Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK (i7-8809G, Radeon RX Vega M GH) Mini PC Review

For visual customization, the easy-to-use LED Manager allows 16.7 million colors for the outer plate skull, three front LEDs, and the power button. The handy 'Disable All LEDs' option turns off all colors to make the NUC more appropriate for professional or work settings.

The Radeon RX Vega M settings software is nearly identical to the AMD Radeon Settings menu found on newer Radeon GPUs but with a fresh coat of blue paint. Users can access Radeon-specific features like ReLive, WattMan, Chill, FreeSync, and core hardware info through the settings menu. Many of these features are hidden through branching menus which can be annoying to users unfamiliar with the menu setup. Perhaps a "Search" feature could make navigation easier.

The top panel is removable once again and it will require a relatively large T8 Hex wrench whereas notebooks like the XPS 13 or Razer Blade utilize smaller T5 Hex screws. Popping the panel reveals the LED skull and the protective metal plate. A single Philips screw must be removed before lifting the plate that the included manual fails to mention.

Once inside, users have direct access to 2x DDR4 SODIMM slots, 2x M.2 2280 storage bays, and the BIOS battery. Additional disassembly is required to reach the processor on the other side of the motherboard.

CPU performance is insanely fast even before considering the small form factor. CineBench benchmarks rank the i7-8809G 22 percent faster than the i7-6770HQ found in the Skull Canyon NUC and it's even faster than flagship laptops equipped with unlocked i7-7820HK CPUs like the HP Omen X 17. It rivals a Core i7-7700K at stock speeds while being about 25 percent slower than the hexa-core Ryzen 5 1600.

The raw scores are made even more impressive by the NUC's ability to maintain high CPU clock rates. As detailed in our Stress Test section, processor clock rates are very steady no matter the workload for consistent performance results. Running CineBench R15 Multi-Thread in a loop results in stable scores throughout the entire duration of the test whereas this same test on a MSI GS63VR 7RF results in a performance drop of about 10 percent just after the first loop.

More technical information and benchmark results on the Core i7-8809G can be found on our CPU page here.

PCMark results are some of the highest in our database with final scores rivaling that of some GTX 1080 laptops including the massive HP Omen X 17 and Acer Predator Triton 700. The Intel NUC is indubitably slower than these systems in raw graphical power and so its exotic HBM2, Optane SSD, and Kaby Lake-G intricacies are likely factors since none are found together in any other notebook. Nonetheless, users will be getting a very fast and responsive PC experience with the Intel NUC. We experienced no software or hardware hiccups during our time with the unit.

Like the Skull Canyon NUC, Hades Canyon includes two internal M.2 2280 slots compatible with NVMe SSDs and RAID 0/1 features. Our particular test model is equipped with the newly launched 120 GB Intel Optane 800P SSD as the primary drive and a standard 512 GB Intel 545s SSD limited to SATA III speeds for the secondary.

Performance from the primary SSD is mixed. Sequential read and write rates are limited to PCIe x2 and the SSD itself is rated for only 1450 MB/s read and 640 MB/s write while a "traditional" PCIe x4 NVMe SSD can be two to three times faster. Optane's primary feature is improved low queue depth performance, but it comes at the cost of storage capacity. This seems to be at odds with the target gaming audience as gamers are more likely to prefer faster sequential transfer rates and higher capacities for games rather than faster transfer rates of very small files. We recommend going for a standard SATA III or NVMe SSD and waiting until Optane comes down in price and up in capacity.

See our table of SSDs and HDDs for more benchmark comparisons.

Whether or not the unprecedented partnership between the two biggest semiconductor rivals was worth the investment comes down to graphics performance. From a purely synthetic benchmark standpoint, the Radeon RX Vega M GH sits comfortably between the GTX 1060 Max-Q and GTX 1060 for laptops just as Intel advertised during the Hades Canyon reveal. By extension, this means that users are getting the raw graphics performance of a GTX 980M all in a single Core i7-8809G package. This becomes more impressive when considering that the GTX 980M was the fastest mobile GPU solution for large gaming notebooks like the Alienware 17 or MSI GT70 just two to three years ago and it makes Intel's own Iris solution look antiquated in comparison.

Readers with GTX 1060 gaming PCs - and there are quite a few of you out there - still have the upper-hand by about 15 to 20 percent over the RX Vega M GH according to 3DMark benchmarks. The Intel-AMD GPU straddles the line between mainstream and enthusiast without resorting to physically larger discrete graphics solutions.

More technical information and benchmarks on the Radeon RX Vega M GH can be found on our GPU page here.

We stress the mini PC to identify for any throttling or hardware issues. When subjected Prime95 to stress the CPU, the processor can be observed stabilizing at 3.9 GHz or 800 MHz above its base clock rate and never reaching any faster from the very start of the test. This behavior has more in common with Intel's HQ-series of CPUs whereas U-series CPUs tend to hit very high Turbo Boost clock rates for very short periods before stabilizing at slower speeds. Its stable core temperature of 85 C is subsequently warmer than on most Ultrabooks but still cooler than the i7-6770HQ in the Skull Canyon where temperatures can reach >95 C when under similar Prime95 conditions. In this case, the thicker chassis design is at least partly responsible for the improved cooling potential over the last generation NUC.

Running both Prime95 and FurMark simultaneously to stress the processor package will result in a steady core temperature of 99 C. Whether or not such a high temperature can be considered "stable" will depend on who you ask, but this is technically stable to Intel engineers as they've confirmed TjMax to be 100 C for the i7-8809G. In our minds, however, plateauing at 99 C is unacceptable for most enthusiasts as even the fastest ultra-thin laptops like the MSI GS or Razer Blade series tend to stabilize at cooler core temperatures when under similar conditions. Interestingly, the GPU clock never drops below its rated dynamic maximum of 1190 MHz no matter how stressful the load while the CPU can drop to as low as 3.5 GHz to indicate a preference for stabler GPU performance at the cost of CPU performance.

Running Witcher 3 is more representative of loads most gamers will experience. The CPU stabilizes at a respectable mid-to-high 60 C range to be cooler than many gaming notebooks including the Aorus X7 or Asus ROG G752VS where >80 C can be the norm.

Surface temperatures are cooler on the Hades Canyon NUC when compared to the Skull Canyon NUC despite having a more demanding processor. Whereas the last generation model can become as warm as 42 C when under very high processing loads, this latest model barely changes in temperature and remains at about 30 C no matter the load.

So, where does all the heat go? The chassis includes a plethora of ventilation grilles on 5 of its 6 sides. Exhaust exits only from the rear of the unit and anything caught in its path will become very warm as suggested by our heat maps below. Needless to say, it is especially important to not block any of the ventilation grilles or orient the system sideways on a table.

Idling on desktop demands about 16 W to be very similar to the slower Skull Canyon NUC. From a notebook perspective, the new NUC sits between an Ultrabook and a full-fledged gaming notebook in terms of power consumption when idling or during very low loads.

Results get more interesting when subjecting the system to higher loads. When running 3DMark 06, the NUC will draw 83 W or slightly more than the GTX 1060-powered Razer Blade or Asus FX503VM under similar conditions. This delta grows even larger when running Witcher 3 as we can record a consumption of 135 W versus just 107 W on the Asus FX503VM. The performance of the Vega RX M GH is very nearly on par with the GTX 1060 for laptops and so it's disappointing to see a lower performance-per-Watt out of the i7-8809G when gaming. Fortunately, the performance-per-Watt is significantly greater if comparing against Nvidia's last generation Maxwell series or Intel's own Iris series. As an example, Hades Canyon consumes 33 percent more power than Skull Canyon when running 3DMark06 while providing a graphics boost of about 450 percent according to 3DMark.

Power consumption when running Prime95 is in line with our steady CineBench loop results from above. Consumption jumps from 16 W at idle to 103 W almost instantaneously and it never drops from there to imply steady performance and Turbo Boost. In comparison, a U-class CPU may experience higher power draw during the first few seconds of running Prime95 before dropping to lower levels as shown by the comparison below.

We are able to record an average power draw of 174 W over 90 seconds when running both Prime95 and FurMark simultaneously. Note that power consumption will fluctuate heavily from 150 W to 225 W when under 100 percent load conditions as shown below. The external power adapter is rated for 230 W and so a slightly more capable PSU would have been appreciated for the greater overhead.