Insight request from NUC newbie on drives, RAM, and fanless case

Tinkering
1

Hi all,
I’m ready to decouple my music library from my Mac, transferring it to a Rock-driven NUC 8i7.
I’m hoping you can point out any shortcomings, incompatibilities, or other gotchas in the components I plan to integrate, and answer a question on switching to a fanless case.

The components (I’d be purchasing these from Amazon):

Server: NUC8i7BEH (looks like there are open-boxes available for $340)

SSD for Roon Rock OS: SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus SSD 250GB NVMe M.2, MZ-V7S250B/AM

RAM: Crucial 8GB Single DDR4 2400 MT/S (PC4-19200) SR x8 SODIMM 260-Pin Memory - CT8G4SFS824A

Internal SSD for library: SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB - M.2 NVMe Interface, MZ-V7S2T0B/AM (I like the tidiness of a single device)

And a question on fan/fanless casing:
Is it harder to transfer a NUC to a fanless case after the SSD and RAM have been added?

I thought I’d start without a fanless case, to see if the sound is bothersome, and add it later if it was. This will be in the living room, which isn’t our main listening area, but we do spend a lot of time there. I thought I’d go with the Akasa Turing if warranted.

Thanks very much, and thanks for the wonderful threads of insight you’ve provided already.

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Don’t know how big your library is, but 256GB might be overkill. OTOH, the difference between that and a smaller size is negligible.

Looking at this example on Amazon, it seems that the 2nd drive can only be a 2.5" SSD and even then only if the case is a tall case.

Yes, the only thing a fanless case has going for it is the absence of ambient noise. If your NUC is going to be in a separate room or far enough away from your listening position, then that shouldn’t be a consideration. In fact, IMO, fanless cases have a greater potential for overheating.

Have fun.

3

AFAIK is there only one M.2 connector available (as per specification), so you have to use a 2,5 inch storage device with SATA connector for that purpose (ROCK installs onto the M.2 device). And from Roon’s documentation about ROCK:

grafik

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It is already answered but your second drive needs to be 2TB 2.5 inch SSD. The make you mentioned will fit a NUC. I have an 7i7 NUC in a suitable Akasa Plato case. They differ for each generation so make sure you get the right one. It should be the Plato X8 but check your model number is compatible.

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You get better performance if you install two memory cards ( takes advantage of the dual memory channels).

So either buy 2x4G or 2x8G if you have a large library.

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And installing in the fanless case isn’t too hard - but far more complex than adding memory and SSDs, which you would need to remove and re-install.

So doesn’t really matter if you delay on the case until you decide if it matters to you.

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BTW I suspect the Akasa Turing cases for the 8G NUCs are now out of production, although they are still available, so perhaps don’t wait too long if you want one.

7G and 6G Akasa cases are getting hard to find.

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Greg, BlackJack, Henry and xxx ,
Thanks very much for saving me the forehead smack later; so happy to do it now!

Greg, thanks too for the tip on the RAM splitting, never would have known/thought to do that.

Alright, I’m pulling the trigger later today.
Thanks again, guys. I tried to @mention each of you, but being a newbie I’m only allowed 2 (dunno, maybe this’s more polite anyway).

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