Intel NUC
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The loud heat generators are those that belong in the basement. A NUC is what you keep on your desk. :-)
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The last time I bought a desktop PC was about two years ago and I did not look at what is currently available until yesterday. Now I find variations of the mini Intel NUC PC everywhere. Looks good, lots of configuration options. Any user comments?
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Well, I have been using a Gigabyte Brix Pro for lo these 5 or six years, and have not seen a need to upgrade yet. Intel i-7, 32GB RAM, 2 1TB SSDs, builtin Intel graphics card, Wifi, bluetooth, 4 USB ports (3 USB2, 1 USB3). It is mounted on the VESA rack on the back of my monitor, so no desk space wasted.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, navigate a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects! - Lazarus Long
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Well, I have been using a Gigabyte Brix Pro for lo these 5 or six years, and have not seen a need to upgrade yet. Intel i-7, 32GB RAM, 2 1TB SSDs, builtin Intel graphics card, Wifi, bluetooth, 4 USB ports (3 USB2, 1 USB3). It is mounted on the VESA rack on the back of my monitor, so no desk space wasted.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, navigate a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects! - Lazarus Long
Your 5 year old Brix has two 1TB SSDs? :omg: /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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Users always have comments. Some of them are actually usable. And a few are even printable!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Rick York wrote:
connectivity like with multiple monitors
I use a pair of [these](https://plugable.com/products/usb3-vga/) with mine. They predate the NUC in fact, and I have a spare one - I can confirm it'll run all three simultaneously at full 1080p resolution.
I use something similar but much better, in my opinion. It's a device from StarTech and it has DVI and HDMI outputs with very high resolution support. I try to avoid analog displays whenever possible. For the NUCs or Zotac we deploy we do not use display splitting devices. If we need multiple monitors then we use the Zotac boxes.
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The last time I bought a desktop PC was about two years ago and I did not look at what is currently available until yesterday. Now I find variations of the mini Intel NUC PC everywhere. Looks good, lots of configuration options. Any user comments?
73
If you can, you might want to hold off for a while: Intel promises Spectre- and Meltdown-proof chips this year - The Insider News[^]
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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I use something similar but much better, in my opinion. It's a device from StarTech and it has DVI and HDMI outputs with very high resolution support. I try to avoid analog displays whenever possible. For the NUCs or Zotac we deploy we do not use display splitting devices. If we need multiple monitors then we use the Zotac boxes.
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The desk is in the basement. Upstairs I have my iPad and Chromebook! I'm very near the point where I don't need the PC...
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For the record the list you provide is NOT the PC I have linked. Not by a long shot. Only the ASUS ROG GeForce GTX 1070 STRIX is $754.99 ok? here some of the actual components: Intel 7th Gen Core i7-7700K Desktop Processor (BX80677I77700K) by Intel CDN$ 398.00 ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero $340.99 IN WIN 805 BLACK Black Aluminum $225.99 ASUS ROG GeForce GTX 1070 STRIX $754.99 If we add the rest, it will be pretty close to what they charge. Anyway, every 5 years or so I order a completely new PC and I kinda prefer the assembly to be done by a pro :)
throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.
Stable Genius wrote:
For the record the list you provide is NOT the PC I have linked. Not by a long shot.
Um, not to get nit-picky here but it exceeds the PC you linked by a margin.
Component
Linked PC
My PC
Winner
CPU
i7-7700 LGA 1151 4.2GHz (5GHz overclock)
i7-7740X LGA 2066 4.3GHz (5.2GHz overclock)
My PC (just barely)
Motherboard
Asus ROG Maximus IX Hero
Asus ROG STRIX X299-E
My PC with 128 Max RAM and more PCI Express slots and the option to use a i7-7820X
Case
Complete toss-up here. Cases are more a personal preference **but mine is bigger ;p**.
RAM
HyperX FURY DDR4 x16GB CAS Lat: 16
G.SKILL Ripjaws V DDR4 x16GB CAS Lat: 15
My PC just eeks a win here
SSD
Kingston UV400 480GB SATA 3 (90K IOPS/Read;35K IOPS/Write)
Intel 600p M.2 512GB (128.5K IOPS/Read;128K IOPS/Write)
My PC smokes your PC in this area with 1.7GBps sequential read vs 550MBps
As you can see, the PC that I built by hand is on par with the PC you linked in most ares and exceeds it in other areas. All for a lower price. Does the PC you linked have more flash and pizazz then mine? Yes.
if (Object.DividedByZero == true) { Universe.Implode(); } Meus ratio ex fortis machina. Simplicitatis de formae ac munus. -Foothill, 2016
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If you can, you might want to hold off for a while: Intel promises Spectre- and Meltdown-proof chips this year - The Insider News[^]
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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Sounds like you're thinking of the Intel Compute Stick. That competes directly with the Android TV boxes, and yes, with - what, 2GB of RAM? are rather unappealing to me. Maybe the Celeron-based NUCs don't have CPU fans, but the i3/i5/i7 ones, AFAIK, all do as they, after all, are the same mobile CPUs used in laptops. [Edit] Not to detract the conversion, but: I have a neighbor who calls himself an audiophile (the type who's spent tens of thousands in receivers and amps). Personally, I'm at a loss to suggest a soundcard to him - beyond what's build into motherboards these days. ASUS isn't exactly known as a high-end audio hardware maker. While I have little doubt it's better than onboard audio, I have to ask - have you ever looked at what else is out there?
dandy72 wrote:
I have a neighbor who calls himself an audiophile (the type who's spent tens of thousands in receivers and amps). Personally, I'm at a loss to suggest a soundcard to him - beyond what's build into motherboards these days. ASUS isn't exactly known as a high-end audio hardware maker. While I have little doubt it's better than onboard audio, I have to ask - have you ever looked at what else is out there?
OK, going totally off-topic here. Don't bother with a soundcard, there are plenty of really high quality USB DACs out there that will blow an audiophile's socks off. Personally I like FiiO and have their Olympus 2-E10K. It has headphone, line and digital coax outputs.
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You get what you pay for. A cheap PC with no cooling and a tiny motherboard, which will make impossible to install any good sound card or video card. No cooling means overheating and life-span of a couple of years or so. All you can do is upgrade your hard drive, probably only one and add some memory. Some people use their PCs to browse the internet and to send e-mail. If that is what you need, go ahead. When I buy a PC I go to a custom PC builder web site and select some quality components in a big box with water cooling. Like this per example: [SABRE GTX - 4K Star Citizen Battle Station](http://www.extreme-pc.ca/showproduct.asp?productid=370123&menu1id=10&menu2id=5&menu3id=40) And then stick with it for 5+ years gradually upgrading components as needed.
throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.
Stable Genius wrote:
No cooling means overheating and life-span of a couple of years or so. All you can do is upgrade your hard drive, probably only one and add some memory.
I just bought myself a couple of Minix Neo Z83-4 (no relationships to the Minix OS): The Atom-based CPU draws 2 watts of power. I am not afraid of overheating! The specifications say that the system peak power requirement is below 1A @ 12V (i.e. less than 12 W peak); the only reason why it is delivered with a 3A power supply is for the 4 USB ports to supply power to external devices. I did not buy these to replace a desktop system, but as hubs for a number of Arduiono to offload their collected data and to receive new orders. I wanted the network to be able to handle power blackouts, e.g. by going into a low-power mode in a controlled manner. So the hubs must be able to run on the power from a 12V accumulator for some time, preferably without draining it. According to the specs this tiny little box can e.g. display 4K video while running cabled and/or wireless LAN, Buletooth, manage four USB ports,... Maybe it would get a little warm if you run all the subsystems 24/7 at maximum performance. For my use, the machines would be idling at least 90% of the time. I am hunting sparrows, I am not in a battle. I need no cannon to do the job.
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The last time I bought a desktop PC was about two years ago and I did not look at what is currently available until yesterday. Now I find variations of the mini Intel NUC PC everywhere. Looks good, lots of configuration options. Any user comments?
73
If you want to go afer a low foot print (or even mount it behind your monitor in a VESA mount) and don't mind that they're pricier, than comparably powerful less-compact hardawre, go for one! I had one a while ago as a HTPC and should I ever need a HTPC again, a NUC would be my first choice.
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The last time I bought a desktop PC was about two years ago and I did not look at what is currently available until yesterday. Now I find variations of the mini Intel NUC PC everywhere. Looks good, lots of configuration options. Any user comments?
73
I have used an NUC as my main development machine for 2 years now and its fine. It has 3.1ghz i3, 8gb ram and 240gb SSD. I use 2 1920x1080 monitors with no problem. I run Windows Server 2008 R2 and have never had any hardware issues apart from it wanting to reboot when you shutdown, but that went away and never came back. I expect it was patched. I run 3 copies of VS2015/VS2017, multiple tabs of Firefox, Chrome, SSMS and 4 flavours of Sql Server without issue. In fact the only thing that makes it get out of breath is Umbraco, or Episerver. I wanted something i could take to the office that was very small and robust and its fine. Not only that but it only uses 20-25w of power. For games i have my games machine. For vmware instances i have my vmware server (an old dell workstation with scsi disks). I think the NUC is great.
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The last time I bought a desktop PC was about two years ago and I did not look at what is currently available until yesterday. Now I find variations of the mini Intel NUC PC everywhere. Looks good, lots of configuration options. Any user comments?
73
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Your 5 year old Brix has two 1TB SSDs? :omg: /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
Yep - one standard 2.5 inch form factor SSD, and one mSATA SSD (Not what it started out with, but - upgrades, you know)
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, navigate a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects! - Lazarus Long
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The last time I bought a desktop PC was about two years ago and I did not look at what is currently available until yesterday. Now I find variations of the mini Intel NUC PC everywhere. Looks good, lots of configuration options. Any user comments?
73
I quite like the idea that NUCs can be mounted on the VESA mounts on the back of your monitor. That's kind of cool.
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The last time I bought a desktop PC was about two years ago and I did not look at what is currently available until yesterday. Now I find variations of the mini Intel NUC PC everywhere. Looks good, lots of configuration options. Any user comments?
73
We use three NUCs NUC6i5SYK for software development, Windows 10, Visual Studio. Of course the NUCs have fans. Once I had to clean a fan (it was full of dust). Samsung 8GB DDR4 PC4-17000 (or 16GB) Samsung SM951 128GB (or 256GB) BenQ GL2450HM Video card completely sufficient. They are incredibly quiet and they use practically no power. Plus great customer support. One NUC had a hardware problem and was immediately replaced at no cost. We are absolutely satisfied with NUCs and can only recommend them.
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The last time I bought a desktop PC was about two years ago and I did not look at what is currently available until yesterday. Now I find variations of the mini Intel NUC PC everywhere. Looks good, lots of configuration options. Any user comments?
73
I'm a bit late to the party for this thread, but I bought a Celeron semi-DIY NUC (BOXNUC6CAYH) some time ago and I have to say that they're pretty capable machines if you go into it with the right mindset. The specific one I'm using is currently ~$125 but I bought mine when it was $149; the total cost ended up being somewhere around $300 for 2 sticks of 4gb DDR3 RAM and a 2.5" 7200rpm hard drive, up that total cost to somewhere around $410 because I bought an external HDD to supplement it a week or two in. I can't say anything else without repeating what others have already said (USB 3.0, SD Card reader, M.2 SSD support, etc), but I've been putting it through its paces as a media server and so far I haven't been disappointed but with caveats: - I'm not streaming anything above 1080p - I'm using Plex as an intermediary media service right now - The screens I've used it with have had max resolutions of 1920x1080, not trying to run 4k - I'm not putting it through its paces with things like MadVR I recommend it if you know that you have a proper use case for it and don't overestimate what a passively cooled CPU - specifically Celeron if you decide to get the BOXNUC6CAYH I did - can do. I actually messed around with running older games on it (Stronghold, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, Quake 1, UT99) and was convinced enough by the performance that a friend and I have been considering making a group investment in a few NUCs (most likely i3s instead of the Celeron boxes) and gear if we want to have a decently-sized LAN night with our other friends without much hassle.
