Asus ROG NUC (2025) assessment: among the finest compact gaming PCs I’ve ever seen

Asus ROG NUC (2025): Two-minute assessment

I will begin this assessment off by merely saying this: the Asus ROG NUC completely belongs on our checklist of the perfect mini PCs, and maybe certainly the perfect computer systems general – anticipate to see it make an look on these pages within the close to future.

Asus has been arduous at work on the NUC sequence, which was initially conceived by Intel as a brand new breed of compact desktop PCs earlier than being bought off to Asus in 2023; amidst Intel’s multitude of troubles on the time, it was deemed a mandatory transfer to streamline the corporate and deal with chipmaking fairly than PC manufacturing. The NUCs had been traditionally fairly good units, nevertheless it’s clear that Asus has taken them to a wholly new degree.

The brand new-for-2025 ROG NUC is a marvel; an ultra-compact desktop system full of a number of the strongest cutting-edge gaming parts, together with a 2nd-gen Intel Core Extremely processor and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 GPU (the one in my assessment unit is an RTX 5080), plus 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.

The entire system is basically constructed round that graphics card, which is technically a laptop computer GPU – one can solely assume {that a} full-scale desktop 5080 could be too chunky, though Nvidia labored arduous to scale down the comically gigantic playing cards of the RTX 3000 and 4000 eras. As you would possibly anticipate, efficiency is superb; anticipate excessive framerates and clean gameplay at 1440p and even 4K, although the sorry state of recent PC sport optimization means you will most likely must activate DLSS in some titles at 4K.

These highly effective parts imply the ROG NUC can be a reliable workstation system, which might show to be a boon for skilled creatives who want a robust PC however have restricted desk actual property to work with (and do not need to soar ship to macOS with the admittedly glorious M4 Mac mini).

After all, a spec sheet like that does imply that the Asus ROG NUC is much from low-cost. I will get into the small print within the pricing part under, however my assessment unit will set you again $3,199 / £2,599 (round AU$4,925) – no small sum for anyone, and much more than Apple’s signature mini pc will price you. After all, any pre-built RTX 5080 desktop from a good producer goes to price you at the very least someplace within the vary of $2,800 / £2,000 / AU$5,000, so it is not a wholly ludicrous proposition even when it does place the ROG NUC past the budgets of many PC players.

Regardless of this, I cherished utilizing the brand new Asus ROG NUC, and having examined NUC units up to now, I can comfortably say that it is among the finest iterations on the formulation but. In the event you’ve acquired the cash to spend and wish one thing that delivers a number of energy in a small package deal, this system is the best way to go.

Asus ROG NUC (2025) assessment: Value & Availability

Begins from $2,599 / £2,129 (about AU$4,000)Out there now within the US and UKBoth RTX 5070 Ti and 5080 fashions accessible

Beginning at $2,599 / £2,129 (about AU$4,000) for the bottom configuration, which sports activities an RTX 5070 Ti fairly than the 5080 in my assessment unit, together with much less storage and RAM as you’ll be able to see within the spec desk under, the brand new ROG NUC is not precisely what I might name inexpensive. In the meantime, the 5080 mannequin featured on this assessment – which is externally similar – will run you a hefty $3,199 / £2,599 (round $4,925).

Nonetheless, it is not absurdly priced for what it provides; contemplating the sheer lack of highly effective compact PCs in the marketplace, the most suitable choice for a lot of potential customers might be to construct your individual ITX system, and having spent loads of time mucking about with compact PC instances in my years as a pc {hardware} journalist, I can say with certainty that it will be quite a bit more durable than merely shopping for a ROG NUC. Oh, and it almost definitely will not be as small, and can probably find yourself being costlier too!

So whereas the NUC is undeniably a reasonably costly piece of package, I can not mark it down an excessive amount of for that; if a robust however ultra-compact PC for severe gaming or content material creation work is what you need, this may be the one most suitable choice on the market proper now. After all, a PS5 Professional will price you a large number much less… nevertheless it additionally would not fill the position of a completely succesful desktop PC.

The Asus ROG NUC (2025) is already accessible to buy direct from Asus and companion retailers within the US and UK, nevertheless it appears our Aussie pals must wait a bit longer – although Asus did affirm that the brand new mannequin will certainly be coming to Australia. Regional pricing for Australia is at present unconfirmed (the figures listed above are solely conversions).

Asus ROG NUC (2025) assessment: Specs

Asus ROG NUC (2025) assessment: Design

Amazingly compact designSurprisingly good quantity of portsLimited improve potential for a desktop PC

Making a compact PC chassis can take designers in a number of totally different instructions. Do you goal for a low, flat design like Apple’s Mac mini, or construct upwards with a small footprint just like the improbable Corsair One i500?

As you’ll be able to little question inform from the images, Asus has gone for the latter strategy, with a skinny tower design that produces a footprint of lower than eight-by-six inches (full dimensions within the spec sheet above). It may possibly technically even be laid on its facet with the stand eliminated – very best for placing it in a TV stand as a console-style front room PC – however after disassembling it, I can say that I would not significantly advocate that until you are keen to prop it up on one thing to make sure that the exhaust followers have sufficient respiratory room to vent correctly.

Talking of disassembly: I do not all the time dig round within the guts of pre-built methods, however this was one case the place I felt obliged to. See, the NUC sequence (standing for ‘Subsequent Unit of Computing’) was initially based by Intel in 2013 with the objective of making a small-form-factor barebones PC with customization and improve potential.

Asus has clearly moved away from this ethos considerably, because the ROG NUC will not be solely a fully-fledged system, but in addition has comparatively little upgradability.

Improve choices listed below are successfully restricted to the RAM and SSD, and you may must discard the previous RAM if you’d like extra, since there are solely two DIMM slots and so they’re each already occupied. There’s, nonetheless, a spare M.2 slot for becoming a second SSD, must you need to develop your storage.