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Asus built a mini GPU specifically for Intel’s tiny gaming box

Asus built a mini GPU specifically for Intel’s tiny gaming box

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The new RTX 2070 is just under eight inches long

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Image: Asus

Asus has announced a new Nvidia RTX 2070 graphics card, which has been “specifically designed” for Intel’s new mini gaming PC initiative. The Asus Dual GeForce RTX 2070 Mini measures just under eight inches (around 20cm) long and features a dual-fan design to keep it cool under load. Asus says the graphics card became available worldwide on January 8th. It doesn’t seem to have hit every retailer just yet, but UK retailer CCL Online is currently listing the overclocked model for £405.64 (around $525).

Small form factor graphics cards aren’t exactly new. Asus already has a smaller GTX 1650 graphics card for sale, while Zotac already produces a miniature version of the 2070. What’s interesting here is that Asus was willing to build a card that’s designed to fit precisely into Intel’s new NUCs. It’s a small yet significant vote of confidence in the new initiative, especially since ongoing support for the unusual form factor is likely to be a key concern for most buyers.

The new GPU measures just under eight inches (around 20cm) in length.
The new GPU measures just under eight inches (around 20cm) in length.
Image: Asus

Asus says that the new GPU’s shroud, heatsink, and heat pipe layout were designed to make the most out of the mesh side panel in Intel’s chassis, and it claims that this layout means it’s able to run at a lower temperature than “many larger cards.” We can’t vouch for the exact temperatures at which it runs, but in our time with Intel’s Ghost Canyon NUC, we found that it was able to run Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1440p at max settings while making “surprisingly little” fan noise.

If you want one of Intel’s new NUCs but you don’t want to have to be as limited by the size of graphics cards you can buy, then Razer and Cooler Master are also producing their own chassis with support for longer GPUs.

Asus is producing two versions of the 2070 Mini: the standard model runs at 1410MHz and boosts up to 1650MHz, while an OC version boosts slightly higher to 1680MHz. The company says it plans to follow the cards with miniature versions of the RTX 2060 and GTX 1660 Super later on in Q1.