Intel provided a teaser of their upcoming NUC12 Extreme product at CES 2022. Complete specifications have been promised closer to launch, but the components layout in their virtual presentation points to a follow-up very similar to the Beast Canyon NUC in terms of form-factor and sizing.

The key update from the Beast Canyon seems to be the use of a socketed processor, which should allow for a wider range of processor choices for the end user. The vapor chamber / CPU blower continues to be the cooling system for the components in the Compute Element 'add-in card'. The allowed TDP range for the supported processors is something that would be interesting to note while building systems based on the Dragon Canyon platform. Other aspects such as the use of DDR4 SODIMMs and a separate front panel connector board seem to be similar to the Beast Canyon NUC platform introduced last year.

From the I/O perspective, we have Thunderbolt 4 (as expected with Alder Lake) and Wi-Fi 6E. Networking enthusiasts should be quite happy with Intel's promise of delivering 10GbE LAN in the product. The absence of USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 appears to be a slight dampener in what otherwise seems to be an exciting SFF platform expected to launch in the next few months.

Source: Intel on YouTube

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  • shabby - Friday, January 7, 2022 - link

    Ddr4? 🧐
  • psychobriggsy - Friday, January 7, 2022 - link

    Available and not too expensive, and not much performance difference.
  • shabby - Friday, January 7, 2022 - link

    I understand that, but when you come out with a pricey niche product you don't put last decades tech in it.
  • meacupla - Friday, January 7, 2022 - link

    From other tech news, I think it was LTT, DDR5 SODIMM is priced very competitively against DDR4 SODIMM, and there is a good amount of supply readily available in the system integrator market.

    It's just that DDR5 SODIMM is not currently available for consumers.
  • jordanclock - Friday, January 7, 2022 - link

    I don't think DDR5 SO-DIMMs are available for purchase. And not in the way that DDR5 DIMMs are just hard to get, but DDR5 SO-DIMMs are literally just not available at any retailers.
  • vFunct - Monday, January 10, 2022 - link

    More importantly, ECC?
  • damianrobertjones - Wednesday, January 19, 2022 - link

    I recently built myself a Z690 machine and, ashamedly, I had to go the DDR4 route. Why? DDR5 availability at that time. Also the price.
  • Drkrieger01 - Friday, January 7, 2022 - link

    Doesn't Thunderbolt 4 cover the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 standard? I thought I read somewhere that they merged the standards. I just can't remember where
  • ganeshts - Friday, January 7, 2022 - link

    TB4 covers USB4, but not USB 3.2 Gen 2x2
  • cyrusfox - Friday, January 7, 2022 - link

    Isn't this more dependent on the device? I have read of some CFexpress type B readers that will work with either TB3/4 or USB 3.2 2x2. Maybe that was only is in regard to the cabling standard after a second read (Product - https://www.angelbird.com/prod/cfexpress-card-read... ).

    TB4 goes to 40gbps, but isn't backwards compatible with USB 3.2 2x2 20gbps signal rate? What would we end up with on a 3.2 2x2 device? 10gbps? 5gbps?

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