One did not expect to see a KFC coming out with an Intel NUC but here we are. The KFConsole is made in partnership with Intel, ASUS, Cooler Master and Seagate, KFC showed off its global restaurant chain themed PC using an Intel NUC 9 Extreme processor with an ASUS graphics card with RTX support.
Actual Hardware BBQ- who would have thought?
This is only listed on Cooler Master’s website. It supports 4K gaming on monitors up to 240Hz refresh rate. It includes a Seagate 1TB NVMe SSD.
Contrary to the name, it is not a proprietary console, thankfully. The last thing we want to see is another OUYA moment. But having a mini PC that can run a gaming graphics card has a very large appeal towards gamers and hardware enthusiasts. Th KFConsole is designed by Cooler Master’s resident modder TimPelay. This housing is based on an NC100 chassis. Since food is placed inside, obviously some parts of the case should be food grade.
Seagate is the NVMe storage provider and ASUS is probably the mainboard and the graphics card. At the very least, we know the casing and the cooling system is designed by Cooler Master. There’s no specification, yet. Nor we know how, where and when it is going to be sold.
Out-of-the-box thermal keeps your chicken warm ‘out of the bucket’
This is where the ‘CPU/GPU cooking the food’ meme comes alive- or close enough. The main highlight is the way it cools the components and uses the dissipated heat for keeping the cooked chicken warm. You place the chicken in this drawer and close it in. It works like make-shift convection in a way and should be able to keep the chicken perfectly hot on all sides, depending on how much heat is pushed by the system during use. The KFC labelled console is built to fulfil a purpose. That’s what makes this interesting or else it would just be a redesigned NUC with KFC’s branding.
The mystery behind the graphics card
Considering KFC didn’t reveal the graphics card, one may speculate it to be the upcoming RTX 3060 which will be shown and released in CES 2021. There’s no real reason to not reveal the GPU unless its under NDA. The only clue is the artwork of the dual fan-based Asus graphics card and dual DVI-I video output. You can make out the heatsink is aluminium- or maybe just for the VRM. It shares a certain resemblance with the ASUS RTX 2060 EVO. It is a hunch. But it is a logical thought process behind it. But take this is with some pinch of salt.
Edit (26.12.2020): As pointed out via the Hardware BBQ’s sub-reddit, its an Asus RTX 2070 Dual Mini.
Availability?
This was expected to be a meme around June when the release of PlayStation 5 and Xbox X/S. Nothing was shown apart from the KFCconsole’s casing. But KFC did promise a release of November 12th which was delayed since. There’s no information about the purchase dates, actual specs and the method of sales (Amazon, Newegg or via KFC?). We’ll have to see how things are cooked in the near future.
