14 DAY TRIAL // Intel may not have any graphics processing units of its own to integrate into CPUs, or to make graphics cards with, but it does have integrated graphics processors that can do most of the same things. The best one in its collection is about to make the news.
The iGPs found in Intel processors are not able to run games all that well, at least not the kind that need medium or better 3D visual rendering capabilities.
However, they have little trouble playing video files, including movies. The only thing still outside the capabilities of most iGPs is 4K playback.
After all, the resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels needs a fair bit more graphic drawing and frame rate than your average video chip.
The next NUC will have no trouble with such media though, according to some reports that emerged on the web not overly long ago.
4K-ready Intel NUC coming
The Next Unit of Computing, or NUC for short, is a miniature system that can fit in the palm of your hand but can do everything an HTPC is supposed to do.
Intel has taken an interesting approach in regards to it. It handles the hardware itself but allows its OEMs to design different cases for it.
Ultimately, it still decides everything the system can do, though, and that naturally includes visual performance.
The next NUC will be called NUC5i7RYH and will use a Core i5-5557U processor, a 28 TDP processor with Broadwell-GT3-based Iris 6100 graphics.
The chip will easily play 4K videos and will even upscale 1080p Full HD media to 4K when needed, using specifically-designed upscaling algorithms.
In addition to better graphics, the new NUC will have HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2 display-outputs, a pair of DDR3-1866 SO-DIMM memory slots not unlike those used in laptops (up to 16 GB DDR3) and four USB 3.0 ports.
Availability
It's hard to say when exactly the new NUC will come out, but we suspect it will be some time in the second quarter, April-June as it were. The NUC will be fanless, so totally silent as well.
