- Asus ROG NUC 2025 packs an Intel Core Ultra CPU and an Nvidia RTX five thousand series GPU in a tiny chassis.
- The unit is smaller than a PlayStation five and still offers strong gaming and creative performance.
- It has ample ports but limited internal upgrade options and fans can be loud under load.
- Pricing starts high and the NUC is best for buyers who value compact power over upgrade flexibility.
Asus has quietly reshaped what a compact gaming PC can be. The new Asus ROG NUC for 2025 is smaller than a PlayStation five and still aims to handle modern games without a sweat. That is a bold claim. The hardware inside shows Asus means business.
The system centers on a second generation Intel Core Ultra processor. It also uses an Nvidia GeForce RTX five thousand series GPU in laptop trim. My review copy came with an RTX five thousand and eighty and thirty two gigabytes of memory. Storage is generous with a two terabyte NVMe drive.
What stands out right away is the size. The ROG NUC measures about twenty eight by eighteen by six centimeters. It weighs just over three kilograms. You can fit it on almost any desk. You can also hide it in a living room cabinet. Asus even designed vents and a fan layout that keep temperatures under control most of the time. The trade off is fan noise under heavy load. If you value a quiet room you will notice it when you play for long sessions.
A full set of ports in a tiny case
Small PC does not mean stingy on connectors. The ROG NUC offers two HDMI outputs and two DisplayPort outputs. There are two Thunderbolt capable USB C ports. Six standard USB A ports are ready for keyboards mice and other accessories. You also get Ethernet and a headphone jack.
Those ports make the NUC useful as a desktop replacement. You can attach multiple monitors. You can plug in a stream deck and a capture card. For content creators with a cramped workspace the NUC is tempting.
The limited upgrade path will matter to some buyers. RAM and SSD can be changed but the graphics module is fixed. That keeps the chassis compact but it also locks you into what you buy today.
Gaming and creative work that punches above its size
Performance is where this machine shines. Benchmarks show strong results across games and productivity tools. At one thousand and forty four pixels the NUC churns out very high frame rates. At two thousand five hundred sixty pixels it still offers excellent performance with upscaling enabled.
At four thousand pixels it can reach playable frame rates in many titles. For the heaviest ray traced settings you will want to use Nvidia upscaling or drop a few effects.
Synthetic tests and real world gaming both tell the same story. The Core Ultra CPU handles multi thread tasks well. The laptop class RTX GPU performs like a strong mobile part. It does not fully equal a desktop grade card but the gap is smaller than many expected. AI workloads also benefit from the dedicated GPU power which helps in creative apps that use machine learning.
Storage speeds are fast enough that games load quickly and large file transfers do not bottleneck. The SSD read and write numbers sit well above four gigabytes per second. That makes general use feel snappy and responsive.
Price and who should buy one
Cost is not low. The base model starts north of two thousand five hundred dollars in some regions. The higher end configuration with an RTX five thousand and eighty will push the price toward thirty two hundred dollars or more. That price brackets it against small form factor builds and some full sized pre built rigs.
If you want the absolute best price per frame and you do not mind a larger case a custom ITX build may give you a better deal. If you want a compact system that works out of the box and is simple to set up the ROG NUC is a clear win.
It is also a strong option for anyone who needs a small workstation for photo video or light three dimensional work. The limited internal upgrade options are a compromise for the tiny footprint.
Asus has taken the NUC idea and driven it in a direction that suits modern needs. The company has balanced thermal constraints with raw performance. The result is an appealing machine for people with limited desk space and deep pockets.
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