Intel NUC13 Extreme Raptor Canyon Review: Sizzling SFF Performance Powerhouse

Intel NUCs started out as ultra-compact form factor boards/systems in the early 2010s. This system was intended to replace bulky tower desktops in applications where the physical footprint and system capabilities greatly exceeded practical requirements. The success of these UCFF systems allowed Intel to slowly expand its product line to include various form factors.

Systems targeting the hobbyist and professional gaming (esports) markets required the integration of discrete GPUs into the system, driving the development of the NUC form factor beyond the initial UCFF push. The Enthusiast NUC integrates a discrete notebook-class GPU on board, while the Extreme lineup allows end his users to install a discrete GPU of their own choice. The Raptor Canyon NUC13RNGi9 we see today belongs to the latter family.

Earlier this year, Intel launched the NUC12 Extreme Dragon Canyon with a 65W desktop Alder Lake CPU. Within a few quarters, they teased his NUC13 Extreme based on the recently introduced Raptor Lake processors and promised an imminent launch. The company delivered on its promise last month by unveiling a slew of his NUC13 Compute Elements and his NUC13 Extreme Kit SKUs. In today’s review, we take a closer look at the industrial design of his new NUC13 Extreme, provide some insight into the system configuration, and present benchmark numbers covering a wide variety of use cases.

Introduction and product impressions

Intel’s NUC lineup targeting the gaming market includes either the enthusiast family (Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK, Hades Canyon NUC8i7HVK, Phantom Canyon NUC11PHKi7C, and Serpent Canyon NUC12SNKi72) or the extreme family (Ghost Canyon NUC9QNX, Beast Canyon NUC11BTM, Dragon Canyon). It is classified as NUC12DCM, and Raptor Canyon NUC13RNG). The Raptor Canyon NUC now wears the flagship NUC mantle and brings the next update to the Dragon Canyon NUC.

• Support for socket processors with 150W PL1 (K series). A thermal solution significantly increases the length of the compute element.
• The Intel 7-manufactured Raptor Lake processors will continue to use hybrid performance and efficiency cores with improved performance and power efficiency micro-architecture.
• Support for DDR5-5600 SODIMM compared to DDR4-3200 on previous generation Extreme NUCs.
• Increased chassis capacity (13.7L vs. 8L) allows integration of triple-slot discrete GPUs.
• A more traditional industrial design for easy access to I/O ports.
• External Wi-Fi antenna

Intel provided an engineering sample of their flagship Raptor Canyon SKU. This is his NUC13RNGi9 with NUC13 Extreme Compute Element (NUC13SBBi9). This Compute Element (Shrike Bay) is housed in a fully cubic 337mm x 317mm x 129mm chassis. Compared to the Dragon Canyon NUC, the volume has increased significantly (from 8L to 13.7L). This is still within the range of Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs. Other desirable SFF aspects, such as the internal PSU, are carried over from the previous generation Extreme NUC.

Intel’s NUC lineup has traditionally included variations in boards and kits, allowing partners to provide added value (such as passive chassis or additional I/O ports for end systems). Kits (except those with pre-installed OS) require the end user to add storage, DRAM, and install the OS to complete the system. In addition to his currently under consideration NUC13RNGi9, Intel will be selling three variants of the Raptor Canyon NUC Kit – NUC13RNGi7 and NUC13RNGi5 (powered by Core i7-13700K and Core i5-13600K respectively). However, OEMs and end users can also build their own NUC13 system based on the following components:

• Computation element (NUC13SBBi(9/5/7)(F))
• Baseboard (or backplane)
• chassis
• PSUs
• DRAM (up to 2x DDR5-5600 SODIMMs)
• non-volatile storage
• Discrete GPU (optional)

The off-the-shelf Raptor Canyon NUC13RNGi9 kit leaves only DRAM, non-volatile storage, and discrete GPU to the end user’s choice. The Compute Element has an LGA1700 socket, but the three Compute Elements sold in the market as part of the kit version come with pre-installed processors (Core i9-13900K, or Core i7-13700K, or Core i5-13600K). Let’s take a look at the pre-determined components in the list above before we dive into the platform analysis and review composition.

Shrike Bay NUC13 Compute Element

The NUC13RNGi9 we’re reviewing today comes with the NUC13SBBi9 NUC13 Extreme Compute Element. Comes with his socketed LGA1700 processor (Core i9-13900K). It belongs to Raptor Lake (13^th Generation) family with 8P + 16e / 32T configuration. The base power of the processor is 125W, but the thermal design of the compute element and chassis allows Intel to configure the processor with PL1 at 150W and PL2 at 250W (tau is 28s). It can turbo up to 5.8 GHz.

Like previous Compute Elements, the Shrike Bay model also reimagines traditional motherboards in a discrete PCIe add-on card form factor. Unlike previous Compute Elements, the Shrike Bay has 16+ lanes connecting to the baseboards. The design of the Dragon Canyon Compute Elements will be maintained for the most part. The cooling shroud has one fan and multiple M.2 heatsinks with pre-installed thermal pads. However, the CPU’s cooling solution has been redesigned to accommodate a heatsink hanging off the edge of the compute element. SODIMMs are inserted vertically. The Z690 chipset used in Dragon Canyon will be reused in Shrike Bay.

When it comes to I/O, the Shrike Bay Compute Element beats all other mini-ITX motherboards for Raptor Lake. It features dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, 10G BASE-T AQC113C AQtion NIC, 2.5G BASE-T Intel NIC, 6x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports on the rear, and Realtek ALC1220 analog audio ports. The front panel is handled by a daughterboard, offering a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) Type-C port and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports.

raptor canyon baseboard

The NUC13RNGi9 baseboard is a complete rework of the Eden Cove used in the Dragon Canyon NUC. Intel has pushed features like SATA ports and USB headers into the new version of the baseboard. One of the major physical changes is the placement of add-in card slots for compute elements and discrete GPUs on different sides of the baseboard. This allows you to mount a compute element on top and place a similarly wide discrete GPU underneath.

The PCIe lanes are Gen 5 and like Eden Cove there is no bifurcation support.

Chassis and PSU

The NUC13RNGi9 chassis is much easier to install than previous generation NUCs. Dimensions allow installation of triple-slot GPUs up to 317mm in length. The PSU is also upgraded, moving to a 750W modular (compared to the 650W version seen on the Dragon Canon NUC) while still maintaining its 80+ GOLD rating.

Unlike the non-intuitive hinge-based design of previous Extreme NUCs, opening the Dragon Canyon NUC is easy. Take out a few screws and slide the top and perforated side panels out before popping out the compute element. The thermal design works by drawing air in from the left side and allowing it to exit on the other side over the heatsinks hanging off the edge of the Compute Element.

The SSD slots are accessible from the rear of the Compute Element. The chassis fan/shroud blocks access to the back of the compute element, making it mandatory to take the compute element out of the baseboard and install his M.2 SSD. There are two horizontal slots outside the chipset and the vertical slot is his NVMe dedicated slot connected to the CPU.

SODIMMs can be installed without removing the Compute Element from the baseboard. Baseboard features such as dGPU slots and SATA ports/other headers are on the underside. It is not necessary to remove the Compute Element itself. Installing a GPU is greatly simplified without having to cram it into the small space shared with the Compute Element. This freedom also provides plenty of airflow space for your discrete GPU.

Also, with the extra space, the cable that connects the daughterboard’s high-speed I/O to the Compute Element won’t easily disconnect. This was one of the main complaints I had with my previous Extreme NUC. Reinstalling or replacing the GPU will cause the front USB ports to operate at USB 2.0 speeds. Luckily, the Raptor Canyon NUC avoids this sort of problem entirely thanks to its redesigned chassis. The I/O ports are also not recessed for easy access during daily use.

The NUC13RNGi9 review sample configuration was completed with the following components:

• 2x 16GB Kingston Fury Impact KF548S38-16 DDR5-4800 SODIMM (38-38-38-70 @ 4800 MHz)
• 1x 1TB Kingston Fury Renegade SSFYRS1000G M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD
• ASUS TUF-RTX3080TI-12G-GAMING NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

Being able to support powerful GPUs like the RTX 3080 Ti means the Raptor Canyon NUC can easily compete with large gaming rigs. For now, we’re limited to comparisons with the previous generation Extreme NUC. In the next section, we review the full specifications of our review sample, followed by a detailed platform analysis and notes on the setup experience.