Reddit reviews Intel BOXNUC6I5SYH NUC Kit NUC6i5SYH

If it's size you're looking for and cost isn't an issue take a look at the Intel NUC i5. Not much bigger than an RPi and mine handles 2 transcodes plus download chores handily.

Note that most NUCs don't come with RAM or storage, you have to buy those afterwards or find a deal that sells the NUC+RAM+SSD in a bundle.

You don't need more than 8GB of RAM, even 4GB will do for a simple Plex server that isn't used for anything else.

My suggestions.

Intel NUC Broadwell i7

• $450
  
• 2-3 simultaneous 1080p trancodes, will vary depending on media
  
  Intel NUC Skylake i5
  
  
• $425
  
• 2 simultaneous 1080p transcodes
  
  Intel NUC Skylake i3
  
  
• $320
  
• 1-2 simultaneous 1080p transcodes, will vary depending on media.
  
  Intel NUC Broadwell i3
  
  
• $270
  
• 1 1080p transcode
  
  All the other options aren't suitable for plex or aren't price/performance competitive at this time so these are the four different levels to chose from.

Honest opinion, if you want silent performance, buy this for 415€, add an Intel 600p SSD and 16 GB of RAM for 188€ and 100€ respectively, for ~703€ you'll have a silent, small PC fully capable of performing quickly in all the tasks you listed.

That being said, if you want more performance and are less concerned with silence, build this and tune all your fan curves for quiet or silent operation:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor | €69.32 @ Mindfactory
CPU Cooler | Noctua NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler | €39.71 @ Aquatuning
Motherboard | ASRock H270M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard | €129.18 @ Mindfactory
Memory | G.Skill Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory | €100.18 @ Amazon Deutschland
Storage | Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | €172.18 @ Mindfactory
Video Card | Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 2GB Mini Video Card | €123.99 @ Amazon Deutschland
Case | Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case | €47.52 @ Amazon Deutschland
Power Supply | Cooler Master GM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | €59.24 @ Mindfactory
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | €741.32
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-07 23:11 CET+0100 |

The Pentium G4560 offers plenty of performance for a great price, the Noctua cooler should help you keep things quieter, 16GB of RAM (as requested), Samsung's 850 evo series SSDs are the kings of speed and reliability (except for their M.2 cousins, the 960s), and the semi modular PSU will help with cable management in a small but pretty case.

Intel NUC strapped to the back of a monitor with a bluetooth keyboard.

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC6i5SYH-BOXNUC6I5SYH-Silver-Black/dp/B018Q0GN60

I'm putting together a new system for my mother (she's 62 and not the most computer literate of persons). Her current computer is a Pentium 4 with 1 GB of Ram. She was asking me why streaming video is stuttering on her computer....

Anyways. She mostly uses word processing, watches youtube videos, and does a little bit of light photo editing. I'm not in favor of moving her to a Chromebox build because she is at least familiar with Windows and it's easy to support remotely.

I'm not too familiar with the Intenl NUC lines, but they seem to fit the bill - slap in a small SSD and some Ram, get a peripheral or two and it should be good to go.

Question is, is there an older or lower cost version of this that would fit the bill?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018Q0GN60/

i know it's probably overkill and I don't have to "future proof", but wanted to get some opinions of the current i3/i5 builds as compared to say, a year or two old.

Uhm, why not get a nuc instead?

6th generation Intel Core i5-6260U

Intel Core i5-5250U

My recommendation would be to keep an eye out for this later this month, latest generation of the Intel NUC, i7 variant. The i3 and i5 variants are already out, but the i7 should have Intel Iris graphics, which isn't too shabby.

When it hits Amazon, just order it with the "most commonly bought" recommendation, usually the correct Samsung SSD and 8/16gb of RAM. Then just a Windows license and you're good to go.

Assembly is 5 screws and 2 pairs of latches. Even you can do it Jon!

If it is too much, you can try the i5 and i3 variants. I built an i5 for $700usd, reusing a mouse, monitor, and keyboard from an existing build. Plus those come with a version that can take a 2.5" spinning disk drive for extra storage.

Edit: So at amazon.co.uk, here's the i5 NUC. With the Frequently Bought Together it's about £545. The i3 shaves about £115.

I was looking at this for being a power efficient Plex Media Server and possibly other lightweight tasks.. I have a Shield, but I fear that storage will become an issue sooner rather than later. With the gpu transcoding, this may be a great solution now. https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC6i5SYH-Mini/dp/B018Q0GN60/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483714359&sr=8-1&keywords=NUC6i5SYH