Small form factor PC (NUC or other options)

[Computeruserlvl1]

I am looking to replace a general use PC in the near future and have been intrigued by the small form factor options. I am leaning towards the NUC cause I like the simplicity and portability but I would like to hear people's experience with the NUC and what other options they would recommend? I am also under the impression that the NUC parts are what are found in ultra books and should perform roughly the same.

Requirements:
- Reliable (I can expect it to work with minimal maintenance)
- HD streaming
- Quiet (wish I could get a tranquilpc case but the shipping cost is hard to justify)
- Light user tasks such as browsing, emails, and Office)
- USB Desktop microphone
- SSD

Luxury usage:
- Dota 2 + Skype (most important is to have consistent FPS preferably 60, I can play on low/med with no visual enhancements as long as everything is accurate)
- Ethernet port

Related Questions:
What different does HDMI 1.4 to 2.0 make?

How much does single channel vs dual channel compare? Will I still be able to do all the basic requirements comfortably with a Celeron NUC for example?

What are reliable SSD brands? I won't need a big one since it is unlikely much will be on it.

Is there any reason to wait for Broadwell? Will you expect the initial price compared to the current Gen of NUC?

Current potential build
Haswell NUC N2839 - i5-4250U
120gb SSD
4-8gb RAM

Open to any suggestions. Thank You

Simple Sleek and Compact

 

[IInuyasha74]

Hello,

I haven't personally used one of the NUC devices but I would tend to think they are pretty good for basic use. It would be able to handle all of the tasks you mentioned without any issue really, they are meant and work perfect for small media players, web browsers, and basic office work.

The gaming is a no go though. You will have to play at 1024x768 resolutions, without skype running, just to manage 60FPS.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-5000.91978.0.html

That is the graphics chip for the system, and its very low. Its not meant for gaming. HD video play back yes, gaming no. Only old games should be played.

HDMI 2.0 is an unimportant feature for you. The biggest advantage HDMI 2.0 has is letting you play games at 60FPS at 4k. Since none of these will be fast enough to do that anyways, there is no point in worrying about it.

Dual Channel is an important feature especially for graphics performance in games. I would advise strongly if you want to use one of these and hope to play games at all that you wait for the Broadwell version. The Broadwell version will have much faster graphics and consume less power, be smaller, basically better all around. It might be able to play DOTA 2 at 1366x768 resolution with medium settings and get 60FPS, using the Broadwell NUC and dual-channel RAM. It may not though, but its the best chance you will have. If you want to game at all, its highly recommended you wait.

 

[Joe Yahchouchi]

I currently own a NUC D54250WYKH intel core i5, one stick 8 GB ram(it fits another stick) it fits an msata ssd as well as a regular laptop sata disk(I currently use a hard disk 750 GB) And I can say it is good for gaming and it is sturdy, I don't mainly use it for games but I have tested it with league of legends and rappelz and it runs these games on medium to high graphics, on hd screen without lag. The intel integrated graphics 5000 exceeded my expectations in that area.

The dual channel vs single channel affects the frame rates in most games by 10 to 20% fps according to most videos and tutorials I have seen, apparently if you are using integrated graphics, they in turn need to be moving things in and out of memory very quickly, and that is where dual channel comes into play. And given the limited cpu power (dual core 2.6 GHZ max as it stands) I think you wouldn't be upgrading to 16 GB, so I recommend you buy 2 sticks of 4 GB unlike what I did. The cpu will become a bottleneck long before the 8 GB will. That should give you the most performance out of games.

As for sound, it is quiet, it is mostly why I got it, so I can leave it on at nigth in my bedroom without any lights and fan sounds bothering me, and it has not disappointed, it does tend to heat up a bit while playing games, but nothing dangerous(I just thought it would be worth noting) HD streaming and regular uses will not be a problem at all, and if you use an ssd I expect it to be insanely fast, this NUC has exceeded my expectations and it was all in all cheap(I paid 560$ for an 8 GB stick, a wifi card, the hard disk I already had)

I would recommend you do NOT buy the wifi chip that comes with intel, it was very bad, it kept disconnecting and giving me problems, I did not like it, eventually I hooked my NUC with its Ethernet card through a cable to the router(it's close anyway)

The NUC comes with all usb 3.0 I liked that fact. As for waiting for newer generation, I might recommend you do if there is an i7 quad core in sight, or if you plan on using it for things that need powerful graphics, as each newer cpu generation comes with more powerful integrated graphics.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I would recommend a larger SSD; at least 256Gb. Larger disks tend to be faster. OS and apps will eat that up and about 20% needs to be free for TRIM. I'd consider a Crucial BX100 at 500Gb for the only drive, at $179.

 

[Joe Yahchouchi]

I would recommend a larger SSD; at least 256Gb. Larger disks tend to be faster. OS and apps will eat that up and about 20% needs to be free for TRIM. I'd consider a Crucial BX100 at 500Gb for the only drive, at $179.

Actually, some versions (like the one I own) fit for 2 drives, an msata ssd and a regular laptop disk, so he can use a smaller ssd and a large disk, and have the speed and storage he needs for a smaller budget,

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Cost is less, yes, but SSD only is quiet and uses less power and generates less heat, all good things for this build.