Leaked slide shows next gen Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast mini PC specs with Alder Lake CPUs and DG2 dGPUs
We have not even had a chance to test the NUC 11 Extreme with support for full length dGPUs and it looks like Intel is already planning to release the next gen NUC 12 models shortly after the Alder Lake CPU release this fall. Thanks to Twitter user 9550pro who found a leaked slide on the Weibo forums, we now know that the NUC 12 Enthusiast models will be equipped with Alder Lake i5 and i7 processors, and, if we are to believe the latest rumors claiming that Intel is only launching the high-end i9 Alder Lake models this year, we could see the new NUCs launched early next year, which is still only 6-7 months away from the NUC 11 release.
Looking at the leaked slide, we see quite a few upgrades over the current Tiger Lake KB specs. Alder Lake is supposed to support both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM, but, since these are SFF models, NUC 12 only seems to feature support for up to 64 GB of DDR4-3200. Apart from this small downside, we first notice the addition of unnamed discrete graphics solutions. These are most likely Intel’s own DG2 (Xe-HPG) gaming GPUs that are rumored to launch in early 2022. The spec sheet may present the first official confirmation for the dGPU VRAM configurations, as the lower-end version appears to feature 8 GB of GDDR6, while the mid-range version gets 12 GB and the high-end model up to 16 GB. There is support for HDMI 2.1, miniDP 2.0 and DP 2.0, as well.
The storage side also gets an upgrade with support for 2x M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 plus 1x M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 slots compatible with Intel’s Optane Memory M10 and H10 modules. Internet connectivity is enabled through a 2.5 Gb NIC and a top-of-the line AX 411 Wi-Fi 6E module with Bluetooth 5.2 support. Port selection will include front and rear Thunderbolt 4 connectors with 5V/9V fast phone charging profiles, 6x USB-A 3.1 Gen 2 plus 2x USB 2.0 connectors, line-in and headset audio jacks, and a SD card reader with SDXC and UHS-II compliance. Other features include quad-mic array, infrared port, RGB lit skull logo, plastic chassis with metal inner frame, and 19V 230/330 W external power brick depending on the chosen dGPU model.
