Intel NUC review

[stanlite]

Hello All

i recently (and in anticipation of completing my never finishing observatory) purchased a Intel NUC small form PC to run my imaging setup which cost me $279.

this is my model:
http://www.gamedude.com.au/prod_show.php?art_no=sysINnuc_dc321 7by

as is the case with NUC it came without a HDD(or SSD if you will) nor RAM which cost me another $238 ($139 for 120GB SSD and $99 for 8GB ram) so all up total cost $517 about the same as a cheaper decent laptop. I had to then spend a further $35 to get the thunderbolt to ethernet adapter for network access.

Tonight was the baptism of fire so to speak after an aborted attempt last weekend which resulted in tears (more on that later). I have been quite impressed with this setup and it will now take its place as my dedicated astro PC.

So i suppose a review is in order. First things first it is tiny, and i mean tiny about the same size as a kendrick digifire10. This model runs on 19V power but other NUC models run on 12V. While it may seem small it packs a powerful punch with the 3217BY model CPU rated higher than some entry level gaming PC's i have looked at. Add in the SSD and up to 16GB of Ram that the motherboard can take this small form PC should be able to easily handle anything you can throw at it. So far plate solves, auto-focus routines and all the other equipment bashing has not resulted in any issues (apart from a driver issue with my loadstar but i am fairly sure that is my fault).

Tonight's session also featured a remote session control via my network using team viewer with no issue.

So to review so far the PROS:
-small form (makes for insane pack up in the field)
-small power load (no massive electricity bill from my 800W gaming rig lol)
-seamlessly interacts with the network through thunderbolt connection.
-cheap yet powerful (more RAM then like priced Laptops/PC's)

However, no review is complete without the cons. The first night i attempted to use the NUC i ran into a issue after about 40mins of us, the entire thing seized up and needed a shutdown. I identified the problem the next day. Despite its small form and power consumption the NUC suffers from overheating issues, more speciffically the mSata SSD does due to the lack of cooling (only one fan and it is attached to the CPU). What was happening was the CPU as it heated up was dumping most of its heat into the motherboard and the failsafe for the SSD kicked in and shut the lot down. The solution was fairly simple and required the change in the BIOS menu of the Fan from max 2000rpm to full speed 6000rpm.

The cooling likewise is only insufficient (at the 2000RPM speed) if all the usb, HDMI and thunderbolt ports are all being used (and thus drawing power) at the same time. Again this issue was solved by upping the fan speed.

Another issue is that this NUC only comes with 3 USB ports the the use of a quality USB hub is a must (something i have in my Kendrick Imaging power panel). So USB nuts out there might need something with more than three ports (although the thunderbolt port allows interesting USB Hubs).

CONS:
-Overheating issue requires change to BIOS fan settings
-Only 3 USB ports
-Case is made of plastic.

I have overcome all issues that has been thrown up so far and i am really happy with my NUC choice. May be the way of the future for some observatory rigs, particularly given its ability to have so much RAM and CPU power.

[Steffen]

That's tiny!



You could avoid those by using a Mac mini, but that would cost about $200 more than what you spent on yours. A Mac mini with dual-core i5, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Gbit-Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, FW-800, 4x USB3, Thunderbolt, HDMI and built-in PSU costs $750. It also has a larger footprint (20cm x 20cm).

Cheers
Steffen.

[killswitch]

I received one of these NUC's last year as a test unit. Great little units, sits neatly behind monitors. Although i found it lacked a sound card, USB ports and cheap storage options (at the time).

I had the exact model as you but i swapped it for the model with Ethernet and Dual HDMI ports (No WiFi and Thunderbolt port on that model though). Never had any issues with overheating, it barely ate up any power.

Did you get the surprise Intel jingle when you opened the box? :lol:

[h0ughy]

what its not blue? nice top see it working Grady and sounds a great investment, as for the heat cold nights out imaging would help in winter but summer you have a problem

[The_bluester]

I have a couple of NUCs at home, all set up as HTPC rigs. One sitting on a bench, one under a TV unit and a third on the supplied mount, hiding behind the respective TV. I have been really impressed with them as a HTPC and was thinking about buying another one whenever I actually manage to build my observatory. The ones I have now are the original generation I3 and Celeron versions.

I ran into what was probably the heat issue once on one of them and solved it by re seating the SSD and going back to the default cooling profile (I set it to quiet before that) I am only using a 32GB SSD though which may reduce the heat load.

In my case as a HTPC it was a 10 minute install of Openelec (XBMC pre packaged with a stripped down version of Linux) and they have been pretty much appliance like for a year or so.

Power draw is insignificant IMO, playing video they use under 20W (Calculated with a clamp ammeter on the active conductor at 240V) idle was about 14 and sleeping about 12W and just about the same when fully off. It just wont get much lower than that. I only have them sleep as one is in our bedroom and the only place the cooling fan is audible is, you guessed it, my pillow! I think nearly half the running power draw (Which is still pretty lightly loaded) is coming form the power brick so the only significant reduction to be had would be to switch off at the wall instead of sleeping or off.


Glad to hear you did not have too many issues as I was thinking seriously about one for astro stuff.

[stanlite]

i was thinking the same thing huff, so i tested it today indoors on a full load in a warm room (roughly 25C) everything played nicely for the hour i had it running. Given i am unlikely to image if it is too much hotter then 25C i think my fears regarding this are settled.

[The_bluester]

I will add, the only one that I think had the heat related issue had been continuously "On" in XBMC but idle for a couple of weeks at the time. After changing the fan settings and reseating the SSD it has not done it since in about four months. That was over the worst of summer too.

[Occulta]

For those interested

https://zazz.com.au/ have 3 versions of these computers for sale today.
Celeron - 2820
i3 - 4010
i5 - 4250

Chris

[The_bluester]

I don't know about the others but the 2820 was known to have a few issues and was going to be superseded by a new model. They have USB problems in some situations.

[stanlite]

Not sure about the 2820, mine is the 4010 i3 ... so far managed over 14 hours of imaging with my NUC using every peripheral (3xUSB2, Thunderbolt for Ethernet and HDMI for display) and nay a issue with any of them. This includes two of the USB ports being connected to USB hubs with 3 and 5 connections respectively.

[The_bluester]

I am pretty sure it was the 2820 only. The issue was actually a hardware problem, the updated one actually replaced the processor itself. Ironic given that the later series was produced in part to overcome an issue in Video playback with the older ones that I have.

Doubly ironic as I have tried very hard to replicate the problem on my old "ivy Bridge/sandy bridge" units without success. They are supposed not to play 24Hz content properly, stuttering every so often as they literally play at 24Hz and the real frame rate is 23.something so they drop a frame now and again to keep things in sync. I am pretty fussy and I can't pick it.

I know XBMC video is outside the scope of what you are doing and reviewing, but possibly not for me whenever I finally get to build an obs. I plan to put a PC in there which I would multi purpose for light astro work, net browsing and probably music/video via XBMC (Cheesy Sci Fi for the imaging nights with a friend where looking at his laptop continuously trashes my dark adaptation anyway)

[mithrandir]

All gone. No ETA for more stock.

[The_bluester]

The price on the NUC seem pretty stable and most places are pretty close to each other. I bought the three I have from PC Casegear.

[Occulta]

For those interested and who missed out previously.

Zazz (https://zazz.com.au/daily/thingy/10459) has Intel NUC's available again today.

Same spec's as before.

Chris