LAS VEGAS, NV —  Intel's Skylake-based Skull Canyon NUC has been a popular mini-desktop since its launch in early 2016. We didn't see a corresponding Kaby Lake version last year. However, thanks to the leaks of the NUC roadmap back in September, we unofficially knew what the pipeline contained. Undoubtedly, the most interesting of the new systems were the Hades Canyon models that apparently came with discrete graphics. As details of the Intel with Radeon RX Vega Graphics processors started trickling in last week, we got some hints about the processor inside the Hades Canyon NUCs. The launch today provides us with the official specifications of the new processors aimed at systems that need to have discrete graphics while remaining thin and light.

Unlike Skull Canyon, which has only one SKU (NUC6i7KYK) with the Core i7-6700HQ, Intel is launching Hades Canyon in two versions. The more powerful of the two is the $999 VR-ready NUC8i7HVK sporting the 100W TDP unlocked Core i7-8809G. The other SKU is the $799 NUC8i7HNK with the 65W TDP Core i7-8705G. The rest of the features are identical across the two SKUs.

NUC8i7HVK and NUC8i7HNK - I/O Distribution across Front and Rear Panels

The table below compares the various features of the two Hades Canyon NUCs against the Skull Canyon NUC that currently targets this market segment.

The footprint of the Hades Canyon NUCs (221mm x 142mm x 39mm / 1.2L) is slightly bigger than the Skull Canyon NUC (216mm x 116mm x 23mm / 0.69L). It is not surprising, given the wealth of extra I/O and the additional cooling requirements for the higher TDP processor. The power adapter also receives a hefty uptick in specifications, moving from 120W to 230W. Customizable RGB lighting for the lid is an attractive feature in the gaming market.

It must be noted that all the six display outputs in the Hades Canyon NUCs are driven by the Radeon GPU. The Intel iGPU is still active in the 'headless' mode, and features like QuickSync and the internal protected audio/video path can be used. Intel confirmed that the platform is capable of playing back UltraHD Blu-rays with HDR (Update: After our hands-on review, it was discovered that the Hades Canyon NUCs will not be able to utilize the integrated GPU's PAVP, and playback of UltraHD Blu-rays is not possible using them). It will also be PlayReady 3.0-compatible, enabling the system to access and play back premium 4K content. We have seen a trend in desktops to place a HDMI port in the front panel for easier hook up of virtual reality head-mounted displays, and both of the Hades Canyon NUCs have adopted it. Given the VR-ready marketing tag for the NUC9i7HVK, it is a welcome move.

DDR4-2400 is now the base supported memory speed, which is a step up from the DDR4-2133 in the Skull Canyon NUC. We were able to get the G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4-3000 SODIMM kit running stable in the Skull Canyon sample. With overclocking natively supported in the VR-ready NUC8i7HVK, we expect faster kits to be compatible too.

In terms of I/O, we have an additional Thunderbolt 3 port in the Hades Canyon NUCs compared to Skull Canyon. (Update: We confirmed that the controller is not the new Titan Ridge silicon, but, the JHL6540 Alpine Ridge dual port version) We also have an extra LAN port (enabled by the Intel i210AT gigabit controller). One of the front USB 3.0 Type-A ports has also been replaced by two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports (1x Type-A, and 1x Type-C). Intel is using an ASMedia ASM2142 USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller for this. It is uplinked directly to the CPU's PCIe lanes with a PCIe 3.0 x2 link.

The Wi-Fi also receives a slight upgrade, moving from the AC8260 to AC8265. The main difference is the availability of MU-MIMO in the latter. The audio codec also receives an update. While the ALC233 in the Skull Canyon was a stereo codec, the new ALC700 is an upgrade with features that lie between the ALC892 and ALC662. It supports 7.1 digital output over optical/toslink and also supports analog output from the front and rear jacks.

Moving on to the core platform, it appears that the Thunderbolt ports as well as the M.2 slots are hooked up to the PCIe lanes off the PCH. Moving some of the bandwidth-hungry peripherals (in particular, the Thunderbolt controller) to the CPU's PCIe lanes could ensure that the DMI link between the PCH and the processor package is not a bottleneck. That said, it is at least good to see the Bayhub SDXC controller and the ASM3142 controller connected directly to the CPU using 1x and 2x lanes respectively. Due to lane bifurcation rules, the 8x PCIe 3.0 lanes can't be sub-divided any further to accommodate the Alpine Ridge controller.

Intel plans to price the NUC8i7HVK and NUC8i7HNK around $999 and $799 respectively. Fully configured systems will likely be $300 to $400 more, depending on the configuration. The products will be available for purchase in Q2 2018 (tallying with the leaked roadmap from September 2017). The NUC8i7HNK will be available first with the VR-ready NUC8i7HVK following a few weeks later.