Intel hades canyon nuc8i7hvk2 review in Spanish (full analysis)

Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK2 is the most advanced NUC system of the semiconductor giant, it is a PC with very small dimensions, and features at the height of large and heavy desktop computers.

The reason for all this lies inside this equipment, an Intel Core i7-8809G processor with an AMD Vega graphics core with its 4 GB of HBM2 memory and great possibilities to expand it in RAM and internal storage.

What will you find in this review? All the analyzed secrets of this jewel of engineering. Prepared? Let's start!

As always we thank Intel for the trust placed in lending us the product for analysis.

Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK2 technical features

Unboxing and design

The Intel Hades Canyon comes with a luxury presentation, Intel has opted for a cardboard box with a very colorful and high quality print. In this case the design moves away from the typical blue color that we usually see in the NUC series and consumer products from Intel.

It is clear that with the background black color, we are facing something very special. Intel has taken advantage of the box surface to detail all the most important product specifications in its rear area.

We open the box and find the Intel Hades Canyon very well protected to prevent damage during transport. Next to the PC we find the power supply and all the documentation. A VESA mount is also included for hanging on the wall or behind the monitor. For the most curious, the power supply has a maximum output power of 230W, with a configuration of 19.5 V and 11.8 A.

The Intel NUC8i7HVK2 is a very compact PC, the equipment has dimensions of only 142 mm x 221 mm x 39 mm and weighs 1.27 Kg without mounting the storage units or memories, although it works with a source external power, which is almost larger than the PC itself. This is something that we must take into account, since it increases the total volume of the equipment. The equipment is manufactured with a very good quality black plastic chassis, which when turned on activates a skull.

The chassis features a large number of vents, which is important for correct air flow, and the equipment does not overheat excessively. At the top, a lighting system has been included in the form of the Intel NUC8i7HVK2 logo, although with the equipment turned off it cannot be seen. It is a highly configurable RGB LED system using the BIOS.

On the front of the PC we find the power button, three status LEDs, an IR receiver, USB 3.1 Type-C and Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.0a and audio and micro connectors. Super complete!

While the rest of the connection ports are in the back, in this chaos we find an optical audio output, the power connector, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, two Mini DisplayPort ports, one HDMI 2.0a, two Gigabit ports and four USB 3.0. Regarding wireless connectivity, this equipment has Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 and Bluetooth 4.2.

One of the most common characteristics of the Intel NUC is that it allowed us to open it from the rear. This time it is not like this (we must do it in the upper area) but if we look at the cooling for this mini gaming PC they have improved.

Internal components and component installation

To access the interior of the equipment we only have to remove a few screws, once we remove the top cover, we see the lighting system that I mentioned before. It consists of an LED strip and a diffuser. Very carefully we will remove the connector (black cable) from the motherboard and we can access the inside of the mini PC Gamer.

We continue to investigate and access the motherboard. The first thing we see on the motherboard are the two SO-DIMM slots with support for up to 64GB of DDR4 memory in dual-channel configuration.

We also see the two M.2 slots for storage. We remind you that this equipment comes without RAM or storage, so they have to be purchased separately. The unit that Intel has sent us does come with these items, not the ones that you will find in stores.

Intel has opted for a 16 GB kit of RAM memory in 3200 MHz DDR4 SO-DIMM format. What a treat! In addition to its great speed, it incorporates CL20 (20-22-22) latencies at a voltage of 1.2v. At the storage level, it has chosen a 118 GB Intel Optane 800P drive and a 512 GB Intel 545S SSD in M.2 format and TLC memories. Good weapons to increase your performance!

As we said the Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK2 is a NUC that promises to revolutionize the gaming experience on mini PCs thanks to its advanced Intel Core i7-8809G processor, a model that features a quad-core configuration and eight processing threads with Kaby Lake architecture and at a base speed of 3.1 GHz that can go up to 4.1 GHz thanks to its turbo mode. This processor includes an AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH graphics core with 24 Compute Units, working at a clock speed of up to 1190 MHz, and accompanied by 4 GB of HBM2 memory with a 1, 024-bit interface and a bandwidth of 204.8 GB /s.It also has the Intel HD Graphics 630 graphics core at a maximum speed of 1.10 GHz. This processor has a TDP of 100W, it will be necessary to see how it behaves in such a compact computer.

The CPU is cooled by an aluminum heatsink and a turbine that generates the necessary air flow. It is a fairly simple cooling system, it will be necessary to see how it is capable of dealing with 100W of TDP. To access it, we must disassemble the entire motherboard and it is not a simple process.

Test bench and performance tests

If you have been following us for a long time, you will know that it is the first time that we have tried an Intel miniPC gaming. To check the stability of the Intel i7-8809G processor in stock and overclocked. The integrated graphics at first should render somewhere in between the Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti and the Nvidia GTX 1060 Max-Q notebook .

Will your purchase be worth it? First we leave you our synthetic tests:

• Cinebench R15 (CPU single-threaded and multi-threaded).Aida64.3DMARK Fire Strike.3DMark Time Spy.PCMark 8.VRMark.Wprime 32M7-ZipBlender

Game testing

While we will try the following titles:

• Doom 2: Ultra TSSAA x 8Rise Of Tomb Raider Ultra Filters x 4DEUS EX Mankind Divided Ultra with x4 filterFinal Fantasy XV Benchmark

In Full HD resolution to measure your gaming performance. We believe that both resolutions are realistic enough to see the potential, since testing games at 2560 x 1440 pixels and 4K is not going to help us draw many conclusions with the current power of the integrated graphics card.

Consumption and temperature

software

To have the latest graphics and chipset drivers we must install the specific AMD Radeon RX VEGA M software from the Intel website. As we can see in the images, it is identical to that of the RX 570, RX 580 and RX VEGA graphics cards. The only thing Intel has done is change the corporate colors and some sporadic option.

Within the tab we have many options to adjust any type of requirement. From gaming applications, video, recording with AMD Radeon ReLive, screen and system information. It seems to me a success that maintains the entire structure of AMD.

BIOS

It incorporates a UEFI BIOS very similar to that of current motherboards. Full of options and with the ability to make a thousand adjustments. Although as we have seen, since the processor has quite high temperatures, it is not recommended to overclock, since the cooling system is somewhat fair.

Final words and conclusion about Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK2

The Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK2 is the most powerful mini PC with integrated graphics card on the planet. It is noted that the inclusion of an IGP RX VEGA M GH has been a total success by Intel?

At the component level it allows us to expand quite a few options. Among them, install up to a total of 32 GB of DDR4L SO-DIMM RAM and two M.2 SATA & NVME storage units. Undoubtedly, a super powerful device in an ultra-compact box.

Regarding its performance, we have verified that it resembles a 4 GB Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti. Personally, I find the performance levels these processors are reaching in such a small space fascinating.

We recommend reading our Advanced PC settings guide.

One of the drawbacks that we see at technical levels is that when carrying the external power supply so large (it is larger than the miniPC), we must look for two well-ventilated holes for the MiniPC and its PSU. We also believe that the cooling system can be improved, since when the processor and the igp raise the temperatures to +90 ºC it begins to Throttling…

Its sale price without storage or RAM is 1049 euros and is already available in the main online stores. Worth? We believe that for that price we can buy a somewhat more powerful SFF configuration with greater possibilities to expand (motherboard, processor, graphics card…). This product is focused on a clear end user: look for the best in the smallest space without the need to complicate your PC configuration. What do you think about the Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK2 ? Do you think it is worth it?

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ Design and compactness	- External power supply is very large.
+ Performance	- Improve the cooling system
+ RX VEGA M GH graphics card and i7 processor.	- Very high price
+ Thunderbolt 3 compatible

The Professional Review team awards him the gold medal:

Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK2

DESIGN - 88%

CONSTRUCTION - 82%

REFRIGERATION - 77%

PERFORMANCE - 93%

PRICE - 72%

82%