NUC Build

Karnee

Karnee

Karnee

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Joined
23 Aug 2011
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83
If you guys were going to build a NUC what would your spec be?

I created a thread earlier about what I thought was a good spec and came to the conclusion I may have been going about it the wrong way. What would you guys get?

I've heard good things about Raspberry Pi. Is that a good place to start?

Mostly I want it to surf the Internet and watch movies. I would like Steam Streaming, but the other two is what I really want.
 
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I'm looking into getting a NUC for the same reasons, but I'd also like it to be a Minecraft box for the kids. I think the Celeron NUC might just be okay, but like RJC I decided to go with the i3 just to make sure I have a bit of headroom for any other processes I want to run.

I'm not sure you need a 120GB mSATA drive, though. For just media, internet, XBMC for movies and Steam streaming, you would probably want a nice light Linux install, and so you'd only need a small internal drive. Even if you go Windows 8, you're only looking at 13GB for the OS plus a bit for the Steam client and a few other apps. 120GB seems overkill. You could shave £25-35 off the price by going with a 32GB or 64GB drive. At least that's what I'm planning to do, unless there's a compelling reason not to...
 
Which model NUC is that on?

Are these generally noisy then? That could be a dealbreaker for me. The two main reasons for replacing my old HTPC are size (around 43cm deep and so too big for most TV stands) and noise. My wife can't wait to see the back of it now for these reasons.

I think noise just during Minecraft might be okay, but if it's noisy during HD playback I don't think it will go down well in our house...
 
Raspberries pi, should never be used. It's underpowered and over priced.
You can get an android pc on a stick which would be a thousand times better.


As to a nuc, I wouldn't build one. I would buy a zotac ****** , in fact I did.
http://www.zotac.com/products/mini-pcs/zbox-c-series/product/zbox-c-series.html

The only thing I would have done differently, is wait for the ones which come with windows on, as it's free. So it's a huge saving.
 
strumpusplunket said:
Which model NUC is that on?

Are these generally noisy then? That could be a dealbreaker for me. The two main reasons for replacing my old HTPC are size (around 43cm deep and so too big for most TV stands) and noise. My wife can't wait to see the back of it now for these reasons.

I think noise just during Minecraft might be okay, but if it's noisy during HD playback I don't think it will go down well in our house...
Click to expand...

No generally very quiet especially if you change the min fan speed in the BIOS, it's whisper quiet and I use it as a media player in the living room, but with the GPU under load with things like minecraft it is noticeable. NUC i5 here.
 
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I've done a Thin-ITX build using a Silverstone Petite case, GA-H81TN and 4330.

It's primarily for DJing (it succeeded in it's test run at a house party) and will be getting it's first club outing tomorrow. :D
 
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