Intel attempted to develop small, powerful desktop computers known as NUCs for many years. Sadly, the company had to abandon the NUC division last year, and Asus took over. The ROG NUC, a reimagining of the high-end NUC Extreme line designed specifically for gamers, is the first product of this collaboration.
The ROG NUC, a product of Asus Republic of Gamers sub-brand, closely resembles one of Intel’s previous designs. It features a slim box, an illuminated ROG eye logo, the latest Core Ultra 7 or Core Ultra 9 CPU, an Nvidia RTX 4060 or 4070 graphics card, up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and three M.2 Gen4 2280 slots for storage.
Asus
The front of the box is equipped with a full-size SD card reader, two USB-A ports, and audio jacks. At the back, there’s a Thunderbolt 4 port (with DP2.1 support), four USB-A ports, HDMI, double DisplayPort, and 2.5-gig Ethernet. It also includes integrated Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
Although Asus claims the body is “toolless” and the integrated logo can be customized, it’s unclear how much hardware is accessible to the end user. The GPU is likely soldered to the motherboard, and the RAM and storage are the primary points of customization.
As for the cost and release date, details are scarce. The kit is expected to be launched sometime this year, but exact pricing and availability have not been disclosed by Asus.
