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Intel NUC8i3CYSM Review

Too soon to celebrate? There has been a 10-nm CPU on the market since late 2018. Intel has put a Cannon Lake-based chip in the Intel NUC8i3CYSM, but has it jumped the gun by doing so? The integrated graphics unit is disabled for the time being and the 10-nm chip does not offer any real performance improvements over the 14-nm models. Moreover, it has lower clock speeds and therefore performs worse than similar 14-nm chips.

The NUC product line from Intel has been expanded with one more model. The last mini PC from Intel that we reviewed was known as the NUC8i7BEH (Bean Canyon with the Core i7-8559U), and we now have the NUC8i3CYSM with the Cannon Lake-based Core i3-8121U in our lab. Both devices look very similar and are almost indistinguishable from each other. However, our current review device is a little bit bigger. The CPU manufacturing process has shrunk a little, though, from 14 nm to 10 nm. We will explain what kind of effect this has in the “Performance” section. 

Intel has released a lot of NUCs over the years, some of which we shall include in this review for comparison purposes. The Zotac ZBox-CI660 Nano and the Chuwi GBOX CWI560 will also be included in our review.

Unlike the Bean Canyon model, which comes as a barebones kit, the NUC8i3CYSM comes as a complete package. However, there are a few surprises when it comes to the choice of hardware. We are going to talk about it later.

No, or more than one (0) Rating for the given SpecsID 309262 found

Intel NUC8i3CYSM
Processor
Intel Core i3-8121U 2 x 2.2 - 3.1 GHz, Cannon-Lake
Graphics adapter
AMD Radeon RX 540 - 2048 MB VRAM, Core: 1124 MHz, Memory: 1500 MHz, 25.20.15008.2
Memory
8 GB 
, LPDDR4 2400
Mainboard
Intel Cannon Lake-U PCH-LP Premium
Storage
Seagate ST1000VT001, 1024 GB 
, 5400 rpm
Soundcard
ATI Radeon HDMI @ AMD K12 - High Definition Audio Controller
Connections
1 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, 2 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: 3.5-mm combination headphone/microphone jack, Card Reader: SDXC with UHS-I support
Networking
Intel Ethernet Connection I219-V (10/100/1000MBit/s), Intel Wireless-AC 9560 (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/ac = Wi-Fi 5/), Bluetooth 5.0
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 52 x 117 x 112 ( = 2.05 x 4.61 x 4.41 in)
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
Additional features
36 Months Warranty
Weight
660 g ( = 23.28 oz / 1.46 pounds) ( = 0 oz / 0 pounds)
Price
454.9 Euro
Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

 

Case & Hardware - Small and square

We will not talk about the case in great detail, because there are no changes to talk about when compared to the NUC8i7BEH and its predecessors. The case is still made of plastic with metal fan grills on either side of the device. The ports are located on the back and the front of the device and the glossy top cover can be removed with the hand. The whole thing looks compact and very solid; not a lot can go wrong here.

Size Comparison

204 mm / 8.03 inch 129 mm / 5.08 inch 68 mm / 2.68 inch 1.1 kg2.52 lbs221 mm / 8.7 inch 142 mm / 5.59 inch 39 mm / 1.535 inch 1.3 kg2.94 lbs211.1 mm / 8.31 inch 116.1 mm / 4.57 inch 27.9 mm / 1.098 inch 623 g1.373 lbs187.6 mm / 7.39 inch 138.3 mm / 5.44 inch 37.3 mm / 1.469 inch 558 g1.23 lbs117 mm / 4.61 inch 112 mm / 4.41 inch 52 mm / 2.05 inch 660 g1.455 lbs115 mm / 4.53 inch 111 mm / 4.37 inch 51 mm / 2.01 inch 683 g1.506 lbs115 mm / 4.53 inch 111 mm / 4.37 inch 51 mm / 2.01 inch 577 g1.272 lbs297 mm / 11.7 inch 210 mm / 8.27 inch 1 mm / 0.03937 inch 5.7 g0.01257 lbs

Connectivity

The ports are located on three sides of the device. On the front of the device, users will find the power button, the combination headphone/microphone jack, the IR receiver and two USB 3.0 Type-A ports. Here, the yellow port can permanently output 1.5 A, whereas other ports can only provide devices connected to them with 900 mAh. The back houses the power socket, two HDMI 2.0b ports, an Ethernet port and two additional USB 3.0 Type-A ports. The SD card reader is located on the left side of the device.

For wireless communication, the mini PC uses the Intel Wireless-AC 9560D2W adapter (802.11ac R2, 2x2). 

The box contains a 90-watt power supply and a VESA mounting bracket (75 x 75 mm + 100 x 100 mm).

Performance - 10 nm with limitations, Radeon RX 540 helps out

The NUC8i3CYSM has an Intel Core i3-8121U processor with 8 GB of soldered-in RAM (2400 MHz LPDDR4). This is why the amount of RAM cannot be increased beyond 8 GB. Things are different with the HDD, which we recommend users replace with an SSD as soon as they buy the device. We recommend this because the NUC8i3CYSM comes with a 1 TB, 2.5-inch HDD that significantly limits system performance. Good news: According to the specifications sheet, the NUC can use two storage devices at the same time; in other words, its motherboard has a 2.5-inch drive bay and an M.2 slot.

The Radeon RX 540 with 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM serves as the graphics solution. We will benchmark this GPU to see how well it can handle modern video games.

Processor

In the NUC, we meet, for the first time, the Cannon Lake-based Core i3-8121U. This CPU is produced using the 10-nm manufacturing process. However, this is not a very fast processor in terms of performance, because it has only two cores and a 15-watt TDP. The new 10-nm CPU has a base clock of 2.2 GHz and a boost clock of 3.2 GHz, which means that its boost clock is 200 MHz lower than that of the 14-nm Core i3-8130U.

04080120160200240280320360400440480520560600640680Tooltip
Intel NUC8i3CYSM Intel Core i3-8121U, Intel Core i3-8121U: Ø316 (304.79-319.39)
Intel NUC7CJYH Intel Celeron J4005, Intel Celeron J4005: Ø145.7 (143.42-146.64)
Zotac ZBOX-CI660 Nano Intel Core i7-8550U, Intel Core i7-8550U: Ø571 (537.26-702.3)
Chuwi GBox CWI560 Intel Celeron N4100, Intel Celeron N4100: Ø185.6 (184.81-188.15)

The CPU scores 133 points in the single-core section of CineBench R15 and 319 points in the multi-core section. These results are not surprising and they could have been better if it were not for the low clock rates. As expected, the Intel Core i3-8121U in our NUC trounces Intel Celeron CPUs but fails to keep up with other NUCs that have Intel Core i7 processors.

Cinebench R15
CPU Single 64Bit
Average of class Desktop
  (76 - 319, n=34, last 2 years)
232 Points +74%
Intel NUC8i7BE
Intel Core i7-8559U
188 Points +41%
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK
Intel Core i7-8809G
178 Points +34%
Zotac ZBOX-CI660 Nano
Intel Core i7-8550U
156 Points +17%
Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK
Intel Core i7-6770HQ
139 Points +5%
Intel NUC8i3CYSM
Intel Core i3-8121U
133 Points
Average Intel Core i3-8121U
 
133 Points 0%
Intel NUC7CJYH
Intel Celeron J4005
77 Points -42%
Chuwi GBox CWI560
Intel Celeron N4100
68 Points -49%
CPU Multi 64Bit
Average of class Desktop
  (128 - 6236, n=34, last 2 years)
2501 Points +687%
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK
Intel Core i7-8809G
864 Points +172%
Intel NUC8i7BE
Intel Core i7-8559U
798 (671.37min - 798.44max) Points +151%
Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK
Intel Core i7-6770HQ
711 Points +124%
Zotac ZBOX-CI660 Nano
Intel Core i7-8550U
702 Points +121%
Average Intel Core i3-8121U
 
318 Points 0%
Intel NUC8i3CYSM
Intel Core i3-8121U
317.6 (304.79min - 319.39max) Points
Chuwi GBox CWI560
Intel Celeron N4100
188 Points -41%
Intel NUC7CJYH
Intel Celeron J4005
144 Points -55%
Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64Bit
133 Points
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64Bit
76.4 fps
Cinebench R15 Ref. Match 64Bit
98 %
Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64Bit
317.6 Points
Help

Stress Test

In our stress test, we put the NUC under extreme loads by running FurMark and Prime95 at the same time. The Core i3-8121U begins the test at its full boost clock of 3.2 GHz, which eventually drops down to 2.2 GHz (base clock). The CPU frequency stabilizes after that. During the stress test, the Core i3-8121U reached a maximum temperature of 110 °C and the AMD Radeon RX 540 reached 70 °C.

FurMark and Prime95 run at the same time for half an hour
FurMark and Prime95 run at the same time for half an hour

System Performance

PCMark 10 results
PCMark 10 results

The synthetic benchmarks confirm the subjective impression that the NUC8i3CYSM is slow. Here, its performance is well below average. 

PCMark 10
Score
Average of class Desktop
  (2317 - 10153, n=24, last 2 years)
6137 Points +94%
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK
Vega M GH, i7-8809G, Intel Optane 120 GB SSDPEK1W120GA
5301 Points +68%
Intel NUC8i7BE
Iris Plus Graphics 655, i7-8559U
4580 Points +45%
Zotac ZBOX-CI660 Nano
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, OCZ Vertex OCZSSD2-1VTX120G
3837 Points +21%
Intel NUC8i3CYSM
Radeon RX 540, i3-8121U, Seagate ST1000VT001
3161 Points
Average Intel Core i3-8121U, AMD Radeon RX 540
 
3161 Points 0%
Chuwi GBox CWI560
UHD Graphics 600, Celeron N4100, SanDisk DA4064
1658 Points -48%
Intel NUC7CJYH
UHD Graphics 600, Celeron J4005, SanDisk Ultra II
1136 Points -64%
Essentials
Average of class Desktop
  (5425 - 12421, n=23, last 2 years)
9601 Points +72%
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK
Vega M GH, i7-8809G, Intel Optane 120 GB SSDPEK1W120GA
9125 Points +64%
Intel NUC8i7BE
Iris Plus Graphics 655, i7-8559U
8994 Points +61%
Zotac ZBOX-CI660 Nano
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, OCZ Vertex OCZSSD2-1VTX120G
8051 Points +44%
Intel NUC8i3CYSM
Radeon RX 540, i3-8121U, Seagate ST1000VT001
5576 Points
Average Intel Core i3-8121U, AMD Radeon RX 540
 
5576 Points 0%
Chuwi GBox CWI560
UHD Graphics 600, Celeron N4100, SanDisk DA4064
4418 Points -21%
Intel NUC7CJYH
UHD Graphics 600, Celeron J4005, SanDisk Ultra II
4188 Points -25%
Productivity
Average of class Desktop
  (3454 - 12564, n=23, last 2 years)
8211 Points +55%
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK
Vega M GH, i7-8809G, Intel Optane 120 GB SSDPEK1W120GA
7915 Points +49%
Intel NUC8i7BE
Iris Plus Graphics 655, i7-8559U
7236 Points +36%
Zotac ZBOX-CI660 Nano
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, OCZ Vertex OCZSSD2-1VTX120G
6481 Points +22%
Intel NUC8i3CYSM
Radeon RX 540, i3-8121U, Seagate ST1000VT001
5302 Points
Average Intel Core i3-8121U, AMD Radeon RX 540
 
5302 Points 0%
Intel NUC7CJYH
UHD Graphics 600, Celeron J4005, SanDisk Ultra II
3289 Points -38%
Chuwi GBox CWI560
UHD Graphics 600, Celeron N4100, SanDisk DA4064
2883 Points -46%
Digital Content Creation
Average of class Desktop
  (1633 - 20009, n=23, last 2 years)
8585 Points +196%
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK
Vega M GH, i7-8809G, Intel Optane 120 GB SSDPEK1W120GA
5598 Points +93%
Intel NUC8i7BE
Iris Plus Graphics 655, i7-8559U
4007 Points +38%
Zotac ZBOX-CI660 Nano
UHD Graphics 620, i5-8550U, OCZ Vertex OCZSSD2-1VTX120G
2939 Points +1%
Intel NUC8i3CYSM
Radeon RX 540, i3-8121U, Seagate ST1000VT001
2902 Points
Average Intel Core i3-8121U, AMD Radeon RX 540
 
2902 Points 0%
Intel NUC7CJYH
UHD Graphics 600, Celeron J4005, SanDisk Ultra II
990 Points -66%
Chuwi GBox CWI560
UHD Graphics 600, Celeron N4100, SanDisk DA4064
972 Points -67%

Storage Devices

Open carefully: The HDD is connected to the motherboard with a ribbon cable.
Open carefully: The HDD is connected to the motherboard with a ribbon cable.

The NUC8i3CYSM comes with a 1 TB HDD from Seagate (ST1000VT001-1RE172). In our opinion, this is the weakest link in the chain and we strongly recommend replacing the hard drive with an SSD. If you take a look at the benchmarks that we have conducted using CrystalDiskMark, you will see that the HDD is a huge bottleneck. Now granted, comparing HDD and SSD performance is not fair, but it reveals the potential that can be tapped into by replacing the HDD.

Intel NUC8i3CYSM
Seagate ST1000VT001
Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK
Samsung SSD 850 EVO m.2 120GB
Intel NUC7CJYH
SanDisk Ultra II
Average of class Desktop
 
CrystalDiskMark 3.0
Read Seq
47.09
487.6
935%
426.4
806%
2299 ?(64.3 - 5063, n=11, last 2 years)
4782%
Write Seq
81.4
442.7
444%
443
444%
2100 ?(109.1 - 5683, n=11, last 2 years)
2480%
Read 512
19.69
420.1
2034%
309.8
1473%
1480 ?(191.3 - 3184, n=11, last 2 years)
7417%
Write 512
77.9
379.8
388%
365.5
369%
1486 ?(81.7 - 4354, n=11, last 2 years)
1808%
Read 4k
0.328
38.67
11690%
29.45
8879%
51.7 ?(14.6 - 85.2, n=11, last 2 years)
15662%
Write 4k
1.434
87.8
6023%
51.7
3505%
177.7 ?(13.1 - 265, n=11, last 2 years)
12292%
Read 4k QD32
0.857
375.9
43762%
132.8
15396%
529 ?(25.4 - 831, n=11, last 2 years)
61627%
Write 4k QD32
1.34
309.5
22997%
109
8034%
413 ?(13.1 - 601, n=11, last 2 years)
30721%
Seagate ST1000VT001
Sequential Read: 47.09 MB/s
Sequential Write: 81.4 MB/s
512K Read: 19.69 MB/s
512K Write: 77.9 MB/s
4K Read: 0.328 MB/s
4K Write: 1.434 MB/s
4K QD32 Read: 0.857 MB/s
4K QD32 Write: 1.34 MB/s

Graphics Card

To our surprise, the iGPU of the prematurely released Intel Core i3-8121U is disabled. Instead, what we find is a soldered-in AMD Radeon RX 540 with 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM that is connected to the CPU via the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. In the 3DMark benchmarks, the Radeon RX 540 in the NUC8i3CYSM handily beats Intel UHD and Iris Pro graphics but is 5% slower than the average Radeon RX 540.

3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU
Average of class Desktop
  (650 - 104464, n=38, last 2 years)
42847 Points +861%
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK
AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, Intel Core i7-8809G
14302 Points +221%
Average AMD Radeon RX 540
  (4443 - 4983, n=5)
4699 Points +5%
Intel NUC8i3CYSM
AMD Radeon RX 540, Intel Core i3-8121U
4458 Points
Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580, Intel Core i7-6770HQ
3220 Points -28%
Intel NUC8i7BE
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655, Intel Core i7-8559U
3081 Points -31%
Zotac ZBOX-CI660 Nano
Intel UHD Graphics 620, Intel Core i7-8550U
1769 Points -60%
Intel NUC7CJYH
Intel UHD Graphics 600, Intel Celeron J4005
579 Points -87%
Chuwi GBox CWI560
Intel UHD Graphics 600, Intel Celeron N4100
484 Points -89%
3DMark
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics
Average of class Desktop
  (523 - 70246, n=36, last 2 years)
27008 Points +733%
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK
AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, Intel Core i7-8809G
10248 Points +216%
Average AMD Radeon RX 540
  (3242 - 3876, n=4)
3623 Points +12%
Intel NUC8i3CYSM
AMD Radeon RX 540, Intel Core i3-8121U
3242 Points
Intel NUC8i7BE
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655, Intel Core i7-8559U
2260 Points -30%
Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580, Intel Core i7-6770HQ
1903 Points -41%
Intel NUC7CJYH
Intel UHD Graphics 600, Intel Celeron J4005
448 Points -86%
1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics
Average of class Desktop
  (3762 - 246319, n=32, last 2 years)
94318 Points +404%
Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK
AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH, Intel Core i7-8809G
59162 Points +216%
Average AMD Radeon RX 540
  (18704 - 25616, n=4)
23165 Points +24%
Intel NUC8i3CYSM
AMD Radeon RX 540, Intel Core i3-8121U
18704 Points
Intel NUC8i7BE
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655, Intel Core i7-8559U
16698 Points -11%
Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK
Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580, Intel Core i7-6770HQ
14594 Points -22%
Intel NUC7CJYH
Intel UHD Graphics 600, Intel Celeron J4005
3513 Points -81%
3DMark 06 Standard Score
18661 points
3DMark 11 Performance
4465 points
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score
9431 points
3DMark Fire Strike Score
2748 points
Help

Gaming Performance

Luckily, the disabled integrated graphics unit is basically irrelevant when it comes to gaming performance. Here, the Radeon RX 540 is used 100% of the time, and it is for the best.

Even though the NUC does not get impressive scores in the PCMark benchmarks, the gaming performance can be described as satisfactory. Most of the latest titles such as Anno 1800 and Far Cry New Dawn seem quite playable on low settings. Surprisingly, Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is playable even on high settings.

The Witcher 3
1024x768 The Witcher 3 low
Average of class Desktop
  (11.3 - 790, n=22, last 2 years)
413 fps
Average AMD Radeon RX 540
  (48 - 50.8, n=2)
49.4 fps
1366x768 The Witcher 3 medium
Average of class Desktop
  (7.68 - 704, n=26, last 2 years)
372 fps
Average AMD Radeon RX 540
  (29.3 - 39, n=3)
35.1 fps
1920x1080 The Witcher 3 high
Average of class Desktop
  (4.18 - 613, n=30, last 2 years)
294 fps
Average AMD Radeon RX 540
  (8 - 13.2, n=2)
10.6 fps
1920x1080 The Witcher 3 ultra
Average of class Desktop
  (3.9 - 314, n=30, last 2 years)
157.9 fps
Average AMD Radeon RX 540
  (6 - 7.8, n=2)
6.9 fps
low med. high ultra
Far Cry New Dawn (2019) 40 18 17 16
Anthem (2019) 24 20 17
The Division 2 (2019) 56 39 37 8
Anno 1800 (2019) 54 18 11

Pros

+ compact design
+ can run current games on low settings
+ has an M.2 slot
+ microSD card
+ no throttling

Cons

- 10-nm manufacturing process brings no major improvements
- boosts only up to 3.2 GHz
- no models with a built-in SSD
- iGPU is disabled
- no Thunderbolt port
- RAM is soldered-in

Verdict

It would appear as though Intel has put a CPU that is not entirely ready for prime time in the NUC8i3CYSM. You cannot see the advantages of the new 10-nm manufacturing process either on paper or in real life. 

The Intel Core i3-8121U has a lower clock rate and performs worse than the Kaby Lake-based, 14-nm Intel Core i3-8130U. Moreover, both CPUs have the same TDP of 15 watts. Currently, the iGPU of the Core i3-8121U is disabled and Intel relies on AMD’s Radeon graphics solution for image-rendering instead. 

Of course, we also have a few positive things to say about the new CPU, such as the fact that it supports 2400 MHz LPDDR4 RAM, whereas previous models did not support anything better than 2133 MHz LPDDR3 RAM. The Cannon Lake-based processor offers 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes instead of 12. However, Intel does not use this advantage, because it chose to put a hard drive in the NUC8i3CYSM. Those who want the system to be responsive should seriously consider getting a 2.5-inch SSD or an M.2 SSD. Because the RAM is soldered-in, you cannot bump it up to 16 GB, and there are no other upgrade options.

One cannot help but get a feeling that Intel has put a prematurely released Cannon Lake-based CPU in the NUC. Fortunately, it is helped out in a major way by AMD’s Radeon RX 540. All of this means that you should not rush out to buy this particular model just because it is produced using the 10-nm manufacturing process. 

No, or more than one (0) Rating for the given SpecsID 309262 found

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Daniel Puschina, 2019-05-20 (Update: 2019-05-21)