Intel NUC10i7FNH Frost Canyon Review: Hexa-Core NUC Delivers a Mixed Bag
by Ganesh T S on March 2, 2020 9:00 AM ESTPower Consumption and Thermal Performance
The power consumption at the wall was measured with a 4K display being driven through the HDMI port. In the graphs below, we compare the idle and load power of the Intel NUC10i7FNH (Frost Canyon) with other low power PCs evaluated before. For load power consumption, we ran the AIDA64 System Stability Test with various stress components, and noted the maximum sustained power consumption at the wall.
The usage of a PCIe 3.0 x2 NVMe SSD along with a low TDP processor (25W, compared to the 28W+ processors in the other systems, other than the June Canyon NUC) manufactured in a highly-optimized and power-efficient 14nm process result in the Frost Canyon NUC having a sub-5W idle power consumption even while driving a 4K display. The system is able to sustain 90W+ at the wall for a very brief duration only, with the power falling slightly south of 60W for sustained workloads.
Our thermal stress routine starts with the system at idle, followed by four stages of different system loading profiles using the AIDA64 System Stability Test (each of 30 minutes duration). In the first stage, we stress the CPU, caches and RAM. In the second stage, we add the GPU to the above list. In the third stage, we stress the GPU standalone. In the final stage, we stress all the system components (including the disks). Beyond this, we leave the unit idle in order to determine how quickly the various temperatures in the system can come back to normal idling range. The various clocks, temperatures and power consumption numbers for the system during the above routine are presented in the graphs below.
| Intel NUC10i7FNH (Frost Canyon) System Loading with the AIDA64 System Stability Test | |||
The frequencies adjust to ensure that the 30W PL1 is maintained. With just the CPU loaded, the cores can maintain around 3 GHz sustained. Adding the GPU brings the CPU cores down to 2 GHz. With only the GPU stressed, the CPU cores can stay close to their boost clocks without consuming much power. The thermal design is quite good, with the package temperature never above 90C for extended durations.
| Intel NUC10i7FNH (Frost Canyon) System Loading with Prime95 and Furmark | |||
Our custom stress test with Prime95 and Furmark shows similar characteristics. Frequencies get adjusted to maintain a 30W package power, and the package temperature does not cross 85C. Furmark loads the GPU more than the AIDA stress component, and hence, we see the CPU frequency drop down to around 1.5 GHz in this case.
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HStewart - Monday, March 2, 2020 - link
Did you notice - I made no mention of Intel in my comment - you falsely assume bias - which is normal in these types of forums.29a - Monday, March 2, 2020 - link
"this machine" is a computer with an Intel processor.Korguz - Monday, March 2, 2020 - link
note falsely assuming nothing, it has an intel product inside, and you defended/made excuses for it.MamiyaOtaru - Tuesday, March 3, 2020 - link
No one has to assume anything about your bias. You have a posting history. I know you'd like to pretend that your comment that "made no mention of Intel" was your first comment ever and there's no context or anything that could inform readers about your positionMamiyaOtaru - Tuesday, March 3, 2020 - link
not that your point is wrong to be fair. but no one is surprised you'd make one in defense of Intel, or that the person making such a comment would be youHStewart - Tuesday, March 3, 2020 - link
I think the bigger concern is why are so many offended by it - do you really believe that attitude will help bring people to AMD or other product.Korguz - Wednesday, March 4, 2020 - link
let me ask you the same question, do you really believe praising, defending, and making excuses for intel will being people to continue to buy intel ?HStewart - Tuesday, March 3, 2020 - link
Just because my posting history lends toward Intel on PC products - doe snot mean that I used other products - like Samsung Android and such. Maybe it more I just I don't like AMD - a lot because of personal experience with AMD in past - actually mostly on video side, Only trick with non-real Intel 386 cpu in my first computer. That gave me bad feeling since.Qasar - Tuesday, March 3, 2020 - link
no hstewart.. the issue is, you defend and make excuses for intel no matter what. even if amd clearly is the better product, you still praise intel, and bash amd in some way. and you almost never provide any proof of your claims towards intel. you have a known intel bias, and are known to be an intel fannoy, plain and simple.paulemannsen - Wednesday, March 4, 2020 - link
Your posting history is the biggest pile of shame ever seen in Anandtechs comment section. You are single handedly responsible for half of the downfall of a ones thriving community. The audacity of you, still thinking anything out of your mouth could be a benefit to society and not be downright poisonous is 110% delusional.