The Best NUC for ROCK?

My NUC7i7DN has such power consumption only in idle. During playback (DSP enabled: all -> DSD256) the power consumption is around 9 Watts. The maximum power consumption (during starting) is approximately 17 W.
(Samsung 860 Evo 4 TB has no power consumption in idle and maximum 1.6 W during playback)

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In Settings->Library, check if files are being analyzed. You can set the speed to throttled to keep the CPU usage down, which will mean a lower power draw.

All files already were analyzed.

Why do you think the NUC7i7BNH is a ‘bit underpowered for Rock’ please explain your thinking.

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While I prefer to have my Roon Server outside of the listening room (like I had in my previous house), my current setup in my apartment needs to have my Roon Core inside my listening room unfortunately.

So I’ve picked up the NUC7i7DNHE with an Akasa Plato X7D fanless case.

It took a few hours to put together because I’m extremely slow but also because I triple checked all connections because I never want to open it again.

The beauty with this is not just the fanless case with no moving parts but it’s also in a solid case that I can take with me when I travel.

There’s overkill here. I most definitely didn’t need 250gb for the M.2 SATA SSD drive but it was on sale for not much more than a 120gb WD SSD. Additionally, with 1 x 16gb DDR4 installed and the 2.5" 250gb SSD installed (no longer needed in my Synology NAS), if I want to repurpose this machine for a fanless Windows machine later, it’s ready to go without having to open up the case ever again.

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@dabassgoesboomboom

That’s an awesome build! Thanks for sharing!

The NUC 7i7DNxx makes an excellent Roon ROCK. It’s what we’ve been using recently with great success.

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Cheers Brian. As soon as @brian confirmed it was officially supported by Roon for ROCK builds, I pulled the trigger on this purchase.

I haven’t built a computer in a long while, so I took a deep breath as I pressed the power button and prayed to the HiFi Gods that the thing would power on… hehe. All good though. I’m very happy with it’s performance.

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Is anyone else here using the Plato X7D case with a NUC7i7DNxx?

I had a small question for those using this same case.

Cheers in advance.

What was the total cost?

OK! And there is my Best NUC for ROCK in DIY full aluminum fanless case with usb ethernet adapter and linear PSU inside :wink:

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Ha! You win :grin:

That’s a really awesome build.

:slight_smile:

We’ll call yours (Nucleus+)^2

Why one instead of a pair of DIMM? Nowadays RAM should always be installed in pairs (for consumer setup) to take advantage of dual channel memory bandwidth.

Single stick should be fine for Roon OS… I believe Nucleus+ only comes with a single stick of 8gb RAM.

If I repurpose this fanless NUC for Windows in future, I can add a 2nd 16gb stick, for 32gb total.

2x8GB is usually cheaper and when it runs dual channel it is faster. Yes might not matter when running ROCK. But it does in windows and who really needs 32GB in a windows PC. The average user is not running any vmware machines.

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Noted, I said the same.

Very happy with this NUC’s performance though.

I use the same case with the Nuc7i5BHN

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Nice work Philo.

Nice and slim in a tough case, so it travels well for me too.

Compatible with a few models: