NVIDIA’s platform, previously codenamed Project DIGITS, is a hit at GTC 2025. Apparently, big customers are asking if they can get a DGX Spark thrown in with large GPU purchases. The reason is simple, this is a mini PC form factor that packs an Arm CPU and a Blackwell GPU that are co-packaged, a 128GB LPDDR5x shared memory, multiple ports of USB4, and even a ConnectX-7 NIC for 200GbE clustering. ASUS is one of the key launch partners for the platform and has the ASUS Ascent GX10 mini PC that will be a hit when these platforms launch in the summer of 2025.
This is the ASUS Ascent GX10 a NVIDIA GB10 Mini PC with 128GB of Memory
We found this unit sitting out in the ASUS booth at NVIDIA GTC 2025. It is slightly larger than something like a NUC mini PC, but is extremely compact. This is one you can easily put into a bag and carry.
Here are the key specs. The 1000TOPS is a FP4 rating.
The front of the system has the ASUS logo and a power button. This may sound strange, but ASUS using plastic on the outside of the chassis in parts versus NVIDIA using more metal is an interesting trade-off. NVIDIA DGX Spark feels in hand much more like the Apple Mac Studio from a density perspective while the Asus felt lighter. If you truly want this to be a portable AI box, then ASUS may have a leg up, especially if you want to cluster it.
On the rear of the system, we get the big features. We get a HDMI port as we see on many mini PCs, but then a lot more. There are four USB4 40Gbps ports. There is a 10GbE NIC for base networking. Then there is perhaps the wild feature, a NVIDIA ConnectX-7. NVIDIA told us yesterday this is going to be an Ethernet version of the CX7 for RDMA clustering. The dual port is there for perhaps more interesting connectivity later, but the initial focus is going to be on clustering two of these together with RDMA for a two node solution with up to 256GB of shared memory.
On the NVIDIA GB10 motherboard, we can see the NVIDIA GB10 chip with 10 Cortex-X925 and 10 Cortex-A725 Arm cores for 20 cores total. That has a C2C link to the Blackwell GPU die. This is the consumer Blackwell, with RT graphics capabilities, not the data center version.
There are then packages of LPDDR5X flanking the CPU and GPU package for 128GB of memory. Currently this is rated at 276GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is OK, but not earth shattering. It is still more than using DDR5 SODIMMs in dual channel mode that we see in many mini PCs. The ConnectX-7 then has its own side of the board in its own sizable package.
ASUS and NVIDIA told us that their GB10 platforms are expected to use up to 170W.
Pricing
Currently, the NVIDIA GTC pre-order page has these listed for $2999 which is $1000 less than the NVIDIA DGX Spark at $3999. The ASUS model is listed at 1TB of storage for that price while the NVIDIA model is 4TB, but that with 200GbE networking, there is a clear path to having fast networked storage. We will see what the final pricing ends up being.
Final Words
For some context here, a NVIDIA ConnectX-7 NIC these days often sells for $1500-2200 in single unit quantities, depending on the features and supply of the parts. At $2999 for a system with this buit-in that is awesome. Our sense is that folks are going to quickly figure out how to cluster these beyond the 2-unit cluster that NVIDIA is going to support at first. That ability to cluster is going to make other solutions like the Apple Mac Studio and perhaps even the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 systems less exciting by this summer as these platforms launch. The ASUS Ascent GX10 offering a significantly reduced price and what felt like lighter weight versus the NVIDIA model will end up offering a tremendous bang for the buck.
Which Operating System should run on this box?
NVIDIA DGX OS (Linux), compatible with Nvidia AI Enterprise like “normal” DGX systems
Very cool and way cheaper than I tought it would be.
“But can it run Crysis? Only gamers will get that”
All seriousness, it’ll be interesting to see how much power it draws. USB4 has a limit of 180 watts I believe (or was it 240) but if this thing can run on 65 watts that’s even better. Love to see that 10gb is becoming the ‘base’
If there are 2 200GbE ports – why 3-node clusters aren’t mentioned?
@Tim, the article mentions, “ASUS and NVIDIA told us that their GB10 platforms are expected to use up to 170W.” which is total wall power, and though with proper monitoring and adapters it might run okay with a 65W PSU, I wouldn’t limit it like that. It probably will be well under 65W most of the time, unless under a particularly brutal workload.
So should i just buy this instead of an RTX 5090 for my desktop? It plays emulated Crysis, right?
Both Dell & HP are also listed as product partners on the relevant NVIDIA page. Either would be preferable over ASUS for enterprise purchasing & support. Any word on those? A quick search is currently drawing a blank.
I want one! Will replace a whole rack with just one of these connected to my storage server. Money ready and waiting for when its available to purchase…
Is the chip actually Blackwell consumer? Was this official info from nvidia?
“There are then packages of LPDDR5X flanking the CPU and GPU package for 128GB of memory. Currently this is rated at 276GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is OK, but not earth shattering. It is still more than using DDR5 SODIMMs in dual channel mode that we see in many mini PCs.”
The issue isn’t bandwidth, but latency. This will hurt the CPU performance on the platform, so comparing per core performance on paper to similar systems may not be what results in reality.
I’d suggest caveat emptor for now until we know more.
Y0s – I have photos of the HP and the Dell, but HP had a mechanical sample at GTC that was stuck in place, likely because it was missing things like the CX-7 ports. The Dell was just a tiny light-up box at GTC 2025
TTT – The datacenter GPUs do not have video display outputs
Both latency and bandwidth might be a problem. Don’t forget that memory is shared between CPU and GPU and so is the bandwidth (at least that is how it seems to be right now).
These guys are a sad and greedy monopoly. The consumers enabled them. If their far overpriced products didn’t sell like hotcakes to the whales, the individual average consumer could afford these things. GPU pricing has been artificially pushed up due to unreasonably high demand, half of that coming from scalpers, and just a handful of conglomerates. The average Joe can’t drop 2k-3k on a box that can hold one LLM. It’s not a consumer friendly industry at this time, but considered a luxury. They flatout lied again and again about pricing, then 1 and 2 years later they don’t lower the prices significantly when the newer chips are released. I just don’t like the company any more until they get on individual consumer pricing. The only thing that will convince me that Nvidia is a net positive on our society is for these prices to be halved, and in one go, not over some 5 or 10 year period.
@Kai – As you know, Nvidia is one of the top profit companies that is leading the pack in AI component supply. When you’re at the top of the pack, you really don’t care about pricing value sentiments anymore, especially when you’re in a league of your own. The Nvidia we grew up with, the underdog demolishing the competition, those days are long gone. With (synthetically manufactured) rising energy costs and the immense global governmental and corporate focus on AI, the budgets are huge, to Nvidia at least, the average consumer is no longer their primary market. The old days are over, nothings changing, prices will continue to rise, and the rat-race will eventually be forced onto the cloud via thin-clients with all their carbon footprint constantly monitored for compliance. The blueprints for the prison of the future is unfolding before our very eyes and ignorance. The tech industry is no longer being driven by ‘consumer-demand’, it is now being driven mostly by the elites and political class with their narratives and agendas being catered for by big-tech. No longer a conspiracy, just a painful fact to stomach, especially once your eyes are fully open to it all.
@ORP
While I don’t disagree with the entirety of your dystopian outlook, your assertion that “the average consumer” [will be] “forced onto the cloud via thin-clients” is seemingly-refuted by the very products that we are now commenting-on.
Are the DGX products not promising/putting such tech into the hands of us Mere Mortals?
I’d like more competition for the MS-01. Ya know. Mini PCs for a home lab with great networking maybe the ability to toss a small dgpu in.
….$3000….
No not like that.