Intel NUCs as always on PC's

Gideon Moss · 15 Mar 2016 at 12:20

I'm looking for a machine that will be always be on and I'm wondering if the Intel NUCs would be suitable thinking of adding a Crucial SSD to one. I need it to be quiet but I don't want it to overheat and die. Comments and thoughts welcome.

Kylevdm · 15 Mar 2016 at 12:22

What do you want it to be used for? How about a Raspberry Pi 3?

Gideon Moss · 15 Mar 2016 at 12:26

Downloading mostly, occasionally web surfing. Mostly not using Respberry Pi as I have no idea how I'd use one.

Kylevdm · 15 Mar 2016 at 12:27

In exactly the same way, it is just running Linux. You can get the PiDrive as well for lots of storage.

http://wdlabs.wd.com/products/wd-pidrive-314gb/

rtho782 · 15 Mar 2016 at 12:48

I wouldn't do a RPI3. The Rpi has one USB port for connectivity to the outside world (480mbps).

It then uses an onboard USB hub to connect a USB 100mbit network adaptor, the Wifi, the Hard drive, etc, making all these devices fight for bandwidth.

A BananaPi M1 would be much better, it has native onboard Gigabit Ethernet, native onboard SATA, the plus model has Wifi over SDIO, then it has 2 USB ports not used for anything.

Simplenas even make a nice little case for it.

joeyjojo · 15 Mar 2016 at 13:28

Gideon Moss said:
Downloading mostly, occasionally web surfing. Mostly not using Respberry Pi as I have no idea how I'd use one.

They're very low power and a great choice for this kind of thing.

A Raspberry Pi would be about the same really. Version 2 onwards can even run Windows if you are scared of Linux (but it is best with Linux).

rtho782 said:
I wouldn't do a RPI3. The Rpi has one USB port for connectivity to the outside world (480mbps).

It then uses an onboard USB hub to connect a USB 100mbit network adaptor, the Wifi, the Hard drive, etc, making all these devices fight for bandwidth.

Sounds unlikely to be a problem in the real world unless OP has 100 Mbit + internet and needs high performance, in which case any credit-card sized device probably isn't right.

ZXSpectrum · 15 Mar 2016 at 13:34

The NUC is a great bit of kit. I have the dual core Celeron with 8gb of ram and a 240gb ssd. It ran fine in its original case but I purchased a Passive case and that works perfectly. Mine stays on constantly.

If its for a downloader you can get the dual core version of the ProLiant Microserver for about £110 after cashback. A fair bit bigger but definitely better if you want to store media at a later date.

Gideon Moss · 15 Mar 2016 at 13:39

joeyjojo said:
They're very low power and a great choice for this kind of thing.

A Raspberry Pi would be about the same really. Version 2 onwards can even run Windows if you are scared of Linux (but it is best with Linux).

Sounds unlikely to be a problem in the real world unless OP has 100 Mbit + internet and needs high performance, in which case any credit-card sized device probably isn't right.

It's just for home use. I have very little to no non windows experience, maybe its time to experiment.

Gideon Moss · 15 Mar 2016 at 13:55

HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8 - how loud are these would I notice it on? Background noise is a real killer here.

ZXSpectrum · 15 Mar 2016 at 13:58

Well my old one with a couple of 5400Rpm 2Tb drives was silent from a couple of feet away. I know the old models had issues with noise/vibration if it was populated with 7200Rpm drives.