I’m considering upgrading my actual NUC (intel core i3 NUC-i35010u 2,10ghz) which is not super fast to a new one, but I’d like to keep the actual RAM (16GB) + SSD (128GB) and install it into the new one instead of buying everything again.
My questions are:
. Can I do that easily?
. Do I need to setup the NUC from scratch (update bios etc) or just move everything into the new one?
. Which model do you recommend to upgrade to?
. Are there out-of-thebox fanless NUCs
I’m based in Europe so I’m not considering anything overseas due to custom and shipping prices.
I doubt the RAM is going to work as a new NUC will be using DDR4 and yours if its so old maybe DDR2 or perhaps DDR3 only. You dont list the specific model so no idea how old it actually is
SSD is probably not worth it either unless its a SATA based and not M.2/PCIe/NVMe type as probably won’t work.
I can’t speak to Europe for hardware but there are other active threads about NUC and similar options being discussed now like this one Cirrus7 nimbus v3 mini-PC + ROCK
Perhaps you could run the same Benchmarks with your i3 NUC, and see that it compares favorably to a later Gen NUC6 or NUC7 even with i5 & i7 processors - and then ask yourself do I need to spend that money?
The old adage “if it works dont fix it” comes to mind…but in these times of C19 uncertainty I am spending only where I really need to, and I have way too many options of hardware that I should really be selling stuff if anything.
If you want to keep your ancillaries, you can go to a 5th generation NUC. That will take DDR3 and your drive. If you want to go newer then you can keep the drive but you will need new DDR4 memory. Keeping your HDD means you may well be able to just put the drive in and follow the instructions and it should be seamless. If it doesn’t boot up you may need to change bios settings but you shouldn’t need to update the bios unless there is a very specific issue. Finally, anything above 8gb RAM is pointless with ROCK. This of course assumes you are using ROCK. None of this applies if you are using Windows.
What do you expect to gain from upgrading the Core?
What makes you think that the Core is the performance bottleneck?
I lierally don’t understand why people go through the process of putting bitcoin-mining capable hardware at displaying album art and decoding and sending audio data through the network.
I’m running a late 2009 mac mini with linux on it as Roon Core. It has Core2Duo running at 2.2 GHz with 8 GB memory. The only upgrade I performed to the machine was to change the HDD to an SSD as it gave a significant performance boost, but only when browsing the library.
Granted, my audio needs are modest, I don’t have any DSD files in my library and I only stream to 2 or 3 zones max at the same time.
I don’t have DSP configured at all. I do use volume levelling.
One way to tell if your core is processing the audio fast enough is to look at the signal path. If you see a multiplier it means that the multiplier is low enough to be displayed.
I tried turning on all DSP plugins, including up-sampling. My multiplied went down to about x12. If I turned off all processing it disappeared.
When I’m playing MQA files the multiplier goes down to ~x95.
Library browsing could be a bit faster, but that doesn’t interfere with me enjoying the music.
I say save your money. You can probably find other ways to improve the music experience besides upgrading something that doesn’t affect the sound quality in any way.
