Intel NUC etc

[Eremite]

All this talk of music servers has got me wondering about replacing my current chewing-gum-and-string laptop + dac setup with something a bit more permanent.

So Intel has brought out its little NUC with the very good idea (in principle) of putting a ultra-low voltage mobile processor in a box for domestic use. They've brought out one with a I3-3217U and a Celeron 847 version is just emerging. The former has quite a lot of poke for such a small box.

Quite expensive at the moment (imagine the cost of an ultrabook and subtract the cost of the screen), but there's competition on the horizon with Gigabyte talking about its Brix.

So, has anybody been tempted by one of these?

[Tim]

I looked at this Simon and as a start point its a great solution, very neat and compact, affordable with not much tweaking needed. The only thing that is a 'no-no' from my point of view is the fan it has to cool the CPU. Right from the very start I have insisted my server would have no moving parts, but I reckon you could do a lot worse, especially as a laptop replacement.

[technobear]

I looked into NUCS and rejected them very quickly.

A NUC comes without memory, storage or an OS and yet costs the same as equivalent computers that include memory, storage and an OS.

In terms of cost, they make no sense whatsoever.

[Tim]

In terms of cost, they make no sense whatsoever.

Yes I agree, but it all depends on what its intended use is and whether you can build one yourself? If you want a very small footprint, WAF friendly unit that will sit (reasonably) quietly on a rack and stream music, then it does have its attractions for some people

I personally wouldn't buy one, but then I can comfortably build something half decent myself. It certainly is a better bet than a laptop if you just want to stream from it.

[Eremite]

I looked into NUCS and rejected them very quickly.

A NUC comes without memory, storage or an OS and yet costs the same as equivalent computers that include memory, storage and an OS.

In terms of cost, they make no sense whatsoever.

It is a lot of money: if you add 8Gb of memory and a 128Gb mSata SSD then you're looking at £400 - and it has put me off so far. Perhaps Gigabyte entetring into direct competition will force the price down.

But in terms of what's equivalent, the equation's a bit harder. For something of the same scale of form factor then you're looking at something Zotac like - and they get pricey as soon as you get the horse power up and add an ssd. If you want to keep the price down then you're starting to look at Atom boards or the AMD equivalent - and they're really a different class of machine. 2nd hand Mac Mini looks like the closest equivalent...

[Eremite]

I personally wouldn't buy one, but then I can comfortably build something half decent myself.

The frustrating thing from the self-build point of view at the moment is that you can't get the ultra-low voltage, BGA package, Intel chips in retail form. Therefore you need to go for the higher TDP stuff with the consequent need for substantial passive cooling - or you go down the Atom/Celeron route.