ASUS debuted its NUC 16 Pro mini pc at CES, and while intended for business use, there’s no denying its gaming potential. The NUC 16 Pro mini PC features an Intel Core X9 Ultra Series 3 processor, which has a total of 16 cores (4P/8E/4LPE) with a maximum turbo boost of 5.1 GHz, supporting up to 96 GB of 9600 MT/s LPDDR5X memory. Graphics are provided by an Intel Arc B390 integrated GPU with 12 Xe cores, 128 vector engines, 8 ray-tracing units, said to use only 15 watts of power, and accrording to Intel (via VideoCardz) provides up to 73% (upscaling)/82% (rasterization) performance gains over the AMD 890M GPU. The NPU is stated to provide up to 50 TOPs, and according to ASUS, “Each vector engine is paired with Intel XMX technology to deliver enhanced AI acceleration, enabling up to 180 tera operations per second (TOPS).”
The toolless 144x117x42mm chassis allows easy access for maintenance and upgrades, and features dual 2.5G LAN ports. Two NVMe drives (1x Gen5/1x Gen4), up to 8 TB, can be installed, and other network connectivity includes WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0. Pricing has not been revealed, but this premium mini-PC is likely to command a price of over $1300-$1500 based on previous model pricing. Valve has yet to reveal pricing for its Steam Machine, but it should be wary of pricing it anywhere near $1000, given that a machine like this could probably outperform it on many levels for a few hundred dollars more, despite being designed for more compute-intensive tasks. The NUC Pro 16 can be connected to up to four 4K displays via either its HDMI or DP 2.1 ports.
Features:
- Powered by up to Intel® Core™ Ultra X9 CPU, Arc™ B390 GPU, and NPU 5, it enables AI-accelerated hybrid computing, delivering up to 180 TOPS for real-time Edge AI.
- Up to 96 GB LPDDR5x 9600 MT/s with 20% faster speed and 50% lower power, plus dual-fan cooling for sustained peak performance.
- Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and dual 2.5G LAN provide low-latency, redundant, and secure connectivity for enterprise and Edge AI.
- Built-in firmware TPM 2.0 provides enterprise-grade data protection and compliance, enabling IT professionals to securely manage devices and scale services with ease.
- Compact 5×4 chassis with Tool-less 2.0 design supports dual M.2 Gen5/Gen4 SSDs, maximizing airflow, flexibility, and performance.
- Rugged modular build with long-life availability and rich I/O, including RS-232 and PCIe x1, for POS, IoT, and industrial deployment.
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Discussion (10 replies)
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I wonder how this will compare to the similarly sized AMD based AI MAX boxes with 128 gig of ram on the SOC.
I was thinking exact same thing. That 385 is truly impressive.
Meanwhile Valve really needs to be paying attention to these mini monsters. While they do cost a lot more it won't matter if the steam machine is stupidly priced. They keep it in the 600-800 range they should do well, but price it at $1K and to me these look a lot more attractive even if it means dropping another $500 or so.
Some examples of what this iGPU can do at 1080p.
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-panther-lake-pre-release-testing-delivers-over-80-fps-in-cyberpunk-100-fps-in-f1-arc-b390-offers-playable-1080p-frame-rates-with-xess-quirks[/URL]
[embedded media]
If previous high end chips are any indication, this won't be a very high volume part. I think only Acer may have something below $1500 with this SoC.
Bit of blur since having skimmed what feels like ~100 posts from CES now, but I think there's been around a half dozen products with this CPU announced already, and Intel pitching it as a gaming handheld option as well. The other real trick is if they can get enough of them produced for OEMs and whatnot.
All the big news I've been seeing so far... and admittedly I have not been watching very closely
...is all the previous generation OLED monitors going on fire sale.
That, and AI seems to no longer the big buzzword, just another marketing bullet point that everyone is assumed to have.
A lot of robot stuff, I've been checking the live feed on Engadget and they've covered some more unique items which are not PC related. I saw some pretty cool things to help those with physical disabilities as well.
Otherwise, yep a pretty "meh" event in regards to PC. There's a couple of other noteworthy items like the new VESA HDR Trueblack 1000 standard, which one of the LG laptops I posted about a few days ago is supposed to support, WiFi 7 and 8, a couple of other things I can't remember right now, but otherwise not much that's truly a new or step forward PCs. Those ASUS AR glasses are kind of neat.
I'll probably end up doing two more CES posts before the week is over, one on what wasn't shown, and then maybe a roundup of things worth knowing about.
"Brian_B, post: 100955, member: 96" wrote:...is all the previous generation OLED monitors going on fire sale.
Yeah because the newer ones are Tandem OLED and supposedly much more durable.
"igor_kavinski, post: 100964, member: 10805" wrote:Yeah because the newer ones are Tandem OLED and supposedly much more durable.
That and that the QD Oled's are finally stripe and a lot sharper now as a result, and have a new filter for better blacks which also makes them more scratch resistent
Discussion (10 replies)
Join Discussion →I wonder how this will compare to the similarly sized AMD based AI MAX boxes with 128 gig of ram on the SOC.
I was thinking exact same thing. That 385 is truly impressive.
Meanwhile Valve really needs to be paying attention to these mini monsters. While they do cost a lot more it won't matter if the steam machine is stupidly priced. They keep it in the 600-800 range they should do well, but price it at $1K and to me these look a lot more attractive even if it means dropping another $500 or so.
Some examples of what this iGPU can do at 1080p.
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-panther-lake-pre-release-testing-delivers-over-80-fps-in-cyberpunk-100-fps-in-f1-arc-b390-offers-playable-1080p-frame-rates-with-xess-quirks[/URL]
[embedded media]
If previous high end chips are any indication, this won't be a very high volume part. I think only Acer may have something below $1500 with this SoC.
Bit of blur since having skimmed what feels like ~100 posts from CES now, but I think there's been around a half dozen products with this CPU announced already, and Intel pitching it as a gaming handheld option as well. The other real trick is if they can get enough of them produced for OEMs and whatnot.
All the big news I've been seeing so far... and admittedly I have not been watching very closely
...is all the previous generation OLED monitors going on fire sale.
That, and AI seems to no longer the big buzzword, just another marketing bullet point that everyone is assumed to have.
A lot of robot stuff, I've been checking the live feed on Engadget and they've covered some more unique items which are not PC related. I saw some pretty cool things to help those with physical disabilities as well.
Otherwise, yep a pretty "meh" event in regards to PC. There's a couple of other noteworthy items like the new VESA HDR Trueblack 1000 standard, which one of the LG laptops I posted about a few days ago is supposed to support, WiFi 7 and 8, a couple of other things I can't remember right now, but otherwise not much that's truly a new or step forward PCs. Those ASUS AR glasses are kind of neat.
I'll probably end up doing two more CES posts before the week is over, one on what wasn't shown, and then maybe a roundup of things worth knowing about.
Yeah because the newer ones are Tandem OLED and supposedly much more durable.
That and that the QD Oled's are finally stripe and a lot sharper now as a result, and have a new filter for better blacks which also makes them more scratch resistent