[frozenwaste]

Hi,

I'm looking at building my first XBMC system, for the last few years I've only used Popcorn Hours (several models), but finding them limited now, but new to XMBC so not sure what to build.

I'm looking at purchasing an Intel NUC with NAS for storage.

Is this NUC overkill:

Intel NUC D54250WYK with 16Gb RAM

The NAS I'm looking at is:

QNAP TS-1079 PRO 40TB 10 Bay Desktop NAS

Do you think the NUC will connect to the NAS and playback all movie files fine, including 3D MKVs etc.?

The NUC seems to come with Windows pre-installed on the suppliers I've found, should I install Linux on the box instead?

Thanks!

[frozenwaste]

Hi,

No one can advise on this please? Just want to make sure the setup will work fine before ordering.

Been doing some more reading, I believe OpenELEC is an option - would this be compatible with this NUC do you think?

Also, is there anything specific I need to ensure for the NAS, i.e. certain types of drives, or will any decent drive allow me to stream the movies seamlessly (via Ethernet)?

Thanks.

[joelbaby]

Is this NUC overkill:
Intel NUC D54250WYK with 16Gb RAM

Yes. XBMC can run on a celeron with 2Gb of ram.
Suggest you read both the nuc threads, and Eskro's sticky at the top of the hardware page.

[p750mmx]

Be patience Grasshopper, no unnecessary kicking of this topic.

It seems your NAS choice is rather an overkill compared with the NUC but its your money.

The NUC will be just fine, you can play almost every Media you want on that thing, also real 3D (Full 3D), what is not possible with most Celeron's and also not by XBMC without an external Player and without Windows (7/8) as OS.

[wsume99]

Yes, that NAS is WAY OVERKILL in terms of cost. You could easily build your own 12-bay media server for ~$500. Heck you could build a server including 10 x 4TB HDDs for as much as that thing costs empty.

It is very unusual for a HTPC newcomer to need 40TB of storage. You need to check out unraid (my recommendation) or flexraid.

[frozenwaste]

That's great thanks for the replies.

Yes new to HTPC, but already got about 18Tb on multiple drives for my Popcorn Hours so just future-proofing really with the NAS.

I've ordered the NUC with 480Gb SDD and 16Gb RAM (just in case I want to do more than XBMC on it).

Will look into building a 12 bay media server now :-) Any guides for things like this or am I best checking out external forums?

[frozenwaste]

NUC arrived today :-)

When configuring, which of the following would be best (I have checked the forums but can't find an answer):

Configuration #1:
480Gb SSD - Two bootable partitions, 380Gb for Windows 7 (or 8.1?) and 100Gb for OpenElec

Configuration #2:
480Gb SSD Windows 7 (or 8.1?) and 64Gb USB 3.0 stick for OpenElec

Any recommendations for bootable fast USB 3.0 stick, also is 64Gb enough or would I need 128Gb?

Thanks :-)

[frozenwaste]

I have opted for the following USB 3.0 stick:

SanDisk SDCZ80-064G-X46 64Gb

Any advice on which configuration I've listed above would be best? :-)

[00b5]

So you got a NUC, and you got a 480gb mSATA in it?

Why do you want to run windows and OE? Is the NUC going to do something other than run XBMC?

[frozenwaste]

Seems a shame to use the D54250WYK for just XBMC, so looking at running Windows too in case I ever want to run a game on it.