Small form factor (SFF) computing has become largely popular thanks to the Intel NUC (Next Unit Of Computing). The previous generation “Skull Canyon” products offered a solution with Intel integrated graphics but could only support moderate gaming needs. However, graphics power has always been a struggle for SFF computing but thanks to AMD & Intel your biggest dream has just come true. Intel is the first SFF PC with desktop-like performance with the power of a Radeon Vega M GPU & Kaby-Lake-G CPU. Say hello to the Intel “Hades Canyon” NUC8i7HVK & NUC8i7HNK. Intel is releasing two versions with the more powerful HVK with 1ooW TDP and is VR ready. Is the code name any indication of hell freezing over with the collaboration of these two tech giants? I will be reviewing the HVK, so let’s see why perhaps the Intel Hades Canyon is one the most powerful NUCs ever made.
The specification for the Intel NUC8i7HVK are as follows:
- Processor > Intel Core i7-8809G: Kaby Lake, 4C/8T, 3.1GHz (up to 4.2GHz), 14nm+, 8MB L2, 100W Package TDP
- Memory > Kingston HyperX Impact HX432S20IB2K2/16 DDR4 20-22-22-42 @ 3200 MHz 2x8 GB (Not included with retail model)
- Graphics > Radeon RX Vega M GH / 24 CUs, 64 PPC / 1063-1190MHz GPU, 800MHz Memory / 4GB 1024-bit HBM2 On-Package / Integrated Graphics: Yes (Intel) / Graphics Output: 2x Mini-DP 1.2, 2x Thunderbolt 3, F+R HDMI 2.0a / Up to 6 Supported Displays
- Disk Drives > Intel Optane SSD 800p / SSDPEK1W120GA (Not included on retail model)
- Networking > Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 / 1x Intel I219-LM Gigabit LAN / 1x Intel I210 Gigabit LAN
- Audio > 3.5mm Combo-audio Jack / Capable of 5.1/7.1 digital output with HD audio bitstreaming (HDMI)
- I/O > 2x Thunderbolt 3 (rear) / 4x USB 3.0 Type-A (rear) / 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C (front) / 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A (front) / 1x USB 3.0 Type-A Charging Port (front) / 1x SDXC UHS-I Slot (front) / CIR (front) / 2x USB 3.0 / 2x USB 2.0 internal headers
- Operating System > Windows 10 1803 (Not included on retail model)
Additional accessories included:
- Vesa Mount
- Screw Set
- 230W Power Adapter
- Documentation
I do want to comment on how well the retail packaging looks. As you open the item, there is a bad-ass skull imprinted underneath the top cover of the retail box.
Why Choose The Hades NUC?
The new 8th Gen Intel Core mobile CPU offers Intel’s first discrete GPU solution with a Radeon Vega M GPU in a single package. This allows for better performance levels never seen before and offers a light form factor and small footprint. These SFF PCs are designed for gamers looking to get the best possible performance while maintaining thin-and-light or notebook like portability. The two devices can be broken down into two kits. The sample we got came with hardware and software for testing but the retail models do not supply the memory, operating system, or hard drives required for operation. If you’re looking for a small PC that can play AAA games, then the Intel “Hades Canyon” NUC is for you.
Personally, I would only recommend the HVK kit as it has the power capable of overclocking and providing better performance. I can see why they have a cheaper version to help on costs. If you’re interested in overclocking and want better performance, then the HVK kit is going to be the better option over the HNK kit.
The Intel NUC8i7HNK is $799 & The NUC8i7HVK is $999. Each kit is barebones but respectably they do offer a difference in power consumption.
Design & Technology Behind The Hades NUC
This 8th Gen processor is capable of up to 100W with four cores and eight threads. This CPU has a frequency up to 4.2 GHz and It uses Turbo Technology 2.0 with 8 MB of cache. The processor is connected to a custom discrete Radeon RX Vega M GPU with eight PCIe lanes. This bandwidth allows the CPU to feed the graphics 24 compute units. The GPU can run up to 1190MHz boost while the 4GB of HBM2 (High Bandwidth memory) is up to 205GB/s at 800 MHz.
The HVK NUC is labeled as VR ready and AAA game capable. This HVK model offers support for up to 6 independent 4k displays and supports VR in a very discrete solution. The two models are broken up into VR capable and unlocked for the HVK and the HNK is cheaper and designed for regular content creation. The HNK also has a lower TDP 65W package with lower frequencies for the RX Vega M GL GPU (1101 MHz boost / 700 MHz Memory / 20 Compute Units). Each unit also has built-in Intel integrated graphics, but let’s be real who will even use those here?
The hardware supplied for the HVK review model:
• Intel® Optane™ SSD 800P Series 118GB
• Intel® SSD 545s Series 512GB
• Kingston HyperX 2 x 8 GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMMs
• Windows 10 RS 3 Fall Creator’s Update
Your retail unit, unfortunately, does NOT include any of these items and will require an additional M.2 SSD, Operating System, and memory.
The M.2 800P & 545 SSD bandwidth is supplied between the PCIe 3.0 x4 lanes and was preinstalled in each M.2 slot. The HM175 chipset controls the PCIe 3.0 lanes and several PCH (Platform Controller Hub) functions. The USB 3.1 is from ASMedia and the Wireless AC 8265 is an m.2 2230 module with 2x2 802.11ac with support for Bluetooth 4.2. The “Hades NUC” offers plenty of I/O and headers and multiple outputs for graphics. You can get a little more performance from this unit if you decide to hook up a FreeSync Monitor for a variable fresh rate. Taking a step even further you could even hook up another discrete GPU over Thunderbolt and an external GPU enclosure.
The HVK NUC power brick supports 230W (19.5V @ 11.8A) for the higher TDP requirements. This is going to be key to support its overclocking potential but this NUC is very limited by cooling and thermal dynamics. We will get into more of this in the overclocking section.
UEFI & Overclocking...
Before you overclock your system, I can take no responsibility for any damaged hardware that may result from overclocking. There are risks involved with pushing your system further than its intended and also causes more system heat as a result. You need adequate cooling for overclocking, and decent hardware to achieve anything good.
Also, keep in mind that overclocking your system will vary across different types of hardware, and even using the same hardware I used may not provide the same results. The other thing to think about here is the NUC is an SFF PC. This will present its own challenges for thermal and power limitations.
Before you start overclocking the first step is DON'T! You need to make sure that your system is running well before you do any overclocking. Once you're in Windows make sure you either run a few quick stress tests or play a few games to make sure your system is running well. This can really help eliminate or reduce any problems that might occur after overclocking your hardware.
Intel calls their UEFI the "Intel Visual BIOS". The main screen will show you a performance monitor of voltage, temperature, and fan speed.
Before we look at the advanced features I want to discuss the Hades NUC and its limitations. The Hades NUC is a small PC that produces a ton of heat as if the name "Hades" implies anything here. Intel gives you the ability to overclock the CPU, memory, and GPU but in reality, you are really only going to be able to choose one. You are going to hit thermal and power limits which will be apparent right away. You can choose to overclock the CPU & memory form the Visual BIOS or use Intel's XTU (Extreme Tuning Utility). You can overclock the Vega M GPU using a reskinned Wattman utility from your GPU settings. I would decide what's more important to you based on your performance needs. You will find more instability here when overclocking because you have the GPU, memory, and other variables now affecting your CPU.
The Hades NUC offers LED control over the skull logo & I/O indicator lights. You can control this in the Visual BIOS or with the LED software from Intel. I chose to set the BIOS to "Software Controlled". You also have the option to disable LEDs or specific LED zones.
The "Cooling" section of the Visual BIOS is where you can control your fan speeds and curves. If you're going to overclock, you will want to set the fan speed to 100%. This unit can get loud, so be prepared for the fan noise. Most likely you won't be able to push this unit very far but depending on your luck you may have some overclocking headroom. I personally tried to find a balance of what worked for me regarding noise and temperatures.
The cooling solution used on the NUC is pretty decent. It has a massive vapor chamber with blower style fans. This is where the NUCs higher sound levels come from. It does offer decent thermal performance but at the cost of noise. I found setting the "Cool" preset worked best for me and provided a better balance over even the "Balanced" preset. You can of course, manually adjust curves to your liking as well.
The Visual BIOS offers two temperature sensors that you can adjust independently for reaching your desired temperatures. Just be prepared to expect high temperatures because this unit runs extremely HOT. I set a minimum temperature of 60°C but quickly realized I reached closer to 80°C due to thermal limitations. It's worth sacrificing noise levels with fan speeds here to try and stay within your temperature comfort level.
The "Performance" section is where the magic happens. I will be upfront and honest here, I wouldn't play around with too many settings here as you are quite limited on the overclocking potential. You can adjust the voltage & frequencies but I would leave the Core Voltage to "Adaptive". Normally I would highly suggest you do all your overclocking within the BIOS but Intel's XTU makes it easier in this case and offers better control. We will look at more of those settings under the software section.
I was not able to push my CPU past the boost speed of 4.2 GHz. Anytime I set anything above that, the unit just crashed. I even tried manual tuning the voltage but had no success. When trying to push the CPU just even 100MHZ faster, my AMD control panel kept crashing and I was not able to overclock even 1% of the GPU. It's entirely likely driver improvements may help here, but I highly doubt it. I did have the success of setting the memory to its XMP values but had to manually tune the "command Rate" from 1T to 2T. Once I realized this, I still couldn't push my CPU past 4.2 GHz but could overclock the GPU from the Wattman utility. At first, I thought the 1T timing was causing my stability issues but even still trying to overclock the CPU I was hitting a thermal & power wall. I settled for the 3200 Mhz ram speed and overclocking the GPU to 1250 MHz boost & 900 MHz on the HBM2.
Software & Benchamrks
Intel recommends testing systems with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (also known as Redstone 3 or RS3, Version 1709). I took this a step further and have tested everything using build 1803 that was just released.
The Intel XTU utility is going to be your best options for adjusting power settings and tuning your overclocking. You'll notice my default temp just messing around Windows was 49°C, yes this is normal don't panic! Like I said this unit runs hot because pretty much everything lives on the CPU die. The XTU is going to be your best option for trying to remove power limitations and I would suggest a mixture of overclocking between the XTU and Visual BIOS.
The LED software, in my opinion, is the easiest way to customize your LEDs. You get full control over each LED zone and it can all be adjusted straight from Windows and the LED Manager.
The Vega M GPU settings are pretty much a reskin of the Adrenalin AMD drivers. You get almost identical settings but with Intel branding. One of the more notable features will be the Wattman utility which is used to adjust and overclock the GPU. Wattman gives you the ability to adjust the frequency, voltage, and GPU power limits. Like I mentioned before you will need to evaluate your overclocking needs based on your workloads since the GPU and CPU share the same package. Please keep in mind the 230W power brick has to power the entire system. The GPU limit is 130W and the CPU is 100W. If your not careful you will hit instability extremely fast.
Another important feature to note is Radeon Chill which offers dynamic power management. Radeon Chill monitors your inputs and adjusts frame rates based on your actions. Radeon chill is used in most popular game titles and also pairs extremely well with AMD's FreeSync technology. I mentioned earlier in the article, AMD FreeSync is another way to squeeze some performance from this SFF PC and the Vega M GPU.
This unit is designed for 1080P gaming. Even though it can handle multiple 4K displays, I wouldn't set your expectation past 1080P. You have to consider how impressive this is though considering how small this unit is and the performance recorded. You are more than likely going to need to tweak your settings in each game for optimal performance but this is seriously impressive for such an SFF PC.
At the time of testing, I didn't have a 1050 Ti to test against but you can expect closer to the performance levels of a GTX 1060. This unit is showing results that surpass that of a 1050 Ti. This Should be what console gaming strives for in future products. This tiny NUC packs some serious AAA game power. You can expect to play any eSport title as well as current or future game titles with the expectation of tweaking some in-game settings.
For noise testing, I used a high gain microphone. I want to explain a few things about noise testing, and this unit in particular.
First: Testing noise levels can be difficult. First, don't expect the same levels even with similar hardware. There are too many differences and variables that go into sound testing. You have to account for background noise and other sounds in the environment.
Second: I am one reviewer, and am not a professional sound studio. I am not testing these items in perfect conditions. I do not have an anechoic sound chamber in my test studio.
The noise level of this unit gets very loud at 100% fan speed. I recorded this using the "cool" profile from the Visual BIOS. With the fans running at about 80% I got roughly 62 dB on average for the sound levels. With the fans on low or using the balanced profile, this device is inaudible in my opinion. I don't have studio grade tools to test the low end, so that is why I set 0 dB for idle. You can't even tell the unit is on and the fan doesn't kick in unless it needs to.
The temperatures above reflect the reading from both load (Gaming) and idle (Windows Desktop). The regular temperature at 45°C is normal and is reflective of having both the GPU and CPU on the same package. Load also reflects much hotter temperatures because of this and shows why you must be careful when overclocking between the two. You're really only going to be able to do one, so if your gaming I would overclock the GPU and if you're doing CPU intensive tasks the CPU.
The Intel 800P is seriously disappointing due to its price and performance offered. Yes the read is high and latency is some of the best we can see in 4K tests but for the size and price of this drive, it's hard to recommend it. You can find better solutions for an NVMe drive. The best part of the 800P will be latency and Operating System optimization. You do not have the ability to tweak caching under device manager as the 800P has no drivers from Intel currently. The 545 SSD performs as expected when compared to other M.2 SSds on the market.
I was pretty impressed with the WiFi performance from this device. It's definitely capable of gaming over Wifi and presents better opportunities to find the best signal due it is the size and easy portability.
VR Performance
I found this article to be the perfect opportunity to test how VR capable the Hades NUC is. I wanted to try windows Mixed Reality and see how it compares to the other solutions on the market.
One of the things that attracted me to windows mixed reality is its free from external sensors. I chose to review Acers Mixed Reality headset and it's truly impressive. The headset takes less than 10 minutes to setup and support is built directly into Windows Falls Creators Update and above. Steam even has a beta channel for allowing their VR games to work with windows Mixed Reality headsets. If you're curious if your PC meets the minimum requirements check here.
One of the things that makes VR extremely convenient on the HVK is its front I/O with an HDMI port for your VR headset of choice. The Acer headset provides everything required to get up and running with ease. They even threw in some additional software for testing. They included two chapters of the ghostbuster VR Now Hiring experience from the windows store. If you're interested in checking out the Acer headset please go here.
VR used to be one of those things that were expensive to get into. Windows Mixed Reality is much cheaper than the RIFT and VIVE but competition has also caused those prices to come down. The new VIVE Pro is still expensive at $999 but you can get into VR with Windows Mixed Reality as little as $250. I was quite impressed with how well Windows Mixed Reality performed and would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to casually get into VR gaming. I tested a number of Windows Store apps as well as Steam VR experiences.
Conclusion
As much as Intel has improved the NUC product line, there are still many things to consider about this unit. The HVK unit I received is roughly $1200 fully configured and really isn't that unreasonable considering it's potential. The base unit at $999 does leave room for savings but depends on your parts selection. It's hard to justify this purchase without its special features. This is definitely a niche product and offers some serious performance in an SFF PC, but you have to consider what your wants and needs are. Intel has engineered something special here but is limited on its overclocking potential by thermals and power limits.
You should definitely consider this for someone who is looking for a portable capable VR solution. The Hades Canyon NUC puts pressure on Nvidia and stands directly competitive with Zotac and other SFF PCs. I can say with certainty that this NUC posses some serious power for its form factor. If you're interested in getting your own you can configure the NUC8i7HVK model starting at $999 and the NUC8i7HNK at $799 here.
Pros: Fantastic Design / 1080P Performance / Portability / VR Capable
Cons: Expensive / Barebones
