In the competition with the other big names, companies need to have their game at the top to be able to stand at the top. Therefore, the successor of the Phantom Canyon is on the charts. Packing in the 14-core Core i7-12700H and Arc A770M mobile discrete graphics card, a new Baidu forum post gave us a clue about the design and potential specifications for the NUC 12 (Serpent Canyon).
Serpent Canyon will be hitting the market with considerable improvements in the processing and graphics departments. Serpent Canyon will feature the Core i7-12700H that features six P-cores, eight E-cores, and up to 24MB of L3 cache, in contrast with the Phantom Canyon, which was based on the quad-core Core i7-1165G7 (Tiger Lake). With 4.7 GHz on the P-cores and 3.5 GHz on the E-cores, the Alder Lake-H chip will supposedly provide the best clock speeds. With Core i7-12700H being a 45W (115W MTP) chip, it is a massive upgrade when looking at the Core i7-1165G7, which is a 28W chip.
Surprisingly, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 (Turing) graphics card is easily tapped by the Phantom Canyon. The chipmaker actively assimilated the flagship Arc A770M (Alchemist) SKU into the next-generation NUC as Intel now has a bundle of choices in its arsenal of the newest tech. The ACM-G10 silicon, which offers 32 Xe cores, 32 ray tracing units, and a graphics clock up to 1,650 MHz, is actively included in the graphic card slot. In addition, across a 256-bit memory interface, the Arc A770M has 16GB of GDDR6 memory. Unknown to how much thermal headroom has been given to the graphics card in Serpent Canyon by the chipmaker, Intel points out the Arc A770M with a graphics power between 120W and 150W.
The probable reason for the Serpent Canyon rocking multiple vents throughout its body is the processor and graphics card upgrades. It leads to the Phantom Canyon looking stunted with its 1.3-liter case; the Serpent Canyon is expected to have a 2.5-liter body, as estimated by the Baidu. With consumers able to customize the cover according to the forum users, the Serpent Canyon still aesthetically features Intel’s blue skull logo. A new plus point for the Serpent Canyon is that it can stand vertically or horizontally. It will be on the user to make it look more reasonable. With a bit of trouble, this design will require users to get another stand to place it vertically, which is a drag.
With the front panel hosting a Thunderbolt 4 port, SDXC card reader with support for the UHS-II rating, USB 3.2 Type-A port, and a 3.5mm audio connector, the Serpent Canyon packs the latest in high-speed connectivity, with this exclusive feature being a noticeable boost. There is still more to it, including the four USB 3.2 Type-A ports, an Intel 2.5GbE Ethernet port, another Thunderbolt 4 port, and a 3.5mm audio connector packed in the rear panel. Last but not least, looking at the display outputs, the Serpent Canyon contains one HDMI 2.1 port and two DisplayPort 2.0 results. It is astounding for Serpent Canyon to be such a beast packing in loads of best stuff. The users will anxiously be waiting to get a hold of this piece of art.
Regarding the Serpent Canyon, the Baidu thread provides no price details or date for specific availability. The only thing being mentioned is that the NUC will be available soon. By looking at the previous prices, the Phantom Canyon is around $1,200; considering this and the configuration, the Serpent Canyon could be introduced, touching a similar price. It is just speculation, and there is no certainty of the exact debut price, and the consumers will have to wait and look forward to the company’s announcement regarding it.
