NUC & BRIX discussion thread

[Azuma Hazuki]

It's really nice to see such small machines becoming so powerful

I've been a tiny-compy person for over half a decade now. My latest was built in the Silverstone PT13B (and using its AR04 cooler); i3-4130, 16GB of DDR3-1600, and a cute little mSATA SSD. That one is a Linux box for a friend who does dev work on it. It's also the snappiest thing I've ever built.

Didn't someone once say that the computer would eventually become a bump in the electric cord powering the display...?

 

[Aikouka]

Given the size of it, the 2.5" drive bay would probably eat like 40% of the battery space.

I think you're talking about the laptop. I said that I wanted a 2.5" bay in the Core, which is the external GPU enclosure. The only difficulty there might be how to transmit the data. I think everything goes over the Thunderbolt 3 connection regardless, so it could just be through a SATA controller.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Wow looks like the Skylake NUCs have pretty bad reviews out on Newegg. Is it really that bad? Should I consider a Broadwell one instead?

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-Blac...25663551323514481556&affillinktype=10&veh=aff

 

[beginner99]

Wow looks like the Skylake NUCs have pretty bad reviews out on Newegg. Is it really that bad? Should I consider a Broadwell one instead?

AFAIK if broadwell NUCs are cheaper I would choose them depending on what you need them for. The Skylake ones don't offer much in terms of HTPC usage. iGPU of i5 version is however clearly better but no HDMI 2.0 as well! So if you need HDMI 2.0 amd/or 4k 60 fps now or want to future-proof HTPC, you are out of luck or have to wait for the Skull canyon NUC.

Given that HDMI 1.4 supports 4k 24 and 30 hz I don't think this is a huge issue for HTPC usage.

 

[TheStu]

I think you're talking about the laptop. I said that I wanted a 2.5" bay in the Core, which is the external GPU enclosure. The only difficulty there might be how to transmit the data. I think everything goes over the Thunderbolt 3 connection regardless, so it could just be through a SATA controller.

In Past TheStu's defense, although you said Core, you then talked about the piddly storage in the LAPTOPs, and how you didn't want things hanging off of things (like laptops).

But yea, there has to be space in the core. And it wouldn't be complicated (not sure about cost) to put a TB<>SATA controller in there and then carry the data back over TB3

 

[TeknoBug]

Wow looks like the Skylake NUCs have pretty bad reviews out on Newegg. Is it really that bad? Should I consider a Broadwell one instead?

Yeah I've read through them, it's mostly complaints about the included Avexir RAM that Newegg bundled with them. I'm still eyeing the i5 6260U NUC but perhaps it's better to wait since they're lacking some HTPC features as mentioned above.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Wow looks like the Skylake NUCs have pretty bad reviews out on Newegg. Is it really that bad? Should I consider a Broadwell one instead?

I got a Skylake NUC and dont have any issues. And I would never trade it for a Broadwell.

 

[RossMAN]

Fry's has the Asus 1.7Ghz Vivo Mini UN62 Intel i5-4210U for $249 after e-mail promo code. Wish it were Broadwell or Skylake but Haswell is fine with me.

I want a small, fast, low power, efficient office computer for my wife, mostly 95% internet, Youtube, flash and some light video editing. Nothing CPU/GPU intensive and no gaming. Wired ethernet is a requirement, WiFi/BT would be nice but not required.

Still debating between Intel NUC, MSI Cubi, Gigabyte BRIX, and Asus Vivo Mini. Just want a solution that is efficient, fast, stable and easy to maintain. What do you all think?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I got a Skylake NUC and dont have any issues. And I would never trade it for a Broadwell.

Why do you say you would never trade it for a Broadwell? Is there something huge in the Skylake NUC that I'm missing out on?

Also, how long have you had your Skylake NUC?

 

[ShintaiDK]

Why do you say you would never trade it for a Broadwell? Is there something huge in the Skylake NUC that I'm missing out on?

Also, how long have you had your Skylake NUC?

Yes, faster, better decode, SST etc.

Since Dec 22.

 

[Kaido]

Leaning tower of Pcisa:

These little mini computers have made my life as a hardware admin sooooo much easier :awe:

 

[Blue_Max]

Leaning tower of Pcisa:

That was a thing of beauty... Daaaang! :wub:

If money was no object, the Brix w/ GTX 760M would be all mine!

Looking forward to more, better SFF's in the near future!

 

[dillhole]

MSI Cubi (Broadwell) owners - did any of you have any trouble getting the thing to recognize a 2.5" drive? I haven't ever gotten any of the drives I've tried to show up in the BIOS (2 SSDs and 2 HDDs so far). I can get all of my mSATA drives to show up fine.

The Windows installer can see the drives, but can't perform any actions on them (tells me to make sure the SATA controller is enabled in the BIOS). Trying to use the command prompt to run a chkdsk/repair/etc on the drives always result in failure. All drives test good in other machines.

I know MSI mentions you can't boot from the 2.5" drive, but I can't see why not. I've seen others here boot from a 2.5" drive. Any ideas? This is my second unit (first one was doa) and I'm pretty much done with them if I can't figure this out. Not worth the hassle.

Thanks!

 

[Kaido]

That was a thing of beauty... Daaaang! :wub:

If money was no object, the Brix w/ GTX 760M would be all mine!

Looking forward to more, better SFF's in the near future!

Yeah, I'm really disappointed that the GTX 760 model is EOL. I was using those in a lot of triple-monitor engineering setups (especially now that 27" HD IPS screens are like $200 now!) & everyone is OOS now

The cool thing is, the technology just keeps shrinking & getting better. Roku just released a new quad-core streaming stick for $50 that is crazy tiny...I can only imagine what the Intel Sticks will be like in a few years!

http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/05/rokus-new-50-stick-sports-a-quad-core-cpu-in-a-smaller-frame/

 

[you2]

fyi fry has the gigabyte i3 skylake (6100) brix on sale for $239 with promo code. Much better than $400 for a celeron

 

[sphenodont]

fyi fry has the gigabyte i3 skylake (6100) brix on sale for $239 with promo code. Much better than $400 for a celeron

Care to share the promo code? And is it in-store only?

 

[you2]

in store only this time. should have checked about 1/2 the time they are mail and store. promo code are tied to email address (I think) to prevent sharing.

Care to share the promo code? And is it in-store only?

 

[Kaido]

fyi fry has the gigabyte i3 skylake (6100) brix on sale for $239 with promo code. Much better than $400 for a celeron

Ahhhhh I wish I lived near a Fry's

 

[daperl]

I hadn't seen the bottom before:

Also, here's a link to a different info page:

http://ark.intel.com/products/89187/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC6i7KYK

 

[Kaido]

I hadn't seen the bottom before:

Also, here's a link to a different info page:

http://ark.intel.com/products/89187/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC6i7KYK

That's the new Skull Canyon NUC:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3045...nuc-the-most-powerful-game-ready-mini-pc.html

It's basically an i7 NUC with support for 32 gigs of RAM & an external GPU chassis. So you can slap a GTX980 in the case if you want. Also has support for RAID M.2 drives, so you could pull in 2gb/s+ in RAID-0. Would love to see what a pair of 1TB SM961's could do in that thing!

 

[Kaido]

B&H has the Skull Canyon NUC on pre-order for $634:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1243688-REG/intel_boxnuc6i7kyk_mini_pc_nuc_kit.html

Estimated ship date is May 21st. Amazon has a page up as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-NUC6i7KYK-Mini-BOXNUC6I7KYK/dp/B01DJ9XID4

Another listing for $50 more with a May 11th ship date:

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-NUC6i7KYK-Mini-BOXNUC6I7KYK1/dp/B01DJ9XS52

A 32gb DDR4 kit is $120:

http://www.amazon.com/CRUCIAL-TECHNOLOGY-32GB-16GBx2-CT2K16G4SFD8213/dp/B015YPB8ME

A 256gb 950 Pro is $182 & a 512gb 950 Pro is $318. Win10 Home is $85 & Pro is $100. The Razer Core external GPU chassis is $500. Curious to see what options they have for workstation GPU support (if any). The Core is supposed to ship this month, so hopefully we'll find out more soon. Now that the BRIX Gaming has been discontinued, this would make a nice replacement for compact, non-laptop CAD workstations. Doesn't look like the 12gb M6000 would fit, but maybe the 6GB Quadro 6000 would. $1990 (minus a GPU) gets you the NUC, 32gb RAM, dual 512gb NVMe drives, Win10 Pro, and a Razor Core dock, which is a pretty crazy setup, especially since you're getting a quad-core i7 Skylake chip:

http://ark.intel.com/products/93341/Intel-Core-i7-6770HQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz

 

[daperl]

Intel NUC6i7KYK Skull Canyon Unboxing - First Look

Skull Canyon NUC A Look Inside

 

[daperl]

What's weird is the following picture is the "Skull Canyon NUC A Look Inside" video thumbnail, but an image with memory and an SSD doesn't appear in the video. Still waiting for the lid replacement video...

EDIT: Well, they changed the thumbnail. Strange.

 

[Blue_Max]

Part of me thinks "super cool!" but an equal part would prefer the more cube-ish shape of old. Heck, I'd take it a little taller to have a moderate-end MXM video option!