Intel announces NUC 12 Extreme with 12th-generation desktop processors

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Intel announces NUC 12 Extreme with 12th-generation desktop processors and a modular design

Intel has announced the latest in its series of NUC barebones computers, the NUC 12 Extreme, now with up to a 12th-generation Core i9.

The Intel NUC 12 Extreme (code-named Dragon Canyon) and the Intel NUC 12 Extreme Compute Element (code-named Eden Bay), a highly modular desktop PC kit engineered to provide phenomenal performance for high-end gaming and content creation tasks, launch on Feb. 24, 2022. With the latest 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors, the Intel NUC 12 Extreme delivers massive performance and features that enthusiast gamers and professional creators need in a compact and modular form factor. (Credit: Intel

Intel has announced the latest family in its NUC (next unit of computing) series, the NUC 12 Extreme, codenamed Dragon Canyon. If you're not familiar with the NUC series, this is essentially a barebones small form factor desktop PC with a modular design. It gives you the core components of a computer, but it doesn't include all the hardware so customers can build it with the components they want.

The NUC 12 Extreme includes two major components: The NUC 12 Compute Element - essentially a motherboard and a processor - and the computer case, which measures just 14 inches long, 4.74 inches wide, and 7.44 inches tall. The new NUC 12 Compute Element comes with Intel's 12th-generation Alder Lake desktop processors, up to a Core i9-12900, with eight P cores, eight E cores, and a total of 24 threads. You can also get the Core i7-12700, which has eight P cores and four E cores for 20 threads in total. This is the first time a NUC comes with a socketed desktop processor, meaning you could be able to upgrade the CPU in the future.

The motherboard includes plenty of expansion options, starting with enough space for a 12-inch dual-slot GPU for those who want to build a compact gaming rig. The GPU slot uses a PCIe Gen 5 x16 connection, so it should support high-end GPUs for the foreseeable future. For RAM, you get two SODIMM slots supporting up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM in a dual-channel configuration, and for storage, there are three M.2 PCIe Gen 4 SSD slots supporting NVMe or SATA SSDs. None of these components are included with the NUC, so you can choose them yourself.

Front and rear view of the Intel NUC Extreme 12

The Intel NUC 12 Extreme also includes a solid supply of ports for such a small chassis. There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.0b, six USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, and a 10Gbps Ethernet port by default (plus another 2.5Gbps port in the Core i9 model) on the back. On the front, a USB Type-C port, USB Type-A, an SD card reader, and a headphone jack round things out. It also supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.

The Intel NUC 12 Extreme will be available in the second quarter of the year, and it will cost between $1,150 and $1,450 depending on your configuration. It doesn't include an operating system, but it should be compatible with Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows Server, and popular Linux distributions.

Source: Intel