Intel NUC Alternatives?

[rage2]

Looking to upgrade my older NUC. Really like the form factor of the NUC because it can be hidden easily. Will be running VMs on there to power all my remaining home windows crap, including plex server with live transcoding, as well as MAME. Bonus if I could play some PC games on there here and there.

NUC 10s were a dud, and Intel NUC 11s are looking pretty decent for around the same $1k price with a huge boost in single core performance. Splurging a little could even get one with a Nvidia GPU.
Mitsu3000gt you’re horny over ryzens but haven’t really found any UFCCs aside from Intel. Anyone suggestions?

[taemo]

if I wasnt a gamer, I would have gotten something like this
https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-x400-mini-pc?variant=37385024143521
looks like they are sold out at the moment though

or look into building/customize your own
https://www.newegg.ca/asrock-deskmini-x300w/p/N82E16856158068?Description=asrock%20x300&cm_re=asrock_x300-_-56-158-068-_-Product
https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20X300%20Series/index.asp#Specification

[killramos]

Mac Mini?

[rage2]

Mac Mini?
Ya I need to virtualize my remaining windows services, so that won’t work. The one thing M1s suck at.

Costco has the nuc10 i7 at 999 loaded, but relooking at the Nuc 11s it looks like it’s not same price but a 20% premium. (50% more for the gpu version). So maybe I should just cheap out and stick with the Nuc 10 instead.

https://www.costco.ca/intel-nuc-10-performance-mini-pc-bxnuc10i7fnhaa1%2c-i7-10710u.product.100706299.html

That’ll do everything but any meaningful gaming.

[killramos]

I mean. I didn’t say M1 haha

I am skeptical that M1 will stay virtualization free forever tbh. I think it’s a huge part of what has enabled Mac to be as mainstream as it is. I half expect Apple to provide an in house solution if third party doesn’t.

[rage2]

Regardless, I just want something sooner rather than later. My old Nuc needs to be replaced. The bios battery is dead and soldered on. Hard reboots require human intervention now which is a PITA.

[suntan]

Mini-ITX board, this case:

https://www.amazon.ca/Goodisory-MX01-Fanless-Chassis-Vertical/dp/B07T2HKWZN/ref=sr_1_18?dchild=1&keywords=mini+itx+case&qid=1613265947&sr=8-18

[rage2]

Mini-ITX board, this case:

https://www.amazon.ca/Goodisory-MX01-Fanless-Chassis-Vertical/dp/B07T2HKWZN/ref=sr_1_18?dchild=1&keywords=mini+itx+case&qid=1613265947&sr=8-18
Ya looking for a fully built solution. Got no time to tinker these days.

[killramos]

https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini/3.0ghz-intel-core-i5-6-core-processor-with-intel-uhd-graphics-630-512gb#

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/01/13/apple-mac-mini-vs-intel-nuc----the-lightweights-spar

Not actually trolling, Mac mini’s are great. Maybe not the best value in the world but great little machines that will do everything you ask.

[rage2]

https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini/3.0ghz-intel-core-i5-6-core-processor-with-intel-uhd-graphics-630-512gb#

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/01/13/apple-mac-mini-vs-intel-nuc----the-lightweights-spar

Not actually trolling, Mac mini’s are great. Maybe not the best value in the world but great little machines that will do everything you ask.
Ya value isn’t there. $1500 by the time I get close to nuc10 specs haha.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Looking to upgrade my older NUC. Really like the form factor of the NUC because it can be hidden easily. Will be running VMs on there to power all my remaining home windows crap, including plex server with live transcoding, as well as MAME. Bonus if I could play some PC games on there here and there.

NUC 10s were a dud, and Intel NUC 11s are looking pretty decent for around the same $1k price with a huge boost in single core performance. Splurging a little could even get one with a Nvidia GPU.
Mitsu3000gt you’re horny over ryzens but haven’t really found any UFCCs aside from Intel. Anyone suggestions?

Haha, I am 'horny' for whatever is objectively the best at any given time, based on a real world testing consensus. So yeah, right now I am a Ryzen fan.

Anyway, there are some but they aren't common. I know of a couple but I am not sure they will do exactly what you want:

https://simplynuc.com/simply-nucs-sequoia-is-a-tiny-ryzen-powered-pc-for-689-and-up/

http://www.asrock.com/nettop/

Nothing that I know of has Ryzen 5000 in it yet, even the laptops are hard to come by as they are suffering the same supply issues due to every desirable CPU/GPU on the market being sold out.

[rage2]

Haha, I am 'horny' for whatever is objectively the best at any given time, based on a real world testing consensus. So yeah, right now I am a Ryzen fan.

Anyway, there are some but they aren't common. I know of a couple but I am not sure they will do exactly what you want:

https://simplynuc.com/simply-nucs-sequoia-is-a-tiny-ryzen-powered-pc-for-689-and-up/

http://www.asrock.com/nettop/

Nothing that I know of has Ryzen 5000 in it yet, even the laptops are hard to come by as they are suffering the same supply issues due to every desirable CPU/GPU on the market being sold out.
So I think we’re finding the same thing. Simply Nuc has the new ruby with the 4000 series. Just got a whole lot more expensive because US. Couldn’t find anyone in Canada with them.

These guys: https://simplynuc.com/ruby/

[rage2]

Best ryzen 4800u mini pc I could find in Canada, but yea, completely unavailable.

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=7_1203&item_id=188706&language=en

Roughly same price as the NUC 11, same overall performance, but Nuc 11 beats it single core.

Guess I’ll wait a month to see what availability looks like. $300 more than the Nuc 10s and both destroy it on performance, so looks like a battle for inventory.

Mitsu3000gt do I have the relative performance accurate?

[Buster]

I'm waiting for the rocket lake i5 to become available and I'll be upgrading my server

[Mitsu3000gt]

Best ryzen 4800u mini pc I could find in Canada, but yea, completely unavailable.

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=7_1203&item_id=188706&language=en

Roughly same price as the NUC 11, same overall performance, but Nuc 11 beats it single core.

Guess I’ll wait a month to see what availability looks like. $300 more than the Nuc 10s and both destroy it on performance, so looks like a battle for inventory.

Mitsu3000gt do I have the relative performance accurate?

So the one in your link vs the NUC 11, I assume that is Ryzen 4800U vs Intel i7 1165G7. The 4800U is about 15% slower single core (for short workloads) and about 40-50% faster for multi-threaded workloads. Sustained performance will also be better on the Ryzen as it doesn't throttle as hard or as soon, at least in laptops. I haven't seen any specific NUC testing, so I am assuming it's similar to the laptops those CPUs are in. The 4800U actually trades blows with Intel's much higher wattage flagship 10980HK in anything multi-core.

So for short tasks in something largely single threaded like MS Office, the Intel will be ~15% faster give or take. For anything sustained or multi-threaded, the Ryzen 4800u will be faster and by a much higher margin if multi-threaded. In the Puget Systems Photoshop benchmark, the 1165G7 is a little bit faster than the 4800U as PS is mostly single threaded unless you're using multi-threaded plugins or opening/saving tons of images at once, then the Ryzen would be significantly faster. In Premiere, using a warp stabilizer (2-threads), the 4800U is about 15% faster.

On the GPU side, Intel's Xe iGPUs have caught up to Ryzen's older Vega iGPUs, so that is essentially a wash. They trade blows depending on the specific benchmark.

I'm not able to see exactly that RAM/SSD are in that Asus NUC so I can't comment there.

These guys do a pretty good overview of the 4800U but keep in mind it's comparing against Intel's 10 series rather than 11 series because the 11 series should really be compared with the Ryzen 5000 series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFYdHkvRs2c

Too bad the 5000 series is so hard to get, as it handily beats both the above CPUs.

[suntan]

Ya looking for a fully built solution. Got no time to tinker these days.

NUCs are popular in the best of times, can't even imagine how it's like now.

[suntan]

So the one in your link vs the NUC 11, I assume that is Ryzen 4800U vs Intel i7 1165G7. The 4800U is about 15% slower single core (for short workloads) and about 40-50% faster for multi-threaded workloads. Sustained performance will also be better on the Ryzen as it doesn't throttle as hard or as soon, at least in laptops. I haven't seen any specific NUC testing, so I am assuming it's similar to the laptops those CPUs are in. The 4800U actually trades blows with Intel's much higher wattage flagship 10980HK in anything multi-core.

So for short tasks in something largely single threaded like MS Office, the Intel will be ~15% faster give or take. For anything sustained or multi-threaded, the Ryzen 4800u will be faster and by a much higher margin if multi-threaded. In the Puget Systems Photoshop benchmark, the 1165G7 is a little bit faster than the 4800U as PS is mostly single threaded unless you're using multi-threaded plugins or opening/saving tons of images at once, then the Ryzen would be significantly faster. In Premiere, using a warp stabilizer (2-threads), the 4800U is about 15% faster.

On the GPU side, Intel's Xe iGPUs have caught up to Ryzen's older Vega iGPUs, so that is essentially a wash. They trade blows depending on the specific benchmark.

I'm not able to see exactly that RAM/SSD are in that Asus NUC so I can't comment there.

These guys do a pretty good overview of the 4800U but keep in mind it's comparing against Intel's 10 series rather than 11 series because the 11 series should really be compared with the Ryzen 5000 series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFYdHkvRs2c

Too bad the 5000 series is so hard to get, as it handily beats both the above CPUs.
Cot damn those Ryzen mobile CPUs are the real deal.

[cam_wmh]

I'm just curious what you're playing your MAME through? Got an arcade console build?

[rage2]

I'm just curious what you're playing your MAME through? Got an arcade console build?
I have an x arcade stick. Playing on the tv where the new Nuc will be connecting to. Right now it’s running on some old 10 year old pc. Consolidating a little further with this upgrade.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Cot damn those Ryzen mobile CPUs are the real deal.

Indeed. Intel looks like they might get their shit together for 2022ish under the new management, but for now Ryzen 4000 and especially 5000 (if you can find one) is what most people are going to want. Really, it's because Intel is still running on 6 year old core architecture and old (large) process nodes. They obviously have the technical know how to make a great CPU (look how far they were able to push Skylake/14nm) so as soon as they can modernize their fabs, they should become much more competitive. A fab line can cost $10B+ so that is why companies like AMD farm the fab out to TSMC, but unfortunately lots of people need to do that, so they can't keep up with demand, especially when every Xbox and PS5 now has a Ryzen CPU in it as well, eating up tons of production capacity.

[rage2]

Thanks everyone esp mitsu for the breakdowns. I only want gaming as a nice to have, and don't want to spend more than $1300. So for gaming, it's a toss up between NUC11 and Asus PN50 Ryzen 4800U. Both look to be coming in at $1300 CAD with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. The problem is stock, looks like inventory is ridiculously tight for anything AMD, and NUC11's being new will be low as well. Let's see how it looks in a couple of weeks, I want to upgrade sooner rather than later at this point.

With that said, still eyeing the cheaper NUC10 at $999 especially if I can't find stock on the other 2. If that goes on sale at costco, screw the nice to have gaming, and getting that instead, which will easily do all the VM shit I need at home.

Thanks everyone.

[cam_wmh]

I have an x arcade stick. Playing on the tv where the new Nuc will be connecting to. Right now it’s running on some old 10 year old pc. Consolidating a little further with this upgrade.

Ya like it? Durable?
I've been pondering the one of the cabinets from them/RecRoomMasters

[rage2]

Ya like it? Durable?
I've been pondering the one of the cabinets from them/RecRoomMasters
It’s ridiculously durable. I’ve had 2 of them, gave the first one away to a friend, still going strong.

[rage2]

Looks like the AMD shortage is the real deal. Our distributor contacted Asus on my behalf, chip shortage from AMD, PN50 4800U won't be restocked till April at the earliest.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Looks like the AMD shortage is the real deal. Our distributor contacted Asus on my behalf, chip shortage from AMD, PN50 4800U won't be restocked till April at the earliest.

AMD stock is a nightmare because so many different companies are competing for TSMC 7nm. Even worse, the new Xbox and PS5 launches pretty much coincided with Ryzen 5000 and both have Ryzen CPUs and GPUs. It's also why Nvidia is using Samsung 8nm, but that doesn't seem to be working out too well for therm either haha.

I ordered a Ryzen 5000 CPU in September and still haven't seen it. I am almost at the point where I should just sell my mobo and wait for Ryzen 6000 or Intel Alder Lake, whatever ends up being better. I'll give it another month or two and then I will probably pull the plug.

Sucks that all these shortages also happened to be in the year where massive performance leaps were made in the PC world, and everyone is working from home or bored at home, so demand is higher than ever for parts. Retailers are claiming they are seeing Black Friday levels of demand every single month.

[rage2]

NUC11 stock incoming in 2-3 weeks is the word from Intel. I was wrong about pricing, it’ll be the same price as the NUC 10. Roughly $1000 with 512gb ssd, 16gb ram, and windows 10. Basically the Costco pricing on Nuc 10. Undercutting the asus ryzen one by $150.

[rage2]

Well, surprise inventory on Asus PN50's this week. NUC 11 got delayed more. Guess I'm joining team AMD with the PN50 4800U. Just got shipped this morning. And ya, $150 more. Oh well.