Is this NUC D54250WYKH suitable?




Hello,

Do you guys think this NUC is suitable for a medium size core library?

Why not use one from the Roon approved list?

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The link doesn’t really give me any Roon approved NUCs just a few Amazon link to items not in stock

There is a list of the Roon approved NUC’s.

It would have to be pretty inexpensive to make sense jumping on a nearly ten year old computer in 2022.

Is it 10 years old? I don’t know. I just need someone to send me a link and say buy that

I gave you the link to 17 Roon approved NUC’s.


Is this what you are referring to?

This list means nothing to me, even when I google each one I am not getting a specific item to purchase.

Like said I’m a beginner and not all the basics make sense to me

If you want to be 100% sure, the only way is to use something from the approved list, Otherwise, try it and see, but sometimes things don’t work, like HDMI audio.

Sure. Buy this stuff:

  1. Intel NUC 10 Performance NUC10i3FNHN Barebone System - $324.18
  2. Corsair Memory Kit ddr4 2400MHz CL16 Unbuffered SODIMM Memory - $51.57
  3. SAMSUNG 980 PRO 500GB PCIe NVMe - $99,99
  4. SAMSUNG MUF-64AB/AM FIT Plus 64GB - 300MB/s USB 3.1 Flash Drive - $22.99 - for the boot image and backups
  5. Samsung Electronics 870 EVO 2TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD - $189.99 (optional, for internal music storage)
  6. Amazon Basics RJ45 Cat-6 Gigabit Ethernet Patch Internet Cable $8.77
  7. NETGEAR 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch (GS108) - $37.99, optional. Buy if your Internet router does not have enough free ports to connect the NUC

That should get you going. Let me know if you have questions.

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Hi David, thank you for your comprehensive list.

Is there a ready made all in 1 NUC for a good price? I have a small library and will all only have 2-3 end access point. I do think I should go for a i5 over an i3 to future proof.

Many thanks

How many albums/tracks do you have in your library?
As described here up to 10000 albums 100000 tracks the Nucleus will be fine. Nucleus is a Nuci3 in a fanless case, therefore a Nuc10i3 will be the right choice

This should be classified as a 4th generation NUC dated Q42013.

I don’t see you saying ROCK. If you install Windows and only a small library, it’s probably ok.

If you want to use ROCK, there are at least two issues:

  • It’s not in approved list (starting from 5th generation), but there were reports that it worked: ROCK on 4th generation NUC

  • With the 2.5" SSD used for boot OS, you don’t have another internal drive for music. Then you’ll have to use an external drive for music. Alternatively, you can attempt to find an already-obsolete mSATA drive as boot drive, and leave the 2.5" for music - but that’s still too small as a music drive.

Note that NUC10 with a ‘N’ suffix without headphone port cannot do HDMI output using ROCK.

Moved thread as everybody seemed to assume the OP is doing ROCK.

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However, I initially installed ROCK on a DC3217IYE, which is a 2nd Gen NUC running Ivy Bridge i3 CPU with 8GB RAM and 240GB SATA SSD. This NUC ran ROCK and my Roon Core library fine, at the time.

So the D5420WYKH with an i5 Haswell CPU, 10GB and 240GB SATA SSD should be fine, probably equivalent to a Rev A Nucleus, so good for up to 100K tracks, with a couple of endpoints and limited use of DSP.

See the CPU Performance comparison table I posted here Intel NUC - Roon Rock - only for TIDAL - #8 by simon_pepper

I also had to hand a NUC5i3MYHE, which is Maple Canyon i3, also with 8GB and 240GB SATA SSD. Which was the same as the Rev A Nucleus - this served as my ROCK server from then, 2017 to just earlier this year.

The DC3217IYE was passed out to a friend, for whom it still serves as their Roon Core.

I have also built several NUC5i3MYHE-based ROCK servers, for other friends, all of which are serving perfectly their Roon libraries. I also have a couple of NUC5i3MYHE units as backup servers.

I did make a move to a NUC7i7DNKE (quad-core Kaby Lake-R (Dawson Canyon) i7 CPU) with 16GB and 256GB NVMe PCI SSD drive (the same board as the Rev B Nucleus+), as my library approaches the 100k track point, but other than faster audio analysis scanning, I have not noticed a difference between the NUC5i3 and the NUC7i7

It’s odd that it comes with 10G of RAM. Usually RAM is in 2G or 4G increments.

Since there aren’t any 5G RAM sticks and the device only has two memory slots, it must be populated with an 8G stick and a 2G stick. That means memory can’t be interleaved; which is a performance hit. Don’t know if that matters so much for Roon, but it’s a weird way to do it.

I don’t believe Intel, or a distributor, would populate a device that way. It may be second hand and that’s the way the first user ignorantly installed RAM…

I guess if it’s cheap enough, then it’s worth a shot. I wouldn’t buy it, no matter how cheap.

Why not buy this from member here:

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I wish I could but I’m in Australia and his only shipping to US

I had a quick look and I think you should be able to find a suitable, supported used NUC on eBay locally.

My two cents:

A NUC with ROCK is there for the DIY-minded who want to save a bit. Rasoul, you don’t seem to want to DIY. So either shell out for a Nucleus, or if you want to save some money, just buy a modern i5 PC that’s cheap and put Roon on it. Don’t obsess about ROCK; it’s not that special. Regular Roon on a small PC will be fine.

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