Asus TUF Gaming T500 gaming PC combines laptop CPU with desktop GPU
At first glance, the Asus TUF Gaming T500 looks like a regular gaming PC with a somewhat striking design on the front. However, a look inside the case reveals that the TUF Gaming T500 is anything but ordinary. Instead of using a standard motherboard with a desktop processor, Asus has opted for a proprietary motherboard with a soldered Intel Core i7-13620H in the maxed-out configuration.
This is a laptop processor from 2023 that features six performance cores with boost clock speeds of up to 4.9GHz and four efficiency cores. While this chipset should still provide decent gaming performance in a mid-range gaming PC even two years after its launch, Asus's decision is rather curious because it leaves buyers with no way to upgrade the processor without replacing the motherboard and RAM. The latter comes in the SO-DIMM format that’s typically used in laptops.
Even the CPU cooler is proprietary and would need to be replaced if users want to upgrade the processor. On a more positive note, Asus uses standard desktop graphics cards, the fastest option is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB (from $489 on Amazon). The gaming tower also supports up to 64GB of memory and comes with 512GB or 1TB of SSD storage. The mass storage can be expanded via a second m.2 slot or two SATA ports. The case measures roughly 14 x 11.7 x 6.1 inches and offers one USB-C, two USB-A ports with 5Gbit/s and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the front. On the back, there are four additional USB-A 2.0 ports as well as Gigabit Ethernet.
Price and availability
The Asus TUF Gaming T500 is listed for prices starting at $1,299. Details on European pricing and availability are still pending. The base model comes with an Intel Core i5-13420H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. More details about the configuration can be found on the official product page.
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