NUC for ROCK clarification needed

Roon Software Discussion ROCK
1

I am quite new to Roon (I like it very much so far) and for testing I am running core on my Win PC.

I am planning to build a NUC for running ROCK and just need a clarification, although I am 99% sure this is right, but just in case:

  • Intel NUC Kit BNUC11TNHI50002 Core i5 Tiger Canyon

This BNUC is what bothers me a little. I assume is fully compatible to NUC11TNHI5.
Could you be so kind and confirm it?

The rest is:

  • RAM: Crucial 16GB DDR4-3200 SODIMM PC4-25600 CL22, 1.2V, CT16G4SFRA32A
  • SSD1 (ROCK OS): Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250GB
  • SSD2 (storage): SAMSUNG 870 EVO 1TB SSD, 2.5” 7mm, SATA

Maybe it is a little overkill but I do not like to upgrade it in a few years or so.

Thank you in advance!

3

If I’m not mistaken the B in BNUC just means Barebones, i.e. it doesn’t come with RAM, disks, or OS

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A post was merged into an existing topic: Debian or ROCK?

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From what I’ve researched it is the same NUC. BTW, ROCK works just fine. It’s an easy install so don’t hesitate.

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I concur with @David_Gibson. I offer something to ponder. Consider using an external HDD for your storage. “HDD” because they are, or were, less expensive, and their relatively slower performance matters little for this particular use (note I’m only talking about storage). “External” because that makes it somewhat easier to swap out and back up.

I think you’re gonna like your choice. happy listening.

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A post was merged into an existing topic: Debian or ROCK?

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4 posts were split to a new topic: Debian or ROCK?

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Personaly, rather than install one 16Gb stick of RAM, I would install 2 x 8GB ram. This will maximise RAM access speed which will help the performance of memory intensive operations since it allows the NUC to operate the two RAM channels concurrently.

With only one stick of RAM installed, only one memory channel will be operating which means that the memory access (where not served by the processor memory cache) will be half the speed of having the dual channel memory.

My ROCK system is a I7 version of the same NUC with 2 x 8GB RAM, 256GB NVME M.2 SSD and 1 TB SATA SSD so is very similar to yours. The 256GB NVME SSD and the 16GB of RAM are both overkill but at the time it would have cost me more to go smaller.

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First, thank you all for your support and suggestions! As Roon seems to be very specific about NUC hardware, I wanted to double check NUC designation BNUC11TNHI50002 before buying.
It seems that it is perfectly fine and I am going for it.
Thanks!!!

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Very good point about 2x8 GB RAM
I’ll check the prices at my local dealer, maybe I am going to downgrade it a bit. On the other hand, I don’t like to upgrade it in a few years…
Maybe I shall skip storage SSD. It is about 2000 albums in flac, I am not going to rip or download so many and with growing Tidal database…
USB disk would work just fine.
Anyway, thanks for the hint!

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I just completed a new ROCK build this weekend. Here are the parts I used:

Intel NUC 11 NUC11PAHi7 0GB DDR4… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KNK27M2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 500GB PCIe… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GL575DB?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Corsair Vengeance Performance… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BLVHWXD?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

SAMSUNG FIT Plus 3.1 USB Flash… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7PDLXC?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I had considered adding an internal 2TB Samsung EVO SATA SSD, but I had a 5 TB external USB-C drive already, so I skipped internal storage this time.

I’m super happy with how this build went. Performance and the Roon experience is excellent. Only bummer is that I’m still waiting for the v2.0.25 version update. Probably sometime next week.

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I can’t speak to the compatibly of the BNUC11TNHI50002 part. I’ve done about a dozen ROCK builds for friends, family, and myself over the years, and when buying hardware for these projects, I’ve ALWAYS selected a model that precisely matches Roon’s compatibility list. Others may work, but I don’t like taking chances.

Oh, and the advice on using matched pairs of SO-DIMM modules vs a single is solid. I’ve never had a problem with the Corsair Vengeance kits, and they are super inexpensive now. One final piece of advice: don’t skimp on the NVMe SSD. Roon does not need much capacity, but it does a ton of writes for its database. It will burn through writable cells quickly on a low quality SSD. I suspect this is a leading cause of Nucleus failures.

I used the thumb drive during the build process for the BIOS update, to boot MemTest86 for memory testing, and to boot from the Roon OS install image. For the BIOS update, I had to create a 2 GB partition that was formatted as FAT32. Now that the server is up and running, I’m using the thumb drive to store Roon’s database backups. Not necessary, but I’ve formatted the drive as ext4 (a native Linux filesystem format), which seems to help make the backups run very fast. After three backups, it looks like I’m using about 3% of the capacity. I plan to keep 20 backups, so for my database size, I would need 95 GB to stay below 80% of storage capacity. So, the 128 GB won’t be totally wasted.

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Just a quick question out of curiosity - why 500 GB SSD only for ROCK OS and database?

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The 980 Pro is not available anymore as 250. I suppose he wanted a Pro for even more write cycle resilience, because…

And lots of free space is even better for reliability because the SSD firmware has lots of unused cells available for replacing broken ones

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True. I had to go with 500 GB, but it was only $80. I don’t mind that Roon will never use more than 5-10% of the storage capacity. Like you said, reliability is what I’m going for. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for clarification. I guess that 250GB EVO Plus would work for me.

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It’s your call, but for $30 more, the Pro model is a no-brainer for me. The EVO NVMe will perform fine but will not have the same level of reliability. Edit: refuted below

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It’s a well liked and very good SSD, I have it too. 3 years and no issues. In fact I now see that reliability is the same:

980 PRO vs 970 EVO Plus: Which One to Choose

Samsung 980 PRO is faster than Samsung 970 EVO Plus in maximum sequential read, maximum sequential write, maximum random read, and maximum random write. In terms of TBW durability, MTBF reliability, and warranty coverage, the two SSDs are the same

https://www.minitool.com/backup-tips/980-pro-vs-970-evo-plus.html#

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With 45000 tracks / 3500 albums, my database uses 1% of its size :slight_smile:

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Learn something new every day. :slight_smile:

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It made you choose the 500 and thereby doubled your TBW, that’s a good outcome :slight_smile:

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