Intel Beast Canyon NUC 11 Extreme Preorders Open, Up To GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Supported

by Brandon Hill — Friday, July 23, 2021, 12:42 PM EDT

In June, Intel officially lifted the veil draping its "Beast Canyon" NUC 11 Extreme system, and it definitely lives up to its name. Powering Beast Canyon is an Intel Compete Element complete with up to a Core i9-11900KB Tiger Lake B Series processor.

Now, SimplyNUC is taking preorders for NUC 11 Extreme with two different CPU options. The base configuration comes with a Core i7-11700KB processor for $1,399, while an upgraded config gets you the above-mentioned Core i9-11900KB for $1,599. Both systems come standard with 8GB of DDR4-3200 memory and a 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD.

While those RAM/storage specs are probably not enough to satisfy enthusiasts' needs, the two SO-DIMM slots support up to 64GB of memory. And there are a total of three M.2 slots (one of which is CPU-attached). In addition, SimplyNUC allows you to install up to three 8TB PCIe NVMe SSDs in the system.

While the performance improvement compared to the NUC 9 Extreme are readily apparent, the NUC 11 Extreme also has another ace up its sleeve. The NUC 11 Extreme has since its chassis volume balloon from 5 liters to a more accommodate 8 liters. This added volume -- coming primarily from an increase in length -- means that the NUC 11 Extreme can now fit full-size PCIe 4.0 graphics cards like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (GPUs with up to a 350-watt TDP are supported).

While the increase in size might not be welcome for some, we think that it's a small price to pay for the performance potential that comes with being able to throw in a current-generation flagship GPU for 4K gaming domination (that is, if you can actually get your hands on a GeForce RTX 3080/3080 Ti or Radeon RX 6800/6800 XT/6900 XT).

According to SimplyNUC, both its Core i7 and Core i9 systems are available for preorder right now and will begin shipping in September.

Tags: Intel, (NASDAQ:INTC), nuc 11 extreme, beast canyon

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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