I built a Nuc7i5 and it works great however it is so ugly and I want a Nucleus. Am I crazy?
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I don’t think it’s crazy if its important to you. My NUC is in a climate controlled media closet. I don’t see it unless someone wants to see the equipment. If I had it out in view I would probably want one too.
How does it sound?
No issues with the sound, just the looks. I am streaming to a Bluesound Node 2. I’m using the analog out of the Node 2 into a Yamaha A-S2100 Integrated.
How about one of these cases to move the NUC motherboard et al into? The Nucleus is great but you’d just be spending money to spend money in my opinion.
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Larry that is exactly why I haven’t done it. I thought about going to a fanless case, but not sure I have the hands for that. I am still shocked I built the NUC. Don’t you have to remove the fan from the motherboard? Do you have to do anything in the BIOS to deal with the loss of the fan?
Ah, well, I don’t have experience with these cases but I do know often things don’t line up exactly and require minor modification.
However, I do know that if you decide to go this way, you will have the satisfaction of doing it!
Yes, the fan would need to come off. Did you not have to install the fan in your NUC build? It’s typically rather trivial to remove and clean the processor and add the required heat transfer paste so that it mates with the heat sink/case. Of course, many things are so much easier once you’ve done it once or watched it. Youtube is a great resource, as well has here and other forums and Akasa.
I’m not aware of any BIOS settings that would need to be changed, but again, the case maker or others will know precisely what needs to be done. It’s key that the CPU get the heat dissipation (cooling) it requires or it will shut down to save itself.
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And look at you now, asking sensible questions ! You’ll eat up installing into a fanless case if that’s what you choose.
Before spending money on a Nucleus, I’d suggest hiding the NUC in a closet near your router and running Ethernet to your Node2 (or continue with wireless if that’s what you are using).
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If you built a NUC, you should be able to transfer it to an Akasa fanless case without too much difficulty; not that hard, and quite fun and rewarding. However, still not that esthetically pleasing (IMHO). If you want something that really rocks, and you want to go all-out, look to an HDPlex NUC case. HDplex is the site you need to visit if you’re interested in such a thing. Much superior heat dynamics than any Akasa case, and possibly even superior to the Nucleus itself (but requires more [and not necessarily needed] monetary investment). Could end-up as you having the satisfaction that you may have the best and prettiest Roon Core/ROCK implementation available. I’m considering it myself; if and when I get time. But I also don’t think a nice NUC case is that ugly; it’s smaller and quite unobtrusive (IMO nicer looking than an Akasa). I think you’re quite good to go with what you have – all depends on what you REALLY want. However, I do think a NUC with fan can get a little noisy at times, even if you have a very low wattage one (which I do, but I also don’t think it ever interferes with real listening; however, if you’re quite sensitive to such, it may disturb you even at rest). Just some random thoughts.
- john
If you want an aesthetically pleasing case you can take the route I went. Got myself the akasa case, a 7th generation Nuc i5 with 16 Gb of Ram and 2 ssd’s , one 2tb and a m2 128 gb. Got a local company to make me a custom plate for the akasa. I am really happy with the final result.
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I must say that looks really great. When you say local company, what sort of skillset? What would they normally do?
Thank you! Very happy with the result.
A company specialized in metalworking , I guess that is the right translation. English is not my native language.
Very nice result! When I was speaking of Akasa cases that I didn’t think looked so esthetically pleasing, I was referring specifically to the Akasa case for the NUC7i7DNXX series (I have the NUC7i7DNHE as my core/server). I did build another NUC (NUC6CAYH) to serve primarily as an endpoint only (for mostly multichannel HDMI) and placed it in a fanless Akasa case, and the result was not too bad esthetically; functionally it’s great. Since the Celeron processor was not all that powerful and didn’t produce excessive heat, the Akasa fanless case design didn’t have to be too radical to safely accommodate it.
However, your modification looks really primo and matches your other gear. I would sure like to have mine looking that fine! Congrats!
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Most of the Akasa cases are not too bad looking indeed. Mine did the job as well and definitely was already pleased with it even without the front panel. But got the company to do te modification for just €35,-. Definitely makes it feel more finished and like you said more in line with my other gear 
I own a Nucleus, but my desktop PC is in a Streacom FC8 fanless case. Zero annoying noise while I’m working or listening to music while I’m working.
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Very nice!! Can I ask ur total investment and do u have a stencil for the Roon silkscreen?
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Thank you!
Yes you can no problem. Got a bit lucky. Found myself a secondhand Akasa case with a 7th generation nuc i5 , 16gb of ram and a 128gb m2 ssd for just €400. Bought a Samsung 2tb SSD for 200. The front panel cost me 35 to let it made for me by a metalworking company. I do not have a silkscreen however. Got the company a stencil with the measurements of the original akasa front panel. Left the stencil with them.
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Thanks yannick, I’m new to the forums and have a lifetime Roon membership for about 8 months now. I’m looking to build my own Core, and am going through the previous posts now. Seems like a no brainer relative to the nucleus +. Currently running a 2010 Mac mini and too many externals and need to upgrade yesterday! Take care
No problem. If you need any help along the way let me know. Pretty new to the forum myself as well. But have the feeling people here are really kind and friendly.
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