I’m running Ubuntu Server 16.04.1 (Linux).
I think I’ll wait for ROCK before pulling the trigger on a NUC… 
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Debian Stretch.
Want to get the fastest nuc possible, but I’m concerned about the heat and noise involved with the skull Canyon. I have got a library of 110,000 tracks. Was thinking about the 5i7RYH nuc. Its a dual core where the 6i7 skull canyon is quad core. But the 5i7 locks me into ddr3 Ram whereas with 6i5 nuc I could use the faster ddr4 Ram. My question is, which would provide better roon performance, the 6i5 with ddr4 or 5i7 with ddr3? Thanks.
Hmmm. Updating the bios doesn’t wipe the drive does it? Which method is the best for a Linux based machine?
To me, there is no point on stressing out of this until ROCK is released. There are already too many things in life to worry about. We deal with this when the time comes.
I already bought a NUC, which is sitting in my closet in anticipation of ROCK launch, and that’s the extent of it.
The bigger influence might be the SATA SSD vs the NVME SSD. In that respect the 6i7 wins hands down. The performance benefits of DDR4 are much less obvious over DDR3L other than the benchmark speed.
You should try if at all possible to keep the RoonServer NUC and any other machines which store your music out of the same room as your sound system. This way noise is never a problem.
Now Heat might be an issue in computer enclosures so small. That is why most NUCs use laptop processors which are a bit slower and consume less power than their desktop equivalents.
The 5i7 only accepts the old slower ssd so thats out. Thanks for the heads up. Guess I’ll wait till the 7i7bnh is released. Its dual core like the 5i7.
Hi Andrew and NUC6i5SYH owners,
Checking Intel’s website, it seems like NVMe storage was not listed as compatible with NUC6i5SYH. Have you tried using NVMe in a NUC6i5SYH with success? Thanks
Yep. I have setup many of them this way, and have two burning in for clients now. I recommend using the Samsung 950 pro or 950 EVO. Avoid the SM951 as there are two versions of this card and it’s way too easy to get the wrong one. It would appear that the only 951s left out there now are the wrong one… ask me how I know
Thanks Andrew for the info! I happen to have an Intel SSD 600p NVMe seating around, think that will work well? The only draw back is it’s 256GB, so a little waste on the additional 128GB.
Curious on what’s the process of burning-in a NUC? Also, would you suggest the need for a better linear power supply for the NUC in our case using with ROCK?
It’s getting hard to find SSDs smaller than 256GB anymore. IIRC the original spec for RoonOS was up to a 128GB M.2, but that’s since changed since finding 128GB (or smaller) sticks has gotten really difficult.
When I say burn-in I don’t mean in the audiophile sense. Nothing to do with sound quality, I want to be sure the machine is stable before I hand it to a customer so I let it run, do nasty things like pull the power, wiggle the cables, and generally make sure that it’s going to behave. Once I’m sure it works I point it at a library and let analysis run at full speed to make sure that it doesn’t overheart. From there I’ll use it as the primary core in the store to make sure that device discovery and playback are working correctly.
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While I’m looking for a 2TB HDD for my NUC, I found that it seems only Seagate made 2T hdd hard drive that is under 9.5mm thick. Is there no other manufacturer/choice out there? Also, wondering if anyone has experience or known of any benefit (or disadvantage) using a hybrid (SSHD) drive instead or straight HDD?
Any reason you don’t want the Seagate?
Russ
The only reason for going for a SSD is silent operation. There are no benefits attached to using SSD over a spinning disk for music other than that and maybe portability (no moving parts etc). You would only need a hybrid if you wanted to put the OS on the SSD portion and I assume you have an M2 for that. In my case I am passively cooled and an SSD for music completed the requirement for a fully self contained portable solution.
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@RussellV The only reason is based on the many reviews, it seems like Seagate drives have more failure rate/less life expectancy.
@ Henry Thanks, that makes sense. I also don’t know if mixing physical spinning together with SSD on the same drive might general more unwanted electronic noise. And yes, I do have M2 for the OS.
For me, In a galaxy a long long time ago, I used to use Seagate Drives. Then one particularly horrid release and several bad batches dictating long hours of reconstructing data relegated them to the sin bin from whence they have never returned.
I can’t speak for others though.
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If you are looking to buy ahead of time, you will probably want to wait. We have some surprises coming…
In the meanwhile, we have started documentation:
Very exciting! I feel it’s getting close… very close.
Oops, too late on that. I ordered all suggested components last week so I can have a ROCK system assemble as soon as the OS is released. Hopefully, it’ll be out soon so I can still return in case those “surprises” tell me to made further adjustment.
Good work, ROCK Team!
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