Getting NUC type mid-key gear

raddaqii · Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 11:01 am Post subject: Getting NUC type mid-key gear

Years ago, when I built my last Gentoo rig at home it was an AM3 hexacore 1100T and 16GB of RAM. Hardware has aged, such that only one of the SATA chips now works, and it won't boot if anything is connected to ports controlled by the second controller chip. Finding out about this shortcoming made me decide "I don't want to fiddle about with hardware much any more". Good old Gigabyte mobo GA-890GPA-UD3H needs to be retired.

Long story short, I'm about to buy new gear, and a NUC seems to fit. Not much cabling to do, a given 2,5'' SSD must fit, has wired network, idc if I'll attach it to the back of the monitor later or not. Must have DisplayPort and or any other decent digital out, USB, PS/2 nice to have. Occasional 1080p gaming, no 4K needed. This will be my day to day working machine, other storage is done on a NAS.

Candidates
* https://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/products/boards-kits/nuc/kits/nuc7i5bnh-16gb-optane.html or the optane-less NUC7i5BNH
* https://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/products/boards-kits/nuc/kits/nuc7i7bnh-16gb-optane.html?wapkw=nuc7i7bnh or the optane-less NUC7i7BNH
* other vendors Fujitsu ESPRIMO Q556-2 Mini PC i5-7400T, ASRock Beebox-S 7200U/B (ugly though), Acer Veriton N4640G, Zotac, MSI Cubi, ...

Reading through this forum gave me an idea that Intel NUCs should work just fine. What I did not find is how emerging stuff on a TDP throttled 15W system works out. Must be considerably slower, or did efficiency go up heavily?

Please share some of your thoughts on this. :)
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bunder · Bodhisattva Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 5934

I guess I could shill for system76 again, they have something NUC sized that can go all the way up to an i7 7567U... I'd buy a few myself, but I need at least a couple with 2 network jacks and wifi. My options personally are a little slim, and I'll probably have to go with one of the zotac nano boxes.

https://system76.com/desktops/meerkat
https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16883218075 (zotac nano w/N3450)

P.Kosunen · Guru Joined: 21 Nov 2005 Posts: 309 Location: Finland

Roman_Gruber · Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 2:41 pm Post subject:

I recommend a box with a discrete gpu not from company INTEL, without hybrid graphics.

I have read several times on the net, intel nuc, playback issues with youtube and such.

A box should be futureproof and last time i checked those had no slot in card to fit in an extra gpu.

Also I am not very fond of everything soldered on the mainboards, exotic mainboard types

I saw several times micro lags on different notebooks with intel gpus / hybrid graphics which also use intel gpus, from different manufactureres including lenovo and msi.

It's up to you if you want a box wiht no upgrade possibilities, and rubbish intel gpu.

Some will argue against it, i was also fooled when i purchased such notebook, because of the Vey good reviews and opinions here, but after dealing with gentoo with intel gpus, i decided never ever again a box with intel gpu or hybrid graphics wiht intel gpus.

I also see a lot of brix, nucs on sale in my area on the second hand market, its obvious why, but guys will never tell you why they sell quite fresh and new hardware.

P.Kosunen · Guru Joined: 21 Nov 2005 Posts: 309 Location: Finland

Hybrid graphics are crap, but there is nothing wrong with new Intel GPUs if you are not gamer, never had problems with drivers and can not say same about AMD and nVidia. VA-API video acceleration works like a charm.

Jaglover · Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 4:39 pm Post subject:

This is a rather old NUC, and it has the weakest CPU - Celeron N3050. Plays everything just fine, even 10-bit H.265 which it cannot do in hardware. Consumes less than 10 W. Note, PS/2 is history.

bunder · Bodhisattva Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 5934

tuggbuss · Apprentice Joined: 20 Mar 2017 Posts: 222

I have and had a bunch if these, have given most of them away, but currently running an 7i7BNH and it's blazing fast!
Big recommendation from me. You probably will install and configure a base install with desktop profile in around 2 hours. I run it with a Samsung 960 PRO 512 GB and 32 GB or RAM.
I will put in a 2 TB SSD as well.

Jaglover · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 9:21 pm Post subject:

I consider it a plus, why should I buy it with all bells and whistles if I may not need them? Look how many power possibilities it has. WiFi card slot is standard, any will do.
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bunder · Bodhisattva Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 5934

raddaqii · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 1:56 pm Post subject:

Thank you all for your suggestions. I still haven't purchased anything yet, but narrowed it down to two options really. system76 appears as cool as those wooden boxen linipc.com used to have, whatever happened to them? Anyhow being in Europe I'd expect import tax issues that sort of might ruin the experience.

What gets me with the NUC7i7BNHX1 is that it is fanless, has an Iris Plus GPU that will be enough for years to come, and it comes with 16GB optane memory. While I'm not entirely sure if it will be highly useful really tests around phoronix and such sites suggest its not a bad thing to have. :)

The other contender is a Zotac MI553, about the same price range which I think I have seen has an i5-7300HQ. Being a gentoo person _of course_ I'll be compiling on this machine, and playing an actual "HQ" QuadCore against a "U" DualCore I'd somewhat expect the "HQ" to pay off. Thoughts?

I'd be complementing that with 16GB of memory and still be below what I feared I might have to spend. The old classical PC cost more, was eating several times the energy and was large and bulky. Taking economics here, I already have a screen and things around, the USB-PS/2 adapter that came with the keyboard surely will do.
_________________
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Gentoo from 2004.3

Oh, took a new home in the fediverse: find me in the stream on pluspora.com: https://pluspora.com/tags/gentoo

raddaqii · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:37 pm Post subject:

As a sidenote, lol, differences between CPUs aren't what they used to be. :D

Checking these https://www.notebookcheck.net/7360U-vs-7260U-vs-7300HQ_8449_8450_8417.247596.0.html and http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-7567U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-7300HQ/m219709vsm223877 I find they differ in minuscule details, and the "HQ" quad feature does account for an ever so teensy percentage of "faster", i.e. can be ignored mostly. 7-12% more in some benchmarks, up to 22% slower in others if not buying datacentre scale would not matter.

So multicore performance and eDRAM caches seem worth looking into, but I may as well decide which packaging is more beautiful.
_________________
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Gentoo from 2004.3

Oh, took a new home in the fediverse: find me in the stream on pluspora.com: https://pluspora.com/tags/gentoo

Jaglover · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:56 pm Post subject:

My i3 was snappier than my i5. Because for apps which do not utilize many threads i3 will do just fine, my i3 ran up to 3.7 GHz, making it more responsive then my 3.2 GHz i5.
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My Gentoo installation notes.
Please learn how to denote units correctly!

P.Kosunen · Guru Joined: 21 Nov 2005 Posts: 309 Location: Finland

raddaqii · Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:57 am Post subject:

FTR, I got me an Intel NUC 7i5BNB with an i5-7260U CPU.

After configuring the UEFI bit from an Ubuntu live environment everything went smoothly, and I am very happy to have a largely inaudible and tiny piece of equipment on my desk. I guess my using the Optane memory could be optimized, but hey it cold boots in about 4 seconds, so no hurry there. :D
_________________
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Gentoo from 2004.3

Oh, took a new home in the fediverse: find me in the stream on pluspora.com: https://pluspora.com/tags/gentoo

bunder · Bodhisattva Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 5934

i think i'm gonna skip using a nuc as a wap/router...

i'm currently waiting on the hades canyon nuc for a htpc.