The Intel NUC line of computers are often associated with the small form-factor desktops that have been sold under that brand for much of the past decade. But NUC actually stands for “Next Unit of Computing” and represents Intel’s version of next-gen PC technology.

So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the company’s upcoming NUC 13 Extreme will be the largest Intel NUC-branded desktop to date. After all, there’s a good reason for the company to launch a bigger model for folks looking to build a gaming or workstation-class PC.

That reason is that the NUC 13 Extreme (also known by the code-name “Raptor Canyon,”) will be able to support larger desktop graphics cards including cards that use up to 3 PCIe slots. And you know who just started selling graphics cards? Intel.

With a 13.9 liter chassis, the upcoming Raptor Canyon NUC is nearly twice as large as the current-gen “Dragon Canyon” NUC 12 Extreme, which has a volume of 8 liters. But it’s arguably a better showcase for the hardware Intel really wants to highlight in the coming year: not only will the Raptor Canyon NUC be powered by a removable NUC 13 Computer Element with a Raptor Lake processor, but it’ll support the most powerful Intel Arc graphics cards, as well as the latest NVIDIA or AMD GPUs.

Intel hasn’t announced pricing or availability details for the Raptor Canyon NUC yet, but the company did show off a prototype in a recent Twitch stream. \

via VideoCardz and @ghost_motley

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4 replies on “Intel’s NUC 13 Extreme (Raptor Canyon) will be the largest yet, with support for larger graphics cards”

  1. They sold 2 slot NUCs when most cards were larger than that. Now they will jump to 3, but most cards will need 4.

    1. This is just a gut feeling, but given that most cards aren’t the housefire the 4090 is, I think most of the cards that’ll fit in that thing lengthwise aren’t going to need 4 slots.
      None of Intel’s own cards will have that problem. They need to exist first.

  2. Not that this isn’t interesting, but at what point does it cease to be a NUC and is just another ITX-class enclosure? If I’m getting to be this size, why wouldn’t I go with a more modular system like that vs. what is essentially a fully proprietary setup?

  3. I’m sure the hardware is fine and all if you know what you’re getting and it fits your use case but these marketing guys are trying WAY to hard to look cool to too many groups of people at once, and thus look cool to none of them.

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