VirtualLarry
No Lifer
- Aug 25, 2001
- 56,450
- 10,119
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I got tired of waiting for the Haswell NUCs with the 2.5" support, plus the Foxconn NanoPC AT-5570 is way cheaper, plus it comes with wifi card included.
Are there any opinions on the Celeron-based NUC? I'm thinking about using a NUC upstairs so I can move my i3-3225-based HTPC downstairs. Although, I have two thoughts... how loud are they? I like that my i3-3225 is dead silent -- it has no fans. I can buy a Streacom fanless case for the NUC, but it only supports the Ivy Bridge models (and it's $100 ). My second thought is... how fast is the Celeron? As long as it can handle the toughest video file (say a full-quality Blu-Ray rip), I'm fine with that. Ultimately, the Celeron unit is $100 cheaper than the Ivy Bridge or Haswell i3 models.
I got tired of waiting for the Haswell NUCs with the 2.5" support, plus the Foxconn NanoPC AT-5570 is way cheaper, plus it comes with wifi card included.
I'll be re-testing my Celeron NUC with 7 this week, apparently the HD video playback doesn't like to party on XP haha. I'll test a Full HD MKV for you if you'd like!
I got tired of waiting for the Haswell NUCs with the 2.5" support, plus the Foxconn NanoPC AT-5570 is way cheaper, plus it comes with wifi card included.
I read on XBMC's Wiki that the Celeron NUC works well for just about everything but Blu-Ray 3D that uses Frame Packing vs. a single-frame encoding method (side-by-side, top-bottom or checkerboard). That sounds okay, because I don't have any Frame Packing content, but I feel a bit uneasy spending money on something knowing that I could end up limiting myself in the future.
I might just go with the Haswell i3 NUC.
If you're doing a basic build (i.e. for your wife), you can save $80 on the budget by not upgrading to the full 16gb, which may never be used to that capacity in daily use. 8GB + SSD is a pretty nice combination for speed & usability (if virtual memory is used, the SSD is a pretty snappy rollover unit). Plus, by going with a single 8gb stick, you can upgrade it later to 16gb as budget allows, so in a few years if you want to keep it relevant, you're not stuck with having to buy a full kit because you purchased 2x4GB for 8GB initially.
In addition, there is nearly zero performance difference in using a single stick vs. dual channel. If you're really into performance, it adds 1 or 2 FPS at most, but if you're buying a NUC, you're obviously not using it for high-end gaming because it only has integrated graphics, so the point is fairly moot. A small test for fun reading:
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1fcs77/discussion_ram_single_vs_dual_channel_speed/
I just got one of these (i5) and went with a single 8GB stick for possible upgrade, especially considering Intel CPUs are aging very well lately. CPUs in general are, even my 1090t seems plenty snappy for 99% of the stuff I do, and my 7950 never seems CPU bound on the games I play.
i3 version with HDMI is $163 at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...-3217UDC3217BY
Also if anyone is looking at a NUC for HTPC use and really wants AppleTV functionality, just install Plex along with AirServer. For $15, AirServer acts as an Airplay Receiver, so you can stream your iOS device's screen to your TV/projector screen: (in a window or fullscreen)
http://www.airserver.com/
I just got my i5 Haswell NUC in (finally!), so I'll be testing that this week, along with the 480gb Mushkin mSATA SSD. Curious to see what the speeds on that are. I also have a BRIX coming in, since I haven't played with one before.
I really like the design of the Haswell Intel NUCs btw. Like a sharp little Mac Mini
Intriguing... need to dig up reviews on this. I am looking for what amounts to an X terminal that can drive 2x 1920x1200 displays and this might be able to do it. However, if anyone has other suggestions? Linux able, audio, and wired NIC.
Saw that deal as well and snagged it up. I made a post a month back asking Kaido about his experiences and finally got around to placing the order. $180 net cost to me seemed worthy of an experiment considering I had the parts laying around. Will report back with how this works out.
considering nearly no HDMI implmentations support anything greater than 1920x1080, i'd say no, this probably can't.
i3 version with HDMI is $163 at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...-3217UDC3217BY
i3 version with HDMI is $163 at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...-3217UDC3217BY
considering nearly no HDMI implmentations support anything greater than 1920x1080, i'd say no, this probably can't.
i3 version with HDMI is $163 at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...-3217UDC3217BY
Dang, it's not $163 anymore. Would have LOVED to get one as a media box for my living room now that I have a plex server VM set up in my closet.
I just got the red one in. Waiting on the Tbolt adapter cables tho, I'll see what works & what doesn't!
would that be a Thunderbolt gigabit ethernet adapter?
It's selling at multiple places for the same $162-163 price. Here's another option:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...G&A=details&Q=
These are basically being cleared out for the Haswell-based Intel NUCs. The red one has Thunderbolt but no ethernet. I'd rather wait for the black one with dual HDMI and gigabit ethernet to get to this pricing.