ASUS ROG NUC 16 hits stores with RTX 5080 and Core Ultra 9 in a 3-litre mini PC

The ASUS ROG NUC 16, a gaming mini PC unveiled by ASUS in May 2026, has reached stores: the official ROG page in the United States lists the model in stock from $2,499, and the official ASUS US store sells the configuration with 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD for $3,699. It is one of the most powerful mini PCs on the market — and it fits in a chassis of just 3 litres.

At the top of the range, the machine pairs the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, with 24 threads, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory. According to ASUS, the combination delivers up to 1,334 AI TOPS of AI performance, enough to run language models and creative tools locally, as well as games with DLSS 4.5, including multi-frame generation.

Cooling and expansion

The QuietFlow cooling system uses three 102 mm fans and a dual vapor chamber, with 12% greater thermal coverage over the CPU. ASUS says noise stays below 38 dBA even under full load, and that the dedicated heatsink keeps the SSD at 59 °C, versus 72 °C without it.

Memory can reach 128 GB of DDR5-6400, and storage uses two M.2 slots for PCIe Gen 4 and Gen 5 SSDs. Both memory and SSD can be upgraded without tools, according to the manufacturer.

Connectivity and design

The ROG NUC 16 offers Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1, 2.5 Gbps LAN, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. It supports up to five 4K displays or two 8K displays at 60 Hz. The removable stand lets the machine stand vertically or lie flat, and a G-sensor adjusts thermal settings according to orientation. The model comes in black (Obsidian Black) and white (Moonlight White), and ships with a 380 W adapter.

Price, availability and a special edition

Prices vary by market and configuration: in the US, the ROG page lists the model from $2,499, and the configuration with Core Ultra 9, RTX 5080, 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD costs $3,699 at the official store. No price has been announced for Brazil yet.

There is also a special edition: the ROG NUC 16 x Phantom Blade Zero Edition, launched in China on October 26 in partnership with S-GAME, starting at 24,499 yuan (about $3,688) with an RTX 5070; the RTX 5080 version costs 31,499 yuan (about $4,716). For now, that edition is sold only in China.

Sources

Image credit: ASUS / ROG (official product image).

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