Mike, I’m not sure my system would meet the minimum requirements - can you please advise: It’s an Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz and 4G RAM on a 32-bit OS and x64 based processor. Not sure how that compares to the “i5 Ivy Bridge” you mention? Thanks.
To give something concrete, when I run two streams I use 30% of a thread on my Mac. Its a 6 dual-threaded core Mac Pro running at 3GHz. For other processing, I’ve compared it to a 3GHz 2 dual-threaded core i3 and core-per-core the load is very similar for similar tasks. Note that these are full power desktop CPUs, not the mobile processors found in Macbooks, NUCs, etc.
I’m thinking of installing my first and only always-up Windows instance to run a Roon Core on, since Windows is your porting base and it all apparently runs more efficiently on Windows than on the operating systems I usually trust.
Does your recommendation of Windows 8.1 still stand, or is that Windows 10 the kids in Redmond have been pushing now a better choice? Is a desktop Windows flavor a better choice than any of the available Windows Server versions?
Note that I’m explicitly talking about a place to run the Core; there would be essentially no direct user interaction with this box.
Thanks!
I ran the Core on Windows 8.1 on my main desktop; then I set up a dedicated NUC for Roon and put Wondows 10 on it. I find no difference in how Roon works. But Win 10 is just a better experience in general. I now have Win 10 on all machines in the house.
Quesiton: Just picked up the NUC I7 and noticed it runs integrated graphics (Iris 6100) planning on adding a dell touch screen and not sure how all this will impact once I load the Roon software. It calls out that it is better to have dedicated graphics but with the NUC it comes with Iris 6100. Any thoughts? Did get the 16GB Ram and 500 ssd so think i should be good there. What is the display you are using with your NUC?
I am running almost the same setup except a 1TB SSD and am driving a 27" 4K display with no problems at all, the Iris 6100 is a great adapter for this in my opinion. Not up to games playing but otherwise fine for all standard desktop apps.
Many thanks to the Roon team for this very helpful forum. Has anyone tried running Roon on the Intel Grass Canyon NUC, which comes with a Pentium N3700 and Windows 10 installed? I plan to use the NUC headless with a library of <1000 albums. I understand from this discussion that the N3700 would suffice, but I’m curious to know if anyone has experience suggesting that there would be a performance benefit to going with an i5 model instead.
My opinion: with a <1000 album collection, running in headless mode, there will be few if any observable differences in the overall experience.
The only thing that gives me pause with that NUC is the 32gb eMMC, assuming you’re planning to boot from it–I have some experience running Roon’s database on that sort of media, and I’m not totally happy with the way it performs. That said, with <1000 albums, it may not matter.
Thanks very much. I am planning to add an internal drive; I’ll make sure to boot from that.
with the nuc5i5xxx models, you cant go wrong… especially with a samsung evo m.2 ssd (80mm)
@brian is right about your library size, but if the i5 is in your budget, I’d suggest you get that. You wont regret it.
Ok, I’m sold on the i5. Thank you both!
If I get a smaller m.2 (120GB) to use as my boot drive and place my music library on an internal HDD, will I get the full benefit of the SSD for Roon?
I use an m.2 120gb SSD with an i5 NUC. Music files are on a USB drive and NAS. Performance is excellent. Boot time and database load is very quick. The m.2 are really very fast.
1 Like
hi
im in the process at putting together a windows based server with the roon core installed,i have 6tb of flac files.
which processer should i be looking at i5 or xeon im a complete noob with processers which models of i5/xeon as there are many models and they just go over my head.
how much ram would i need i was looking at 16gig would that be enough?
all help welcome.
thanks
gary
i7 is what I use for the core. 16 gb sounds good. But purchase so you can increase later if you need to, i.e. assuming 4 Ram slots, put in 2x8gb instead of 4x4gb, so if you need more ram you can put more in without removing any
1 Like
I5 Intel NUC with 2 x 8gb RAM is working great for me.
2 Likes
I have the same setup I5 NUC 2 x 8gb RAM, 120gb M.2 SSD, local 1tb internal drive + Synology NAS with 5k albums and it is very quick, no issues at all.
2 Likes
I got the bigger NUC, put in a M.2 drive for the OS, and added a 2TB SSD for the music. 1TB is enough for your library, and mine, just wanted some growth room. The SSD is more expensive ($700+) but I like having no spinning disks in there. Quieter.
Hi Anders can you please tell me if you leave Roon open in the background and keep your nuc open all the time does it go to sleep and can you wake Roon from your iPad or android device? Thank you very much.
I’m planning on adding Roon’s Linux Server to a mini-itx board running an i3-4330 CPU @ 3.50GHz with 16GB RAM. The CPU is dual core, 2 threads per core. Am I likely to experience a significant improvement if I switched to a (quad core) i5 processor?