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Asus announces its first ROG NUC mini-PC for gaming

Draugoth

Gold Member
1704827395_asus-rog-nuc-2_story.jpg

Asus revealed plans to launch its first NUC mini-PC made for gamers. Of course, it will be sold under its Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand, as the Asus ROG NUC.


Asus states in its press release:
The tool-less chassis design allows integration in under 10 minutes, with dimensions of 270 x 180 x 50 mm for uncompromised gaming in a minimalistic form factor. Beyond performance, the ROG NUC pairs seamlessly with the ROG Raikiri PRO controller for a redefined gaming interaction. ARGB lighting and the ROG Armory Crate app allow users to create stunning light shows.

Buyers will be able to get an Asus ROG NUC with either an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor or a Core Ultra 9 185H chip. The GPU choices are either an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 or 4070. You will get support for putting in up to 32GB of RAM, and there will be three M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4 slots for SSD storage.

The ASUS ROG NUC can be set up either horizontally or vertically with an included stand. On the front of the mini-PC there will be a SD card reader, and two USB ports, along with audio jacks. In the back, there will be one Thunderbolt 4 port, four USB ports, an HDMI port, two DisplayPorts, and an Ethernet 2.5Gig port.

Asus claims that the ROG NUC can run up to four 4K displays at once with its Thunderbolt 4 port, its HDMI port, and its two DisplayPorts.
 
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Hohenheim

Member
Good for people who lacks space, want a solid upgrade from consoles, but don't need hi-end gear I guess.
Will probably be very hot!
 

Nvzman

Member
Heat generation be like:

Obi Wan Hello GIF by Star Wars


Also:

american gladiators pain GIF


I simply cannot envision this being a good idea to cram all the components inside and barely leaving any space for cooling. This will throttle like a crazy mofo.
The Core Ultra chips have nearly caught up to AMD in efficiency, they don't get that hot even in much smaller laptop configurations
 

Holammer

Member
I would have doubled its height to give it more room for a bigger heatsink & fan.
Still, that thing is going to violently tea-bag the Switch 2/Pro. Cost a pretty penny too.
 

Danknugz

Member
looks like a thin client and i can practically see the smoke coming out of it. armory crate will constantly use 10% cpu in the background at all times. gross
 
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SScorpio

Member
The Core Ultra chips have nearly caught up to AMD in efficiency, they don't get that hot even in much smaller laptop configurations
The numbers I was setting were the GPU side on these were slightly beating AMD's current products, but the CPU was slightly slower. They aren't beating discrete GPUs, but for someone that's fine with console-level performance, they take up much less space, use less power, and are cheaper than a full-blown PC.
 

clarky

Gold Member
looks like a thin client and i can practically see the smoke coming out of it. armory crate will constantly use 10% cpu in the background at all times. gross
Nahit will be fine. I have a mobile 175w 4090 & a 13950HX thin and light with PTM7950 pads and the thing never goes above 90c.
 
Heat generation be like:

Obi Wan Hello GIF by Star Wars


Also:

american gladiators pain GIF


I simply cannot envision this being a good idea to cram all the components inside and barely leaving any space for cooling. This will throttle like a crazy mofo.

It's not a new thing, they've just repackaged the Nuc Enthusiast kit since Intel handed that business over to them.


They aren't what you would consider cool running units, but they don't implode either. Biggest issue with them is dust building up in the heatsink, but that's typical for laptops also.
 
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Danknugz

Member
I’m talking about your comment regarding heat. I don’t see why this has more/less of a heat issue than laptops.
1. its asus
2. it's crammed into a micro form factor smaller than laptops
3. persistent low level forced bloatware like armory crate (this has caused lock ups but not heat issues in my own pc to be fair)
 
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Topher

Identifies as young
1. its asus
2. it's crammed into a micro form factor smaller than laptops
3. persistent low level forced bloatware like armory crate (this has caused lock ups but not heat issues in my own pc to be fair)

Really depends on how they are managing the thermals internally just like every laptop. That form factor has been around a while so I don't think that in itself results in thermal issues.

Armoury Crate can be a nuisance, but thankfully it can be turned off.
 

Danknugz

Member
Really depends on how they are managing the thermals internally just like every laptop. That form factor has been around a while so I don't think that in itself results in thermal issues.

Armoury Crate can be a nuisance, but thankfully it can be turned off.
on my pc i had to go into the bios and flip a switch to prevent itself from force installing into the OS like some kind of embedded trojan
 

Ozriel

M$FT
The numbers I was setting were the GPU side on these were slightly beating AMD's current products, but the CPU was slightly slower. They aren't beating discrete GPUs, but for someone that's fine with console-level performance, they take up much less space, use less power, and are cheaper than a full-blown PC.

These aren’t reliant on the iGPU though. The mobile 4070 easily outpaces the PS5 and Series X, and Ray tracing performance is generations better.

1. its asus
2. it's crammed into a micro form factor smaller than laptops
3. persistent low level forced bloatware like armory crate (this has caused lock ups but not heat issues in my own pc to be fair)

Volume wise, that doesn’t seem any smaller than my Lenovo Legion gaming laptop. Doesn’t need to make room for battery either.

People are happily running armory crate on ROG Ally handhelds without lockups. Yours might be an isolated case.

It’s a desktop anyway, not an iPhone. It’ll take you all of 5 mins to remove any bloatware you don’t like. You probably spent more time on your comment.
 

Danknugz

Member
These aren’t reliant on the iGPU though. The mobile 4070 easily outpaces the PS5 and Series X, and Ray tracing performance is generations better.



Volume wise, that doesn’t seem any smaller than my Lenovo Legion gaming laptop. Doesn’t need to make room for battery either.

People are happily running armory crate on ROG Ally handhelds without lockups. Yours might be an isolated case.

It’s a desktop anyway, not an iPhone. It’ll take you all of 5 mins to remove any bloatware you don’t like. You probably spent more time on your comment.
it started locking up after i uninstalled the app and there were still services running because i needed the fan control. it's just horribly written software. it shouldn't run in windows at all, RGB and the likes should be handled by an ASIC.

i didn't know this before i got my latest asus motherboard and naively thought they were good enough to have their software that controls the hardware isolated on the hardware itself.
 

clarky

Gold Member
90c? isn't that kind of high? My pc 4090 rarely goes above 60.
Mobile, as stated in my post, as its the nearest thing I've had experience with to compare this to.

And no its not high at all. On the cpu side, doesn't throttle until 97-100c. The 4090 doesn't go above 75c an doesn't throttle until 87c, at least that's what they say, never found out.

Like I said I can't see the heat being an issue.
 
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simpatico

Member
I use a little Beelink NUC in my living room as a sea sailing device. Works great. Would be cool if I was able to run decent indie/retro games on it.
 

clarky

Gold Member
I use a little Beelink NUC in my living room as a sea sailing device. Works great. Would be cool if I was able to run decent indie/retro games on it.
Absolutely will smoke anything like that you throw at it. It basically has a full fat 3070 with the 40 series features.
 

SScorpio

Member
These aren’t reliant on the iGPU though. The mobile 4070 easily outpaces the PS5 and Series X, and Ray tracing performance is generations better.
I need to let my coffee wake up my brain before commenting. I saw the CPU but completely missed the GPU options.

Ya, this is going to be a nice PC console device. The open source Nvidia driver doesn't hit the same levels at the closed source one from Nvidia, but it can still give great performance in games. But I still think you'll be stuck with Windows and it's sub-optimal big screen usage versus straight Steam OS.
 

El Muerto

Member
My guestimate is this will probably cost at least $1k. Nobody is going to buy this. Console gamers are going to buy this, realize it's not easy to jump in and play like on a console and return it just like the Rog Ally. PC gamers will just build a SFF pc.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
My guestimate is this will probably cost at least $1k. Nobody is going to buy this. Console gamers are going to buy this, realize it's not easy to jump in and play like on a console and return it just like the Rog Ally. PC gamers will just build a SFF pc.

Yeah, easily $1k. Probably closer to $1500. I remember minis forum had something comparable to this last year and it was $1300.

 

Ozriel

M$FT
My guestimate is this will probably cost at least $1k. Nobody is going to buy this. Console gamers are going to buy this, realize it's not easy to jump in and play like on a console and return it just like the Rog Ally. PC gamers will just build a SFF pc.

The way some of you infantilize console gamers is quite amusing sometimes. It’s a PC hooked up to the TV. That’s exactly what anyone buying it will expect. It’ll probably ship with a Bluetooth keyboard and/or controller.

A large percentage of PC gamers have no intention or know how of building their PCs. For many, this NUC is an SFF PC.

A friend of mine has nearly exclusively gamed via hooking up a gaming laptop to his TV for nearly a decade now.
 

Danknugz

Member
Mobile, as stated in my post, as its the nearest thing I've had experience with to compare this to.

And no its not high at all. On the cpu side, doesn't throttle until 97-100c. The 4090 doesn't go above 75c an doesn't throttle until 87c, at least that's what they say, never found out.

Like I said I can't see the heat being an issue.
wow that's crazy. my cpu idles 30-35c and rarely gets close to 70c. But it also liquid cooled with my ryujin 360 argb.
 

clarky

Gold Member
wow that's crazy. my cpu idles 30-35c and rarely gets close to 70c. But it also liquid cooled with my ryujin 360 argb.
Nothing crazy about it at all in the laptop space.

My guestimate is this will probably cost at least $1k. Nobody is going to buy this. Console gamers are going to buy this, realize it's not easy to jump in and play like on a console and return it just like the Rog Ally. PC gamers will just build a SFF pc.
Yeah hard to see who this is for, anyone who wants portability will surely just buy a laptop.
 

darrylgorn

Member
It really depends on the price difference from a comparable laptop.

But yeah, with the heat efficiency of newer Nvidia cards, along with ray tracing improvements and frame generation, I would definitely take another 1080p rig, if the price is right.
 
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Dorfdad

Gold Member
At the prices they’ll undoubtedly ask for this, might be better to pick up one of the 2023 4070 laptops on sale and hook up to your TV.

These are using mobile GPUs anyway.
Naw those are loud as hell under a load. I returned mine as it was ps3 jet engine levels of annoyance!

Also call me when these can hit 1440p/120 high settings otherwise it’s a waste for me
 
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Somehow they managed to make it look worse than PS5. Impressive.
Are there really any good looking pre built anyway? I can't think of any. Gamer aesthetics are disgusting.

Hell, we just recently got gaming laptops that aren't fugly outside of the Razer Blade which only looked good because it copied the MBP.
 
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