ASUS ROG NUC NUC15JNK 2025

The Core Ultra 9 CPU is a standout, making this one of the most powerful mini PCs we've ever tested. You get a best-in-class port selection and a fast RTX 5070, all in a tiny package. The trade-offs are a disappointing reliability score and a massive external power brick.

This thing is a little monster. The Core Ultra 9 275HX is a standout, ripping through developer workloads and heavy multitasking with ease. In our benchmarks, it's one of the best CPUs you can get in this form factor, making compile times and rendering tasks feel shockingly quick. The RTX 5070, while not top-of-the-charts, is still a strong performer, sitting well above average for a GPU. It'll push high frame rates at 1440p without breaking a sweat, though the 8GB of VRAM might have you eyeing texture settings in a couple of years. The 2TB NVMe drive is also leading the pack for storage speed, so load times are practically a blink. For a developer or a gamer who wants a clean desk, the performance density here is just impressive.

Stacked against the Lenovo Legion 34IAS10 and HP Omen GT22, the ROG NUC carves out a unique niche. Those towers will give you more GPU horsepower for the dollar and far better reliability scores, but they can't touch the ASUS on port selection or sheer desk-space efficiency. The MSI EdgeXpert is a closer rival in the compact space, but the ASUS's CPU performance is a step above. You're trading raw, long-term reliability and GPU upgradability for a leading CPU and a port selection that's basically perfect. For a developer, the ASUS is the clear winner. For a pure gamer, one of the bigger towers might be a safer long-term bet.

Value is a tricky conversation here because the price is all over the map. We're seeing a wild $1,882 spread across vendors, from $4,049 to $5,931. At the low end, you're getting a genuinely powerful, space-saving workstation that's hard to beat for the size. At the high end, you're creeping into territory where a more traditional desktop with an RTX 5080 starts to look very tempting. If you're buying, shop around. That lower price point is where the ROG NUC makes a lot of sense.

The ASUS ROG NUC is a tiny box that thinks it's a full-tower beast. Its 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX lands in the 92nd percentile for CPU performance in our database, which is absurd for a machine you can almost hide behind a coffee mug. Pair that with an RTX 5070 and 32GB of fast DDR5-6400 RAM, and you've got a mini PC that outruns most traditional desktops. Just don't expect it to be a silent, invisible companion. That 330W power brick is a chunky reminder of the muscle inside.

If long-term reliability is your top priority, you should probably look elsewhere. This machine's reliability score is mediocre, falling behind most of its direct competitors. Gamers who want to max out 4K textures for years to come will also feel the pinch of the RTX 5070's 8GB VRAM. And if you're diving into local AI or LLM work, the performance here is a real letdown, scoring just 58.3. A bulkier, more traditional desktop will serve you better in all these areas.

The ASUS ROG NUC is a niche masterpiece. If you need a small PC that absolutely shreds through CPU-heavy tasks and don't mind the external power brick, there's nothing else quite like it. The port selection is perfect, the CPU is a beast, and it's fast enough for serious gaming. The reliability concerns and the price premium are the only real anchors holding it back. For the right person, a developer craving desk space and power, it's an easy recommendation. Just make sure you snag it at the lower end of that wild price range.