Intel Hades Canyon NUC Reviewed

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rgMekanic

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Jeff Kampman over at TheTechReport has published an awesome review of the new Hades Canyon NUC and it's Kaby-Lake G processor. He put Intel's new tiny PC through its paces in a pile of synthetic benchmarks and games to see what the i7-8809G with its integrated Radeon RX Vega M graphics can really do.

To saw that performance is impressive is an understatement when you consider its diminutive size and the fact that the i7-8809G only has a 100w package power rating. It's a shame we won't see gaming laptops from some manufacturers using Kaby-Lake G thanks to the GPP.

All told, Hades Canyon nails everything we want in a tiny gaming PC and then some. Now that Intel has competent gaming hardware to play with, the company will need to back it up with the day-one driver support gamers expect from AMD and Nvidia. Given that AMD's driver team is providing support to Intel behind the scenes, the blue team shouldn't have a major challenge keeping up, but we won't know for certain until some time passes. For the moment, I'm not aware of anything else quite as small or fast or quiet as the NUC8i7HVK, and Intel's fine execution on all of those points make this system an easy TR Editor's Choice.
 
I wonder how effective this would be as a streaming device using NewTek's NDI with OBS/VLC.
Hrm...I'll wait for a price drop and maybe give it a try.
Would be awesome if it could function as a 2nd PC in a streaming setup.
 
Again, unlike Anandtech, they do NOT post the price of the system reviewed. This looks like the same sample kit Intel has been sending out, which costs around $1500. Another misleading article on the NUC.
 
oldmanbal said:
Again, unlike Anandtech, they do NOT post the price of the system reviewed. This looks like the same sample kit Intel has been sending out, which costs around $1500. Another misleading article on the NUC.
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How is it misleading? The performance for price?

Not trying to disagree with you, just asking an honest question.
 
bizzmeister said:
That thing is fucking $1500 ???
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2ZbtF0a.jpg
 
You don't read very well. It states multiple times that the memory/drives/OS aren't included. And I think they are the first to actually try to make a similar build:

"Intel sells the NUC8i7HVK as a barebones unit without storage, memory, or an operating system pre-installed for $999. That's a lofty price tag, but it's not as high as it might seem at first glance. We put together a Mini-ITX PC powered by an unlocked Core i5-8600K CPU, 16 GB of DDR4-3200 memory, a GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB for roughly comparable graphics performance, and a Mini-ITX Z370 motherboard with Thunderbolt 3 support, all capped off with a 1-TB M.2 version of Crucial's MX500 SSD and a 120-mm closed-loop liquid cooler. Putting 16 GB of DDR4-3200 SO-DIMMs and that same Crucial SSD in a Hades Canyon NUC carries just an 11% premium over those parts, at least at the time we put them together."
 
AMD needs a small box like that with the Ryzen 5.

Just add your own ram, HDD and OS.

Price it near $250 and undercut Intel.
Won't perform as fast but much cheaper and half the cost to power.
 
I bought one of the original NUCs for my ex missus as a light officework box and rise of nations machine - brilliant little thing at 15w.

I'd consider one but my personal needs are massive IPC and GTX 970 levels of performance (I am a Forged Alliance Forever baby) so for now I'll hang on to my desktop.
 
mord said:
How is it misleading? The performance for price?

Not trying to disagree with you, just asking an honest question.
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They don't tell you the price of the system they are reviewing, when that is the big question everyone is looking for. They list of a price of 999 as base which is misleading, the way the article is written. This isn't the first NUC article where the price of what they are reviewing was ommitted, so I'm starting to wonder why. Clearly a 1500 part is not going to be compared in the same light as a 999 part. Part of it is form factor, and part of it is that the gaming numbers are just on the fringe of decent 1080p in newer titles, which at $1500 is kinda wonky in my opinion. You can disagree with me, I just feel like it's dishonest on the part of the review site to mislead your readers when they are trying to make economical decisions only to be disappointed when they try to recreate your numbers.
 
I am of the mind, likely incorrectly, that anyone reading about any NUC system with even a basic understanding of what they are, will already KNOW they don't include HDD, RAM, OS. If they don't I sure hope they read up on what a NUC is before sinking cash into one!

I've owned several, including the Skull Canyon predecessor to this one....They are terrific little boxes. Amazing what they have accomplished in so little space. But, like Apple products, the NUC line is mostly disinterested in chasing a low bottom line to boost sales. There is a premium charged for what you get - not outlandish, mind you, but if you really want to recreate the beast (albeit likely much larger and power-hungry) for fewer $$, you can do it.
 
"It's a shame we won't see gaming laptops from some manufacturers using Kaby-Lake G thanks to the GPP."

All a company has to do is create an alternative gaming line and call it BubbleGumGaming or whatever they want and throw that NUC system in it. If it's good, people will buy it. Nvidia is overestimating the value of a gaming brand.
 
While this is amazing, people were claiming this would trounce a Mobile version of the 1060.........clearly it doesn't, But my main problem is why did they use a desktop 1050TI, the mobile variant is faster than the desktop version due to the increased clocks and tweaks, from benchmarking my laptop(Dell Inspiron Gaming 15 7000gaming 7700hq/1050ti) I think the gap between this and the 1050ti in several benchmarks would be more even.

The other major issue is the price around 1k$ prebuilt that can afford you these days a 1060 Laptop and in some instances you can get them for around 800$. For the money I just don't see this as a great deal, a laptop can serve in the same way the NUC does, yet is standalone and serves more purpose by being able to take it with you.

I will fully admit Intel and AMD have made a great product here (the Chip not the NUC itself) I think NUCs are niche products to being with and some people will make great uses for this for the mainstream though with that price point.
 
oldmanbal said:
They don't tell you the price of the system they are reviewing, when that is the big question everyone is looking for. They list of a price of 999 as base which is misleading, the way the article is written. This isn't the first NUC article where the price of what they are reviewing was ommitted, so I'm starting to wonder why. Clearly a 1500 part is not going to be compared in the same light as a 999 part. Part of it is form factor, and part of it is that the gaming numbers are just on the fringe of decent 1080p in newer titles, which at $1500 is kinda wonky in my opinion. You can disagree with me, I just feel like it's dishonest on the part of the review site to mislead your readers when they are trying to make economical decisions only to be disappointed when they try to recreate your numbers.
Click to expand...

I really wasn't disagreeing, just clarifying it was the price part you felt was misleading.
 
oldmanbal said:
They don't tell you the price of the system they are reviewing, when that is the big question everyone is looking for. They list of a price of 999 as base which is misleading, the way the article is written. This isn't the first NUC article where the price of what they are reviewing was ommitted, so I'm starting to wonder why. Clearly a 1500 part is not going to be compared in the same light as a 999 part. Part of it is form factor, and part of it is that the gaming numbers are just on the fringe of decent 1080p in newer titles, which at $1500 is kinda wonky in my opinion. You can disagree with me, I just feel like it's dishonest on the part of the review site to mislead your readers when they are trying to make economical decisions only to be disappointed when they try to recreate your numbers.
Click to expand...


I believe they did

"Intel sells the NUC8i7HVK as a barebones unit without storage, memory, or an operating system pre-installed for $999.That's a lofty price tag, but it's not as high as it might seem at first glance. We put together a Mini-ITX PC powered by an unlocked Core i5-8600K CPU, 16 GB of DDR4-3200 memory, a GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB for roughly comparable graphics performance, and a Mini-ITX Z370 motherboard with Thunderbolt 3 support, all capped off with a 1-TB M.2 version of Crucial's MX500 SSD and a 120-mm closed-loop liquid cooler. Putting 16 GB of DDR4-3200 SO-DIMMs and that same Crucial SSD in a Hades Canyon NUC carries just an 11% premium over those parts, at least at the time we put them together."
 
TAP said:
"It's a shame we won't see gaming laptops from some manufacturers using Kaby-Lake G thanks to the GPP."

All a company has to do is create an alternative gaming line and call it BubbleGumGaming or whatever they want and throw that NUC system in it. If it's good, people will buy it. Nvidia is overestimating the value of a gaming brand.
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Yeah, what hyperbole. There's nothing stopping a manufacturer from making a laptop with only the Kaby-Lake G in it and no nVidia graphics. The whole internet is fking freaking out over GPP.
 
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Gasaraki_ said:
Yeah, what hyperbole. There's nothing stopping a manufacturer from making a laptop with only the Kaby-Lake G in it and no nVidia graphics. The whole internet is fking freaking out over GPP.
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I agree. People need to get over it and AMD needs to step up and produce a higher performing product that doesn't need a nuclear reactor to run it. As soon as they do that AMD can then start throwing around their weight a little.
 
1Nocturnal101 said:
I believe they did

"Intel sells the NUC8i7HVK as a barebones unit without storage, memory, or an operating system pre-installed for $999.That's a lofty price tag, but it's not as high as it might seem at first glance. We put together a Mini-ITX PC powered by an unlocked Core i5-8600K CPU, 16 GB of DDR4-3200 memory, a GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB for roughly comparable graphics performance, and a Mini-ITX Z370 motherboard with Thunderbolt 3 support, all capped off with a 1-TB M.2 version of Crucial's MX500 SSD and a 120-mm closed-loop liquid cooler. Putting 16 GB of DDR4-3200 SO-DIMMs and that same Crucial SSD in a Hades Canyon NUC carries just an 11% premium over those parts, at least at the time we put them together."
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I read the article as well, they are not comparing the bare bones system in the charts you see.
 
Oh man, where were these when I was last shopping for router hardware?

They finally put TWO INTEL NIC's in these NUC's.

I'd take a lower powered version without the fancy GPU though...
 
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atp1916 said:
Amazing - but that price tag??

Nah bruh
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Please build me a system with similar performance in a similar form factor and show the price delta. When you come back for with a sub $100 win on our end....we can talk again. Small, fast, cheap...pick 2.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Please build me a system with similar performance in a similar form factor and show the price delta. When you come back for with a sub $100 win on our end....we can talk again. Small, fast, cheap...pick 2.
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Maybe in same form factor this thing is the king but TBH, what's the point given the exorbitant price? I do think it's a great system but for a 1080p gaming machine price is really high. If you need a portable system you can find a laptop with 1070 for less than that. I personally am not sure what market this machine is for given current price.
 
zkostik said:
Maybe in same form factor this thing is the king but TBH, what's the point given the exorbitant price? I do think it's a great system but for a 1080p gaming machine price is really high. If you need a portable system you can find a laptop with 1070 for less than that. I personally am not sure what market this machine is for given current price.
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Because you don't see/understand something doesn't make it false/wrong. I own several NUC's. They are amazing devices for hiding decent computation power in small spaces. There is no way a laptop or ITX box can fit where I put them. Being able to mount a NUC to a back of a VESA compliant monitor is very much a benefit. Use a wireless mouse/keyboard/network at all I have is ONE power cable running to the monitor. That is it. Clean and simple. While the amount of clutter/wires may not bother you...in the environments where I put tech, it would look like ass.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Because you don't see/understand something doesn't make it false/wrong. I own several NUC's. They are amazing devices for hiding decent computation power in small spaces. There is no way a laptop or ITX box can fit where I put them. Being able to mount a NUC to a back of a VESA compliant monitor is very much a benefit. Use a wireless mouse/keyboard/network at all I have is ONE power cable running to the monitor. That is it. Clean and simple. While the amount of clutter/wires may not bother you...in the environments where I put tech, it would look like ass.
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Well I also have a NUC as well as several small computers and in fact had them for a very long time and still have my VIA pico ITX (my media PC and several servers at home are industrial minis). I never said it's false or wrong just given the price point it isn't clear what their market is. Same was with the first extreme NUC (Skull Trail?). It was a cool system but taking price point into consideration somewhat underwhelming. So no need to defend your opinion and lash out on mine.
 
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