Smaller than a PS5 and our Best-in-Class gaming mini PC, the Asus ROG NUC drops to $3499 — but it's still an absolute fortune

Yes, the Asus ROG NUC is the best gaming mini PC we've tested, yes, it's smaller than the PS5.

And yes, even with the ROG NUC dropping to $3499 at Amazon , this RTX 5080 configuration with 32GB DDR5 is still wildly expensive.

Still, after replacing our usual desktop with Asus' mini PC and using it for work, gaming, and even hosting a virtual tabletop session, and it came away as one of the best compact gaming PCs we've used.

A 16GB/1TB configuration of the Asus ROG NUC is also on sale for $2962 (was $3999) at Amazon .

We've also added some eGPU-compatible mini PCs with OCuLink or USB4 ports below which are a heck of a lot cheaper than either ROG NUC model.

Today's top Asus ROG NUC mini PC deal ROG NUC mini PC: was $3899 now $3499 Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX | 32GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 In our review, we said "This might actually be the best compact gaming PC I've ever seen - and it's smaller than a PS5, too." It's powered by a high-performance Core Ultra 9 chip, with Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU boasting 16GB GDDR7 VRAM, 32GB DDR5-6400 memory, and a 1TB PCIe NVMe 4.0 SSD.

It also features triple-fan cooling with a dual vapor chamber and Thunderbolt 4.

View Deal Don't need 32GB RAM? The 16GB/1TB Asus ROG NUC is now $2962 (was $3999) at Amazon .

Why we recommend it We tested the ROG NUC over a full week, using it as a daily driver for work and swapping it in for gaming in the evenings, running AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Metro Exodus alongside our full benchmark suite.

The results were consistently strong: triple-digit framerates at 1080p across the board, smooth 1440p performance with DLSS, and even 4K gaming holding steady at 60fps or better in nearly everything we threw at it.

Let's be upfront: this is still an enormous amount of money for a computer, mini PC or otherwise.

But packed into a chassis smaller than a PS5 is an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and a genuine RTX 5080 laptop GPU, delivering gaming performance that few pre-built systems this size can match.

As we noted in our 4.5-star review , what makes the ROG NUC stand out isn't just the raw numbers; it's that Asus fit genuine RTX 5080-class performance into a chassis smaller than a PS5, without the system running hot or throttling under sustained load during our testing.

The port selection is also excellent for something this size: two Thunderbolt 4 ports, six USB-A ports, dual HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, and an Ethernet jack, so you won't have to hunt for a dock to run a full desk setup.