Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Asus TUF T500 is an entry-level gaming desktop that showcases a unique combination by Asus. Offer the latest generation of Nvidia desktop GPU (in this case an 8 GB RTX 5060), but pair with a laptop motherboard - namely a laptop CPU and SO-DIMM memory. On paper, the idea is a pretty good one: get a full-fledged GPU to support a mid-level CPU and superfast RAM, and get a system that is simple to cool, small, and does not have to carry a kW power supply. But after “gaming” for the last week or so with my T500 desktop, which has single channel 16 GB DDR5-5600 memory and 2 year old Intel Core i5 13420H Raptor Lake to be precise paired to 1 TB of Samsung SSD, left me with a bit of a disappointment, at least in this 1st iteration. A gaming rig market is a complex one - on the one hand there’s the urge to pack the latest and the greatest CPU & GPU there, but on the other hand the design needs to cater to a wide field of audience. And for the TUF T500, Asus targeted those who want a mid-tier system who are looking for a subtle design. From the design aesthetic standpoint that impressed me. TUF series products from Asus typically have some muted features - they whisper “gaming” instead of screaming with RGBs. Dark colors and yellow/orange accents or lighting, along with a transparent side gives off an ominous aura, and the “TUF Gaming” branding perforated on metal, and printed on the front (with an almost invisible logo) seems more designed for blending than standing out. Coupling this with the small form-factor of the case (almost reaching the size of an Xbox Series X) makes it easy to use in my space-contrained desk, and shows the potential to be portable if needed. A headphone/audio jack, a USB-C and 2 USB-A ports adorn the front, while all the needed ports (USB-As, HDMI, DP, ethernet, more audio jacks) are located on the back. The Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU comes with its own panel of display ports. In essence, the balance of the design and the size is right on target, at least to my taste. The internals are packaged following the same theme - the CPU heatsink/custom cooler is small, and the 330 W power supply has a low-profile. The innards look simple and cleanly routed. Well, all this simpleness and small package comes at a compromise, and even though Asus took some unique paths to do this, the execution falls through to some extent. The simple cooler for the CPU means the CPU itself is not the most powerful (and not the latest one as well). Even with better cooling than what can be done in a laptop, the Raptor Lake based Core i5 13420H shows its age (and performance). For day to day use it actually fairs quite well - the CPU fan rarely spinned, culminating in a very quiet system which is very efficient. However, pump up the pressure and the CPU gets maxed out - and that’s the target use case for a gaming rig. There’s some argument that in gaming the load is mostly on the GPU, and in some cases it's true - but there are a lot of games that are also CPU heavy, and in those cases you can feel the throttling. Other than that, the 5060 provides access to DLSS4, so supported games get a gain in framerate even with the mediocre hardware, and a lot of the time the outcome is pretty impressive. In the end, the TUF T500 gave me mixed feelings. From the outside, it gives off a good vibe: the design just clicks with me. The inside also looked good from the idea standpoint, but then it reached the physical limit the aging CPU and the mid-level 5060 can do: just get the job done. This is not a desktop to create awe inspiring sensations, rather a gateway for new desktop users who may be looking to get out of the constraints of mid-range gaming laptops. Even with heavy usage, the desktop rarely made any sound, and the larger cooling made almost a fanless experience when doing regular non-gaming work. I wish the CPU was just a bit better - maybe from team red.

The ASUS - TUF T500 Gaming Desktop - Intel Core i5 13420H - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 8GB - 1TB SSD - Eclipse Gray is a well-built and compact desktop computer. It features a Nvidia RTX-5060 GPU that has 8GB of VRAM and is advertised as a gaming computer. It has sufficient HDMI and DisplayPorts and usb-a and usb-c connections. In actual operation, the T500 is quiet and performs as advertised. Current games are very playable although settings may have to be reduced somewhat for the very latest. Because it has a Nvidia RTX GPU with CUDA cores, it is capable of running 3D conversion programs like Hunyuan3D2 and Trellis. This allows users to generate objects for free on their own computer and is invaluable to users with 3D printers and other creators of 3D objects. Local LLMs also run well within the 8GB VRAM limitations of the GPU. Other graphics programs like Blender and productivity programs also run well. For reference, the T500 3DMark Time Spy score was 12,547. I highly recommend the T500 as an all around, well built, compact desktop computer for someone on a budget. Particularly if you are interested in gaming, running smaller Local LLMs, and 3D printing.

The ASUS TUF T500 is a bit of a curiosity. ASUS pairs a desktop RTX 5060 GPU with a mobile i5-13420H CPU on a laptop-style board. I found performance to be solid in games I tried — Gears 5 and Tomb Raider ran over 100 FPS at ultra settings, and Cyberpunk 2077 managed to stay around 60. I was a little underwhelmed with the cooling — there are no intake fans on the case, and there's not cooling directly on the CPU. Instead, there's a heat sink that extends out to the exhaust fan at the back of the case. While it's probably enough for the mobile CPU, there is the fact there's a desktop GPU filling the case up with hot air. I ran a stress test, and the CPU throttled a bit under load, hitting 96°C before settling near 88°C. The case is compact and and fitted snugly around the proprietary motherboard, with minimal intake and limited airflow. Cooling relies on a custom setup that’s hard to replace. Upgrade options are limited: you can swap the GPU, RAM, SSD, and Wi-Fi card. Everything else is locked down or proprietary. If you want to upgrade the CPU, you will need to replace the motherboard, and I don't believe a standard form factor motherboard will fit the case. Ports are fine, though USB-C Gen 1 feels dated. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth worked without issue. Cable management is average with the non-modular PSU adding to wire clutter. ASUS says the TUF T500 is for gamers who want lower power draw than a desktop but more performance than a laptop. In practice, it doesn’t offer any clear advantages over either. It's not an awful value, but with a mobile CPU that throttles and desktop GPU that consumes power and put out heat, unless it’s heavily discounted, I’d recommend a proper desktop or gaming laptop instead.