Intel Nuc to replace a mac mini

[philipma1957]

http://www.microcenter.com/product/447597/NUC5i7RYH_Next_Unit_of_Computing_Barebones_PC_Kit

the intel nuc above has the

i7-5557u cpu a quad core

with iris 6100 gpu built in

http://ark.intel.com/products/84993/Intel-Core-i7-5557U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_40-GHz

I can get it for 450.
Since I have
I have a new windows 7 ultimate oem
I have 2 sticks of ram
I have a samsung 1tb ssd
And a dvd/cdrom to plug into it.

I am think this would be a great replacement for my aging 2012 quad core mac mini.

has anyone had this particular nuc my big concern is cooling/fan sound

I would consider pulling the lid from this detaching the fan and mounting it in a custom case with custom cooling.

Opinions?

 

[Essence_of_War]

Anandtech reviewed this NUC:

http://www.anandtech.com/print/9166/intel-nuc5i7ryh-broadwellu-iris-nuc-review

Ganesh doesn't have a sound-meter or an anechoic chamber but:

The NUC5i7RYH is a UCFF PC, but, thanks to the 28W TDP CPU inside, the thermal solution required is a bit more noisy compared to what we saw in the NUC5i5RYK. Subjectively speaking, the unit is silent for most common HTPC use-cases. Only under heavy CPU / GPU loading (such as stressful madVR configurations) does the fan become audible. In our investigation, recent software improvements in the software chain for playback on Windows have lightened the stress considerably. The NUC5i7RYH definitely makes a good HTPC for folks who don't want to pay the premium for a passively cooled system - however, we didn't find too many improvements over the NUC5i5RYK for HTPC workloads. The Iris NUC also has CIR support enabling use of IR remotes in a home theater setting.

and from the comments:

What's the quality of noise on that "slightly audible" under heavy load? Is it just a whoosh of air, which is fairly easy to ignore, or is it a sort of whining sound from the fan spinning at high speed, which is much harder to dismiss?

...
It is not a whining sound - that is more a characteristic of small diameter fans at high speed.

This is a sustained 'whoosh of air' - it is not easy to ignore IMO, but that is subjective. All I can compare it to is against the Broadwell-U NUC - in that case, the whoosh could be ignored (again, subjective)

Hope that helps!

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The 5557U is a dual core.

If your 2012 mini is a quad core (i7?) it's probably faster anyway.

Even disregarding that, it's not much of an upgrade. 2012 isn't that long ago.

 

[vailr]

An educated opinion would need to know what the intended use would be for this device. In what way is your "aging 2012 quad core mac mini" less than adequate?
Also: the i7-5557U CPU (or any CPU with a "U" at the end) is actually dual-core (+ hyper-threading), not quad core.
http://ark.intel.com/products/84993/Intel-Core-i7-5557U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_40-GHz
The graphics performance with the Iris Graphics 6100 would improve, but the overall system performance may not be that much different from what you already have.

 

[philipma1957]

missed the dual core vs the quad core.

Most of my needs are dual core with a little better graphics then the 2012 quad mac mini provides.


I also modded quite a few quad 2012 mac minis for studio mixing audio.

I was looking for a step up for the audio guys I built them for.

So this nuc won't work for them. but it would work for me.

Thanks for info.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

missed the dual core vs the quad core.

Most of my needs are dual core with a little better graphics then the 2012 quad mac mini provides.


I also modded quite a few quad 2012 mac minis for studio mixing audio.

I was looking for a step up for the audio guys I built them for.

So this nuc won't work for them. but it would work for me.

Thanks for info.

Modded how, exactly? *eyebrow*

 

[philipma1957]

Some may say an upgrade rather then a mod.

I pulled the oem hdd got a 2 drive add-on kit. Put in 1 tb samsung ssd with a 2 tb hdd
Then turned it into a fusion drive of 3tb. I added a vmware windows 7 giving 2 os options and 16gb ram. Makes a very nice audio mixing and recording machine.
Also set up a time machine with them on an external nas to keep current tracks and recording saved.

I need quad cpu's for this setup. Most on the guys running these use 2x 21 inch
1600 x 900 monitors. As the video in the 2012 mac mini is a bit short

 

[Valantar]

All NUCs are dual core (4 threads in the majority of them), but the Gigabyte Brix series has some true quad cores, even with Iris Pro or dGPUs. Might be worth checking out.

 

[philipma1957]

All NUCs are dual core (4 threads in the majority of them), but the Gigabyte Brix series has some true quad cores, even with Iris Pro or dGPUs. Might be worth checking out.

yeah I may get this one


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164012

does look like I would need to mod it for fan noise. but it lets me use 2 x 2.5 inch drives.

I need to check how much the intel gpu 5200 is better the the intel gpu 4000.

I have time and may wait to see if they make it with a newer cpu in a few months. thus letting me have a quad core and iris 6000 or better gpu