Storage, Power Consumption, Pricing and Conclusions
With the M.2 slot capable of both SATA and PCIe storage, the performance of the NUC in this area can be outstanding.
Using the Intel SSD 530 with the SATA interface we see performance hitting as high as 540 MB/s read and 500 MB/s writes.
Things get kicked up a notch when we move to the Samsung XP941 using PCI Express on the M.2 slot. Reads reach over the 1.0 GB/s mark and writes hover around 785 MB/s exceeding the SATA performance by 86% and 57% respectively. Clearly you have the option of some amazing storage performance in the Intel NUC5i5RYK should you want it, though it is fair to wonder how often that will be utilized in a form-factor like this.
Power consumption is compared to the previous generation NUC and Gigabyte's Brix powered by the same Broadwell architecture as Intel's latest option. Idle results are improved by 2 watts over the Haswell iteration of the NUC and CPU load power draw drops by 2 watts as well. Compared to the Gigabyte Brix, that uses a higher clocked Broadwell chip, actually uses 7 watts more power which is considerable when you realize that is a 34% delta. Under a 3D graphics load the Intel NUC5i5RYK uses 36.6 watts, matching the Brix courtesy of the higher end GPU and running 7 watts higher than the Haswell NUC.
Pricing and Availability
These new Broadwell units are just now starting to creep out into the market, but the NUC5i5RYK that we are reviewing today has an MSRP of $369 in its barebones form (Amazon.com has listings starting at $400 as I write this). Of course, you have to add some components and software to that to make it functional.
Intel Broadwell NUC5i5RYK Build | |
---|---|
System | Intel NUC5i5RYK Kit - $369 |
Memory | Kingston HyperX Impact Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 - $71 |
Storage | Transcend 256GB SATA M.2 SSD - $99 Samsung XP941 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD - $509 |
OS | Windows 8.1 OEM - $91 |
Total Price | $630 - Full Cart on Amazon.com |
A fairly conservative build with the Intel NUC will cost you $630 including memory, a 256GB SSD and a full version of Windows 8.1. If you already have an OS you can shave ~$90 off of that and if you decide to step up to a larger, faster SSD you can go with the Samsung XP941 at $243.
As I have stated in all of my NUC stories, the small form-factor Intel platform is not small in cost and it does not rival the budget builds we see floating around forums and on reddit everyday. These prices are indicative of the Ultrabook-basis for the build - you are essentially using the components of a high end Intel Ultrabook for the NUC and the prices reflect as much.
Is $630 too much for the performance and features you get out of the Intel Broadwell NUC build we priced above? I don't think so considering the capability of the device. But for many PC users that are more traditional DIY-ers I can easily see the perspective that it is.
Closing Thoughts
Intel's team continues to iterate on the NUC platform and the NUC5i5RYK is a great example of how just a couple of changes can really improve a device. Of course the NUC benefits from the 14nm Broadwell processor upgrade from the 22nm Haswell but embedded wireless on the PCB and a smaller overall chassis size help this version to differentiate from the previous models - at least slightly.
Maybe the most damning thing you can say about the Intel NUC5i5RYK is how similar it is to the Haswell NUC and really even the original Ivy Bridge NUC. Smaller, better, faster - all of that holds true. But consumers are always looking for more in these nearly-annual upgrades and hopefully Intel can deliver on that with Skylake next year.
VIDEO
After this review was posted, we interviewed Intel's Alan Clampett, Technical Marketing Engineer, about the NUC platform and its future.
For consumers or business that want the latest hardware for a small form-factor PC that can be put just about anywhere, hidden away or on the desk in full focus, nothing on the market beats the quality you'll find with the Intel NUC today.
Crucial has a M.2 series of
Crucial has a M.2 series of ssds. Do you plan to get those? also its quite a bit cheaper compared to Samsung’s XP series ssd.
Old benchmarks (Sandra 2013,
Old benchmarks (Sandra 2013, Cinebench R11.5)
no recent AMD hardware (A10-7600 45W?)
no video playback tests
no gaming tests
Is this a review or a product placement?
I agree, video benchmarks
I agree, video benchmarks would be nice since I think, outside the office, the real draw for these is an HTPC.
can it stream hulu/netflix/amazon without a hitch, can it stream hd/uhd from a NAS/workstation
hell can it even display UHD?
stuff like this would be nice.
Yes, I actually came here for
Yes, I actually came here for this, but OK.
We played back 4K YouTube
We played back 4K YouTube video and it played without issue. Using Flash, that is likely the biggest stress you'll have on it.
I'll hook it back up and try some other sources if you would like anything specific!
I would really like to know
I would really like to know if it can handle streaming some high bitrate video, wired/wireless, with something like plex or xbmc. Does it support advanced audio outputs like dolby HD or ATMOS, DTS, etc. perhaps that headphone jack is also an optical port? if not, will it at least pass the the correct audio over hdmi?
I want to make sure if I drop $600 on one of these little buggers, it’s going to streaming all my content and output my audio correctly.
I think another good test would be steam’s in home streaming, I don’t think it’ll have a problem with that, but a useful test for sure.
hmm I think that’s all the questions I have off the top of my head.
More benchmarks pls
More benchmarks pls
This is a good review- I
This is a good review- I always like to look at Ice Storm Unlimited as a test though – it can be compared across platforms including phones.
The move toward tablets and small form factor “PC”s feels like PC builders are being left out in the cold. There’s no move to standardize or component-ize smaller parts, so we’re left with these monster size PCs (compare this to an ITX even!).
The problem is that there’s no motivation on Intel’s side to let anyone compete here. Want a better NIC, a ‘laptop’ GPU, the option to update your CPU, a better sound solution, or just in general different features on your motherboard? Too bad.
Think about it this way – if any one of those components go bad, you have to throw away the whole thing, or attempt a repair on something that’s been wave soldered (good luck).
Consumers need to form a standards group or something – it’s going to get ridiculous until there are virtually no choices left.
One thing that will help
One thing that will help advance the whole NUC idea (form factor, speed etc) is usb 3.1.
Intel will not support usb 3.1 until when, 2016? So next year, maybe, we will see new possibilities in SFF based on Intel chips and chipsets.
It would help for external
It would help for external connectivity support, no doubt. I did really like the Thunderbolt option on the first NUC.
Hmmmmm, that M.2 port
Hmmmmm, that M.2 port directly over the wifi card. I don’t know about you guys, but the first thing that comes to my mind is interference, and severe one!!!
Amazon is showing the XP941
Amazon is showing the XP941 for a price of about $510
$0.29 per GB would be nice, but not yet
Samsung XP941 512GB M.2 80mm PCIe x4 SSD – MZHPU512HCGL http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JOSM3TK/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_awdl_ar36ub11KNENH
OR for $260.00 you can get a
OR for $260.00 you can get a complete pc with windows 8.1.
perfect for htpc with a nas
http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-ZBOX-CI320NANO-U-W2-nano-Plus-Windows/dp/B00M4OEPLA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424734030&sr=8-2&keywords=ci320
http://www.technikaffe.de/cpu
http://www.technikaffe.de/cpu_vergleich-intel_celeron_n2930-398-vs-intel_core_i5_5250u-469
Bro, lets be serious. That PC you linked was around 25-35% of the performance this NUC offers. Not even in the same ball park.
Don’t bring that weak Celeron stuff around here.
Might finally pull the
Might finally pull the trigger on one of these. Will the mini HDMI or Display Port run a Dell u3011 @ 2560×1600? I only ask because I could never get that resolution to work on an i7-3570k’s integrated GPU.
Can this mini pc run modern
Can this mini pc run modern titles like far cry 4 nfs mw or cod advanced warfare above 25 or 30fps if we lower the graphics quality to medium or low?
Does the 3.5mm audio jack
Does the 3.5mm audio jack support digital audio stream so that a 3.5 mm to TOSLINK (spdif) may be connected so it can be plugged into stereo preamp for decoding dolby digital?
does it support 1,5v ram
does it support 1,5v ram cards? instead of the 1,35v ram cards.