checking out (again) intel NUCs. i3 or i5? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2017, 04:11:20 pm
content: What do i do.. what do i do..Use is the usualNormal PC use, PCB CAD software, matlab, simulations and the occasional games and video/audio recordings.All things i could still do with the old third gen i5 macbookThere are the new i3, NUC7i3BNK (roughly 270 euros)and the new i5, NUC7i5BNK (roughly 410 euros)that caught my eye. besides the processors (i think i could still be fine with the i3) there is an important difference. i5 comes with a thunderbolt port.I wonder if i could get the chance to take advantage of it or not, if the almost double the price can be justified or not. i could be interested just because i could find a pci acquisition card and use a thuderbolt-pci adaptor... but then again i could also use an m.2 adaptor, is that right?

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2017, 04:42:19 pm
content: Get the bigger one. If you have the cash, you will sleep better. I'm planning to spend 2x this much on a monitor.

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2017, 05:16:02 pm
content: There is not much performance difference between i3 and i5:http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-6300U-vs-Intel-Core-i3-6100U/m27864vsm37381In particular not i5 and i7 (neglecting cache size difference):http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-6300U-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6500U/m27864vsm36930Even more so, the i3 is not even that muchslowerthan your current chip I presume is in your macbook:http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-3210M-vs-Intel-Core-i3-6100U/2719vsm37381I don't know how heavy of an user you are. If your current Macbook suffices by margin to spare, I would probably get the i3.If you want to be somewhat more future proof, I would get an i5. Thunderbolt is a very interesting bus, and it's certainly on the rise for the next 3-4 years. It also makes a small machine like a NUC more interesting in the future.ButTB is still quite new, and alot of these PCI-express boxes seem to be only tested&validated for properietary line-ups from vendors (e.g. YMMV if you combine an Alienware "Graphics Amplifier" on a Lenovo ThinkPad).But honestly, if you're like me and run VM's and other poweruser stuff I would skip the NUC or any Ultrabook series and build a mini-ITX machine with a desktop CPU.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2017, 05:26:38 pm
content: nah, no poweruser stuff.. probably a vm for ancient windows installationby the way, your benchmarks are 3rd gen vs 6th gen, new NUCs are 7th genI don't really want to spend too much on this, otherwise i would spend more than for a decent all in one, and i'd be really pissed if i did (I already have the monitor and an older HDD/ram combo)another thing to consider, space is really constrained hence, the all in one / nuc... mini itx sounds like too much of an hassle to assemble, zero experience and zero want to learn to do that

author: BBBbbb
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 29, 2017, 05:46:36 pm
content: It's really not too much hustle to assemble it yourself, but I do see the appeal of a NUC.On the other hand, you never know when your gonna need a VM, and Matlab will thank you for more power and threads.

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2017, 06:11:45 pm
content: Quote from: JPortici on July 29, 2017, 05:26:38 pmGood point. You're right.Then again, Skylake to Kaby Lake was such a small change in raw performance (<=5%), it felt more like an internal Intel (cost) optimization than something interesting to offer for consumers. So it doesn't really change the points I wanted to make.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2017, 06:19:48 pm
content: Oh, it is one of those 2 core i5-s. I dont think they are worthanymoney then.If you dont want to spend a lot of money on computers, get a second hand one. A HP Z420 with 4 core Xeon and Quadro graphics goes for about the same money on ebay. Or a used Thinkpad T430. Or something along these lines.

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2017, 08:48:28 pm
content: Not serious gaming at all. The occasional fallout, half life, oblivion, civilization... things that ran happily in a core2 duo laptop.Again, i like the form factor of the NUC because it is compact. I'm always in between a NUC or an used imacAlso, all the mini itx i found are cubes and in the end, for the prices i get here i could have got a nice imac with a big ass wonderful screen and zero wasted space for a little more money

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2017, 07:41:09 pm
content: screw ittomorrow's my birthday, I gifted myself new snowboard boots and the i5 NUCthe only one in stock was the bundle with intel's M2.5 16 GB RAM module (intel optane)Should i stay with windows 7 or upgrade to (and castrate) win10? i don't know if there will ever be support to thunderbolt 3

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2017, 07:57:12 pm
content: Personally, I wouldn't use Windows 10 if they paid me, but getting Win 7 installed on Sky Lake or newer is a hassle. There is also the problem of Microsoft trying to block Kaby Lake from updates. It's a real dilemma.