Intel Nuc Performance?

[StijnD]

Hi,

It's my first post here because I'm looking to build an alternative to a mac mini/air using an intel NUC kit.

Just because of the price my preference goes out to the Intel NUC DC3217BY(Intel Core i3 3217U) which is pretty cheap. But I'm mainly concerned with the performance. As this would be my first customac built, i'm wondering if the fact that it is a customac has any influence on the performance?

I've found threads about people building customac's with Intel NUC around the forum here: is the performance good? Is it good enough for daily use? Or are these builds more a proof of concept that it can be done?

I'm a professional webdeveloper, I don't need a real powerhouse, i'm using a Macbook Air at the moment, and it works fine and is powerfull enough to run all my applications; Mainly text-editors(sublime text) but I will need to use tools like Photoshop from time to time with "small" psd's.

The spec's of my current Macbook Air:
It's a macbook air 13-inch, Mid 2012
Processor 1,8 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB

Thx!

 

[Adrian B]

If you find using a MacBook Air to be a little slow for photoshop with built in graphics then an Intel NUC certainly isn't going to be any better. Once you add up all the individual parts for a NUC, memory, storage, CPU, PSU etc the Apple looks like better value as it is a complete product with working wifi, great resale value, Thunderbolt, 4 x USB.

I would go for a larger mATX motherboard, i5 or i3 CPU, 8 GB RAM, an SSD, HDD space if required and use a GPU. This will be an extremely fast and capable build for your needs.
Here are some options:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/118150-building-budget-haswell-build-how-low-can-you-go.html

If you want something smaller then wait for the new Haswell Mac Mini - should be available next month. Update it every two years max. It will still be slower than what I have suggested above.

Adrian B

 

[StijnD]

If you find using a MacBook Air to be a little slow for photoshop with built in graphics then an Intel NUC certainly isn't going to be any better.

I don't find photoshop on this macbook air slow at all, If I would try to open a PSD-file for an A1 poster, it will be sluggish, but I don't do that. I need a computer that is able to open small psd's, cleaned up ones, just to slice for web use.

I've been doing some more research on the processors:
http://ark.intel.com/compare/75107,65697,64903

This is a comparison between a couple of processors I could find to be inside an intel NUC. I've even noticed that the Intel NUC KIT DC53427HYE has the exact same processor as my macbook air which works absolutely fine.

The only big difference with the newer haswell cpu is that there is support for USB3 which I probably won't use anyway: I just don't use external usb-drives and I don't need a lot of storage either because all my data is already stored on my NAS (3Tb).

So the setup I'm thinking of now would be aprox. my mb-air on intel NUC:

> Intel NUC KIT DC53247 HYE (340 Euro)
> 4Gb ram Kingston Hyper X (43 Euro)
> Kingston SSDNow MS200 120Gb (89Euro)

I'm looking at the NUC's because I like the formfactor, I like the fact that it is small and I could just tuck it away behind the screen out of sight, it uses less power and will probably be more silent. So i'm prepared to pay a little extra...

One question does remain though: Does the fact that you are running Mac OSX on "Not supported" hardware cause big performance drops compared to "supported hardware"? So would my setup (Ivy Bridge i5), which is almost exactly the same as my MB Air, perform much worse?

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

I don't find photoshop on this macbook air slow at all, If I would try to open a PSD-file for an A1 poster, it will be sluggish, but I don't do that. I need a computer that is able to open small psd's, cleaned up ones, just to slice for web use.

I've been doing some more research on the processors:
http://ark.intel.com/compare/75107,65697,64903

This is a comparison between a couple of processors I could find to be inside an intel NUC. I've even noticed that the Intel NUC KIT DC53427HYE has the exact same processor as my macbook air which works absolutely fine.

The only big difference with the newer haswell cpu is that there is support for USB3 which I probably won't use anyway: I just don't use external usb-drives and I don't need a lot of storage either because all my data is already stored on my NAS (3Tb).

So the setup I'm thinking of now would be aprox. my mb-air on intel NUC:

> Intel NUC KIT DC53247 HYE (340 Euro)
> 4Gb ram Kingston Hyper X (43 Euro)
> Kingston SSDNow MS200 120Gb (89Euro)

I'm looking at the NUC's because I like the formfactor, I like the fact that it is small and I could just tuck it away behind the screen out of sight, it uses less power and will probably be more silent. So i'm prepared to pay a little extra...

One question does remain though: Does the fact that you are running Mac OSX on "Not supported" hardware cause big performance drops compared to "supported hardware"? So would my setup (Ivy Bridge i5), which is almost exactly the same as my MB Air, perform much worse?

As the author of one of those NUC guides (Haswell i5 version), i can assure you they are more than capable for everyday desktop work. I would recommend one of these over the older one if possible because they have the newer Haswell CPU, HD5000 graphics rather than 4400/4600; akin to the latest Macbook Air. Performance is great considering its size and form factor. Geekbench scores are good (Although i personally take these with a pinch of salt anyway) and there are no performance drops.

One extra bit of advice though; regardless of which NUC you go for if you do decide that, take some time to research the memory, and get something with a low i.e fast CL rating. Built-in Intel hd graphics use a portion of your internal memory as you probably know. If you can get nice fast memory, say CL8 or CL9, it will give you the best performance for the built-in graphics.

 

[suksant]

That system looks nice. Would it be sufficient if I run a web server "and" mysql db on it (with Ubuntu)? There will be no need for graphic use so I might not even install X11 on it. Thanks for you advice

 

[StijnD]

First of all @WonkeyDonkey, thank you very much for the info. I've went out and bought this setup. I took some time to research the memory etc. and it all worked out pretty well.

I've been running my hackintosh now for about 2-3 weeks. Most of the things work. I had some trouble getting the sound of HDMI up and running but ended up using the Display Port instead.

Sleep works, performance is good. I'm even able to play Counter-Strike Source on that machine on OSX withouth problems(not maxed out of course ) So to answer your question @Suksant i think this machine is powerfull enough to use as a small webserver. I'm able to run my localhost setup with Mamp, but I only use it for development. I'm not sure how it will react if you would be using it as a "public" web-server.

@WonkeyDonkey: I do have a question though, what tools can i use to really measure the my performance? How can I see at what clock-speed my CPU is running etc.?