Reddit mentions of Intel NUC 6 Performance Kit (NUC6i7KYK) - Core i7, Add't Components Needed

Inventory:

pfSense:
Snort, pfBlockerNG, OpenVPN, Squid, ClamAV, Default deny ingress/egress FW, etc.

ZOTAC ZBOX NUC

Kingston 120GB SSD

Crucial 8GB DDR3L RAM

ESXi Hypervisor:

Skull Canyon NUC

32GB DDR4 RAM

Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 SSD

Virtual Machines I'm currently running.

Splunk - Receives my FW, DNS, Snort, and OSSEC logs. I have dashboards to filter this data.

Snorby - Also receives my Snort logs. I like this a little better than Splunk as I can view packet contents.

OSSEC - I used this for file integrity and endpoint monitoring on my servers and desktop. Functions as a host based IDS.

Nessus - I use this every once in a while to see if there are any open holes. Otherwise, I just use nmap and iptables to close everything off.

Unifi Controller - for managing my AP.


Wireless:

Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC Lite


Switch:

TP-LINK 8-Port Gigabit L2 Switch

RetroPi + Monitor:

RPi3

10.1 Inch IPS HDMI Monitor


My VMs, configs, and files are backed up to a HDD I keep offline. I'm thinking about adding a NAS into the mix for somewhere around 200-400 dollars. Low energy consumption preferably if anyone had any recommendations. :)

NUC6i7KYK...

I've now installed about 2 dozen of these puppies. And plan to deploy another dozen or two within the next year.

It's a fantastic work terminal, mini-server, cluster-node. I can't recommend enough that if you go this route, you get a Samsung 960 Pro as the primary SSD. 960 Evo could also work for a workstation that won't be doing any server or VM hosting roles. So much of system performance these days is bottle necked by primary drives. The NUK6i7's biggest strength is the 2x PCIe capable M.2 slots.

A minor downside for "3 to 4 1920x1200 monitors" is that you'll need some dongles or daisy chains to get more then 2 monitors. The plus here is that the Thunderbolt3 port and miniDisplayPort gives you quite a few options for display adapters. The setup I use with it and setup others with usually involves 2-3 Ultrawide LG displays. Personally use 2x 25" Ultrawide stacked on top of each other on my left as tertiary monitors and a 29" Ultrawide as my primary.

Reasons not to go with the NUC6i7.

• At some point might want a GPU. The Iris Pro 580 still leaves a lot to be desired for dedicated GPU tasks.
  
• You want or want to expand to 2.5" SATA storage.
  
• You want to Overclock.
  
• You want a 6+ core beast of a workstation.
  
  We run a pure Windows shop. So I can't vouch for the Linux drivers on the NUC6i7 specifically. Though in the past Intel NUCs have have solid Linux support when I tried (Ubuntu and RHEL) with 2nd or 3rd gen NUCs.
  
  
  Here's our typical build, usually comes in @ $1100-$1200 depending on price fluctuations:
  
  
• $580 - NUC6i7
  
• $220 - 32GB 16x2 2133MHz CL13 RAM - Went with the 2133MHz CAS 13 instead of the 2400Mhz due to cost and availability when I first started experimenting with the NUC6i7.
  
• $340 @ 512GB / $620 @ 1TB 960 Pro - Choose your capacity as needed. 512GB should be around $350 but is in short supply at the moment.
  
  
• $130 @ 250GB - Need to drop to the 960 Evo if you want 250GB. - Killer value with PCIe performance compared to SATA M.2 Drives.

There is a market for this type of NUC, especially as an alternative to a console, it would turn your TV into a full blown gaming PC. I use mine as my office PC since I don't want a full blown PC case since i move things around a lot. It is upgradable as far as RAM and storage goes as well. Also, this looks more like introductory pricing, as you can see, its predecessor launched in the mid $700s and was significantly less powerful: https://camelcamelcamel.com/Intel-NUC-mini-NUC6i7KYK-Core/product/B01DJ9XS52 and now goes for around $500. Reading some of the customer reviews for its predecessor reveals some of the use cases, and people are pretty happy with the form factor: https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-mini-NUC6i7KYK-Core/dp/B01DJ9XS52#customerReviews There are 193 reviews, so I am guessing Amazon sold a few thousand.

I7 6770. They run almost $600 without RAM or SSD.

This is a good deal: 20% off Intel NUC6i7KYK Skull Canyon https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC6i7KYK-Mini/dp/B01DJ9XS52

check out "intel NUC"

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC6i7KYK-Mini/dp/B01DJ9XS52

There are some really nice Micro ATX cases out there, The Silverstone Raven RZ01 jumps to mind. Corsair has their new Bulldog as well. You can get a full sized graphics card in these, water cooled etc.. But honestly those are still pretty large machines.

I mean if you are driving around and you can keep it in your trunk or something then they might work. But if you're flying then I would go with a laptop or something similar.

I actually got so tired of having to take my work laptop and my gaming laptop out while I was traveling that I just travel with my work laptop now.

You might be able to get away with something like an INTEL NUC:

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC6i7KYK-Mini/dp/B01DJ9XS52/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473862036&sr=8-1&keywords=Intel+Skull+Canyon+NUC6i7KYK

I would set the graphics down to low for the 25 main raids, because I know my R9 390 gets crushed sometimes if there are ton's of people on the screen.

But even then, if you're raiding seriously you should probably get a decent gaming laptop.

Can definitely be worth it.

So NUCs use laptop/mobile CPUs. If you're doing office work and 2D gaming they're pretty neat. cpu.userbenchmark.com can help with comparisons.

Most NUCs use a 15w mobile chip. (Chips with a "U" at the end of the name) Mobile 6-th and 7th-gen CPUs are 2 core 4 threads, for the i5 and i7. These are like slower versions of the desktop pentiums in a way. These are slower than the i5-4460.

You can also find NUCs with i7-****HQ chips. These are 4 core 8 thread, 45w chips. These will perform... actually better in some cases than the i5 4460. The more expensive NUCs with the HQ CPUs also come with faster "iris pro" integrated graphics, which still isn't enough for modern 3D games except at 720p low/medium settings

Truthfully I'd recommend a cheaper model cause it's all you need, though this i7 model is on a pretty crazy sale right now.

GTX 960M, i5, $800
R5 M335, i7, $650
Iris pro 580, i7, $690

It is probably fine, but better yet buy the previous generation NUC for half the price:

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-mini-NUC6i7KYK-Core/dp/B01DJ9XS52/

I'm running the server off of my imac but want a dedicated machine just for Plex. What do you recommend? I'm considering the Nighthawk X10 from Netgear or an Intel NUC.

What about a Zotac mini PC with a 1060 and Core i5 for $1000. You still need to add the RAM and the storage but it's still pretty good value for a no brainer solution.

There's also the NUC Skull Canyon which will keep you under $1000 with RAM and storage. It comes with an Intel GPU but a pretty powerful one. It's also compatible with eGPU via Thunderbolt 3 USB-C so it can be expanded in the future with a real GPU.

that is all about the passmark it will have.
you can get a intel nuc skull canyon with a i7-6770HQ,
32 GB ram and a 512 GB ssd for a 870$ (you can lower the ssd and the amount of ram to make it cheaper.)

Just buy an intel nuc that has an i7, for example this one which was my first result when i searched for it. $580

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC6i7KYK-Mini/dp/B01DJ9XS52

Those NUCs can be pretty powerful. I wouldn't doubt if they have thousands.

As others have mentioned, it's pretty tough to do. Any hardware you buy that you fit into it will be at a very high premium. This Gigabyte brix looks really promising with a GTX 950, but it's not available yet. It also will probably be at a very high premium (Between $700-$1000) and that is just a bare bones rig.

Then there is this NUC which is only $600 and has Iris Pro 580 graphics which should be roughly equivalent to a GTX 945M. So it will be underpowered compared to the Gigabyte brix. But you can get it now, and you're getting top of the line integrated graphics performance. Those are the only real options I see you having with this build.

You should be able to find them on Newegg and Amazon at a minimum today. Demand has been high, so they may be backordered.

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-NUC-NUC6i7KYK-Mini-BOXNUC6I7KYK1/dp/B01DJ9XS52/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468792618&