Intel unveils ‘Ghost Canyon’ NUC, a modular desktop gaming PC at CES 2020

Intel has released the latest version of its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) lineup at CES 2020. The Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit (and Compute Element) or the Ghost Canyon NUC brings a welcome modular upgrade from the previous version.[caption id="attachment_7874201" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit aka Ghost Canyon NUC.[/caption]The NUC 8 or the Hades Canyon was powered by an Intel-AMD collaboration that packed an Intel CPU and AMD GPU on the same chip. While that partnership didn’t go forward, the newest NUC introduces a much-needed upgradeability. Users will be able to replace the CPU, GPU, RAM, storage and even the ports on the Ghost Canyon NUC.Although the NUC 9 is bigger than the previous one, it is still a mini-desktop gaming PC. However, it’s big enough to fit a desktop graphics card inside it. And by featuring modularity, it becomes future-proof.Intel says that the Ghost Canyon is meant for enthusiast and AAA gaming, and also for content creation. It’s capable of supporting an unlocked Intel Core i9 processor (Intel Core i9-9980HK). For ports, it has two Thunderbolt 3, two Intel Gigabit LAN, HDMI 2.0a and four USB 3.1 Gen2 ports and an SDXC card slot. It also supports Intel Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5 with dual built-in antennas. There are two M.2 slots for NVMe storage and support for up to 64 GB of dual-channel RAM.The starting price and availability of the NUC 9 series haven’t been revealed yet.