Intel NUC 4" x 4" micro-PC - $299 shipped (1.8ghz i3, motherboard, case, PSU)

[Netopia]

This is EXTREMELY cool stuff! Wonder how many years it will be until something like this with a 2+TB SSD and 32GB RAM is considered no big deal.

We live in magically cool times when it comes to computer tech.

Joe

[Kaido]

Originally Posted by Netopia

This is EXTREMELY cool stuff! Wonder how many years it will be until something like this with a 2+TB SSD and 32GB RAM is considered no big deal.

We live in magically cool times when it comes to computer tech.

Joe

I'd venture to say we'll see that as early as next year. 2.5" 1TB SSD's already exist, although they're expensive: ($1120)

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDEX3G960/

480GB mSATA SSD's ($500) are out in January: (it looks like they're doubling in size on a yearly basis)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6502/m...80gb-msata-ssd

Officially, the i3-3217U in the NUC supports 32GB:

http://ark.intel.com/products/65697/...Cache-1_80-GHz

We already have 8GB sticks, so hopefully 16GB sticks will be out next year, plus they've already demo'd an i5 NUC:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/01/i...5-powered-nuc/

And with the next generation of i7's, I'd imagine we'll see those in a future model as well...i7 + 32GB RAM + 1TB SSD shouldn't be too far off

We've actually been talking about the same thing at work...ENIAC used to take up a room; now you have insane power in a tiny box for $300. Mentally I understand it, but when I hold the NUC in my hands, it just blows my mind haha.

[Kaido]

$299.99 on Amazon with Free Shipping:

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Computin...dp/B0093LINVK/

[Kaido]

Originally Posted by cytoSiN

Kaido I've read some reports of problems with the NIC when recording over digital cable and CableCard. Essentially, the NIC works at 100Mbps, but at 1Gbps, the video in Windows Media Center pixelates really badly. Have you encountered this? Any way to test with your setup (doesn't have to be recording over CableCard, just curious if there's an issue at 1Gbps)? TIA.

Also, no USB3.0 is sad, but not a deal breaker. The next gen of this thing is going to be beast though I bet.

The Amazon reviewer posted an update:

*** UPDATE ***

I've found a fix. Using a Plugable gigabit USB ethernet adapter, the pixelization is gone. I can record three CableCard streams plus two ATSC streams concurrently, all perfectly.

I'm going to run with this for a while. If there's no problems, I'll segregate the HDHomerun traffic on the USB adapter, and connect to a NAS on the Intel NIC via iSCSI for WMC storage.

I'm leaving this at two stars. Intel should do better. Their NIC is pretty clearly a problem.

In the comments, he said he tried fiddling with flow control & other NIC settings, to no avail, and that his Dell laptop works fine with it. He said he was using Windows 7 with the latest updates, a Gigabit switch, and an HDHomeRun Prime, although it may be an Intel driver issue conflicting with the tuner specifically:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1376542/un...therboard-nics

So it may boil down to to a conflict between the Intel NIC and the HDHomeRun Prime, although Legit Reviews also posted a problem:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2083/4/

Intel said they could replicate the problem with the Thunderbolt NUC specifically:

After running the Windows 8 rating test we went to download and install the benchmarks. Doing this puts a fairly nice load across all the components of the system as you are downloading, extracting files and installing files all at the same time. The only problem is that the system would keep locking up. While downloading 3DMark11 and unzipping Cinebench R11.5 the system locked up, but didn't crash. We had task manager open to see what happened and it was very odd. The CPU usage went down to 0%, but the mSATA SSD was 100% active even though the transfer rate was 0%. The Intel 520 Series 180GB mSATA SSD was too hot to touch, so we thought the system was overheating. We went into the BIOS cranked the fan up to 100% and left the top off the case. Sure enough the system was still hard locking and unable to download large files (100MB+) without locking up. Not a heat issue.

We then installed some benchmarks from a USB key and tried running them and the system would still lock up. For example we couldn't even run CrystalDiskMark without locking up. We swapped out memory kits and even did a clean install of Windows 7 and the issue was still present. After eliminating heat, the operating system and the memory kits the options of what could be wrong was quickly shrinking. The only component in the system that could be removed and not needed was the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 wireless card. With the card removed the system was found to be rock solid and could run benchmarks. What? Yup, the wireless card isn't playing nice.

So either the 6235 wireless card specifically was causing the lockups (since it doesn't appear to be a heat-related issue based on Legit Review's testing), or there's some kind of lane-sharing issue as mentioned in the article. I don't have a Thunderbolt model to test out, but I do have a Dell 802.11n Wifi chip coming next week, so I'll test that out on my Dual HDMI model just to verify.

[Kaido]

Found a goldmine of mSATA adapters:

http://www.pc-adapter.net/categories/0/0/17/1.html

It looks like eBay seller "sintech-adapter" has these available (ships from China). They also have a USB to mSATA adapter for $26 (eBay search: "SB micro SATA cable+Mini PCIe mSATA 3x5 SSD to micro SATA Adapter+screw driver"), which will be useful for loading images from my master comp. Or be lazy and go PXE

[rifken2]

Any links or leads on a USB-IR do-hickey that works with a Harmony remote? I would really like to try this out for a XBMC build for a friend...

[OVerLoRDI]

This is such a cool little piece of hardware. It makes me want to part out my water cooled 7970, 2550k, "htpc" and replace it with this.

It's original purpose was a second pc for friends to game, but having a real job severely limits that purpose, so it is complete over kill and a waste of money.

One thing I'm curious about is how well this thing handles SVP. I might have to wait until Haswell to see a low power htpc handle that properly.

[Kaido]

Originally Posted by rifken2

Any links or leads on a USB-IR do-hickey that works with a Harmony remote? I would really like to try this out for a XBMC build for a friend...

Yup, HP one for $24:

http://www.amazon.com/OEM-REMOTE-CON.../dp/B004PXJGXU

Reviewer says it works great with Win7 MCE + his Harmony One remote. Also confirmed to wake from sleep:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=64487

Give it a shot and let us know if it does the job!

[Kaido]

Originally Posted by OVerLoRDI

This is such a cool little piece of hardware. It makes me want to part out my water cooled 7970, 2550k, "htpc" and replace it with this.

It's original purpose was a second pc for friends to game, but having a real job severely limits that purpose, so it is complete over kill and a waste of money.

One thing I'm curious about is how well this thing handles SVP. I might have to wait until Haswell to see a low power htpc handle that properly.

Yeah, I have piles of HTPC stuff sitting around - Patriot Box Office, Tivo, Antec NSK2400 with a Micro-ATX, casemod with a Mini-ITX, blah blah blah. This could be "the solution" for me...I use a WDTV Live Streaming, which is great, but I do miss light gaming (love me some emulators), so I can throw XBMC + Hyperspin on here, plus a couple wireless Xbox 360 remotes, and be in business!

[benjamintm]

Originally Posted by rifken2

Any links or leads on a USB-IR do-hickey that works with a Harmony remote? I would really like to try this out for a XBMC build for a friend...

I'm using an original Microsoft MCE IR receiver and it comes out of sleep without a problem when I hit the "sleep" button on the MCE remote. This gives me a discrete on as I use Event Ghost and this service to intercept all IR when the system is up. If I accidentally hit the suspend key, EG ignores it.

I set up a discrete off functionality by re-purposing the Windows MCE Messenger IR signal from the Windows MCE keyboard to tell have EG send the system to suspend.

Works great and I think should work with just about any IR receiver on Windows.

Ben

[faithie999]

Originally Posted by Kaido

Yeah, I have piles of HTPC stuff sitting around - Patriot Box Office, Tivo, Antec NSK2400 with a Micro-ATX, casemod with a Mini-ITX, blah blah blah. This could be "the solution" for me...I use a WDTV Live Streaming, which is great, but I do miss light gaming (love me some emulators), so I can throw XBMC + Hyperspin on here, plus a couple wireless Xbox 360 remotes, and be in business!

kaido--thanks for all of your great info in this thread, altho you have given all of us lots of links that if we follow, we'll end up buying lots of stuff!!

i picked up the thunderbolt version, and with a dsdt plus modded appleframebuffercapri.kext from a thread at tonymac, a ML-modded appleintelcpumanagement.kext, and Graphics Mode 1920x1080x32 boot flag, i'm up and running on mountain lion, altho sleep doesn't work yet. with the modded framebuffer kext, HDMI, including audio, works both from the HDMI port and from the tbolt port, using a mini display port to HDMI dongle. i also have tested an HDMI to DVI dongle, for use if one doesn't have an HDMI monitor. that works fine, but of course for audio one would need to use a USB audio dongle ($1 on ebay on most days).

for networking, i started out with an apple usb--ethernet dongle, but learned that iCloud (and maybe face time; haven't checked that) can't deal with non-built-in, even with the ethernet builtin boot flag set in chameleon. so, i popped in an atheros-chipped wifi 1/2 height mini-pci-e card, and it was natively recognized by ML. I was then able to log into icloud. finally, for now, i'm using an external SATA HD, which seems to be fast enough at the moment for use as an HTPC. when SSD prices come down, i may take the leap.

my question is: all the intel literature for the tbolt version touts 2 headers on the mobo--a front panel header and a usb header. but, at least on my mobo, the FP header is stuffed but the USB header is printed but not stuffed. do i have a mutant (doubt it!) or do you have any insight as to whether intel changed the spec after issuing documentation? i was hoping to have used the USB header to connect a BT module that i salvaged from a macbook, but instead i am using a usb BT dongle.

thanks


ken

[benjamintm]

Originally Posted by faithie999

my question is: all the intel literature for the tbolt version touts 2 headers on the mobo--a front panel header and a usb header. but, at least on my mobo, the FP header is stuffed but the USB header is printed but not stuffed. do i have a mutant (doubt it!) or do you have any insight as to whether intel changed the spec after issuing documentation?

I just checked with my non-TB version and the internal USB header is not stuffed, which is odd as it's shown as stuffed in at least some of the literature.

Ben

[faithie999]

Originally Posted by benjamintm

I just checked with my non-TB version and the internal USB header is not stuffed, which is odd as it's shown as stuffed in at least some of the literature.

Ben

at the end of their design cycle, intel must have been 5 cents over their target for cost of goods so they deleted one socket from the design!

[alfa147x]

stuffed = headers mounted vs solder points?

[faithie999]

Originally Posted by alfa147x

stuffed = headers mounted vs solder points?

i may be using the wrong terminology, but what i meant is that the circuit board has solder pads for the 9 pins in the usb connector, but the connector is not there.

[Dirigible]

I've been using the dual-hdmi version for a bit over a week now as one of my htpcs. Been very happy with it. Dang thing is tiny.

I may not have watched live tv from my cablecard hdhomerun prime yet. I will and test if it gets any pixelation or other issues. While streaming blu ray rips and previously recorded shows from my home server and streaming netflix, it has had no issues.

[gorcorps]

Originally Posted by Dirigible

I've been using the dual-hdmi version for a bit over a week now as one of my htpcs. Been very happy with it. Dang thing is tiny.

I may not have watched live tv from my cablecard hdhomerun prime yet. I will and test if it gets any pixelation or other issues. While streaming blu ray rips and previously recorded shows from my home server and streaming netflix, it has had no issues.

Very interested in hearing about the cable card. I have never used one before and am considering getting one of these, and that would definitely be an addition I was considering.

[Dirigible]

I've been using the Silicondust HDHomeRun Prime for over a year now. Used their non-cablecard HDHomeRun before that. It's a great device. Plug it into my router and all my computers with media center are now cable boxes with all my channels.

I've got an htpc for each tv, which provides all the video for the tv, plus it's nice to be able to open a windows media center window and have a football game or whatever playing while I work at home on my computer. One computer acts as a dvr and does all the tv recording, and all the rest of the computers can access the recorded shows, plus blu ray and dvd rips. Easy to access my recorded shows while traveling for work, too.

Note that some channels may have flags that prevent other computers from seeing recorded shows. I'm lucky in that none of my channels do. HBO and the like might.

[benjamintm]

Originally Posted by benjamintm

I just checked with my non-TB version and the internal USB header is not stuffed, which is odd as it's shown as stuffed in at least some of the literature.

Ben

Per Intel customer support and the literature I linked to, the USB header is only available on the motherboard SKU. Complete kits (case, MB, and power) does not come with the internal USB header. Strange they did it differently, but it shouldn't be hard to solder in one.

Ben

[rifken2]

Any resolve on a wireless card? I want to order one of these for my mother. She will use her cell phone as a hot spot for internet and I need a solid wireless solution.

[Emulex]

so does this completely dust the refurb mac mini? Can you hackintosh this to run osx too? Just curious on the value compared to a refurb mac mini

[jalaram]

Originally Posted by Emulex

so does this completely dust the refurb mac mini? Can you hackintosh this to run osx too? Just curious on the value compared to a refurb mac mini

According to Kaido, you can hack it easily. It just helps to have the right wireless card. I too was curious about the value compared to the refurb Mac Mini (as low as $469 base).

IMO, the current base level wins because that one has USB 3.0 (and more ports) and a faster cpu.

This one will win on size, VESA mounting ability, HD speed because of the SSD, and power usage I think.

[faithie999]

Originally Posted by rifken2

Any resolve on a wireless card? I want to order one of these for my mother. She will use her cell phone as a hot spot for internet and I need a solid wireless solution.

you want an atheros AR9285, which also goes by the designation of AR5B95. make sure it's a half-height card, so you can use the full-height slot in the NUC for an SSD.

here's one on ebay right now
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atheros-AR5B...item19d35baa10

i popped one of these in my NUC yesterday. rebooted, opened system preferences--network, and wifi showed up. i just needed to select a wifi network and password, and all was well.

in my experience, some other cards work in OS X, but they are not recognized as apple hardware, so you need a wifi configuration utility from the vendor (ralink, realtek, etc) that supplied the chip to the wifi card mfr in order to use them. i have found, however, that intel-branded cards don't seem to work in os x at all.

[FriendlyGhost]

Originally Posted by faithie999

you want an atheros AR9285, which also goes by the designation of AR5B95. make sure it's a half-height card, so you can use the full-height slot in the NUC for an SSD.

here's one on ebay right now
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atheros-AR5B...item19d35baa10

Do You know of any other Atheros-cards, maybe with Bluetooth on-board?

Thanks in advance

[Dirigible]

Originally Posted by Kaido

I saw that in a couple reviews, but haven't seen it myself (yet). The original problem seems to be due to the Intel Wifi/BT chip they recommend...it causes network slowdowns & network lockups during large data transfers on the Thunderbolt model, including over Ethernet - but when the Wifi card was removed, Ethernet went back to normal (they think it's heat-related). I went with a third-party Wifi chip anyway due to Mac compatibility. I'll do some more testing & report back if I encounter any hiccups.

On the HTPC review with the pixelation, that may be due to either the Wifi chip or to a lack of driver support for their current operating system...tough to tell without more detailed information. So far it's handling everything I throw at it, but I don't have any tuners available for testing, so I can't comment much on that. I'd be interested to know more...

And definitely, an i5 model with USB 3.0 would open a lot of doors...that'd make a killer server with some 4TB external drives! And they're 22nm chips now, so I wouldn't say an i7 would be out of the question for maybe a 4th-gen CPU.

I am getting bad pixelation when watching live TV from my HDHomeRun Prime over wired ethernet. Issue doesn't exist when streaming recorded shows, blu ray rips, or other stuff. Annoying weakness.

Going to try a USB ethernet dongle. Will be happy if it works, because hey it works! And I'd rather have it work than not work. Will be angry if it works, since such a thing shouldn't be needed.