Intel uses coffin-shaped box for NUC 12 Enthusiast 'Serpent Canyon' PC

Intel has now launched its new NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" PC, with the system arriving in a rather unique coffin-shaped retail package, which has been pictured by ETA Prime. Check it out:

The new Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" PC includes Intel's new Core i7-12700H CPU which packs 14 cores and 20 threads at up to 4.7GHz, with 24MB of L3 cache and a 45W TDP. The Intel Arc A770M GPU has 16GB of GDDR6 memory, while for RAM there's up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory in the NUC 12 Enthusiast PC.

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The new coffin-shaped box for the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon"

The interesting coffin-shaped box that the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" system arrives in looks awesome, which packs the PC itself, a vertical stand, and the 330W power supply. You also get some nifty replaceable side panels, which feature either a skull or serpent and are LED-illuminated... of course.

Inside, the new Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" system packs an Intel Arc Alchemist A770M GPU, which is pre-installed onto the motherboard.

• Read more: Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast 'Serpent Canyon' launched, packs Intel Arc GPU

Intel's new NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" is also Intel Optane ready (even though Intel just shut the division down), and 3 x M.2 slots that are ready for PCIe 4.0 or PCIe 3.0 SSDs as well as a SATA SSD that can be between 128GB and 2TB.

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The new Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" disassembled

It's more than enough performance for a kick-ass HTPC system, or a casual / esports gaming PC that gets plugged into the TV. You've got HDMI 2.1 output which will feed 4K 120Hz+ into a TV, as well as DisplayPort 2.0 (thanks to the Intel Arc A770) outputs that will handle being plugged into any monitor you can find -- including 8K monitors -- as well as dual Thunderbolt 4 ports.

Network connectivity is also strong, with Wi-Fi 6E and enthusiast-grade 2.5GbE ethernet if you need super-fast wireless, or super-fast wired networking... then the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" has you covered. It won't be breaking the bank either, with a starting price of $1699 where you'll get 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 256GB of storage.

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ETA Prime benchmarked the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" PC where the Intel Arc A770M GPU inside runs faster than the 1650MHz GPU clock it's advertised with, with the GPU pushing between 1700MHz and 2000MHz depending on the benchmark or game.

• Read more: Intel NUC 11 Enthusiast (Phantom Canyon) SFF PC Review

Intel's previous NUC 11 Enthusiast "Phantom Canyon" PC featured an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card, with the new NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" PC packing Intel's in-house Arc A770M which scores 10,995 points in 3DMark TimeSpy, 63% faster than the RTX 2060 which scores 6264 points in the same test.