Intel 'Dragon Canyon' NUC 12 Extreme: Core i9 CPU + PCIe 5.0 x16 GPU

Intel has officially detailed its next-gen NUC 12 Extreme "Dragon Canyon" with its latest high-end SFF gaming PC, where it's pretty much just a beasty desktop PC at this point.

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Inside, the new NUC 12 Extreme "Dragon Canyon" will pack Intel's latest 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPU with a desktop LGA1700 socket on offer meaning you can use any LGA1700-based CPU at up to a huge 65W. Intel will sell it bundled with a Core i9-12900 or Core i7-12700 processor, but you can upgrade it.

Interestingly, there'll be a monster PCIe 5.0 x16 slot that's ready for a next-gen discrete GPU, as well as up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory. Intel's new NUC 12 Extreme will also support the company's upcoming 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" CPUs, and 10GbE enthusiast-grade Ethernet, with an additional 2.5GbE port on the Core i9 model.

• Read more: Intel teases Arc-based 'Beast Canyon' NUC Extreme with XeSS tech
• Read more: Intel NUC 12 Extreme 'Dragon Canyon' with LGA 1700 + desktop Arc GPU
• Read more: Intel NUC 12 Extreme packs desktop-based LGA1700 socket

Intel is living in the past by including HDMI 2.0b which is not just bad but pathetic in 2022 and beyond, I mean it has a desktop-class LGA1700-based CPU, up to 64GB of RAM, PCIe 5.0 x16 GPU support... but HDMI 2.0, which is limited to 4K 60FPS.

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HDMI 2.1 can do 4K 120FPS+ which is what you'd want from something called DRAGON CANYON. This is more like Whimper Dragon when it comes to display connectivity. You will of course have HDMI 2.1 through any discrete GPU you install into it, but that shouldn't be the case -- it should have HDMI 2.1 by default in 2022 -- seriously.

Anyway, the boost up to the 10GbE enthusiast-grade networking is a welcome upgrade over the 2.5GbE in the previous NUC 11 Extreme, while 2 x Thunderbolt 4 connectors are also here.