ASUS ROG NUC 970 [pcgamer] review [ 86/100 ]
ASUS ROG NUC 970 [pcgamer] review [ 86/100 ]
1440p power in a tight and compact package, but at what cost?
Who is this for, exactly?
It's small, but not actually portable like a gaming laptop.
It's got desktop-class performance, but the high cost and non-upgradability of a laptop.
NUCs make sense as small servers, but why do I need such a beefy GPU in a server?
I could see it for self hosting maybe but at that price point why not just by the best nvidia SBC for AI, save a couple $100, and probably better compute.
I've used an Intel V8 NUC with a discreet AMD GPU for years to do all sorts of self hosting. It makes a fantastic Plex server as it can transcode really fast.
Why do YOU need it? No clue. But I can see people without technical know-how using these as a little home theater PC. Or really anyone wanting a smaller form factor. I've had friends and relatives get nucs because they want something really small form factor and don't care about the upgradability cause they'd just buy a newer model 4-5 years down the line.
Sure, I bought a NUC with a little integrated AMD GPU, which is more than enough for HTPC transcode duties.
It cost less than half this thing.