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Chuwi HiGame mini PC packs Intel's 4C-8T Core i5-8305G

by Mark Tyson on 13 April 2018, 10:11

Tags: Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

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Tech bargain hunters who don't mind shopping via websites in Hong Kong or China will likely be familiar with the Chuwi brand. The company is a reasonably well known maker of tablets, PCs and accessories. Its products often lean heavily on established designs - use your imagination to guess what the Chuwi LapBook Air and the Chuwi SurBook look like, for example. Recently it announced its most powerful and expensive product yet, the Chuwi HiGame mini PC.

At the heart of the Chuwi HiGame mini PC is a 65W Intel Core i5-8305G CPU. This processor offers 4C/8T and a maximum frequency of 3.8GHz. The onboard Radeon RX Vega M GL graphics component has 20CUs (1280 stream processors) and a boost clock of 1011MHz, plus 4GB of HBM2 on board. This is as the same spec as the Intel Hades Canyon NUC8i7HNK, but lives in the shadow of the NUC8i7HVK machine with its Intel Core i7 8809G processor.

Other key specs of the Chuwi HiGame mini PC are as follows:

  • 8GB RAM, upgradable
  • 256GB SSD, upgradable
  • TB3 and power button on the front
  • 5x USB 3.0, 2x SP 1.3, 2x HDMI 2.0, GbE, headphone, microphone ports around the back
  • 17.3 cm x 15.8 cm x 7.3 cm
  • Windows 10 Home

According to Chuwi's in-house testing, the above system trades blows with a rival system based upon an Intel Core i7-77HQ, equipped with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q graphics.

Though named with a tip of the hat to the PC gaming market, Chuwi's design is modest and more sober than the Intel Hades Canyon NUCs with their LED backlit skulls. Pricing sounds like it will be similar to the Intel competitors though. Anandtech quote a price in the region of $999 which is a but steep. However, as part of its launch promotion via Indiegogo, the Chuwi HiGame mini PC will be sold at up to 38 per cent off. We are still awaiting the Indiegogo launch, but can sign up to be notified.



HEXUS Forums :: 4 Comments

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Although the price is yet to be finalised, you haven't factored in that this price includes both 8Gb RAM and 128Gb SSD (according to Anandtech, although the official site mentions 256Gb) and a copy of Windows 10 Home in the base model (which would cost around £150 at least off the top of my head). Whereas the Intel Hades Canyon NUC does not, at the same base price of $999 reportedly.

If the price comes in at £700ish for the super early bird option, I could be tempted to switch from my Ivy-bridge setup to something like this. I've signed up so will see what happens.

Edit:

For the sake of completeness this does use a slightly lower spec CPU though.

Higher end Hades Canyon NUC - i7-8809G - 4C/8T @ 4.2Ghz boost - GPU has 24CU @ 1190Mhz
https://ark.intel.com/products/130409/Intel-Core-i7-8809G-Processor-with-Radeon-RX-Vega-M-GH-graphics-8M-Cache-up-to-4_20-GHz

Lower end Hades Canyon NUC - i7-8705G - 4C/8T @ 4.1Ghz boost - GPU has 20CU @ 1011Mhz
https://ark.intel.com/products/130411/Intel-Core-i7-8705G-Processor-with-Radeon-RX-Vega-M-GL-graphics-8M-Cache-up-to-4_10-GHz

Chuwi HiGame Mini PC - i5-8305G - 4C/8T @ 3.8Ghz boost - GPU has 20CU @ 1011Mhz
https://ark.intel.com/products/130408/Intel-Core-i5-8305G-Processor-with-Radeon-RX-Vega-M-GL-graphics-6M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz
So Intel will make more money from AMD tech than AMD itself? Man…
In two reliable reviews of the higher end Hades Canyon NUC (one with the 24CU VEGA-M) graphic performance was shown trading blows with 1060 Max-Q, so these benchmarks are either cherry picked to favour VEGA-M, or are unreliable.

In reality I'd expect on average the lower end VEGA-M to be somewhere nearer the 1050 Ti.

This seems to confirm my suspicions

VEGA M GL with 20CU
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Radeon-RX-Vega-M-GL-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/m453719vs3649

VEGA M GH with 24CU and higher clock
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Radeon-RX-Vega-M-GH-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1060-Mobile-Max-Q/m422266vsm325746

So basically we can say with higher end NUC you're getting 1060 Max-Q performance, and with lower end NUC and Chuwi HiGame you're getting around 1050 Ti performance.
The Chuwi HiGame PC - Mini Workstation for Gamers & Creators project is now live on IndieGogo.

Within a day it has already gained pledges for 5x its goal.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/higame-pc-mini-workstation-for-gamers-creators#/