Okay, so why confusion regarding 7i7 Vs 7i5 ? Simply pick up 7i7.
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If someone wants to build a fanless ROCK, then at the moment, their are no DIY solutions available to house a 7i7 - that’s why we’re going for an i5 model. It has less thermal output than the i7, but is almost as fast (and a good deal faster than the i3).
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Agreed on Fanless needs which leads to using 7i5.
The point was moving NUC to other room, run cheaper solution like CAT cable + RoonBridge (RPI3?), if this the case then NUC can be 7i7 sitting in some other room where fan noise is not a concern.
I know for my situation fan noise is a consideration in every room, I don’t have a basement or storage closet I can hide it in. I will be using mine with CAT and several types of end points. With that said, part of the issue is that the default fan settings in the BIOS for the NUC are loud, the little fan in there can really crank. I have set them lower and it is not so bad, unless the Core is about to melt down on me 
I will however get an i5 instead of an i7 as it should be more than i need, and uses less power, and I can probably more safely keep the fan low if I don’t go to a fanless case.
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I finally have the Plato X7 sourced from factory in China and will be sent to me later next week when I get back from my traveling. They do say that as long as its not like 100 duty cycle all the time or for long periods it will probably be ok. Now if the ROCK software only had some temp performance indications in the web page rebooting to get to the BIOS temp reading would not be needed.
The transplant operation went well, I think. The NUC7i5BNH motherboard is now in the Akasa Newton S7 case. It all seemed straightforward.
I used the thermal transfer pads supplied in the Akasa kit - in the video that Marius posted, the guy said that he eventually used thermal paste for better heat transfer properties. That may well be more efficient. The CPU in my Akasa is running warm @ 50 degrees C, but it’s well within operational limits I believe, so I will probably keep it this way.
I used the recommended Crucial memory, but substituted an Intel 600P 128GB m.2 SSD in place of Roon’s Transcend recommendation.
The only downside of the new system is the laser-like brightness of the blue power indicator. It’s so disturbing, I’ve now built a touchscreen control panel to put in front of the Akasa. The panel uses the touchscreen software being developed by @spockfish
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Thanks for the info.
At 50 degrees C, do you apply any DSP?
How many Roon endpoints do you entertain?
Thanks a lot.
My main system has DSP applied; I have up to 9 endpoints - usually three at most are grouped in a zone (including the one with DSP). Not sure whether the CPU temp is still 50 deg.C in that case - I have no way of knowing in ROCK, unfortunately. The temperature was taken from the BIOS after the device had been soak tested for a short while.
All you report sounds pretty solid.
I am very tempted going the same path.
Thanks again.
@Geoff_Coupe
I ordered the same stuff.
Maybe the temperature can be improved by use of that cooling paste you mention.
So to build one with the akasa case I would order the i5 nuc that roon recommends (click the amazon add all to cart button) then buy the akasa case and move the contents from the intel case to akasa? Sorry for the basic quest but this is new to me. Thanks.
Yes - the Akasa Newton S7 case is designed explicitly for the 7th generation Intel i3 or i5 NUCs - so the NUC7i5BNH motherboard will fit. Not sure that the Transcend SSD that Roon has on the list is readily available - I went for an alternative.
I wasn’t able to find the Newton S7 case at a reasonable price in the US, so instead bought the Akasa Plato X case, which likewise works with the 7th generation i3 and i5 NUCs. I think I’ll use the Mastergel diamond-dust heat sink compound on the CPU.
Don’t know, what is a reasonable price, but you will get it in germany for around £ 88 inkl. shipping to UK and paypal option.
For example here: http://www.minipc.de/de/catalog/il/2171?gclid=Cj0KCQjw78vLBRCZARIsACr4cxxiWHAQILAgKxSTWWKD5aV2tflkTKPNU8yEZOiRqjgoCjiuIDf69h0aAog_EALw_wcB
Christoph
Akasa Plato X7 works OK but the issue is of course no way to monitor temps without heading into the bios.
Akasa said that the case is not going to be enough cooling a 7i7 if its running flat out for long periods. so far overtime I checked the temps in Bios its been from 58-62DegC and case is toasty warm but I don’t think its any worse that the NUC original case when things were under load.
My temps for the i5 are a fair bit lower, but I also replaced the CPU pads with the Mastergel heat sink compound, which does a better job of transferring heat to the case.
Currently I am running a 4 fan laptop cooler pad under akasa case which helps a lot and is still marginally quieter then the 7i7 NUC fan especially if I am running a full analysis of music
I’m going to get out my data logger and set it up with some temp detection pads and see how things go over time without additional cooling. Either way it’s never to hot to leave may hand on the case even where the cpu is situated. But as heat is a killer of electronics it’s good to be too careful.
After the i7 NUC fan desaster, which is inacceptable in a listening room, when is roons own fanless i7 ROCK product due to be released?
Or did I miss something and it’s already available?
looking for mid-sept release right now, but it might be end of sept… will keep you updated. we are in last stages of production…
is there a reason you didnt go for the i3? it is much much cooler
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Hi danny
Thank you for your frank answer regarding a possible release date.
The i7 because I want to be able to upsample to DSD512 and maybe do some room correction of needed.