It’s that time again — Intel just refreshed its NUC lineup of mini PCs with 11th Generation processors. Simply NUC already has two units available for pre-order, including models that have the 11700B and 11900KB processors with up to eight cores and 16 threads. What’s new this generation? Well, support for full-length dual-slot graphics cards, for one. Of course, there are the other notable improvements like Thunderbolt 4, PCIe 4.0, and others. So, let’s take a closer look at the Intel Beast Canyon NUC lineup of mini computers.
NUCs aren’t just for low-power setups anymore
Sure, Intel has had its Extreme NUCs for a while, but even then, you had to order them with a custom GPU or nothing in the past. Well, now that’s changed, as you’ll be able to add your own graphics card down the line should you decide to add one, or upgrade, at a later date. That’s right, the latest Beast Canyon NUCs not only come with 11th Generation Core i7 or i9 processors and UHD graphics but support a full-sized two-slot graphics card. Simply NUC will ship pre-orders with either nothing pre-installed, a Mini RTX 3060 Ti or the EVGA RTX 3070, depending on which you choose during the configuration stage. Given the $750 and $2,000 costs, respectively, it’s hard for us to recommend opting for a pre-installed graphics card here, though hopefully, prices will go down as time goes on.
11th Generation processors offer up to 8-cores and 16-threads of power
Power doesn’t just come in large packages. Sure, the 11900KB found in the Beast Canyon NUC is a 65W TDP processor instead of the 125W 11900K, but you’ll still find eight cores and 16 threads available with a base clock of 3.3GHz, turbo of 4.9GHz, and Thermal Velocity Boost of 5.3GHz. There’s 24MB of cache, and it’s even based around a 10nm manufacturing lithography. All of this adds up to make the latest Beast Canyon NUCs a powerhouse for a multitude of uses, ranging from being a homelab server to running your day-to-day workflow, video editing, and of course, gaming.
You’re really not losing anything with the latest NUC lineup of mini PCs
For a while, opting for a NUC meant that you lost a lot of expandability. Well, Beast Canyon doesn’t remove any; in fact, it adds. Like we’ve already mentioned, you’ll be able to place a full-sized dual-slot GPU in the case, but that’s not all. The NUC also has room for a secondary add-in card, which Simply NUC can pre-populate with a NIC or leave blank for you to add something yourself. There are also three total NVMe slots, each of which can be pre-loaded with up to 8TB of PCIe 3.0 storage, with the first slot having the option of using PCIe 4.0 for faster speeds.
For integrated I/O, you’ll find dual Thunderbolt 4, as well as eight USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, HDMI 2.0b output, Intel’s 2.5Gb Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E AX210, and even an SD slot. This all adds up to helping you achieve more with a smaller computer overall, making the NUC a great choice if your office changes around frequently.
Pre-order today for delivery in September
Simply NUC already has the latest Beast Canyon NUC 11 Extreme available for pre-order with two base configurations. There’s the i7-11700B, which starts at $1,399 fully configured and ready to go, and the i9-11900KB at $1,599, fully configured and ready to go. Each ships with 8GB of DDR4 RAM and a 256GB NVMe SSD but can be specced up from there to suit your needs. Delivery is slated to begin in September 2021.
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