Fernando - It’s pretty amazing how you keep misconstruing my original question to fit your own preconstrued answer. My original question, once again, was on the generational differences among Intel chips. It’s easy enough to research i3 vs. i5 vs. i7, but 7i3 vs 8i5, vs 10i7? (This new thread is asking the same basic question about gen10
Chip benchmarks based on computations and graphics rendering don’t necessarily translate into benchmarks for Roon. Likewise, some of the chip generations appear to be feature packages like wifi and Bluetooth that aren’t really useful for Roon.
Simon_pepper’s answer that Roon basically uses a core per endpoint is useful. I currently never have more than two endpoints running at a time. Do I really need a hex core? By your logic I do. Do I need Bluetooth/wifi/heavy graphics capability in the nuc chip? Not for Roon. Your answer, “Need to do heavy stuff. Get a heavy CPU”, answers the wrong question.
I see the nuc for Roon as an appliance that has a limited lifespan, like other electronics these days. Roon will probably develop further (I hope - I’m in it for lifetime), my library may grow to multi-terabytes, I may win the lottery and move into a 10,000 square foot house with a dozen endpoints. Somewhere in the future I’ll probably need to replace the entire Room nuc. But there’s no way to buy today based on some distant future’s requirements.
My question is the basic economic one of “maximizing utility”. That doesn’t mean cheap to anyone apparently but you. I’m willing to spend however much it takes to get a chip that does what I need. But I don’t want to spend a penny more.