Intel NUC 11 Extreme SFF PC Review: Unleashing Beast Canyon
Intel NUC 11 Extreme: Graphics, Gaming, Power And The Verdict
Next up, we have an array of 3DMark gaming tests run on the Intel NUC 11 Extreme that we'll use to compare it against as many systems as we can: desktop, notebook, and small form factor systems alike...
In the relatively light-duty Night Raid benchmark (which we normally only run on notebooks), the Intel NUC 11 Extreme and its GeForce RTX 3060 lead the pack by a decent margin, with only the GeForce RTX 2070-equipped NUC 9 Extreme coming close.
We also had some 3DMark Port Royal ray tracing benchmark data available to see how the Intel NUC 11 Extreme and its GeForce RTX 3060 fare, and it landed near the top again, bested only by an RTX 2080-powered Alienware rig.
The NUC 11 Extreme and GeForce RTX 3060 combo put up 110 FPS in Middle-earth: Shadow of War, which places it near the top of the charts. The Tiger Lake-H CPU in this system offers more than enough performance to push the GeForce RTX 3060 here.
The Intel NUC 11 Extreme’s more voluminous chassis means it can accommodate full sized graphics cards, and it also grants enough room for more-than-adequate cooling, but it also pushes its dimensions somewhat close to mini-ITX territory. Inevitably, there will be comparisons made to DIY mini-ITX builds, so let us be clear about this right away – you can absolutely build a similar or better performing mini-ITX system on your own. The Core i9-powered NUC 11 Extreme kits start at about $1,350, while the Core i7-based models start at about $1,150. You won’t, however, be able to assemble something with the same level of integration, in as small and refined a chassis, so the price premium can be somewhat justified.
Ultimately, the Intel NUC 11 Extreme was designed to be a high-performance small-form-factor system that’s just big enough to handle many of today’s most powerful discrete GPUs and can burn through virtually any modern workload, and in that regard Intel has succeeded. We really like the NUC 11 Extreme and think that if you’re in the market for a small form factor machine like this, you will too.
UL 3DMark Graphics Benchmarks
In the relatively light-duty Night Raid benchmark (which we normally only run on notebooks), the Intel NUC 11 Extreme and its GeForce RTX 3060 lead the pack by a decent margin, with only the GeForce RTX 2070-equipped NUC 9 Extreme coming close.
In the more taxing Fire Strike test, the NUC 11 Extreme and its GeForce RTX 3060 trail only the systems with more powerful discrete GPUs, and it finishes right on-top of the NUC 9.
Middle Earth: Shadow Of War DirectX Game Tests
With our synthetic testing out of the way, this is where the rubber meets the road—actual games. Though is it relatively small, the Intel NUC 11 Extreme is well-equipped for gaming with such a powerful processor and GeForce RTX-class GPU. Here's how things shook out...
The NUC 11 Extreme and GeForce RTX 3060 combo put up 110 FPS in Middle-earth: Shadow of War, which places it near the top of the charts. The Tiger Lake-H CPU in this system offers more than enough performance to push the GeForce RTX 3060 here.
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider Benchmarks
The finale in the rebooted Tomb Raider trilogy, "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," is easily the best-looking of the bunch. It's also brimming with Tobii eye-tracking hardware support and leading edge graphics technologies. To test this game out, we cranked the visuals up to High and tested at the full-HD resolution of 1920x1080.
In the Shadow Of The Tomb Raider benchmark, the NUC 11 Extreme and GeForce RTX 3060 predictably finish near the top of the chart, with a triple-digit average framerate and minimum framerate over 90 FPS.
The NUC 11 Extreme and its GeForce RTX 3060 consumed slightly more power than the RTX 2070-equipped NUC 9 Extreme, but it's clearly still one of the more power-friendly systems of the bunch. At full tilt, it actually consumed less power than a mainstream Ryzem 5 5600G-based desktop system, and idle power is way below all of the full-sized desktops.
We also monitored power in a gaming scenario, which obviously pushes things up quite a bit. As you can see, though, even with the CPU and CPU being utilized in a game (in this case, Shadow Of War @ 1080p), the system consumes around 280W. That leaves plenty of breathing room for the included 650W PSU.
Total System Power Consumption Data
Throughout all of our benchmarking and testing, we also monitored how much power our Intel NUC 11 Extreme test system consumed with a power meter, and compared the results versus some of the other desktop systems we used for benchmark comparisons.
Our goal was to give you an idea as to how much power each configuration used while idling at the Windows desktop and then while under a heavy CPU workload. Keep in mind, this is total system power consumption being measured at the outlet and not the the individual power of the CPUs alone.
The NUC 11 Extreme and its GeForce RTX 3060 consumed slightly more power than the RTX 2070-equipped NUC 9 Extreme, but it's clearly still one of the more power-friendly systems of the bunch. At full tilt, it actually consumed less power than a mainstream Ryzem 5 5600G-based desktop system, and idle power is way below all of the full-sized desktops.
We also monitored power in a gaming scenario, which obviously pushes things up quite a bit. As you can see, though, even with the CPU and CPU being utilized in a game (in this case, Shadow Of War @ 1080p), the system consumes around 280W. That leaves plenty of breathing room for the included 650W PSU.
Intel NUC 11 Extreme Cooling And Acoustics
Although the system is relatively small, the Intel NUC 11 Extreme we tested, with its ASUS GeForce RTX 3060, has 6 fans inside keeping it cool -- two at the top of the chassis, one on the compute module, one in the PSU, and two on the GPU. It's typically difficult to keep high-performance, small form factor systems cool and quiet, but Intel (and ASUS) appear to have done a commendable job:
After hours of benchmarking, this is what CPU and GPU temperatures look like during an active PCMark 10 run. The CPU temperature will peak at right around 90°C during heavily threaded workloads, but the GPU runs nice and cool. Likely, the video card's access to outside air right though the mesh side panel helps GPU temperatures stay nice and low.
The Intel NUC 11 Extreme with the particular ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 we have installed is also very quiet under normal desktop use and doesn't even register on our sound meter above the typical ambient noise (the GPU fans don't spin when the system is idling). Under a sustained load, however, when both the CPU and GPU fans are ramped up, the system is clearly audible and broke the 46dB mark on our meter with said meter placed about a foot away from the side panel. That's not particularly quiet, and the fans are more audible than they would be in a closed mid-tower case, but we still wouldn't consider the Intel NUC 11 Extreme to be particularly noisy—at least, as we had it configured here. Its fan pitch wasn't irritating to our ears either.
After hours of benchmarking, this is what CPU and GPU temperatures look like during an active PCMark 10 run. The CPU temperature will peak at right around 90°C during heavily threaded workloads, but the GPU runs nice and cool. Likely, the video card's access to outside air right though the mesh side panel helps GPU temperatures stay nice and low.
The Intel NUC 11 Extreme with the particular ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 we have installed is also very quiet under normal desktop use and doesn't even register on our sound meter above the typical ambient noise (the GPU fans don't spin when the system is idling). Under a sustained load, however, when both the CPU and GPU fans are ramped up, the system is clearly audible and broke the 46dB mark on our meter with said meter placed about a foot away from the side panel. That's not particularly quiet, and the fans are more audible than they would be in a closed mid-tower case, but we still wouldn't consider the Intel NUC 11 Extreme to be particularly noisy—at least, as we had it configured here. Its fan pitch wasn't irritating to our ears either.
Final Thoughts On The Intel NUC 11 Extreme
The Intel NUC 11 Extreme is a great, small form factor system. Obviously, the more-powerful, enthusiast-class nature of the system necessitates a larger chassis, and as such, the NUC 11 Extreme is the largest NUC yet. That said, the system is still relatively small in comparison to any standard mini or mid-tower – the NUC 11’s stature is more in-line with a typical eGPU enclosure.The Intel NUC 11 Extreme’s more voluminous chassis means it can accommodate full sized graphics cards, and it also grants enough room for more-than-adequate cooling, but it also pushes its dimensions somewhat close to mini-ITX territory. Inevitably, there will be comparisons made to DIY mini-ITX builds, so let us be clear about this right away – you can absolutely build a similar or better performing mini-ITX system on your own. The Core i9-powered NUC 11 Extreme kits start at about $1,350, while the Core i7-based models start at about $1,150. You won’t, however, be able to assemble something with the same level of integration, in as small and refined a chassis, so the price premium can be somewhat justified.
Ultimately, the Intel NUC 11 Extreme was designed to be a high-performance small-form-factor system that’s just big enough to handle many of today’s most powerful discrete GPUs and can burn through virtually any modern workload, and in that regard Intel has succeeded. We really like the NUC 11 Extreme and think that if you’re in the market for a small form factor machine like this, you will too.
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