An official specifications sheet for Intel’s NUC 12 Extreme “Dragon Canyon” system has leaked, providing clarity on what enthusiasts of powerful mini PCs should find in Intel’s latest high-performance Next Unit Computing effort.
According to the marketing material shared by VideoCardz, Intel’s NUC 12 Extreme “Dragon Canyon” will comprise 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900 and i7-12700 CPU options, with memory support of up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 RAM. Other key features include a PCIe x16 Gen5 slot for graphics cards of up to 12 inches in length, three M.2 key M slots, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, six USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A connectors, Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211, and a 10Gb Ethernet port. (The Core i9 versions are also equipped with a second, 2.5Gb Ethernet port).
Early retail listings spotted by @momomo_us suggest that the Core i7 and Core i9 models of Intel’s NUC 12 Extreme “Dragon Canyon” will cost $1,514 and $1,714, respectively. They are expected to launch by the end of this quarter.
— 188号 (@momomo_us) February 18, 2022
Intel NUC 12 Extreme “Dragon Canyon” to feature up to Core i9-12900 65W Alder Lake CPU (VideoCardz)
- The 12th Gen NUC brings some key changes to the series, such as an introduction of a desktop socket for CPU. The NUC 12 Compute Element now offers a desktop LGA1700 socket which means that should BIOS support it, the device could work with any LGA1700 SKU under 65W.
- Officially though, the machine will be sold with either Core i9-12900 or Core i7-12700 Alder Lake CPUs. Intel has no plans to sell NUC 12 Extreme without the CPU thus there is very little reason to change the CPU unless… Intel NUC 12E will support Raptor Lake CPUs in the future.
- Interestingly, NUC 12 Extreme does not use DDR5 memory technology but relies on the DDR4-3200 standard with up to 64GB of capacity. Those are identical specs to the NUC 11 Extreme. This device is sold without memory, thus finding DDR4 SODIMM modules should be a lot simpler.