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Small form-factor PC maker MINISFORUM has introduced two new mini PCs that pack a lot of horsepower into a slim package.
The MINISFORUM NUCXI5 and NUCXI7 are compact desktop computers with 45-watt Intel Tiger Lake-H series processors and NVIDIA graphics. First announced in mid-July, the computers are now available for pre-order from MINISFORUM for $859 and up, with an estimated ship date of mid-September, 2022.
The MINISFORUM NUCXI5 has an Intel Core i5-11400H hexa-core processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 graphics, while the NUCXI7 has an octa-core Core i7-11800H chip and NVIDIA RTX 3070 graphics.
Basically MINISFORUM stuffed the guts of 2021-era gaming laptop into a desktop computer that measures 394 x 260 x 80mm (15.5″ x 10.2″ x 3.1″), making the system taller than most of the company’s mini PCs, but still fairly compact by desktop computer standards.
Starting prices are for barebones models with no memory, storage or operating system, but you can pay extra a fully configured system that ships with Windows 11 pre-installed.
Here’s a run-down on pricing/configuration options:
| MINISFORUM NUCXI5 (Core i5-11400H / RTX 3060) | MINISFORUM NUCXI7 Core i7-11800H / RTX 3070) | |
| Barebones | $859 (pre-order) $979 (retail) | $1029 (pre-order) $1189 (retail) |
| 16GB / 256GB | $959 (pre-order) $1089 (retail) | $1139 (pre-order) $1309 (retail) |
| 16GB / 512GB | $979 (pre-order) $1129 (retail) | $1169 (pre-order) $1339 (retail) |
| 32GB / 512GB | $1039 (pre-order) $1189 (retail) | $1229 (pre-order) $1409 (retail) |
| 32GB / 1TB | $1099 (pre-order) $1249 (retail | $1279 (pre-order) $1469 (retail) |
You can also perform your own upgrades. The computers feature two SODIMM slots for up to 64GB of total DDR4-3200 memory and two M.2 2280 slots for PCIe SSD storage.
Ports include:
- 1 x HDMI
- 1 x Thunderbolt 4
- 3 x USB 3.2 Type-A
- 1 x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet
- 1 x 3.5mm audio
- 1 x SD card reader
MINISFORUM says the computers support up to two displays (via the HDMI and Thunderbolt ports), and includes a cooling system featuring five heat pipes, two fans, four air outlets, and more than 1300 holes in the chassis for air intake.
This article was first published July 18, 2022 and most recently updated July 29, 2022.Â
Any word on GPU TDP? Since there’s no hot wrist rests to worry about, I’m hoping they’ve been able to get every bit of power out of the mobile 3070. That could end up giving you better performance than many 3080 gaming laptops.
I guess they’re trying to capitalize on the lack of available Phantom Canyons AND an expected lack of Serpent Canyons along with what is probably going to be an expected high price for Serpent Canyon.
Or they just picked up some old laptop mobos for cheap and this is how they plan on using them
Apparently these are using Intel’s King’s County NUC laptop boards, so this definitely doesn’t sound like something being done cheaply to me.