By The design of Asus’s new ROG NUC 2025 tiny PC resembles that of a large desktop graphics card, positioned vertically and surrounded by an equally large motherboard. It is precisely that—nothing more—condensed into the smallest chassis imaginable.
The NUC is essentially a compact micro PC with a built-in processor and graphics card that you can then connect your own RAM and storage to. Asus has been more innovative with the small PC concept than Intel ever was when it became the manufacturer of NUC machines.
Compared to Intel, Asus offers more pre-built computers with memory, storage, and an operating system, as well as barebones kits in various form factors. Not to mention that, which is mostly targeted at gamers and is sold under the ROG brand.
Although the ROG NUC 2025 can be purchased with a variety of CPUs and graphics cards, the high-end model supplied in the United States comes with a desktop-class Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU and an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX laptop CPU.
A complete PC
It is completed with a 2TB SSD and 32GB of fast DDR5 memory. It includes Windows 11 Home, all the necessary drivers for the best possible gaming experience, plus Asus’s Armoury Crate control software, which can regulate cooling, enhance network connectivity, and change the RGB lighting on the chassis.
It does have that. A large ROG logo on the side that can be set to glow or pulse in any color—or all colors—and a light strip across the front. The box has the traditional ROG design, with futuristic branding on the sides and strange, beveled angles in the plastic.
Numerous screen outputs, fast Ethernet, and USB ports—including a USB-C that is compatible with Thunderbolt 4—are located on the back. Additionally, the front has extra ports. An SD card reader is the sole connecting component that I believe is lacking.
Although Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth are integrated, I’m not really convinced by how well it works. My Wi-Fi 6 router’s signal appears to be poor, and it is unable to reach the download rates I am accustomed to.
When I set up a Wi-Fi 7 router and test against it, I get quick response times for gaming, and it’s fast enough for surfing and streaming. However, something is lacking. Likely, antennas are not given adequate room in the small chassis. It would have been advantageous to be able to screw on external ones.
Extremely Strong gaming capabilities
Under a sizable fan hole in the middle of the front, the words “Game First” make it clear what Asus believes the PC should be used for. It performs admirably as a gaming machine, and I can consistently get 60 frames per second in the majority of contemporary titles. On the right screen, I run modified versions of Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077, which are difficult to beat.
Everything works perfectly with my desktop’s 1440p monitor. I also attempt to connect the TV and configure the computer as a console. That works well, too. At least if I utilize Nvidia’s AI-based DLSS upscaling, which offers better performance and image quality, and avoid too many effects.
ROG NUC (2025) Gaming Mini PC with Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 (Series 2) ARL-HX CPU, NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 5070 Ti Mobile GPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 2TB NVMe SSD, Thunderbolt 4 Triple-Fan Cooling and ARGB Lighting
All you need is a wireless keyboard and mouse or a game controller, and it works flawlessly with HDMI 2.1. Although the cooling can occasionally get noisy, the quality and performance are far beyond those of a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. When it costs roughly five PS5, it’s simply not feasible.
More than just gaming
It’s not merely a gaming machine, though, just because it has a gaming angle. From database administration and programming to 3D modeling and video editing, the Core Ultra 9 CPU makes it an excellent workstation for demanding tasks. For tasks like executing machine learning and local language models, it lacks as many native NPU; yet, the powerful RTX graphics card offers AI performance to spare.
The computer only really gets hot, and the fans start to whistle loudly when the graphics card is under a lot of strain, and even then, it’s tolerable. Theoretically, it should be feasible to run passively. The computer is indeed entirely silent at startup, but it only takes a few seconds for a process to initiate low-speed cooling with faint fan hissing.
Putting the computer in eco mode, which is meant to lower performance and fans, doesn’t help. At least it remains consistently semi-quiet. When you only want to browse and use Office, it can be a decent energy-saving basic mode. However, when it’s time to start playing games, remember to switch to performance mode.
A design that is easy to upgrade
Why you can also access the opposite side of the computer is less clear. There’s nothing there. Only fans for the graphics card. But okay, it’s good to be able to access it if it gets dusty again and needs to be blown clean.
At around $3,600, the ROG NUC 2025 isn’t cheap, but you’re getting a powerful machine for both gaming and demanding workloads. A similarly sized desktop PC with an RTX 5080 runs anywhere from about $2,700 to $4,000, so Asus isn’t out of line on pricing. It won’t break any speed records, but it delivers a ton of performance in a very compact package. Thanks to its upright design, it fits easily on just about any desk.
It’s unclear why you may access the computer’s other side as well. Nothing is there. simple graphics card fans. However, having access to it is beneficial in case it becomes dusty again and requires blowing clean.
The ROG NUC 2025 costs about $3,600, but it’s a powerful system that can handle demanding jobs and games. The price range for a desktop PC of comparable size with an RTX 5080 is between $2,700 and $4,000, so Asus isn’t out of line. Although it won’t set any speed records, it packs a lot of performance into a little container. Its upright form makes it easy to place on almost any desk.
