I tried several NUCs i3, i5, i7 and noticed the gain I got was just 20% less CPU use from i3 to i5 and i5 to i7 - which was unexpected and a bit disappointing.
Any idea why there is no higher gain? ROON just using one thread for DSP??
I know that ROON now recommends the most current Gen11 NUCs since UEFI boot is now possible, due to their hight CPU max clock rate.
What DSP are you applying? Does a NUCi7 have issues performing these settings?
I use the CONVOLVER. No issues at all, runs well, just expected less CPU use wenn using an i5 or even i7!
Plan on using that same DSP for multiple channels, so less CPU use would be better.
It’s single core speed that’s important for Roon DSP moving up will only give you a small boost and not all NuCs are equal for this either. Heavy DSP is best served by a full spec desktop cpu and not the ones in NuCs which are laptop based ones to keep heat and energy low.
Agree, but does not fit my system/needs.
Then either the system or the needs must be adjusted! 
Sorry, just kidding, but there’s a grain of truth in there somewhere.
Still, i wouldnt worry about it, unless you are planning on doing more DSP per Zone than today?
Each Zone utilizes one or two cores for DSP, so with an i5/i7 you’ll spread your DSP Processing over more CPU Cores/Threads.
Still, heavy DSP is best served by a desktop CPU, not a NUC so the answer to your initial question is: None!
Edit: Oh, one more thing, Intel based computers throttle theor CPU’s heavily, so the Processing speed figures are not necessarily factual, since the CPU’s are throtled to adapt to current load.
While the Desktop option would be a better solution the other option could be a newer and faster NUC with a desktop CPU.
NOTE: I do not know if this is on Roon recommended list yet for Rock.
–MD
Does amount of memory affect this at all? And if so, wouldn’t dual chip help (i.e. dual channel memory for higher bandwidth usually results in lower load on the CPU).
I’ve yet to hear of an i5 or i7 NUC that couldn’t run convolution on 192kHz files. Even 2-3x headroom is fine. I’ve never run below 30x, no matter how hard I’ve tried. If you’re talking about DSD512 or something you should probably be running HQP anyways which will take the activity off the rock in any case.
they have 16GB installed already; doubt that this is a limit
it is down to 2-3 at times running DSP and convolver at 192/384kHz
I will look into this, thanks!
Ok, 16Gig is good, but is/were it/they dual channel? If they had a single 16Gb stick, then it is not dual channel and are half the bandwidth they could be. In Dual channel you could gain 15-20% CPU performance.
Unless it is below 1.5x then you are fine I think.
Just as a point of reference, I have a 10i5 NUC with ROCK and with 192/24, convolution and volume leveling in one zone it runs with an approx. 53x multiplier in the signal path
It is not, you would be running an unsupported environment unless you used Linux or windows.
Is this it …
It is not. You would be running on unsupported environment …
–MD
I have always ONLY USED ROON recommended or supported platforms / equipment … (do I really need to say that I’m GERMAN )
This would apply to ROCK because then it becomes a MOCK if you are not with the Roon recommended.
–MD
That i9 has a TDP of 125w. Apparently it is a great improvement on it’s predecessor which was +260w.
Either way, massive amounts of cooling will be needed in a specialist desktop, gamers chassis. I think a NUC 13 is a different beast to the small HTPC NUC the OP is thinking of: