Intel Brings 8th-Generation Core Chips to the NUC

Intel this week announced a new family of NUC kits and mini-PCs that utilize its quad-core 8th-generation Core chipsets. And for the first time, Intel is offering discrete graphics options in its mainstream NUC PCs.

“Intel NUCs are mini PCs that offer high-performance capabilities in a space-saving design and are perfectly suited for home theater, home office, entry-level gaming or as a replacement for desktops when space is a concern,” the Intel announcement notes. “These new NUCs offer a number of new options that will fit a wide range of computing needs.”

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To be clear, a NUC kit includes the mini case and the chipset/motherboard, and you can add your own RAM and storage (and operating system). I used a NUC kit two years ago to create my own mini-PC, which I’m still using. And I upgraded it over time to include more USB ports.

A NUC mini-PC is the complete PC, ready to use. So it already includes RAM and storage. and it comes with Windows 10. In both cases, Intel offers a variety of configurations with different CPUs and so on.

For its new NUC systems, Intel is utilizing “Bean Canyon” and “Coffee Lake-U” processors for its kits and “Crimson Canyon” an “Cannon Lake” processors for the mini-PCs. The Coffee Lake variants include Intel Iris graphics with eDRAM. And the Cannon Lake variants are the first mainstream NUCs to include discrete graphics.

The new Intel NUC kits and mini-PCs will be available worldwide in September, Intel says. Based on my experience with a previous-generation NUC system, I recommend NUC highly. And will be looking at building a new mini-PC based on the new kits.

 

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Conversation 16 comments

  • colin79666

    Premium Member
    16 August, 2018 - 10:29 am

    <p>Might be time to replace my Sandybridge based workhorse with something smaller. I've been waiting for the quad core CPus to make it into the regular NUCs. Odd that TPM isn't included however, that would cost pennies and something that pocket-able could do with encryption.</p>

    • echorelay

      Premium Member
      16 August, 2018 - 6:00 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#302214">In reply to colin79666:</a></em></blockquote><p>I looked into this recently, and although it doesn't have a "dedicated TPM chip" – it does have <strong style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">"Intel® Platform Trust Technology (Intel® PTT)" </strong>which, according to their site (when enabled in the bios), can perform the same functionality as a TPM. So I think you're good.</p><p><br></p><p>Link – https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007452/mini-pcs.html </p>

  • chrisrut

    Premium Member
    16 August, 2018 - 11:05 am

    <p>My main home workstation is a 7th Gen i5 NUC. Very pleased – been waiting for the upgrade. The discrete graphics are of interest. Good enough to play with VR? </p>

  • compnovo

    Premium Member
    16 August, 2018 - 11:28 am

    <p>I started playing around with SFF PCs a few years ago, and I think the NUC systems have the best build quality of the bunch. My last one was the 7th gen i7, and since there was room I installed both a 500GB M.2 and a 1TB platter drive, along with 8GB of RAM and Windows 10. The onboard graphics are good enough for LIGHT gaming (at low settings) but that's not really what this device is designed for. Right now my wife is using it as her primary computer in her private practice, and it's stable as a rock.</p>

  • tobyburnett41

    Premium Member
    16 August, 2018 - 11:29 pm

    <p>I'm still using two 4th generation Core I5-4250U NUCs that I build from kits for office and home, over 4 years ago. Since they still meet my needs, I've been reluctant to upgrade. But having 4 cores, and the availability of the mini-PC option, convinces me to upgrade the home one, which (now emeritus) I use much more. </p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    17 August, 2018 - 2:58 am

    <p>My previous employer used them as thin clients (Core i5-7000 series, 8GB RAM) for Linux terminal servers, using PXE-Boot. Great pieces of kit.</p>

  • Roncerr

    17 August, 2018 - 7:50 am

    <p>I don't get the September date. Amazon's had this listed for the past few weeks at least, in stock, for prime delivery. Look up NUC8i7HVK.</p>

    • Jackwagon

      Premium Member
      17 August, 2018 - 1:55 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#302453">In reply to Roncerr:</a></em></blockquote><p>The model number you cited is for Hades Canyon, which is indeed already out. The models mentioned in this article are a bit lower-power, most likely not intended for the same use case.</p>

  • StudBen

    20 August, 2018 - 11:35 am

    <p>Paul I have an older NUC would like to upgrade, I am curious since these have the type-c ports can these be powered off a type-c monitor like how laptops can be charged off these? It would be nice to mount to the back and only have to run one power cord. It is saying on the Intel website in regards to thunderbolt 3 "15W to bus-powered devices — hubs, hard drives, audio interfaces" so it sounds like it should work. I'm just curious if any one with a newer NUC model that has the thunderbolt 3 has tried powering it off of type-c? </p>

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