Migrating from ROCK to Windows 10 to allow more use cases

Roon Software Discussion ROCK
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My Roon Core runs on the recommended NUC10i7FNH with 8GB RAM and 256GB M.2 SSD. I use ROCK as OS. This works just fine with my Linn HiFi system with a Linn Akurate DSM as receiver of the digital signal stream. (Linn streamers use Linn’s own protocol for signal transfering to the streamer, not RAAT.) I have 2500 albums stored on a local NAS (and of course also use Tidal/Qobuz).

Now, I find myself in the need of a windows pc permanently connected to my TV. I plan to use this for watching on line concerts, for non work conference meetings in front of the TV and other things and also as a Roon control point connected to the Roon Core on the NUC. I’m thinking of using the NUC HW for this, but if I do that, I can’t use ROCK as OS.

As you see it, are there any important downsides in my case in migrating the OS on the NUC from ROCK to Windows 10 and thereby make it possible to use the NUC also for other purposes than Roon as stated above? (Of course the cost for Windows is some sort of down side compared to ROCK but I don’t regard that as a large down side. If this is not a good way forward I might have to get a second NUC, and this of course becomes more costly…)

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Can’t think of any dealbreakers in migrating your Roon Core off your NUC and onto the Windows 10 PC. The only thing that I can think of is to be careful of extra software like VPN, or GPU/accessories drivers which in rare cases cause issue.

You could try setting up a Roon Core on the Windows 10 to see how it goes. You can transfer your Roon license between the NUC and the PC (and back again if it doesn’t pan out)

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Thanks for your reply. I have clarified my post above when it comes to the HW I use/plan to use.

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Ah - gotcha - didn’t catch that you just wanted to replace ROCK with Windows 10. Same thing applies - you can try it, but if it doesn’t pan out, you will just have lost the sunk cost of a Windows 10 license.

At one time I had my Roon Core running on my HTPC, which was a 6th gen NUC running Windows. Worked fine, but I just decided that, for me, I thought a Roon appliance running 24x7 made more sense.

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Thanks Geoff! :blush: Yes, I guess the way forward is to buy Win 10 on USB stick and give it a try. (I guess it’s wise to reset the NUC BIOS settings to their default settings before installing Win?)

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Yes, good point about the BIOS. Reset to the modern defaults

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You don’t need a license to install/test Windows 10. You can download it for free from MSFT, install it and test with few non-critical limitations.

If the testing works, you can then purchase a license and apply it to the existing installation.

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Mats I would expect that you would want to upgrade to 16GB as part of this.
Windows is not very efficient with memory usage

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I got a Lenovo ThinkCentre M90n with Intel i5 8350, 8GB Ram with a 512GB SSD running Windows 10 Pro RoonServer and ROCK in a 256GB SSD. To be honest, I see no difference between ROCK and Windows RoonServer so I’m staying with Windows RoonServer so I can use the M90n for other minor Windows tasks as my main computer is an iMac.

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I have a Intel NUC i5 running Roon core and in parallel as a Media center running videos or browsing jobs. Have some other audio related tools on it and it is running a few shared drives for access from other win 10 computers in my network. Never had any issues with it unless I torture the core with a few simultaneous convolution zones.

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Thanks to all of you for valuable input! :blush: