1week with the Intel NUC 6i5SYH. The NUC comes of age. Goodbye standard PC.

[Hugo Drax]

This is a quick review of the NUC 6i5SYH. Based on the new Skylake U series CPU with the Iris 540 GPU (48 execution units, 64gb of onchip ram)

full specs below.
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-nuc6i5syh.html

I have watched from the sidelines the last few generations of the NUCs but they seemed lacking in several areas such as GPU capabilities etc.

This new product sells for 389 dollars.

I added 16gb of memory 2 sticks of 8 gb cas 13 memory, 2133 HyperX Impact 16GB (2 x 8G) 260-Pin DDR4 SO-DIMM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Laptop Memory Model HX421S13IBK2/16

And a 256gb Samsung 840 pro I had laying around. Monitor a U2412M 1920x1200. I use this resolution at all times.

I tested it with first a native Ubuntu 15.10 and then Windows 10 pro native.

#1 Ubuntu install was quick and simple from a USB stick and using UEFI native mode. Stick disk in, boot from it and install. All drivers were in the distro including the intel GPU and wireless/Bluetooth.

I did download the latest GPU drivers from intel, it was a simple install. Amazing how far things have gone in the Linux on the desktop developments.

Performance was good overall but it seems compared to windows 10 that Ubuntu 15.10 does not take full advantage of all the skylake enhancements. (ie cpu was busier and ran hotter under Ubuntu VS windows 10)

Graphics overall was snappy and fast for UI, I also tested Virtualbox with a virtual windows 7. Worked fine no issues and fast performance.

Overall it worked fine and this box makes for a great Ubuntu/Linux development setup.

The next step was Installing Windows 10 (Which Ironically was not as simple as Ubuntu) Networking ie intel Ethernet,wireless,bluetooth did not work out of the box. I needed to download to a stick the Intel drivers and install once Windows 10 was finished.

There is a nasty bug in the latest version of windows 10, if you use the SDXC slot to copy files, The "system and compressed memory" process consumes 40% of the CPU, 1 entire logical cpu at times and the only way to fix is to reboot.

Here are the following apps I tested.

Eve Online - not acceptable, you will need to dumb down the graphic settings.

Adobe Lightroom (it uses the Iris GPU for acceleration) It runs great, fast performance no issues processing Canon 6D files. I was able to generate a new library quickly. I pointed to my Synology DS415+ and it ingested years of RAW files and generated the library pretty quick.

Working with LR was a breeze and snappy. I was pretty surprised at how well it performs.

Photoshop, same thing filters run real-time and no issues with performance.

Technical software, ie SDR (Software defined radio) - everything works fine, no issues even heavy cpu/graphics intensive stuff like FDM-s2 runs without a hiccup.

Gaming - Installled Steam, so far Doom 3, Fallout 3, Source engine games run fine I will be installing more games to test. For light gaming this little NUC does fine.

General productivity, solid performance, web etc.. no issues.


I would have to say this is a pretty impressive computer, it is so small it sits on the palm of your hand, only 4 inches by 4 inches. It is pretty quiet, no issues so far with noise or heat.

I would have to say that for 95% of the population this model would suit peoples computing needs. I was a skeptic from the beginning but not anymore now I can see why Intel has moved in this direction and developed the NUC.

 

[Burpo]

Thanks for the review, but I can't agree with " for 95% of the population this model would suit peoples computing needs". That's a bit optimistic at the very least..

 

[Zodiark1593]

Thanks for the review, but I can't agree with " for 95% of the population this model would suit peoples computing needs". That's a bit optimistic at the very least..

Gaming consoles would include "compute needs" as well, in which case, that 95% mark drops dramatically.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Thanks for the review, but I can't agree with " for 95% of the population this model would suit peoples computing needs". That's a bit optimistic at the very least..

I do not see why not. It will not replace the bigger boxes for heavier gaming or for advanced technical computing needs or high end audio/movie editing.

But most people just want to do stuff like edit photos, social media and web browsing, some light gaming and light movie editing and standard productivity such as the Microsoft word/excel/powerpoint suite.

I forgot to add. This box has the lowest RF signature of any product I have tested (lower than my custom RF PC builds with internal shielding). Using it with high end SDR products (16bit FPGA ie FDM-S2, Ettus B200 etc..) I have the lowest RF floor that I have seen, I can resolve down to -128 dbm and pick up signals that used to be in the mud.

Ubuntu 15.10 VM runs very smooth, the Accellerated 3d in a VM via oraclebox in Windows 10 is snappy and feels a little faster than even in Native to the metal. (I suspect there is still more work to be done in Ubuntu regarding its native graphic stack)

Anyhow I will be doing more tests and reporting here, ie 4K testing and running it from a pure solar power setup as well.

The DC input supports 12-19v. I will be looking for a Pure DC powered monitor.

 

[LTC8K6]

Get some faster ram to help the igp out?

 

[Hugo Drax]

Get some faster ram to help the igp out?

Not necessary. The IGP is quite effective with CAS 13 2133. and for heavy gaming it will not make a difference. The speed of the graphics is very quick and snappy. I am using it and with lots of open (photoshop, Lightroom,SDR software, trading software) including an Ubuntu VM running and it does not feel like using an IGP.

The OLD IGPs from Intel sucked big time, The Iris 540 is very effective it has 64mb edram. You really need to use one in RL and you will see that 2133 is perfectly fine, no need to over engineer with overclocked ram.

Using the Iris Pro 540 for gpu acceleration (LR, Photoshop) you get real-time/almost real-time effects when editing

What is funny is 20 years ago for 5,300 dollars (8 grand in todays dollars) you had the Intergraph 3d solution with 16mb of ram (it took up 3 PCI slots. The Geometry engine was 1 slot and 2 slots more for the framebuffer/shader/output) and for usable 2D you needed another board for a total of 4 pci slots. you would get something like 470mflops out of it, VS over 800Gigaflops on the 540)

And then you needed an 8K PC back then to drive it (12 Grand in todays money)

20 years ago 20,000+ dollars for a beast machine that could not even touch the performance of this computer that fits in the palm of your hand. not only that just the edram on the NUC is 4 times larger than the memory on the Intergraph product.

 

[LTC8K6]

I'm aware of the improvements in intel igp's, and I still think faster ram will be a help, both to the cpu and the igp.

Since ram speeds above 2133 are probably not allowed by the BIOS, it's a moot point.

 

[Yuriman]

Are there any Skylake Iris-equipped chips available with a higher TDP? I'd love to see that iGPU stretch its legs.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Dualie? Ew.

But for 2D graphics work, older games, and office tasks, I'm not surprised it meets/exceeds your expectations.

In a similar vein, there's basically no reason to have anything more than a NUC in a corporate environment or in an educational setting (at least where people are still using old-fashioned desktop computers.)

 

[Hugo Drax]

Are there any Skylake Iris-equipped chips available with a higher TDP? I'd love to see that iGPU stretch its legs.

Intel is releasing an i7 NUC with a 45w tdp i7 quad core with a higher TDP iris pro 580 (72 eu, 128 edram)

The case from what I hear is the size and dimensions of a Mac Mini.

 

[sm625]

It comes with no memory, no HDD, and no OS, so it is not really $400 it is more like $700. You are now in the range of a 960m notebook: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-...=8575135&loc=0&id=1219665860106&skuId=6337026

Sure that is a sale price, but who in their right mind wouldnt rather have that for $800? They occupy roughly the same volume. They can both be mounted on the back of your desktop monitor.

 

[Beer4Me]

This is a quick review of the NUC 6i5SYH. Based on the new Skylake U series CPU with the Iris 540 GPU (48 execution units, 64gb of onchip ram)

full specs below.
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-nuc6i5syh.html

I have watched from the sidelines the last few generations of the NUCs but they seemed lacking in several areas such as GPU capabilities etc.

This new product sells for 389 dollars.

I added 16gb of memory 2 sticks of 8 gb cas 13 memory, 2133 HyperX Impact 16GB (2 x 8G) 260-Pin DDR4 SO-DIMM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Laptop Memory Model HX421S13IBK2/16

And a 256gb Samsung 840 pro I had laying around. Monitor a U2412M 1920x1200. I use this resolution at all times.

I tested it with first a native Ubuntu 15.10 and then Windows 10 pro native.

#1 Ubuntu install was quick and simple from a USB stick and using UEFI native mode. Stick disk in, boot from it and install. All drivers were in the distro including the intel GPU and wireless/Bluetooth.

I did download the latest GPU drivers from intel, it was a simple install. Amazing how far things have gone in the Linux on the desktop developments.

Performance was good overall but it seems compared to windows 10 that Ubuntu 15.10 does not take full advantage of all the skylake enhancements. (ie cpu was busier and ran hotter under Ubuntu VS windows 10)

Graphics overall was snappy and fast for UI, I also tested Virtualbox with a virtual windows 7. Worked fine no issues and fast performance.

Overall it worked fine and this box makes for a great Ubuntu/Linux development setup.

The next step was Installing Windows 10 (Which Ironically was not as simple as Ubuntu) Networking ie intel Ethernet,wireless,bluetooth did not work out of the box. I needed to download to a stick the Intel drivers and install once Windows 10 was finished.

There is a nasty bug in the latest version of windows 10, if you use the SDXC slot to copy files, The "system and compressed memory" process consumes 40% of the CPU, 1 entire logical cpu at times and the only way to fix is to reboot.

Here are the following apps I tested.

Eve Online - not acceptable, you will need to dumb down the graphic settings.

Adobe Lightroom (it uses the Iris GPU for acceleration) It runs great, fast performance no issues processing Canon 6D files. I was able to generate a new library quickly. I pointed to my Synology DS415+ and it ingested years of RAW files and generated the library pretty quick.

Working with LR was a breeze and snappy. I was pretty surprised at how well it performs.

Photoshop, same thing filters run real-time and no issues with performance.

Technical software, ie SDR (Software defined radio) - everything works fine, no issues even heavy cpu/graphics intensive stuff like FDM-s2 runs without a hiccup.

Gaming - Installled Steam, so far Doom 3, Fallout 3, Source engine games run fine I will be installing more games to test. For light gaming this little NUC does fine.

General productivity, solid performance, web etc.. no issues.


I would have to say this is a pretty impressive computer, it is so small it sits on the palm of your hand, only 4 inches by 4 inches. It is pretty quiet, no issues so far with noise or heat.

I would have to say that for 95% of the population this model would suit peoples computing needs. I was a skeptic from the beginning but not anymore now I can see why Intel has moved in this direction and developed the NUC.

I know you're excited about your lil NUC, but I think you meant 64 MB of onboard eDRAM. Source: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Iris-Graphics-540.149939.0.html

Max RAM is 32 GB which is impressive for uPC.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Well, My NUC died. Windows just locked up. pressed the power button off, back on no blue light but you can hear the fan if you get close to it.

Dead as a doorstop.

Time to RMA and get a new one. I wonder if these little units are too small and burn out?

 

[Blue_Max]

I'm aware of the improvements in intel igp's, and I still think faster ram will be a help, both to the cpu and the igp.

Since ram speeds above 2133 are probably not allowed by the BIOS, it's a moot point.

I've seen some DigitalFoundry videos confirming that faster ram indeed does improve gaming performance, especially in the situation the OP is in. Notably. Like ~20% in some cases!

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Well, My NUC died. Windows just locked up. pressed the power button off, back on no blue light but you can hear the fan if you get close to it.

Dead as a doorstop.

Time to RMA and get a new one. I wonder if these little units are too small and burn out?

Ouch. Time to update thread title?

sm625 has a good point. The price spread between a NUC and a competing fully built small form factor build is minimal. I doubt this spells disaster for the "standard" pc.

 

[ultimatebob]

Thanks for the review, but I can't agree with " for 95% of the population this model would suit peoples computing needs". That's a bit optimistic at the very least..

I'll bet that at least 80% of PC users do not run any resource intensive games or applications on their PC. Most people nowadays get an XBox One or PS4 for gaming.

I'd like to blame the lack of stable PC gaming drivers for this. Most people don't want to be bothered to upgrade their video drivers and Direct X version every time they want to play a new game, but that's practically a requirement for new releases of major titles.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Ouch. Time to update thread title?

sm625 has a good point. The price spread between a NUC and a competing fully built small form factor build is minimal. I doubt this spells disaster for the "standard" pc.

how do you edit the title?

The thing about the NUC is how tiny, compared to regular desktops that take up so much space.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've seen some DigitalFoundry videos confirming that faster ram indeed does improve gaming performance, especially in the situation the OP is in. Notably. Like ~20% in some cases!

You do realize that running faster than DDR4-2133 on Skylake requires an overclocking chipset, right? One that the NUC doesn't have?

 

[LTC8K6]

You do realize that running faster than DDR4-2133 on Skylake requires an overclocking chipset, right? One that the NUC doesn't have?

Since it was already mentioned, I'll guess yes.

 

[PliotronX]

Well, My NUC died. Windows just locked up. pressed the power button off, back on no blue light but you can hear the fan if you get close to it.

Dead as a doorstop.

Time to RMA and get a new one. I wonder if these little units are too small and burn out?

These micro PCs have all had reliability issues. The Zbox from Zotac has given us a 90% failure rate at work, one of which was out of warranty so it became fodder at a shooting range. The only one that did not require replacement was mine because I caught onto the heat these generated and set the fan in the BIOS to 100% at all times. My Gigabyte Brix died after nine months of extremely light usage. An Intel NUC at one of our sites likes to randomly refuse to power on. These things just cannot move air across components like larger chassis can.

 

[VirtualLarry]

These micro PCs have all had reliability issues. The Zbox from Zotac has given us a 90% failure rate at work, one of which was out of warranty so it became fodder at a shooting range. The only one that did not require replacement was mine because I caught onto the heat these generated and set the fan in the BIOS to 100% at all times. My Gigabyte Brix died after nine months of extremely light usage. An Intel NUC at one of our sites likes to randomly refuse to power on. These things just cannot move air across components like larger chassis can.

I think that it's probably down to the thermals. There just isn't much room for mass for heatsinks, or airflow, etc.

My Foxconn NanoPCs with C-70 APUs, were passively-cooled. Good, right? No. They got so warm inside, that it caused SSDs installed in them to slowly corrupt. Used SSDs corrupted faster, but even a brand-new smaller SSD also got corrupted.

 

[Blue_Max]

You do realize that running faster than DDR4-2133 on Skylake requires an overclocking chipset, right? One that the NUC doesn't have?

Ah. I didn't know that but I'm also not surprised - I'm running into that wall with my current hardware now, where the 2nd-gen Intel chips won't allow RAM any faster than DDR3-1333

 

[VirtualLarry]

Ah. I didn't know that but I'm also not surprised - I'm running into that wall with my current hardware now, where the 2nd-gen Intel chips won't allow RAM any faster than DDR3-1333

Yeah, even the "mighty" G3258 Haswell Pentium Anniv. Edition can't use over DDR3-1333. (Ok, there seems to be some DRAM strap workaround on my overclocking H81 board, that lets you use 1400, but if you do, it interferes with overclocking the core.)