Intel to release NUC 11 Compute Element based on Tiger Lake-H processors

Network sources have shared information about the upcoming NUC 11 Compute Element from Intel, codenamed Driver Bay. The novelties will be based on the Core i9, Core i7, and Core i5 processors of the Tiger Lake-H generation, which the manufacturer will present in the second quarter of this year.

A feature of the NUC Compute Element series of systems lies in their unusual appearance. They look like a separate graphics card-sized PCIe board that houses the processor, chipset, and RAM slots. These solutions are designed to build very compact systems. Intel NUC 9 Extreme Compute Element Kits were offered in mini-ITX cases and consisted of two main components connected to a small board: a NUC 9 Extreme compute unit and a discrete GPU.

Based on the image posted, the NUC 11  Compute Element differs slightly in size from its predecessor, the Coffee Lake-based NUC 9 Extreme Compute Element. The power connector is in the same place, but the cooling system has changed slightly – the fan has shifted to the other side and has become a little larger in diameter.

According to the slide, the NUC 11 Compute Element will offer faster DDR4-3200 RAM up to 64GB, a significant upgrade over DDR4-2666 in the NUC 9. Another important detail of the new mini-PCs will support the PCIe 4.0 bus, implemented due to Tiger Lake-H processors.

Up to three monitors can be connected to the device via an updated set of external interfaces: the new product will receive one HDMI 2.0b and two Thunderbolt 4. The NUC 9 used HDMI 2.0a and Thunderbolt 3. Also, the new Compute Element will offer support for the Wi-Fi 6 wireless standard. And lots of USB ports.