Help Me Spec Out My NUC

F

Ford Farmer

New Member
Hi All,

Wife wants her own computer and wants a desktop. Our only computer at this time is a 2011 MacBook Air and we've got three iPad's (facilitated by my employer issuing me one). So of course we were going to get a Mac Mini but I found the NUC's while doing some research and thought I could get more bang for my buck going that route (and the wife is leaning heavily towards getting back to Windows for an OS).

This will be my first "build," I know its not really building but for a tech dummy like me it's pretty involved. Time does not allow for me to get in to a "real" build, and an upcoming move to Hong Kong and the associated space constraints of small apartment living requires the mini form factor. What I'd like from you folks is to look at my components to see if I've made any drastic mistakes and to ensure I've sized my system appropriately for our uses. Also maybe warn me of any hiccups I may encounter.

As far as intended use....

-We don't really game. We have a 5 year old Wii that my 5 year old boy has 4 games for and I may get an RC Flight Simulator since I'll be leaving that hobby back here in the states.

-Standard internet surfing, MS Office and various home school related tasks.

-Probably set it up with a Blu Ray player, stream netflix and amazon prime.

-My wife would like to get Photo Shop Elements and start tweaking the photos we take, but we're not into photography so it'll be pretty light working I think.

We have the iPads and will likely stick with Android phones.

The NUC will be this one:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SD9ISIQ...UTF8&colid=JVXR4IKREV8O&coliid=I1QEFCMU5SMDBB

The Memory:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KQCOV5C...colid=JVXR4IKREV8O&coliid=IACEZ8QHOM8EW&psc=1

SSD:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TGIW1XG...olid=JVXR4IKREV8O&coliid=I3FGFB8BIYR3FG&psc=1

OS:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3ZN2W0...=UTF8&colid=JVXR4IKREV8O&coliid=ICIAR6P78KC6Q

What do y'all think? Is it over/under built. Should we just stick with a Mac? I've grown to love my Air. Any advice is sincerely appreciated.

Lastly, I know this is a lengthy first post with a semi-open ended question. I'm into restoring old Fords and it pesters me when someone hops on a forum, posts one question to get the help they need and then disappear forever. So in that regard I'll do my best to stick around and contribute to your community afterward with what little knowledge I do have.

Thank you for your time.
 
Is tiny size really matter?
Personally avoid NUC as it is non upgradable.
For $1000, you can easily get a m-itx machine.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($107.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($107.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($142.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Silverstone RVZ01B Mini ITX Desktop Case ($83.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Silverstone 450W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($93.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $984.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-01 05:04 EDT-0400T-0400[/i]

Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ-265 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer $85
 
Last edited:
Yeah, good setup. I got my brother one of these. Runs a bit hot with even an i3 5010U (sometimes gets weird artefacts - could be due to heat or possibly bad RAM) so my recommendation is make sure you are using it in a well-ventilated area/room because it will run a bit toasty otherwise!
 
Silverstone RVZ01B case is not much bigger than gaming console.

If you are going to HK, you can consider getting the parts there due to warranty.

Have you consider getting laptop instead? I wonder if you having enough space for a PC desk...
 
spirit said:
Yeah, good setup. I got my brother one of these. Runs a bit hot with even an i3 5010U (sometimes gets weird artefacts - could be due to heat or possibly bad RAM) so my recommendation is make sure you are using it in a well-ventilated area/room because it will run a bit toasty otherwise!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback and the heads up on ventilation. I looked at the i7 version also but a couple of reviews mentioned that it got pretty hot and the fan was louder than the i5. That combined with the fact that I'll likely never really push this computer is the reason I chose the i5 machine.

Cisco001 said:
Silverstone RVZ01B case is not much bigger than gaming console.

If you are going to HK, you can consider getting the parts there due to warranty.

Have you consider getting laptop instead? I wonder if you having enough space for a PC desk...
Click to expand...

True about the case, but the smaller the better. Also true about the desk, however we're covered there. Though we have a typically over-sized American home now, this wont be my wife and I's first time doing the small apartment thing. We lived in a 400 sq.ft. studio for the first two years of our marriage and have this awesome little desk we picked up that kind of collapses into itself when not in use. Certainly no room for a tower but with a wireless keyboard and a wall mounted monitor we'll be good to go. We've also considered just working through our TV from the couch. We'll experiment with that here in the next few weeks before the move.

Thanks again for the insight guys!
 
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