Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK NUC Review – Radeon RX Vega M GPU
Final Thoughts On The NUC8i7HVK
The Intel NUC8i7HVK ‘Hades Canyon’ Mini PC kit is without a doubt the fastest NUC system we have ever tested. Intel continues to increase the performance on this series, but we’ve noticed that the size keeps getting bigger. We hope Intel is able to stick with the 1.2L design brought forward with this model as the NUC is starting to become a large ultra small form factor system. When it comes to performance the fully unlocked Intel Core i7-8809G 4-core/8-thread processor and Radeon RX Vega M GH graphics paired together nicely. We were able to play hit game titles like Far Cry 5 and PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG) at 1080P with respectable image quality settings. That is huge for a system of this size, but something we expect it to be able to do for its price point. Typical desktop processor workloads ran smoothly on Intel NUC NUC8i7HVK as multimedia performance was on point and it was able to handle everything with threw at it with ease.
At the end of the day the decision on if one should by the Intel Hades Canyon NUCi7HVK will come down to price. The flagship 100W model that we tested here today runs $999 and is backed by a 3-year warranty. Our test system was topped off with an Intel Optane SSD 800P 118G boot drive, Intel SSD 545s 512GB secondary drive, HyperX Impact 16GB DDR4 3200MHz memory kit and Windows 10. That pushed the price up to around $1500.
Intel Hades Canyon NUC Kit Price At Tested
- Intel NUC Kit NUC8i7HVK – $999
- Intel Optane SSD 800P Series 118GB Boot Drive- $222.38 shipped
- Intel SSD 545s Series 512GB Storage Drive – $167.46 shipped
- Kingston HyperX Impact 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200 SO-DIMMs – $189.99 shipped
- Windows 10 RS 3 Fall Creators Update – $92.99 shipped
You can most certainly piece together a mode powerful desktop for that price, but it won’t be as portable and might be lacking some of the connectivity found here. The Intel Hades Canyon is a unique system that fills a niche market. You either need something small, portable and powerful like this or you don’t.
If you happen to find yourself looking for something like the Intel NUC8i7HVK ‘Hades Canyon’ Mini PC kit we highly recommend it.
Legit Bottom Line: The Intel NUC Mini PC Kit NUC8i7HVK is the most powerful NUC ever released and is capable of playing the latest game titles at 1080P!