Tearing Apart Intel's Small, Dense Gaming PC: Beast Canyon NUC 11 Disassembly

[@GamersNexus]

By the way, for the wireless antenna, that was cut-up before we had ever opened the box. Patrick had opened the lid once before me (to troubleshoot an issue with wireless connectivity) and it was pre-sliced at the factory. Grab a GN Large Modmat here! store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat-volt-large Watch our review of the Intel Ghost Canyon PC: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXTSfX2biseNisU Check out Intel's impressive Phantom Canyon NUC from before: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3-ukImcisp1mLM

[@toxicityuser]

cool

[@lukefranks8795]

You sound really echoy or sick maybe?

[@ToxicScifi]

power cable was cut as it was to accomidate the ferite loop by the looks of it, to cut down on power line interference with it haveing 110v/240v extension close to the cpu and gpu.

[@Processing....]

Best channel

[@Processing....]

Best video

[@Nordern]

You know, just small things like labelling the shroud for the fans with the fan number, is such a small, but incredibly helpfull thing to do, if you were to troubleshoot a fan problem, being able to see what fan is showind abnormal values such as RPM and being easily able to identify that exact one physically when you didn't run the cables for them, man, that's nice

[@GamersNexus]

There's a lot of small stuff in the NUCs that does add to that attention to detail value. The engineers do a good job on these (except cable guillotines).

[@Nyx_2142]

Bald.

[@yukariTheLalafell]

@@GamersNexus the cable guillotine is not a big it’s a feature

[@benruss4130]

yes i agree, perhaps if they add a sleave or rubber guide it would solve the guillotine problem. Besides that all of the issues i noticed were probably engineering sample issues.

[@LKN117]

@@GamersNexus ah that's probably from assembly workers who don't know any better considering it looked like it had plenty of room to be routed better when the lid is closed.

[@theovandaele3220]

I can just imagine Intel watching this and making notes... but overall not a bad design. Then again, maybe coming from an Alienware review, the bar isn't too high.

[@martheunen]

Agreed. Major points are like Steve said the antenna cable pinching issue and the fan tray accessebility (which would also fix the PSU power cable accessibility. If they fix/change those and tidy up the small cables mess and the psu cable i think it's an amazing engineering achievement and a good product. This coming from someone who has been very dissappointed in intel over the last few years...

[@ewoodley82]

@@martheunen Right? I mean from a CPU standpoint, 10th gen seemed to be a step in the right direction........ then they debuted the 11th gen. I am a very long time fan of Intel, but AMD is giving them a major kick in the ass and they really, really needed it. This newest iteration of the NUC line? It's.... well... its kind of impressive. Let's hope its a sign of things to come.

[@Walczyk]

i dunno its nice regardless.

[@ArchusKanzaki]

@@ewoodley82 the 11th gen laptop, the 10nm Tiger Lake, is a step in right direction, with the Iris Xe, and the battery improvement. In a way, AMD is still playing value card right now for laptop. Its just the desktop that is disappointing and its abit unnecessary since they say they will launch something in the end of the year. Although for the NUC, except for the pricing, its always praised alot by reviewers. It is technically the smallest thing gaming PC possible that cannot be recreated via DIY.

[@ArchusKanzaki]

@Tano The engineers at Intel always takes notes. It says alot about their engineering prowess when their processor can still compete despite delays and older nodes. In a way, they are currently competing with others not on even ground since they relied on their manufacturing to advance as fast as their design team, while others just book other company's latest manufacturing capability, and design a chip with that. Its their business and marketing team that need to be overhauled.

[@genericscottishchannel1603]

Shows the pinched wifi cable at the start of the video Minutes later: Steve batting the top panel back down at mach 2 *Screams interdimensionally*

[@TomJerry12933]

I wonder if the engineers of this watched this and were like "oh, dang--we haden't thought of that... good point GN!" or it was entirely "yeah, we knew that was a problem but we weren't allowed to fix it." as GN said somewhere, there clearly WAS quite a lot of thought put into this case and it definitely wasn't just thrown together or whatever.

[@proscriptus]

NUCs are a little special. I assume they have their own kind of hotshot team on them.

[@sgas]

Yeah they were really close, there must have been something that screwed them

[@karanssh]

In all probability they probably knew, but the fix wouldn't make it past some sprint with fixed deliverables or something of that sort

[@awesomestuff9715]

it could have been both tbh, some oversights, and some restrictions of budget, or whatever

[@carisi2k11]

It looks like Intel sent you a Cat carrier.

[@anotheruser8105]

Snowflake, "Hold my milk".

[@fleurdewin7958]

And the cat carrier has an i9 sticker on it, plus it is written "engineered to win" . Probably you can overclock your cat with it.

[@erwinpriyonoerw1np854]

Cat coffin

[@suntzu1409]

@@anotheruser8105 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@JessicaBiros]

@@fleurdewin7958 I now demand KZbin videos of an overclocked cat

[@RazzAlerio]

Can we just acknowledge the small touch from intel, that this wooden capsule they shipped this thing in has a soft-close drawer? Nice touch.

[@ThatOneKid2289]

"This is going to be a real pain in the ass for Keegan to reassemble"

[@falxonPSN]

This is why Steve always has a hard time finding interns. They know they'd get those Keegan jobs.

[@Fe7Ace]

You know you are OCD when you're excited that they put stickers on the cables numbering the fans, and at the same time devastated that they have been connected in the order 1, 3, 2.

[@Lishtenbird]

I was happier not knowing that...

[@stevewatson6839]

That was the straw... :-)

[@Zosu22]

Definitely not something I would buy, but is really interesting to see nonetheless. I think it would be cool if they made cards meant to go in standard desktops.

[@marksanders7988]

What would be the point of compute unit in a standard desktop? Wouldnt you simply buy a CPU, MOBO etc and keep the ease of access and upgradability?

[@bengrogan9710]

@@marksanders7988 it essentially would allow for low end server capabilities. Servers tend to be low peak load but the more threads the better - meaning you could have a gaming rig main system with this creating a functional media transcode server for the network

[@marksanders7988]

@@LeftJoystick Oh, so you wanna "Yo dawg" your desktop. In that case, you had better include a Raspberry Pi to act as a KVM switch.

[@AlpineTheHusky]

@@marksanders7988 You could put it in a computer and use it as a secondary Computer for rendering or "compute". Or use it in a Tower server as a second node

[@LeftJoystick]

@@marksanders7988 I was actually thinking it would be a halfway point between buying prebuilt and just building one yourself. “With the Mini ITX Intel Compute Unit^tm, you don’t have to worry about choosing a Motherboard, RAM, CPU, or CPU Cooler! Just mount this in your Intel Compute Unit compatible case [patent pending] and add your graphics card using the Graphics Card Riser Cable and Bracket (sold separately)! Extended Warranties are also available! 8k ready*. Intel Inside. Back to you, Steve! *[8k ready with corresponding Graphics Card]” lol

[@MiraSmit]

And then it guillotines the cable..... lmao.

[@thejusmar]

Steve, it's 3 A.M on a saturday. You good?

[@destinybeezer3945]

wow time zones

[@GamersNexus]

There's work to do!

[@gettingmitches1323]

@@GamersNexus Don't overwork yourself

[@AdalbertSchneider_]

@@GamersNexus its perfect time Steve - 11 AM - my coffee time ! 👍☕ Central europe time is 10 AM, - you are becoming very EU friendly YTer ❤😎

[@AznJungleFever]

Lol exactly its 4am here

[@-_-._.-.]

03:11 that box closing tho wow

[@GamersNexus]

Works great once you fix the stuck-on feet on the bottom!

[@What3v3a]

08:45 - Slams case lid down on the cable 09:59 - Complains the cable is damaged and that the damage "Isn't from us".

[@justinsaned8865]

Yeah, for all he knows that cable was tucked away neatly, I feel like that's a statement he shouldn't make after slamming it that hard

[@GamersNexus]

No dude, it wasn't -- because Patrick had opened it before me to verify a wifi issue and that was it. You don't see everything that happens in one cut down video.

[@What3v3a]

@@GamersNexus Haha, alright man fair enough. Just looked like a brutal slam.

[@ydihtty]

11:46 That'll be spinning counter-clockwise. Centrifugal fans in those kinds of configurations (like laptops) tend to have backwards-angled blades. Another giveaway is the positioning of the exhaust relative to the fan, the ducting inside is designed to work with the angle the air exits the fan. That's why there is the flow guide on the inside of blower graphics cards, for example.

[@beau9956]

Yeah what he said

[@TC_here]

I kinda want to see how you got it all back together now.. so many cables and parts..

[@Thermalions]

Employees ;)

[@youp1tralala]

Maybe he'll sent it back like this to Intel...

[@GamersNexus]

Haha, it was a project I could do while I was stuck on a press conference call, so it worked out!

[@prla5400]

@@youp1tralala go fuck all back to intel in a ATX case carboard

[@canaconn2388]

@@prla5400 what

[@iwsfg]

When will the PSU reviews come out? The suspense is killing me, it has probably been a month already since one of them blew up mid HW News episode while being benched

[@stevewatson6839]

More like two or more... Steve won't be rushing; that is how you get pinched wi-fi cables; inflammable risers; and such. :-)

[@Ganiscol]

The box looks like a cat transport box without holes - I was waiting for Snowflake to pop out of it. 😅

[@Medievalfan94]

Regarding the angled PSU extension: LTT had a SFF case in a review last week or so and they had the same thing, a stitched together DIY looking cable. It was because of a shortage and the manufacturer not being able to source the right cable. So they threw in some self made cables to not ruin the release because of a missing PSU extension.

[@rhekman]

From small, "Next Unit of Computing", to just Absolute Unit.

[@wishusknight3009]

Disclaimer, each unit is larger than the previous one.

[@unguided_za3084]

I enjoy the teardowns but the way Steve is always so nonchalant about "throwing" all the parts down and around always gets to me 🤣

[@xaytana]

That externally-accessible NVMe slot initially gave me hopes of a better thought-out design for the newer NUC system. I had many complaints about the last generation about how they implemented design, and suggested that the design needed entirely reworked for proper component placement. Then you showed the CPU module side of the cooling, the side with the PSU exhaust, and disappointment started to hit, and after popping the top lid off, I am disappointed. The new NUC design isn't bad, the last generation had an issue with a hot pocket between CPU cooling and GPU backplate, and this generation seems to space the two out more, but it's really only a bandaid solution. What Intel needs to do is inverse the CPU card's top side, so that everything points out to the side of the case, that way GPU and CPU cards are back to back, which is ideal for a 2 PCIe slot system, or spacing allows for additional add-in cards that don't interfere with the CPU card's cooling if it were to be air-only. The CPU card is now a 3-slot unit, making the minimum-sized case a 5-slot, which is getting pretty wide; when instead the inversed card would have the CPU card's fan directly on the side intake panel, no need for the +1 slot flow guide, minimizing the system back to 4 slots. I also have suspicion that the CPU is, yet again, limited to 16 PCIe lanes, which might make sense for pre-NVMe laptops, but doesn't make sense for pre-NVMe desktops, and in any post-NVMe scenario it does not make sense. I will say that this compute module is better than the previous generations, but it still needs some work, especially if Intel ever plans on upgrading their mobile CPUs to have better expandability, namely more PCIe lanes and more memory channels. I think the design is roughly the same, SSD on the CPU card, chipset on the CPU card, and an additional SSD on the backplane. I don't like this design, at all. The backplane should house the chipset, storage, I/O, etc. The CPU card should be CPU and CPU-relevant components only, just like how the GPU is GPU and GPU-relevant components only. Essentially give us a PCIe-socketed CPU and power phase with system memory. This design would open up memory options a fair bit if we were to ever get anything other than a mobile-CPU NUC, due to a lot of the card's componentry being moved to the backplane. This would also essentially make the backplane a miniaturized motherboard, with rear I/O nicely located under the PCIe slots, mostly essentials-only and not a full range of ports, and would locate front I/O headers on the opposite side of the board nicely. This kind of design would also allow third parties more room to expand, such as having extra PCIe slots for add-in cards. Couple this with the inversed CPU card, and it's a near-flawless design for what they're trying to do with this NUC system. Between the previous two issues, Intel has more or less locked themselves into a mobile-only scheme, and that scheme is locked down to restricted memory and PCIe expandability. If memory and PCIe expandability are ever increased, that compute module is now limited due to poor design, and the entire system would need reworked. That reworking will most likely mirror what I'm suggesting, as that's the most optimal component placement for a system that's meant to be a mini desktop. I'm disappointed that entire top case panel isn't pin to pad, this would be the ideal use case for such. Also disappointed Intel isn't pushing 12VO on this, the minimization of excess wire and connector bulk is key in these mini-formfactor systems. 12VO and a switch to the newer style connectors Nvidia uses on their cards, their 12 pin but other connectors could have a smaller amount of pins, the reduced size and massive power throughput is a win for minimization, we need to see a harder push for minimization for these kinds of use cases. Again, an optimization for the formfactor, something that's much needed. This newer NUC formfactor is taking the typical L-shaped (motherboard+GPU), mostly flat, desktop layouts, and bending it into a U-shape layout, which is more volumetrically efficient. But Intel is keeping to a design that's entirely limiting the formfactor's potential with bad decisions. This shortcoming of potential will ultimately be what kills the formfactor, and keep it is a NUC family -only design, rather than a potential future standard. There's also use cases outside of just the miniPC, imagine the CPU-only cards being used in a blade-style mini server, imagine CPU upgrades via the CPU-only cards, not a full-system upgrade via the compute module, etc. They're treating this mini desktop as if it's a desk-based laptop, and that's the absolute most incorrect mentality to have about the platform. Also, if there's any way GN could mod that compute module to be water cooled, that would be amazing. I know the CPU would need a custom block and mounting, but the footprint of it seems like it should be able to fit something in it. Where the radiator goes, I have no idea. But this formfactor, with a bit of added height, would make for an amazing water cooling rig. A full loop would need a lot of custom components ad layout, namely fittings on the short side of the cards, and a 1 slot reservoir, etc. It'd be a beautiful build if it were ever to exist, there's potential for it, but it'd require so much redesign to what's conventional. Maybe if this formfactor ever actually took off, we'd see the changes and product necessary for this, but due to Intel's ever-existing poor decision making, I doubt we'll ever see this.

[@rdogg9900]

Intel engineers when Steve suggest a better way to do something - "Thanks Steve"

[@cannesahs]

That AC powercable is done really well. That is ferrite core over the cable to reduce RFI/EMI. If you were saying the cable has conductive shielding, you have to break it for ferrite to affect AC conductors.

[@SnowsLife]

that "fancy fan shroud" helps a lot. despite the time taken to take it out, it prevents taller cards with 8+6 pin from stopping top fans from spinning. just thought you should know. The antenna was rounder this way to prevent it from possible contact with the fan due to the thin wiring. just saying from my observation.

[@ahettinger525]

I like the number of m.2, but this has the flaw of removing what made some of the older NUCs really interesting: being able to vesa-mount.

[@tractorman7733]

I wish they would flip the design of the compute element and add an access panel under the side cover to provide access to the RAM, wireless, and the main SSD with out having to disassemble the entire computer. I also feel like there should have been only 4-6 screws holding the fan plate on

[@RonnieDeuce87]

The attention to small details like the PCIe release is pretty impressive. If Intel put as much effort into CPU design as they did this they'd be on 5nm by now.

[@Burssty]

Can't believe how little they hyped the Beast Canyon NUC

[@clansome]

They don't need to hype the NUC's, they sell in relative bucketloads to Corporates, always have done.

[@DClaville]

Received my medium mod mat last week! Really happy thank you, Even with the extra tax and customs to Denmark it is a good price for the quality and size! Keep up the good work guys, cheers

[@franktippin9150]

If my memory is correct, many older workstations had the CPU's on daughter boards similar( not exactly) to this setup. Actually, memory, storage controllers, graphics, sound, and memory each had their own boards and the motherboard was just the interface connecting them.

[@ulrichkalber9039]

that hexagonal transport crate screams: "build a system in me"

[@ulrichkalber9039]

@asdrubale bisanzio would be funny to use AMD only :D

[@joegee2815]

The black shrink wrap on the power cable is probably a ferrite bead to suppress high freq. noise.

[@parttimevandalz7558]

hey steve. is the rubber capped cylinder just before the 90degree AC power input, not a ferrite ring for noise suppression? still really enjoying the content, the swing to a purely technical and data based team and show is great. huge props for doing all you can to inform us, call b.s. where nessecary and try to keep the industry more honest. thanks for the work you put in. peace. T

[@Penfolduk001]

Whilst I can understand having dodgy wi-fi antenna wires inside laptops, I'm surprised at it in a desktop case. I'd have expected a connector at the back for a plug-in antenna.

[@JaredJanhsen]

Nice touch on the Compute Element release to have the edges of that hole folded. No sharp edges to slice up your fingertip. Definitely need to re-think the WiFi antennae routing. At least the WiFi connections you'd disconnect aren't hirose. MMCX is much stronger. Boo on the semi-proprietary PSU... but I guess with some patience and a soldering iron you could overcome that limitation. Very thoughtfully engineered overall.

[@Squilliam-Fancyson]

Nice teardown. Im really looking forward to the review though. This NUC features the 11900KB, which is basically a 10nm Tigerlake CPU. I hope Intel gives some BIOS options to raise the powerlimit. With a watercooler strapped onto the computeboard we would be able to take a glimpse of what Rocket Lake was meant to perform.(without the backport to 14nm)

[@creed5248]

When I was a small boy - I used to take apart the house appliances to see how everything worked and then put it all back together again . Used to drive mom crazy :P

[@wishusknight3009]

"Chuck, you put the oven back together this instant. I am about to cook dinner.. Wait?! Where is the fridge?!!!.. CHUCK...!" That is what I had in my head when you said this lol

[@NecroFlex]

i think they sliced up the main power cables and used zipties because they needed to get a ferrite core on there and for it not to move much around, which the zipties help prevent aswell.

[@mummifiedgamer]

I thought the hexagonal slug was the system itself. Got excited there for a moment.

[@MIK33EY]

Two things I noticed - 1) There are soft close drawer rails on the wooden “take your cat/dog to the Vets” box 2) Intel have no faith in their own NvMe drives & instead used a Sabrent one.

[@proscriptus]

Did both drives come preinstalled? I've got a Hades Canyon NUC, it's got Intel drives.

[@MIK33EY]

@@proscriptus Pretty sure the drive on the compute element - which was the one I was referring too - was supplied from Intel (it was a Gen4 Sabrent Rocket), especially considering that it’s not that easy to reach. Steve does state that the easily accessible drive located underneath the chassis (the Crucial P5) was installed by GN as part of their testing process - think it has games etc on it.

[@Penfolduk001]

Steve did say certain elements (like the PSU power cable) made it feel more like an engineering sample than the full finished product. Maybe the Sabrent drive was one of those elements? Or maybe Intel's SSD division wouldn't sell them to the NUC division at a competitive price... 🤣

[@MIK33EY]

@@Penfolduk001 Pretty sure it’s cause Intel don’t make PCIe Gen4 NvMe drives in the M.2 form factor & they wanted to “show off” their Rocket Lake bandwidth to the best abilities. Just a hunch though. Not to forget that Intel has sold off its NAND flash division recently - not sure if that’s gone through though.

[@kendicloud]

As said by your fellow channel Hardware Canucks, this is not a NUC but a CUC (current unit of computing).

[@jpshawcross]

Steve sounds so defeated in this video lol, I can tell this thing was a pain in the ass to take apart.

[@AdvayaWorx]

Yes! BTW, Even I thought it will be a small video, but a complete teardown like old times, GOOD! 🤘🏼🤘🏼

[@sid.dharth_vader]

the power wire is cut because its not a angled extension and the solution that you see cutting and putting heat shrink tape around the joint is cheaper than buying a right angled extension

[@jreererer8490]

Why isn't this part of the prebuilt review series tho?

[@mereth13]

I know it would detract a lot from the serviceability, but this form factor really seems like it'd be an optimal case for a custom water loop and a 360mm radiator at the top. With everything being so closed in, even with the good engineering, there's definitely some breathability issues or at least room for more thermal headroom.

[@roxette96]

Your videos are so mesmerizing and insightful, I love how you explain things and do everything thoroughly. Thank you.

[@Alte.Kameraden]

Oddly wish the 3070 had a 60 form factor. I loved the 970 and 1070 minis they were pretty awesome for their size.

[@kevinmaher4609]

Those 'barrel' things on the PSU cable almost look like ferrite chokes to cut down on interference since the power cable is so close to those wireless antennas.

[@lorenzo.c]

I find these videos in which there's thorough analysis of the engineering extremely interesting. Sometimes, rarely actually, I find Steve a bit picky but there is very little I don't like. Being picky myself, I noticed Steve uses the phrase "engineering sample" in a different way than I would. To me an engineering sample is an item made to show a change in an engineering process: a different coating, a different material, a different shape. An engineering sample does not necessarily need to be a functional part but it need to be testable so that the change can be properly evaluated and possibly adopted. What Steve refers to "engineering sample" I would call "prototype": and item which is meant to perform the function of the mass-produced component but, typically, has not been made in the same way the final production will be (but rather using more manual labour and in a batch of just a few units) but has to perform according to the design.

[@tim3172]

3:00... that that it didn't play the Intel jingle when you opened the container was disappointing.

[@awilliams1701]

Engineered to win because you can literally see it!! Thanks Steve!

[@Demertech]

If you put your phone on full blast and up to you left ear while using a hair dryer on the right side, Steve starts sounding like Linus

[@AlexanderBukh]

20:56 we're in like Flynn

[@PyroCatus]

The wifi card should be at the bottom m.2 slot, would have saved a lot of trouble routing those wire.

[@mjc0961]

Nah, because then where are you going to put the M.2 slot? I'd rather not waste an accessible space on something that never needs accessing. The correct solution is to not have WiFi at all. This is clearly a desktop, non-portable form factor. It's not going anywhere. Wire it up with Ethernet. Keep the WiFi bands clear for portable devices.

[@Chin2006]

I can see why they made it this way tho. Cuz the WiFi card is supposed to be on the standalone. Still janky tho

[@Calango741]

Your "flow guide" is commonly known as a duct - not to be confused with a "goosed"... 🤪

[@ArchusKanzaki]

NUC review is always fun. I wish I have enough budget leeway, or justification, to use NUC like this as a gaming PC. For the size, I guess its because with the GPU become power-hungry and bigger, they are basically choosing trying to keep the small size, or cater for people who will eventually buy RTX 3000. Either being evascerated for not being small, or being evascerated on not able to power newer card.

[@CastIronEric]

*Damn, I love Gamers Nexus. You guys hit a part of the market that no other KZbin channel does. Detailed analysis along with witty commentary. I've been subbed since you guys were 50k strong.. it's been a fun ride!*

[@whiffa5438]

i like the new abbreviation hardware cannuck gave it - CUC - Current Unit Computing

[@ltbeefy9054]

I recently water cooled my PC, which involved switching pc case and tearing down the gpu. All on carpet. All works fine. But I have an order in for the volt mat. Don't want 2 tempt fate again haha.

[@WhiteWolfTech]

IT IS gonna cool components on the board, since the centrifugal fan will pull air also from the board side... that's the whole principle, most of the air will be be from the duct and some from the side of the board, cool as much components as possible (drives, mem and vrm), then flow through the heatsink up and out of the case passing by the triple fans. The CU has open bottom, that's where the board side will get "some" airflow.

[@TechyBen]

GN is the QC inspector we need, not the one we deserve! :)

[@ze-ph9774]

This is pretty impressive. Nice Job Intel NUC team.

[@ProblematicHuman]

I always wondered why the element wasn't designed to have the fan on the other side so it gets fresh air.

[@johnchristianson515]

Wow that was well engineered for the most part, the only thing I would have a problem with is that non standard psu. Shame I just built an itx build with a 10850k or I would have bought this instead and saved myself some trouble.

[@crobar1]

Does the motherboard have that weird 12 pin intel power delivery?

[@thierrywitzig4886]

I think you missed something (or at least I didn't hear you talking about it). Because only the first 8 of the pcie power cables have a 90 degree adapter, if you use a gpu that needs the other 8 pins (those without the 90 degree adapter) they will be squished between the fans and the gpu when you close the top of the case. It seemed to me that the pressure to close the case could be a problem (that it could damage the gpu, at least I found it looked unsettling)

[@KingSvenDeluxe]

Had three skull canyons at the office and all three would hit 100 degrees and cut out under heavy load. Intel denied that there was any problem and deleted all forum posts that we referenced related to the issue. They were so close to being ideal for replacing all PCs in the building, but it's a shame that Intel haven't done anything worthy of respect in the last decade.

[@chuploops9973]

I'm pretty sure the the wireless cable problem could be resolved by putting the wireless card on the baseboard pcb and routing the cables away from any moving parts. Maybe we'll see that on the next nuc

[@andrewclark1331]

I wonder if The knot on the power cable is to filter dirty electricity before it gets to the power supply. Maybe some capacitors and diodes.

[@robertthompson90]

The way the compute board is designed reminds me a lot of the Intel Pentium II that would slot into a mainboard... funny how Intel have kinda gone full circle with this idea. Obviously far from the same, but it did remind me of it.

[@lemonbrothers3462]

15:11 linus did a review of a sff case recently that also had some shenanigans going on regarding the ac cable, they got in touch with the company and it was because of component shortages (the qc on that case was terrible btw)

[@atrociousarc]

I thought that was the distributor's deal and not the manufacturer?

[@lemonbrothers3462]

@@atrociousarc they said the manufacturer was sending the sketchy plug as an alternative, not sure if the distributer was supposed to fix it when stock becomes available or not, either way for me was just another negative on the case, I don't think that should ever be allowed to ship like that for a consumer product

[@gembot_]

Have you thought about reviewing more ITX cases?

[@mjc0961]

F in chat for Kegan

[@marksadler4457]

Did GN verify if this was an engineering sample? It would not be the best if the abundant use of "patch cables" and connectors is going to be standard. Also, why not put the wifi antenna cables in with one of the case harnesses?

[@coryandrum]

This Looks bigger my Geeek G1 SE, which I consider to be big compared to its pricier competitors. Gives me the same vibes as the NR200, its great for beginner SFF... but it could fit a mATX and full size PSU easy if you wanted.

[@amnottabs]

that wifi card would've been better in the lower m2 slot and the wifi antennas routed through the chassis itself... maybe underneath those big rubber feet?

[@rozzbourn3653]

intel has some of the best cpu architects in the world, the problem is getting their process back on track. the 11 series was designed for 10nm, and backporting it to 14nm hurt the performance in ways we may not realize.

[@chuckthetekkie]

Are there 3 m.2 slots on that Compute Unit for NVMe storage? It looks like a 3rd m.2 slot where the WiFi card is to put an NVMe above that card. Can you confirm? I like the idea of a fully modular computer where you can replace and upgrade components are needed without having to buy, let's say, a new motherboard. You have a baseboard that houses the PCI-E slots with slot(s) for CPU units.

[@jacobnoori]

Great work, GN team!

[@user-dn5bx2iu3e]

I like it. I wonder how tight a 3x gpu would be. only down side is sodim ram and that's really not a big deal. Im quite surprised about the sabrent SSD. Did I miss the price? or is that still not announced?

[@lcarsos]

I think on the power cable that's a ferrite core under the heat shrink

[@UnOrigionalOne]

That shipping case looks like is should contain a Pitbull™ brand hover board.

[@Marc_Wolfe]

15:07 Ferrite bead for electrical noise suppression.

[@timecrash85]

I fear mesh cases primarily because they might lack dust filters. This case doesn't look to be positive air pressure, the CPU fan intake also lack some sort of mesh...

[@TheJuggtron]

Blower fan equipped video cards would make more sense for this, but you can hardly find them nowadays

[@ptah4000]

Three questions: 1. Whose job is it to put it back together or do you just pile all the pieces in a big box send it back to Intel with a 'sorry' stickie note? 2. Do I see right that there is room for 4 m.2 hdd? 3. Looks like 2 slot video cards are out of the question, am I right?

[@OTechnology]

I still don't get why they didn't just make the blower fan face the other side where there's plenty of fresh air access...

[@UnexplainedHoveringSpheroid]

The damn thing is the size of a mini ITX. Intel seem to have forgotten why they started making NUCs in the first place, and who the main purchasing demographic(s) are. What a curious object.

[@Kuhfladensammler]

Is that a second, working pci slot underneath the blower-intake? And will you do these kind of in-depth takes on the new dragon canyon?

[@nosirrahx]

If you get the chance, upgrade the Nuc 9 Extreme with the 11th gen element. I am thinking about upgrading mine, the actual NUC 11 is way too big for my use case.

[@CutieBarj]

is it possible to stack CPU units on a motherboard with multiple pci-e slots ?

[@in2it85]

*INTERN, COME HERE ASSEMBLE THIS SHIT.* *SEE YOU IN 1 WEEK.*

[@OscarRiba]

14:20 MY EYES! THE ZIP TIES, THEY DO NOTHING!

[@justinoff1]

Kegan is the real hero here

[@robinrai4973]

I don't know why these NUCs exist, but I'm happy they do

[@howru7932]

Is it possible to plug the compute unit into an AMD system and switch screen outputs if you wanna change to the Intel System?

[@Scotiskool1]

Does that fan on the compute element really do anything with the 2 heat sinks blocking the back of it? It's best seen at 22:13

[@scrpion669]

I want to see a reassembly video on this contraption,I bet it's way harder to put together than it was to tear apart.lol