Mini PC home media server

I’m replacing my aging gaming desktop (that was also a media server) with a new laptop (maybe SB2) and a mini PC server for media (plex), web browsing and productivity work (i.e. office). For the mini PC server, I don’t want to spend that much so I’m leaning towards the Intel BOXNUC7i3BNK NUC Barebone System. I’m curious if people have any experience with it. Right now I’m just doing 1080p but I would like to “future proof” my purchase for 4K. I’m pretty sure the Intel Core i3-7100U Dual Core 2.4GHz can handle direct play 4K. I don’t need on the fly 4K transcoding. Would like to hear other peoples thoughts on the topic.

Conversation 12 comments

  • Polycrastinator

    20 October, 2017 - 2:17 pm

    <p>Synology DS216play for the media server, get a docking station for the laptop. I know it's not quite what you were thinking, but I think it's a better setup.</p>

    • staganyi

      Premium Member
      20 October, 2017 - 2:46 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#209125"><em>In reply to Polycrastinator:</em></a></blockquote><p>Thanks for the reply. I should've specified that I need Windows on the mini PC for some web browsing and productivity work (i.e. office) and I already have storage with my WD 16TB My Book Duo Desktop RAID External Hard Drive that would connect to it through USB.</p>

      • Polycrastinator

        20 October, 2017 - 4:53 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#209142"><em>In reply to staganyi:</em></a></blockquote><p>Right, but I'm just wondering why you can't use the laptop you'll be buying for that? If you need a desktop format workspace, you can do that with a docking station. </p>

        • staganyi

          Premium Member
          20 October, 2017 - 10:34 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#209197"><em>In reply to Polycrastinator:</em></a></blockquote><p>The laptop will be shared by my wife and I, so if either one of us is using it, the other person can fall back to the mini PC.</p>

          • jimchamplin

            Premium Member
            21 October, 2017 - 12:14 am

            <blockquote><a href="#209255"><em>In reply to staganyi:</em></a></blockquote><p>Intel Compute Stick.</p>

            • Polycrastinator

              21 October, 2017 - 11:25 am

              <blockquote><a href="#209274"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a></blockquote><p>Not if it needs to act as a media server too. How much storage do you need? NUC might be a good choice but at best you’ll only have space for a single 2.5” hard drive. Depending on your tolerance for data loss, I would at the very least want to have 2 drives in RAID 1 for redundancy. I would honestly go with a home built box for that. A small ITX enclosure with an i3 and a couple of spinning drives would be a better bet. </p>

              • jimchamplin

                Premium Member
                21 October, 2017 - 6:38 pm

                <blockquote><a href="#209323"><em>In reply to Polycrastinator:</em></a></blockquote><p>Connect as big a mass storage device as you please via USB and it's fine. </p>

                • staganyi

                  Premium Member
                  23 October, 2017 - 9:01 am

                  <blockquote><a href="#209425"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a></blockquote><p>The plan is to use an m2 stick in the nuc and I already have the mass USB storage that has all the redundancy for the data. I looked at the compute stick but I wanted a little more power than that (want a core i3 at the minimum).</p>

  • maethorechannen

    Premium Member
    21 October, 2017 - 9:52 am

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">I don’t need on the fly 4K transcoding</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">That won't necessarily stop Plex from deciding it wants to transcode. Really wish Plex had a "only send direct streams and let it be the clients problem" switch. </span></p>

    • staganyi

      Premium Member
      23 October, 2017 - 8:55 am

      <blockquote><a href="#209317"><em>In reply to maethorechannen:</em></a></blockquote><p>That is true but for the most part I haven't had many issues with it. I mostly use the plex app on my xbox one and haven't really had any issues with it transcoding when it shouldn't.</p>

      • maethorechannen

        Premium Member
        23 October, 2017 - 9:28 am

        <blockquote><a href="#209623"><em>In reply to staganyi:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I've had transcode issues with Android Phones, a Sony Android TV, Fire TVs, the XBox One, Windows clients and Chromecasts (though I expect transcoding issues with the Chromecasts). DVR content in particular seems to set it off (I think it's the DVB subtitles that cause the problem, even when subtitles aren't being displayed). What's particularly annoying is when the Plex app doesn't work but Kodi with the Plex plugin is fine.</p><p><br></p><p>I've found that the NVidia Shield works best. </p>

  • staganyi

    Premium Member
    08 November, 2017 - 3:47 pm

    <p>Ended up getting the following components for $644.62 CAD (~$500 USD) from newegg and the performance has been great so far:</p><p><br></p><p>Intel NUC (Next Unit of Computing) BOXNUC7I3BNK Barebone Systems – Mini / Booksize</p><p>SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 250GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V6E250BW</p><p>G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 260-Pin DDR4 SO-DIMM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Laptop Memory Model F4-2133C15D-8GRS</p>

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