Back in April, Intel announced the Crimson Lake NUC mini PCs that combine Cannon Lake CPUs with AMD GPUs. According to online retailer SimplyNUC, there will be an entry-level model and a more advanced variant, but both are powered by Intel’s 10 nm Core i3-8121U ULV CPU and the AMD RADEON 540 GPU.
The entry-level model is codenamed NUC8i3CYSN and will get 4 GB LPDDR4-2666 of RAM, 1 TB HDD storage and a Windows 10 Home license, while the more advanced NUC8i3CYSM will get 8 GB of RAM. The ULV CPU has max 15 W TDP so it can only go up to 3.2 GHz in boost mode and integrates two cores that support hyperthreading. The only downside for these two models seems to be the fact that the RAM is not upgradeable at all, so users are stuck with either 4 GB or 8 GB.
On the GPU side, the Radeon 540 comes with 8 compute units, 512 stream processors and 2 GB GDDR5 VRAM, but it cannot really compete with the Radeon Vega M GPUs from featured in the Hades Canyon NUCs. However, SimplyNUC claims that these GPUs are still a decent solution for graphics and video editing, apart from managing medium settings 1080p on not-so-demanding games.
Other specs for the two models include:
• M.2 2242/2280 PCIe NVMe slot
• 4K resolution support and 7.1 channel audio via HDMI
• WiFi + Bluetooth 5.0
• 4x USB 3.0 ports, 2x HDMI 2.0a outputs, audio out jack, GbE jack
• SD card reader
• 4.6″ x 4.4″ x 2″ dimensions, 90W external power supply
Pre-orders are already up for the US$575 NUC8i3CYSM model, and this one should begin shipping in mid-September. The NUC8i3CYSN model is expected to be available in October for US$530.
I first stepped into the wondrous IT&C world when I was around seven years old. I was instantly fascinated by computerized graphics, whether they were from games or 3D applications like 3D Max. I'm also an avid reader of science fiction, an astrophysics aficionado, and a crypto geek. I started writing PC-related articles for Softpedia and a few blogs back in 2006. I joined the Notebookcheck team in the summer of 2017 and am currently a senior tech writer mostly covering processor, GPU, and laptop news.
> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2018 08 > Intel Crimson Canyon NUC complete specs and release date unveiled
Bogdan Solca, 2018-08- 8 (Update: 2018-08- 8)