mini-PC. The gaming market has been one of the primary drivers of growth in the PC space, and it is no surprise that the Beast Canyon NUC has its sights locked on to that segment. It is a worthy follow-up to last year's Ghost Canyon NUC. In particular, by putting in enough room for a 350W PCIe video card up to 12 inches in length while still retaining a small form factor, Intel has resolved a major issue that had prevented the NUCs from capturing a share of the gaming market. And the inclusion of features such as user-addressable RGB lighting (opinions may be divided on this, but RGB undoubtedly sells) make it all the more attractive for the gaming crowd.