Nucleus and NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD drives

Does the Nucleus+ support NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD drives like the Samsung EVO 970, and how many of them.
Also what is the exact i7 model and generation processor it has. Thanks.

You may only install a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD drive, with either a 7mm or 9mm drive height. I installed a Samsung 860 EVO (link here from Amazon).

You should refer to the Nucleus online manual from Roon (link here to hard drive installation).

Michael, thank you very much for your prompt response.
Looks like the Nucleus is dated, at least for me, will not get it until it’s more up to date with current technology.

1 Like

There is ZERO benefit to putting an NVMe SSD in the Nucleus. The internal drive is only for local storage of your music (the OS and Roon Core is on the m.2 already installed in the Nucleus). Music file playback is VERY LOW bandwidth. Even spinning rust is many orders faster than the speeds you’d need for the absolute worst case of a DSD512 file. SATA SSD is massive overkill for the job. Putting an NVMe SSD in a Nucleus is just burning money for the sake of burning money; it will have NO performance benefit.

2 Likes

I could be wrong, but I believe this is a moot point, as an NVMe SSD will not fit in a Nucleus.

1 Like

Correct, but the OP seems to feel that NVMe is a requirement and the Nucleus is flawed for not supporting it. I was pointing out that NVMe is pointless in the Nucleus, even if it did support it, and thus the lack of it is nothing to get in a fuss about.

2 Likes

I agree that the bandwidth of a spinning disk is greater than you need, so any SSD is overkill in that regard. For me, I don’t want a disk spinning 24/7–an SSD gives me lower noise, power usage and higher reliability.

I’m new here, and still learning how Roon works, but not all Roon’s interaction with your audio files will be to stream them. Certainly when you add music it has to scan things.

Would browsing your collection be snappier with a faster drive? Maybe latency comes into play then? When does Roon figure out what the graph in the footer looks like?

Browsing your music in Roon means accessing its database - and Roon Labs has always said that an SSD is necessary for all but a small library.

Audio analysis (figuring out the graph for local material) is done on import, and this is constrained by the CPU, not by disk access.

In a Nucleus, the Roon database lives on the M.2 SSD, together with the ROCK OS and the Roon software. The optional second internal drive (used for local storage of music files) has to be a 2.5" drive that is less than 9.5mm thick. It can be either HDD or SSD technology. The performance of Roon accessing this drive does not dictate a preference; that is down to whether you want a silent drive (SSD) or more storage available within the physical size constraints (also SSD).

1 Like