I think this is one of the most disappointing NUC extremes released to date. It's too large, and it's too boring looking. It's dimensions, and external looks makes it too similar to cheapo mATX business PCs from the likes of Dell, HP, and Lenovo.
Fractal Design's Ridge is a full 1L smaller, at 12.6L, it looks nice, and it can also fit a similarly large triple slot 335mm length GPU. And it's not like the Ridge does anything special, or use custom parts. It's just a bog standard mITX+SFX using a riser card.
Intel, please do better next time... Why even use a custom mobo, if you end up using a compact mATX case?
Oh no, 8% larger than the Ridge, what a disappointment. ?? The fact that it's the same size as a boring business PC but has a 13900 and 3080TI is what makes it impressive. It's like you packed a Corvette's V8 into a Chevy Spark.
I do like the intel MOBO with dual TB4 with full bandwidth, 10 GBe, 2.5 GBe and 3x M.2 PCI-E 4x. Additionally, the OTS option for CPU cooler that fits inside DAN case would struggle at the 150W sustained.
I'd like INTEL approach here on the motherboard form factor rethinking, but they need some industry support for the case & power supplies
The FT03-Mini can pack a 13900 and 3080Ti into a case of nearly identical volume and it's a 10 year old design that uses a standard SFX PSU, has an optical drive slot, multiple 2.5" and 3.5" drive bays, and provisions for liquid cooling radiator mounting (which is basically required since there isn't room to fit a fist inside the case)
Unfortunately due to its design, a GPU with a blower is required and those are virtually non-existent anymore.
The one difference between this NUC and the Fractal Design Ridge (and the new Silverstone MILO 12) is the size of the CPU cooler. The largest CPU air cooler that you can fit in the Ridge is the Noctua NH-L12S, which is a single fan 120 mm cooler. It's obvious to me that the NUC engineering team was playing Tetris when they designed the cooling solution for this NUC. I think they were benchmarking the Noctua cooler to try and come up with something more performant and to also keep the size as small as possible.
What I hope to see is that intel further supports this design so that in the future we can reuse the power supply and case when we upgrade the compute elements to the latest generation of intel processors.
There is nothing to make this PC stand out among other SFF computers and a few key downsides versus ITX such as limited upgrade options for the future. If its going to be that big, it should offer things other similar desktops do not. Color me unimpressed.
8 Liters = 2.1 gallons in size. Picture 2 1-gallon milk bottles side to side. That is a large size for an NUC. This is much larger than the X-Box Series X, which is 6.7 Liters in size. So is this a NUC? No way.
Sorry Intel, I have to say this product fails as NUC. One of the most unique feature about NUC is the size. This is just way too big. As others have mentioned, it is entirely possible to go smaller using standard itx board and it cost less.
Appreciate the thorough review as always on the NUCs. Not enough places seem to get into them and put out useful data.
I understand why some might be disappointed by the size vs what else you can get on the market. I don't particularly mind it myself as they seem to be trying new things out. The biggest issue I have with it is the same issue as with the last two: you're paying a very high premium price for something you could do yourself for a fair bit less while getting better peak performance due to not being limited by SODIMMs.
This thing has been absolutely awesome to play with...using a 7900 XT fits the TDP quite nicely and I'm getting 3x the performance of a computer that had 5x the volume (upgrading from first gen ThreadRipper/Titan build). I'm sure I'll be labelled an Intel shill for saying it, but after seeing a bunch of negative comments I figured I'd post a positive counter.
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meacupla - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
I think this is one of the most disappointing NUC extremes released to date.It's too large, and it's too boring looking. It's dimensions, and external looks makes it too similar to cheapo mATX business PCs from the likes of Dell, HP, and Lenovo.
Fractal Design's Ridge is a full 1L smaller, at 12.6L, it looks nice, and it can also fit a similarly large triple slot 335mm length GPU. And it's not like the Ridge does anything special, or use custom parts. It's just a bog standard mITX+SFX using a riser card.
Intel, please do better next time... Why even use a custom mobo, if you end up using a compact mATX case?
rob89353 - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
Oh no, 8% larger than the Ridge, what a disappointment. ??The fact that it's the same size as a boring business PC but has a 13900 and 3080TI is what makes it impressive. It's like you packed a Corvette's V8 into a Chevy Spark.
lunchb0x91 - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
Except it's not even impressive. The Dan case C4-SFX is slightly smaller than this, supports standardized components, and can fit a 3090 in it.PEJUman - Monday, January 2, 2023 - link
I do like the intel MOBO with dual TB4 with full bandwidth, 10 GBe, 2.5 GBe and 3x M.2 PCI-E 4x.Additionally, the OTS option for CPU cooler that fits inside DAN case would struggle at the 150W sustained.
I'd like INTEL approach here on the motherboard form factor rethinking, but they need some industry support for the case & power supplies
meacupla - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
Yeah, it's massively disappointing, when you can pack a 13900 and 3080Ti into a smaller case.Do you know how much 1L is in mini PC terms? You can get a mini PC equipped with a Ryzen 5700G or 6800H in that size.
Samus - Thursday, December 15, 2022 - link
The FT03-Mini can pack a 13900 and 3080Ti into a case of nearly identical volume and it's a 10 year old design that uses a standard SFX PSU, has an optical drive slot, multiple 2.5" and 3.5" drive bays, and provisions for liquid cooling radiator mounting (which is basically required since there isn't room to fit a fist inside the case)Unfortunately due to its design, a GPU with a blower is required and those are virtually non-existent anymore.
TheinsanegamerN - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
But there are smaller cases that can do the same thing without the proprietary slots and boards.If you're gonna go proprietary not being able to beat the standard cases in size is a pretty big disappointment.
powerarmour - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
So, 'Next Unit of Computing' has now become 'Thin Tower Desktop', if you lay this thing on it's side you can put a CRT on top just like old times...That's enough Intel, just stop with the NUC branding now, it's just dumb.
GoogleQuizz1 - Friday, December 30, 2022 - link
The information given in your blog is very useful, thank you sirMike Lee - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
The one difference between this NUC and the Fractal Design Ridge (and the new Silverstone MILO 12) is the size of the CPU cooler. The largest CPU air cooler that you can fit in the Ridge is the Noctua NH-L12S, which is a single fan 120 mm cooler. It's obvious to me that the NUC engineering team was playing Tetris when they designed the cooling solution for this NUC. I think they were benchmarking the Noctua cooler to try and come up with something more performant and to also keep the size as small as possible.What I hope to see is that intel further supports this design so that in the future we can reuse the power supply and case when we upgrade the compute elements to the latest generation of intel processors.
PeachNCream - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
There is nothing to make this PC stand out among other SFF computers and a few key downsides versus ITX such as limited upgrade options for the future. If its going to be that big, it should offer things other similar desktops do not. Color me unimpressed.Samus - Thursday, December 15, 2022 - link
That's my chief complaint. There isn't any advantage here over a standard ITX system.rmari - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
8 Liters = 2.1 gallons in size. Picture 2 1-gallon milk bottles side to side.That is a large size for an NUC. This is much larger than the X-Box Series X,
which is 6.7 Liters in size. So is this a NUC? No way.
escksu - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
Sorry Intel, I have to say this product fails as NUC. One of the most unique feature about NUC is the size. This is just way too big. As others have mentioned, it is entirely possible to go smaller using standard itx board and it cost less.darkmatter236 - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - link
I kind of like it actually. Good cooling for the GPU, good cooling for the CPU with an option to add another 92 mm fan for the CPU cooler.It's not small, but it's not big either since it's under 20 liters. Good performance, fairly quiet, and ok size.
thestryker - Thursday, December 15, 2022 - link
Appreciate the thorough review as always on the NUCs. Not enough places seem to get into them and put out useful data.I understand why some might be disappointed by the size vs what else you can get on the market. I don't particularly mind it myself as they seem to be trying new things out. The biggest issue I have with it is the same issue as with the last two: you're paying a very high premium price for something you could do yourself for a fair bit less while getting better peak performance due to not being limited by SODIMMs.
TheinsanegamerN - Monday, December 19, 2022 - link
"they're trying things out"That's a pretty hard cop out for "they took a micro ATX case and made it proprietary".
thestryker - Tuesday, December 20, 2022 - link
No it's an acknowledgement of the fact that they've had 4 NUC Extreme systems and 3 dramatically different designs and this probably isn't the last.DannyH246 - Thursday, December 15, 2022 - link
Oh cool i didn't realize Anand reviewed mini personal home heaters.d40ppatt - Thursday, December 15, 2022 - link
Does Anandtech still do GPU reviews?DannyH246 - Friday, December 16, 2022 - link
Only if its Intel.TheinsanegamerN - Monday, December 19, 2022 - link
Nah the guy's house burnt down two years ago and there is LITERALLY nothing that anandtech could have done in 2 years to fix that.Bik - Tuesday, December 20, 2022 - link
I miss Ian gpu and Andrei mobile reviewsOxford Guy - Tuesday, December 20, 2022 - link
Size should fit the use case — aka diminished returns exist.DanaGoyette - Wednesday, December 21, 2022 - link
Does this happen to have ECC and vPro support? If so, that (combined with Thunderbolt 4) is already something most self-built machines can't do.missingno - Sunday, December 25, 2022 - link
Intel would burn down their own fabs before they ever put ECC support in their desktop boardshd-2 - Tuesday, January 3, 2023 - link
This thing has been absolutely awesome to play with...using a 7900 XT fits the TDP quite nicely and I'm getting 3x the performance of a computer that had 5x the volume (upgrading from first gen ThreadRipper/Titan build). I'm sure I'll be labelled an Intel shill for saying it, but after seeing a bunch of negative comments I figured I'd post a positive counter.