tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
Hi guys,
Okay so I've been waiting for months now for the 6th gen intel nucs to go on sale (because intel couldn't be bothered enabling HD audio pass through on the 5th gen windows drivers...).
Now I can finally get my hands on a i5 model paying only a 100 euro premium over what you'd pay in the rest of the world (thank you Japan...) but now I'm wondering if it's the right choice.
I plan on running Kodi, Emby server (for transcoding, 1 ~ 2 1080p streams at most), one or two lightweight VM's at some other background stuff that shouldn't really take up much processing power.
Noise, price and space are important for me as I plan on having the system on 24/7 and I live in a small one room apartment so it should be silent.
Intel NUC:
Pro's
- Small, can stuff it away anywhere.
- Low power.
- Decent IGP (compared to my passive system below).
- Cheaper than my other build
Con's
- Not sure how silent the fan is. Don't think you can fully turn it of and small fans = noise.
- No 3.5" HDD space so when my current disk is full I probably have to spend extra on a NAS.
- Don't think this cpu will handle much more than 1 1080p stream, might not be very future proof.
- Cheaper initial price but might end up spending more due to having to buy a NAS.
Passive PC build:
Pro's
- intel i5-6400T should be quite a bit faster than the NUC.
- Space for HDD's & PCI-E slot making it (more) future proof.
- Can be made fully passive with a passive PSU and a NoFan CR80.
Con's
- 200 ~ 300 euro higher purchasing price.
- Takes up more space (though I might be able to fit it under my bed).
- IGP is pretty weak compared to the NUC.
Okay so I've been waiting for months now for the 6th gen intel nucs to go on sale (because intel couldn't be bothered enabling HD audio pass through on the 5th gen windows drivers...).
Now I can finally get my hands on a i5 model paying only a 100 euro premium over what you'd pay in the rest of the world (thank you Japan...) but now I'm wondering if it's the right choice.
I plan on running Kodi, Emby server (for transcoding, 1 ~ 2 1080p streams at most), one or two lightweight VM's at some other background stuff that shouldn't really take up much processing power.
Noise, price and space are important for me as I plan on having the system on 24/7 and I live in a small one room apartment so it should be silent.
Intel NUC:
Pro's
- Small, can stuff it away anywhere.
- Low power.
- Decent IGP (compared to my passive system below).
- Cheaper than my other build
Con's
- Not sure how silent the fan is. Don't think you can fully turn it of and small fans = noise.
- No 3.5" HDD space so when my current disk is full I probably have to spend extra on a NAS.
- Don't think this cpu will handle much more than 1 1080p stream, might not be very future proof.
- Cheaper initial price but might end up spending more due to having to buy a NAS.
Passive PC build:
Pro's
- intel i5-6400T should be quite a bit faster than the NUC.
- Space for HDD's & PCI-E slot making it (more) future proof.
- Can be made fully passive with a passive PSU and a NoFan CR80.
Con's
- 200 ~ 300 euro higher purchasing price.
- Takes up more space (though I might be able to fit it under my bed).
- IGP is pretty weak compared to the NUC.