Asus has officially called time on the Intel NUC Extreme range of mini desktop gaming PCs. After rescuing the Intel NUC division from being completely scrapped and even revealing brand-new tiny gaming PCs at CES 2024, Asus has confirmed the larger, more user-upgradeable NUC Extreme machines are no more.
The Intel NUC saga dates back to six months ago when Intel announced it was closing the NUC division that health with developing a wide range of mini PCs for everything from basic PCs for retail and signage to mini gaming PCs such as the Intel NUC Extreme. However, Asus swooped in and rescued the brand mere days later. That culminated in Asus even announcing the Asus ROG NUC at CES, which is basically a laptop-class gaming system in a desktop PC the size of a large hardback book.
The latest development in the story, though, is that the larger-format Intel NUC Extreme devices – which used a combined CPU, motherboard, memory, and cooling module collectively called the NUC Element – will no longer be developed.
In many ways, the news isn’t a great surprise as these systems were always costly and, crucially for enthusiasts, had severe limitations on their upgradability. All the while, they weren’t that small, with them rivaling particularly compact mini-ITX systems and the likes of the Shuttle XPC mini PCs (themselves a mini PC lineup that has largely stopped gaming PC development) and Asus’ own ROG Strix gaming PCs, with a total volume of around 7.5 liters. The Asus ROG NUC, in comparison, is even more limited in how it can be upgraded and is also quite expensive, but it’s much smaller at just 2.5 liters in volume.
The confirmation comes via long-time tech blogger, Fudzilla, who reached out to Asus for word on the NUC Extreme devices. Instead, Asus is encouraging buyers to look towards its ROG Strix G16 desktop, which is also around 7.5 liters in volume. Currently, available versions of these systems include 13th-generation Intel CPUs with up to RTX 4070 GPUs.
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