Every time we see more compact systems with greater power, making large PC towers unnecessary. Intel NUC systems are gaining popularity for their sheer power and compact design. It seems that the next generation of these systems, the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast Serpent Canyon for gaming, will use Intel Arc graphics cards.
Intel Arc graphics cards come to market as a simple solution for laptops, and now for embedded systems as well. It seems that these systems will use the graphics that are integrated into laptops, the Arc 380 would not be used. Note that the company’s graphics are quite disappointing in terms of performance.
Intel NUC for gaming will use Arc discrete graphics
These systems have been evolving and a range of products focused on gaming has been generated. They are not extremely powerful, but some models accompanied by entry-level NVIDIA graphics have good performance.
We will have, as usual, several versions of these systems that will vary in terms of processors and other components. The most advanced model will be based on the Intel Core i7-12700H processor . Said processor has 6 power cores and 8 efficiency cores , and a total of 20 threads combined. This processor has a maximum frequency of 4.7 GHz and a TDP of 45 W.
It seems that this processor will be accompanied by the Arc A770M discrete graphics. It is the most powerful graphics card for laptops that the company has released so far. This graphic integrates a total of 32 Xe cores, 32 Ray Tracing cores, 512 Execution Units and a frequency of up to 1.65 GHz. This graphic is accompanied by a total of 16 GB GDDR6 and a consumption of up to 150 W.
Apparently, these new gaming systems have dimensions of 23.11 × 18.03 × 6.1 cm, with a volume of 2.5 liters. Note that the Intel NUC 12 Extreme Dragon Canyon have a volume of 8 liters, so they are substantially more compact.
Regarding the rest of the features, it has two DDR4 SODIMM sockets for up to 64 GB @ 3200 MHz . It also includes three M.2 2280 slots, which support NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSDs, one of them being compatible with SATA 3 SSDs.
Versions and other features
These models will come with either 230W or 330W power supplies, depending on configuration. Apparently there will be three models:
- Based on a Core i7-12700H with 16 GB GDDR6 discrete graphics (apparently it would integrate an Arc A770M graphics)
- Based on a Core i7-12700H with 12 GB GDDR6 discrete graphics (apparently it would integrate an Arc A730M graphics)
- Based on a Core i5-12500H with 8 GB GDDR6 discrete graphics (apparently it would integrate an Arc A550M graphics)
In addition, these systems have support for WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, thanks to the Intel AX1690 controller. They also have six USB 3.2 Type-A ports, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 2.5G Ethernet port, an HDMI 2.1, two DisplayPort 2.0 ports, sound input and output jack connectors and an SDXC card reader.
At the moment, the price and availability are unknown. Initially, the most powerful model was expected to go on sale in early summer, but little else we know at this time.
