ASUS's Cylindrical Mini PC ProArt PA90 Impresses With Core i9 And Quadro Graphics

It looks as though ASUS is trying to beat the CES 2019 rush by announcing some of its upcoming products a little bit early. Such is the case with the new Mini PC ProArt PA90, which is a compact, cylindrical tower that houses a host of high-end hardware.

The ProArt PA90 is a workstation-class PC, and as such includes the option for an Intel Core i7-9700K or Core i9-9900K processor to handle extreme workloads that you may throw its way. Keeping the processor cool is an all-in-one liquid cooler which operates at incredibly low noise levels (36 percent quieter than comparable systems according to ASUS). And then, there’s this rather innovative trick:

An innovative ventilation system also helps ensure cool and stable performance. When the CPU temperature rises above 80°C, the top cover of Mini PC ProArt PA90 automatically extends, allowing 38% more airflow into the chassis for optimized thermal efficiency.

Backing up the processor is support for up to 64GB of DDR4 memory; that maximum capacity can be reached by filling up the four onboard SO-DIMM slots. According to ASUS, DDR4-2666 memory is supported, but if you populate all four SO-DIMM slots, speeds will fall back to DDR4-2133. 

On the storage front, you’ll find two M.2 slots to accommodate up to two 512GB PCIe SSDs along with a 6Gbps SATA port which can support up to a 1TB HDD. Intel Optane memory is also supported.

When it comes to graphics, ASUS clearly has the workstation market in mind with the inclusion of NVIDIA Quadro GPUs. Businesses can select from a Quadro P2000 or Quadro P4000 to handle CAD, 3D rendering and engineering tasks.

With regards to connectivity, ASUS has outfitted the ProArt PA90 with dual Thunderbolt 3 ports, four USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, GbE, four DisplayPort 1.4 connectors, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

ASUS hasn’t announced pricing for the Mini PC ProArt PA90 yet, but says that it should available “in the coming months.”