Generally the Gaming PC are great, since they have to accommodate high-end hardware but especially their complex systems of refrigeration in order to keep the hardware at a good temperature. Therefore, being able to play to the fullest on a mini PC and more if it is not even ITX but in NUC format is almost utopian, but with the new generation of these mini PCs it seems that Intel wants to make it happen.
Intel’s new mini PC, with high-end hardware
In a leaked slide you can see that the enthusiast variant of the NUC 12 series, which will be known as Serpent Canyon, will be the successor to the current NUC 11. The PC will offer two key components: the new hybrid architecture that makes up Alder Lake and a new internal GPU option in the form of DG2 with Xe-HPG architecture.
The NUC 12 “Serpent Canyon” series will come in three different variants, with the top-of-the-range model equipped with an Intel Core i7 processor and up to 16 GB for graphics dedicated nothing less. This will be followed by a variant with Core i7 and 12 GB of VRAM, and finally a variant with Core i5 and a GPU with 8 GB of memory. The leaked specs for the Xe-HPG DG2 SKUs confirm that there are GPUs with 16, 12, and 8GB of memory, so that’s what we’re going to end up getting in these next-gen Intel mini PCs.
Now, it is not explicitly mentioned what these mini PCs that will be released next year will offer in terms of graphics, but it seems quite clear that the DG2 GPUs will be the chosen one seeing what there is. As for the rest of the specifications, it seems that they will use DDR4 RAM in SO-DIMM format at 3,200 MHz and with the possibility of installing up to 64 GB dual channel, which in turn confirms that Alder Lake will have support for DDR5 and DDR4 memory in its memory controller.
In terms of I / O, the NUC 12 will be compatible with drives M.2 PCIe 4.0 and 3.0, Optane Memory M10 / H10 solution, front and rear Thunderbolt 4 ports, Intel 2.5 GbE LAN, Intel Wireless AX411 (Bluetooth 5 + WiFi 6), a total of 6 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and 2 USB 2.0 ports (with internal header ), plus a 3.5mm audio jack, 7.1ch digital audio, HDMI, and DisplayPort. All of this will be powered by an external 19V (330W) power supply.
Finally, in terms of design, Intel seems to keep the logo of the skull that it released with the Skull canyon years ago, and it will also have configurable RGB lighting. A vertical stand will be included and the equipment will have a 3-year warranty, but the price and release date are not known at this time.
