Intel's Skull Canyon NUC is Official: $650, Shipping In May
by Ganesh T S on March 16, 2016 10:00 PM EST
Back in January, Intel had provided us with information about the Skull Canyon NUC based on a Skylake H-Series CPU(with Iris Pro Graphics). Today, at GDC 2016, Intel made the specifications official. Pricing and availability information was also provided.
The key aspect that was not revealed before was the dimensions. The Skull Canyon NUC (NUC6i7KYK) will come in at 216mm x 116mm x 23mm, with the volume coming in at just 0.69L. For comparison, the Skylake NUC6i5SYK (non-2.5" drive version) comes in at 115mm x 111mm x 32mm (0.41L), while NUC6i5SYH (2.5" drive bay-enabled) one is 115mm x 111mm x 48mm (0.61L). The rest of the specifications are outlined in the table below:
| Intel NUC6i7KYK (Skull Canyon) Specifications | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-6770HQ Skylake, 4C/8T, 2.6 GHz (Turbo to 3.5 GHz), 14nm, 6MB L2, 45W TDP |
| Memory | 2x DDR4 SO-DIMM (2133+ MHz) |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580 (Skylake-H GT4+4e with 128MB eDRAM) |
| Disk Drive(s) | Dual M.2 (SATA3 / PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe / AHCI SSDs) |
| Networking | Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 (2x2 802.11ac - 867 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.2) Intel I-219V Gigabit Ethernet |
| Audio | 3.5mm Audio Jack (Headphone / Microphone) Capable of 5.1/7.1 digital output with HD audio bitstreaming (HDMI) |
| Miscellaneous I/O Ports | 1x Thunderbolt 3 / USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C 4x USB 3.0 (incl. one charging port) 1x SDXC (UHS-I) 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x mini-DP 1.2 Consumer Infrared Sensor |
| Operating System | Barebones |
| Pricing | $650 (Barebones) $999 (Typical build with 16GB DDR4, 256GB SSD and Windows 10) |
| Fact Sheet | Intel NUC6i7KYK GDC Fact Sheet (PDF) |
Note that the HDMI 2.0 output is enabled by an external LSPcon (not Alpine Ridge). So, we will definitely have 4Kp60 output with HDCP 2.2 support over the HDMI port, making it suitable as a future-proof HTPC platform. From a gaming perspective, the availability of Thunderbolt 3 enables users to add an external graphics dock like the recently announced Razer Core eGFX module. Note that any external GPU will be able to talk to the CPU only over a PCIe 3.0 x4 link (which should be plenty in almost all cases).
The Skull Canyon NUC will be available to pre-order on Newegg next month, with shipping in May 2016.
Source: Intel
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josh1986 - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link
No thunderbolt 3? This would be a great gaming machine SFF with the Razer Core tucked away http://www.anandtech.com/show/10137/razer-core-thu...lockdown571 - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link
Try reading the article? Yes it has thunderbolt 3. Anandtech even comments about the possible of using the Razer Core.josh1986 - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link
How about you read the article. The spec sheet did not metion any TB3 connection.jeffkibuule - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link
Umm... spec sheet has it as the 3rd bullet point under "Key Features"?"Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) with USB 3.1 and DP1.2 over USB-C"
extide - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
It's ok man, everyone gets drunk sometimeslittlebitstrouds - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Watch me be wrong, get pointed out being wrong, and then act wrongier still.Lesson: Learn when to admit a mistake, you're in your 30's now, you can get over childish behaviors.
Mr Perfect - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
If you learn to do that, teach me how. ;)magreen - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
No place to put a CPU? Man, this thing would be great with a CPU.jeffkibuule - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link
Spec sheet *explicitly* comments on this. I'm gonna say yes.WorldWithoutMadness - Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - link
I was hoping they would launch their own external GPU solution with this, just for standard reference, and now we're still stuck with $499 razer madness.I might as well get buffen up by lugging mini itx around for the next 1-2 years.