Intel NUC



The Intel NUC is a series of small, awesome, x86-based PCs that works fantastically as an HTPC. Can run a full desktop OS if desired. Reasonable starting price considering size and power. Uses Celeron to Core i5 CPUs. Can run fanless with a replacement heatsink case.

About the Intel NUC
NUCs are available with either Celeron, Core i3 or Core i5 processors. You will need to purchase your own DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM, mSATA SSD, and if desired, MiniPCIe WiFi card. All current NUCs have 2x DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, allowing a maximum of 16GB of RAM (8 GB per slot). Newest models based on the 4th-Generation Core processor require DDR3L SO-DIMMs (1.35V). Although NUC boards will work with DC power ranging from 12VDC~19VDC, NUC kits come with a 19VDC 65W switching power adapter. However, not all SKUs have the AC power cord included. There are multiple SKUs of the latest NUC models, each of which has a different type of AC power cord, depending on the country/region/plug type.

All NUCs are x86 and x64 OS capable. You can install Windows 7, 8 or just XBMCbuntu or OpenELEC. It doesn't matter. But if you don't need Netflix, SkyGO, then stick with OpenELEC or XBMCbuntu. They even have the internal pin headers for extra USB ports, but also for power switch, LEDs etc. More on this later.

Celeron-based
There are two NUC's based on a Celeron processor: the first-generation DCCP847DYE and the third-generation DN2820FYKH.

The Celeron-based NUC can play everything XBMC can including 1080p SBS 3D. It will struggle with full frame packed 3D. Boot up time direct into XBMC is less than 10 seconds. It is entirely possible to create a system with an 32GB mSATA SSD and 4GB RAM, which will be overkill when you want to run OpenELEC but might be interesting in case you are considering a Windows build. For a cheap alternative with upgrade potential, you could use the internal USB headers to run the entire system from a USB stick. If you read the NUC thread, there are screen caps of prices to help you compare to today's prices.

Skinswise, Confluence, Ace or Bello are wonderful to use and very fluid. Once you start using the heavier skins that utilise many addons, such as Aeon Nox, MQ3, MQ4 you will notice they run smooth but not as fluid as what can be enjoyed on the i3 & i5 models.

Core i3-based
There are four different NUCs equipped with Core i3 processors. The table below shows the similarities and differences:

Can software decode most formats if needed. Does everything the Celeron can do and full frame packed 3D. Good for an HTPC that also needs light gaming and maybe some more heavy Windows applications. If you don't need those things, then you might want to stick with the Celeron to save some money.

Core i5-based
There are three NUCs models with Core i5 processors. The table below shows the similarities and differences:

Missing internal USB header on some early models
If you have a NUC and want to know if you have the usb header installed or not:

Look at the bottom of your unit, and locate the SA number (System Assembly) on the bottom of the NUC.

http://www.treasure-cove.net/nuc_sa.jpg

If you have:

SA ######-101  -->  NO USB HEADER installed

SA ######-102  --> has internal USB HEADER

SA ######-103  --> has internal USB HEADER

SA ######-104  --> has internal USB HEADER

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-034370.htm

If your unit is still under warranty, visit - http://www.intel.com/support/mailform/desktop/nuc/emailsupport.htm

Send them all of the info about your unit,... Model# Serial# SA#, etc.

Be sure to fill in the description box, that you have a unit without the usb header, you want to use the headers as they were part of the reason you bought it. [For instance to fit your IR receiver inside] You've contacted the place you bought it from and they told you to contact Intel.

They'll arrange courier and you'll organise the where/when they'll collect it. Only send the mainboard, no case/accessories/etc.

Within 2 weeks. You'll have a factory fresh replacement and most likely in full retail box. So you might end up with a spare case!

Windows

 * Having graphical UI corruption with a NUC that uses Intel HD4000 graphics? Try these beta graphics drivers: 32-bit • 64-bit.

Hi10P / 10bit
The first stable version with Hi10P support is XBMC v12 (Frodo). Multi-core software decoding is essential on the Celeron NUC, which is available in normal OpenELEC builds and development builds for Windows.

The Celeron 847 NUC can play most 10bit anime near flawlessly (as shown here ). Frames might start dropping at around 18Mbps, but common anime releases seem to have no significant issues. For more info, see this thread on the XBMC forum.

Mods
Here are some mods the community has done.

IR mods
Here's one user's mod to add IR: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=166886

He added http://www.simerec.com which is ON/OFF capability via remote, and added in IR from a Microsoft USB RC6 IR receiver. Plenty of pics and detailed description. Even the holes were covered with LightDims, which worked fantastically.

Fanless cases
There are several fanless cases available for the NUC:

Logic Supply offers a fanless case, the ML300, compatible with the following Intel NUC motherboards: DCP847SKE, D33217GKE, and D53427RKE. The fully configured system is also available, the Core-ML300.

The Haswell version, the ML320 is in production available to pre-order as well as the fully configured system version, the Core-ML320.

You can also buy fanless cases for these NUCs: http://www.impactics.com/d1nu1-b/

White model with RC6 USB receiver plugged into front of it: http://postimg.org/image/klk0h6yp3/

Linux bootloader
info on what you choose when installing archboot when you do a UEFI install?

I used a GPT layout with GRUB as bootloader. Here's my partition info:

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.7 Partition table scan: MBR: protective BSD: not present APM: not present GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT. Disk /dev/sda: 125045424 sectors, 59.6 GiB Logical sector size: 512 bytes Disk identifier (GUID): 783A3002-626F-49A1-85D1-12225885803E Partition table holds up to 128 entries First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 125045390 Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries Total free space is 4062 sectors (2.0 MiB)

Number Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name 1           2048            6143   2.0 MiB     EF02  BIOS_GRUB 2           8192         1056767   512.0 MiB   EF00  UEFI_SYSTEM 3        1056768         3153919   1024.0 MiB  8300  SWAP 4        3153920       125045390   58.1 GiB    8300  BTRFS[/code]

The BIOS_GRUB partition is not really needed, I just added it in case I wanted to install to MBR and still use GPT. The UEFI_SYSTEM partition is mounted to /boot/efi. Look at the GRUB page in the Arch wiki, it has pretty good instructions.

Links

 * http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/nuc.html - Intel's NUC product page
 * Next Unit of Computing - Wikipedia page on the NUC
 * http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=140534 - XBMC NUC resource thread
 * http://www.impactics.com/d1nu1-b/ - impactics fanless NUC case
 * http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=166886 - Celeron NUC with mods
 * http://www.simerec.com - install IR on/off capabilities (NUC can sleep/wake without mods)
 * http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/guides/nuc-i3-home-theater-solution-guide.pdf - Intel's NUC + XBMC setup guide
 * http://www.logicsupply.com/components/cases/nuc/ - Logic Supply NUC Cases
 * http://www.logicsupply.com/computers/feature/nuc/ - Logic Supply NUC Computers

Random notes
Feel free to place various notes, tips, and links here. As this section of the wiki gets more organized, those notes will be properly sorted. Consider this like a dumping ground for when you're not sure where to put something.



Stuttering Of Playback/No Audio
While I found this to be OpenELEC specific, my guess is this problem stems from Linux support for the NUCs. Consider upgrading your kernel to bring in the latest features if you see this on other Linux based platforms.

For OpenELEC current version 3.2.4 does not support all the features of the new Haswell NUCs, and while you can fix video stuttering there is still now sound.

Utilize the current beta version of OpenELEC XBMC 3.95.2 (Beta 4.2)

NB: While this is more a specific distribution rather than pure XBMC, I have added it here as many people will look here first for NUC and XBMC.