I am new here on the forum and currently running my 14-day Roon test installation. Currently this trial version of Roon is running on my MacBook Pro.
However, I am about to purchase my Intel NUC and install ROCK.
Even the intensive reading of the knowledge base and the forum I still lack 5-10 percent clarity if my configuration is so supported and ideal. Therefore, I would be grateful if you could take a look at it:
M.2 SSD: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250 GB, SSD, PCIe Gen 3 x4, M.2 2280
SATA SSD: Samsung 870 EVO 1 TB, SSD, 2.5" SATA
Is this a decent and compatible configuration that will work? Or are there components that could cause problems or are incompatible?
I would also like to hook up a Verbatim USB CD/DVD burner to rip CDs and put them on the internal SATA SSD. Do you think this will be compatible?
Also, I have one more question:
I don’t currently have a cable tied mouse and keyboard. I only have Logitech wireless devices that work with the Logitech USB Unifi receiver. Will this work on the NUC under ROCK or do I definitely need wired input devices?
8GB ram is more than enough, as is a 128GB M2 drive, but these are hard to find and a 256GB is often cheaper. I think the cdrom will be ok, but this will be confirmed when you try it. I would buy/borrow a USB keyboard/mouse (~$10) to ensure compatibly.
Yes, I read the mentioned article carefully. My fallback scenario is installing windows if I am not happy with ROCK or even Roon in the future. And as mentioned the price differences with RAM between 8 and 16 GB and with SSDs between 128 and 150 GB are tiny.
Then I will go with the USB CD drive and try. And I will better get a cheap keyboard/mouse combo as suggested. Thank you!
I am a little unsure about the NUC itself because of the “2” in the model number “NUC10i5FNH2”.
Does any know what this means and if this model is also recommended by roon?
I have a similar setup with 16gb ram and the same M.2 and Sata drives. Works great, no issues. Also have a drive attached for ripping but it is a different model. Yours should work fine.
I don’t know what the 2 represents, could be a second iteration identifier. I have the NUC8I7BEH and have seen some listed as NUC8I7BEH2.
Don’t forget to add a usb attached SSD for Roon database backups unless your already have something for that. You won’t be able to backup to the internal drives.
FWIW here’s my recently purchased and built NUC running ROCK with a library of just under 4,000 albums ~57,000 tracks. I use power of 2 upsampling on some zones and cross fade with headphones, and routinely stream to 2-3 zones. Roon is responsive and this goes to show that you don’t need to overspecify … the guidance from Roon is really quite clear.
Intel BOXNUC8I3BEH3 NUC Mini PC
Integral 8GB DDR4 RAM 2400MHz SODIMM Laptop/Notebook PC4-19200 memory
Integral M Series 128GB NVMe M.2 Internal SSD
I already had a Trascend 1TB USB C drive and use this for storage. This is a spinning disk – don’t bother with an SSD.
This cost less than ÂŁ250 and is comparable to running Roon on my i7 Mac and performs better than my quad-core Xeon server.
I’m not knowledgeable regarding a NUC and ROCK, but I would burn CD’s to a separate drive, not a watched drive within Roon. You can copy them to Roon, but always keep your original music files outside of Roon with a backup copy stored somewhere else also.
Thank you for giving more information concerning the differences of NUC 8 and NUC 10, @wklie.
Good to know about your experiences, @Martin_Webster. I will try to avoid extreme overspecifying.
At the moment I am ripping with DB poweramp. I would just try and see how the ripping feature in roon will work. So it seems I should just stay at my current ripping procedure, @Jim_F? Okay …
Again, I’m not familiar with all the in’s and out’s of a NUC and ROCK. However, I don’t think you can backup your music files from a watched drive within Roon. And, of course, you would want to backup your ripped or purchased music files. I have a Roon Nucleus with no music files of my own, so I know not of what I speak. Personally, I would use a 3rd party program to rip CD’s to a USB drive, then copy them to the NUC watched folder within Roon.
SukieInTheGraveyard
(This one time, at Bandcamp... I spent too much money!)
14
I think that’s great idea. Gives you flexibility.
I was all set to buy a NUC but then decided to replace my exisiting desktop Windows PC with a fanless Windows PC that would also act as a Roon Core. (Old PC went to one of my children for lockdown school work). Works really well.
Regardless… the USB keyboard is cheap and you’ll be really frustrated having to source one if your wireless stuff doesn’t work. Just get one and throw it one a shelf. You’ll probably need it. ROCK has no user interface beyond the web interface (which you attach to via a web browser on another machine so you don’t need a mouse on the ROCK)
Years and years of troubleshooting… You can call me a hoarder but it is very rare I don’t have something somewhere to overcome some incompatibility by using some ancient peripheral to get around a modern problem. A wired keyboard would fall into this category.
Also, while potentially convenient, I would look at dbPoweramp or whatever windows software gives you access to accurate rip / secure ripping. Tons more flexible and customizable than feeding ROCK CDs and hoping for the best.
A minor point, but in place of the Samsung 870 EVO 1 TB, SSD, 2.5" SATA, you could go for the QVO version. It’s slightly cheaper, and is well suited for storage of music files, since these make a write-once, read-many scenario - the best use for the QVO tech.
Thanks. Would you even choose the QVO over the EVO if you find the EVO cheaper? I am asking because I have chosen the EVO because it is in my go-to online store at the moment cheaper than the QVO due to a special offer …
And:
Yes, @ipeverywhere! Definitely good to have one. To be honest: I cannot believe that I did not have pair somewhere. I searched in the whole house for it. I was so sure …
“It is simple to backup music files from a watched folder on Rock, my friend has a Nucleus + with an internal 4tb SSD drive containing his music, he uses Freefilesync to incrementally backup his music files to a usb drive connected to an imac, I use Freefilesync to backup my 3 usb drives connected to my Nuc running Rock to my NAS drive.
I agree with using a 3rd party program to rip cd’s Rocks automatic ripping is not ideal imho.”
