Benchmarks: System and Gaming
NUC performance has been moved forward, and it's in the graphics department that we see the largest gains. The new Broadwell machine scores 963 in 3DMark's Fire Strike test, representing a near-25 per cent gain over the previous-generation NUC equivalent.
A healthy increase, but is it enough to handle gaming? Well, maybe, maybe not. We returned a pitiful 9 frames per second in our standard Aliens vs. Predator benchmark, but trying a few other titles suggests that there is a bit of promise. BioShock Infinite was rendered at a just-about-playable 24 frames per second with quality settings dialled down to very low, while Total War: Rome II managed an average fps of 22. Hardly a gaming rig, but the Core i5 NUC will cope with the likes of Minecraft and could be used to play through your back catalogue.
