Intel NUC reliability and performance

[MrMitty]

I'm thinking of buying either the Phantom Canyon or Panther Canyon Intel NUC: 

https://simplynuc.com/product/nuc11phki7c-full 

https://www.cdw.com/product/intel-next-unit-of-computing-kit-11-pro-kit-nuc11tnhi7-mini-pc-core-i/6522915 

 

I don't game at all. My goal is use them for my main PC for productivity work: 20+ Chrome tabs open, stock charting software, and 4K streaming/Netflix/YouTube. I would be connecting it to an external 4K monitor. The biggest issue is that I would be leaving the computer on for an extended period of time, likely 16 hours per day. Sometimes I don't even turn off my PC, I just let it sleep. 

 

Questions: 

 

So, given my use case, I wanted to know whether the NUC line of products would work well for me or would I be better off with a traditional system? Do I need the dGPU found in Phantom Canyon for my workload? Although I don't game, I do value my 4K external monitor and I would like my machine to handle it with ease and little heat.

 

If you have a NUC system, how long did it last you? Do you consider it to be a reliable machine? I've read a few worrisome posts on Reddit that many systems failed. Of course, non-NUCs fail as well but computers like Dell have high-volume sales so we know of issues quite quickly and easily. 

 

Thanks 

[maplepants]

NUCs are generally quite good. To the best of my knowledge, the volume of problems you hear about online is just a reflection of their popularity and how many people try to push them to their limits with gaming. Both models you linked there will do 4k 60hz to your monitor no problem. In terms of heat, it's a NUC so it'll be hot sometimes.

 

Unless you badly need Windows, the pricing on a NUC isn't great. You'll get *a lot* more power for the same money if you buy an M1 Mac Mini. Or if Windows is a must but you can go slightly bigger in case size there's the H1 Mini PC or something from quietpc. If in the end it needs to be small, and it needs to run Windows, then you're really not going to find anything better than a NUC.

[MrMitty]

1 hour ago, maplepants said:

NUCs are generally quite good. To the best of my knowledge, the volume of problems you hear about online is just a reflection of their popularity and how many people try to push them to their limits with gaming. Both models you linked there will do 4k 60hz to your monitor no problem. In terms of heat, it's a NUC so it'll be hot sometimes.

 

Unless you badly need Windows, the pricing on a NUC isn't great. You'll get *a lot* more power for the same money if you buy an M1 Mac Mini. Or if Windows is a must but you can go slightly bigger in case size there's the H1 Mini PC or something from quietpc. If in the end it needs to be small, and it needs to run Windows, then you're really not going to find anything better than a NUC.

I do have have specific requirements, namely 2 M.2 NVMe slots and Windows - some software doesn't work well on a Mac. I have an M1 Macbook Air and it is truly a fabulous machine - I can stream videos for two days and it will not get hot at all. 

[maplepants]

2 minutes ago, MrMitty said:

I do have have specific requirements, namely 2 M.2 NVMe slots and Windows - some software doesn't work well on a Mac. I have an M1 Macbook Air and it is truly a fabulous machine - I can stream videos for two days and it will not get hot at all. 

Okay for those criteria, then your first instinct about getting a NUC is the right one. The only thing I'd recommend, is that if you're not going to game you should skip models with a discrete GPU. That's heat, power, and noise you don't need.

 

Iris Xe Graphics can candle a 4k monitor without problems.

[MrMitty]

21 minutes ago, maplepants said:

Okay for those criteria, then your first instinct about getting a NUC is the right one. The only thing I'd recommend, is that if you're not going to game you should skip models with a discrete GPU. That's heat, power, and noise you don't need.

 

Iris Xe Graphics can candle a 4k monitor without problems.

I had a feeling I didn't need it but the cooling solution on the Phantom Canyon is quite well-designed (for a NUC). The 11th gen chips run quite hot so even though the small form factor would suffice, I'm worried about heat and thus longevity. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C92G5fOfRY&t=675s

 

38dBA on idle and 44dBA while gaming is quite impressive for this form factor so I assume the heat is being dissipated adequately. 

 

I suppose I could wait for Wall Street Canyon, which will have the new 12th gen i7 CPUs but I need a Windows PC before mid-May. 

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-cancels-nuc-12-performance 

[maplepants]

4 minutes ago, MrMitty said:

I had a feeling I didn't need it but the cooling solution on the Phantom Canyon is quite well-designed (for a NUC). The 11th gen chips run quite hot so even though the small form factor would suffice, I'm worried about heat and thus longevity. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C92G5fOfRY&t=675s

 

I suppose I could wait for Wall Street Canyon, which will have the new 12th gen i7 CPUs but I need a Windows PC before mid-May. 

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-cancels-nuc-12-performance 

I had a similar worry about heat and longevity when I bought my 2018 Mac Mini. That fella ran at ~90º whenever I was using it. Eventually I stopped worrying about though, because you basically either trust that the engineers who worked on the thermals knew what they were doing, or you don't. And if you don't the solution isn't to try to out do them by adding fans or something, but to buy a different product.

 

Personally, I would trust that under the load you're planning here the thermal engineers have basically covered their bases and the NUC will last longer than you'll want to use it.