GMKtec brings a discontinued Intel Pentium back from the dead in its new mini PC

GMKtec has quietly expanded its mini PC portfolio with the NucBox G3 Ultra. Despite what its ‘Ultra’ tag might suggest, its hardware doesn’t exactly live up to the hype. Its Intel Pentium Gold processor dates back to 2020, making it nearly six years old. Intel has since discontinued the chip, although that hasn’t stopped GMKtec from giving it a new lease of life.

The Pentium Gold 7505 is a Tiger Lake processor manufactured on Intel’s 10 nm SuperFin process. It comes with two cores, four threads, 4 MB of L3 cache and a maximum boost clock of 3.5 GHz. An integrated Intel UHD GPU with 48 execution units handles graphics duties. Don’t expect it to run anything made after 2020, though. GMKtec also offers three configurable power profiles rated at 8 W, 10 W and 15 W, with a cooling fan and copper heatpipe keeping thermals in check.

The NucBox G3 Ultra comes with 16 GB of LPDDR4-3200 RAM soldered directly onto the motherboard, effectively ruling out future memory upgrades. Storage options include 256 GB and 512 GB SSDs, although GMKtec’s regional specifications also mention a 1 TB configuration. Users can expand storage through two M.2 2280 slots, one supporting PCIe Gen4 NVMe drives up to 8 TB and the other accommodating SATA SSDs up to 1 TB.

Connectivity is fairly conventional, with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and Gigabit Ethernet. The mini PC offers three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, one USB 2.0 Type-A port, a 3.5 mm audio jack and two HDMI 2.0 outputs, each capable of driving a 4K display at 60 Hz. Notably, there is no USB-C connectivity. The chassis measures 114 × 106 × 44 mm and weighs 280 grams. Windows 11 Pro comes pre-installed.

The GMKtec NucBox G3 Ultra is now listed on the company’s US storefront for $270 with 16 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD. At that price, its ageing dual-core processor, non-upgradeable memory and lack of USB-C make it a questionable proposition, particularly when newer Intel N-series and AMD Ryzen-powered alternatives are available.