Intel NUC 8 Mainstream Kit (NUC8i3BEK) - Core i3, Short, Add't Components Needed

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I dont normally have issues with NUCs. Ive deployed 20+ of them ranging from i5-5s to i5-8s. I ordered two of these 8i5 NUCs. The first one wouldnt boot a cloned m.2. Ive never had that problem before so I tried a boot ready Windows m.2 install and it didnt work either so I warranty returned it. I received the 2nd one and it did the same thing. Ok. Fine, Ill spend hours reinstalling windows and all the business programs the client needs. Then the driver problems started. The Drive Update Utility kept erroring out which again Ive never experienced & the audio driver it told me I needed wouldnt install. As it is right now Ive had Intel support logged into the machine twice in the last 3 days. They worked for quite while on trying to install the audio drivers. Today I contacted them again because there was popping sounds coming from the speaker when opening the sound options window, playing a video, playing audio, scrolling pages while playing audio/video. Intel said they would escalate and send me forms to fill out via email. Further testing revealed that switching audio to run through HDMI to the monitor did not reproduce the popping sound. Switched the audio back to normal and initially experienced no popping. Still unsure if fixed or related to the work Intel had to do to get the audio drivers installed. Machine is running besides the ongoing audio issues. I will buy more NUCs but I will be waiting for the next generation or if I see the 7i5s for a decent price. So far Im 1 for 3 with the 8i5s. The first one I purchased from another seller, it accepted the clone no problem and no issues with DUU and drivers. These last two though, wow.

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I purchased the 8i5BEH NUC during one of Amazons flash deals. I am extremely happy with it so far. I am running windows 10 Pro with 16GB of ram (2 x 8GB Crucial DDR4 2400) and an NVME drive. Word, Excel, and other Office 2019 program open in one second. I have it connected to my wireless mesh network, and pages load instantly using the onboard WiFi. I also have the previous generation 7i3 NUC; the 8th generation i5 runs circles around it. I wasnt unhappy with the i3 per se, but it was just a little big sluggish... especially in comparison. The difference between the two is immediately obvious. I tried using the 7i3 as my main PC for a couple months. It was adequate, but I didnt love it. This, I love. Its tiny, quiet, and blazing fast. Im taking off a star because the Intel Driver and Support Assistant will no longer scan the device to identify drivers automatically. It worked once, but every occasion since then I can only get the dreaded "Oops, something went wrong while trying to scan." Irritating, but not a fatal flaw. I can install stuff manually, but the Assistant was great while it worked.

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Im a longtime user of Intel NUCs and this one is my first disappointment. Its noisy when performing basic web browsing and video watching. I know the previous reviewers seemingly had little or no problem with noise, so perhaps I received a dud. Perhaps, but the official Intel forum is filled with posts complaining of fan noise. And the part that is most aggravating is there is no way to control the fan. What bothers people is that while the BIOS offers various fan speed adjustments (including one lableled "fanless" that actually makes the fan louder), none of them make this machine acceptable in a home environment. Theres simply no way to limit the fan speed. So while it does do what the marketing literature says, and its as fast as any i5, its just not good enough as a home PC/Home Theater device. Im keeping it for a few days in hope that a fan control solution is found; if it isnt, Im returning it and buying the i3 version or maybe even the Pentium one

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Brand new i7 NUC with 16GB RAM and 500Gb Samsung 970 EVO NVMe and Fresh install of Windows 10 Pro. Its used for business only. This thing will NOT wake up from sleep. It also wont boot with a GUI most of the time. This is a huge issue with NUC owners and the internet is full of stories. Intel has known about this for years and havent fixed this problem. Yes, latest drivers and BIOS installed. Yes, sleep disabled. Doesnt matter...Brand new Dell 27" Monitors. The only way to get a GUI when booting is to unplug the HDMI cable and re-plug. This thing is garbage without working video and its no wonder AMD is going to bury them eventually. Im an IT guy and if I cant get it working consistently, it isnt worth it... DONT buy this!

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I got both i7 and i5 versions of these Nuc8 machines and run multiple VMs on each. The i7 can boost all 4 cores to 4.1ghz but gets very noisy (fan noise) very easily when cpu utilization gets above 30% or so. I decided to cap the max turbo frequency at 3.0ghz (via windows power profile registry) to keep the machine running as quiet as possible (just slightly noisier than idle fan noise when I push all 4 cores to 3.0ghz for multiple minutes). The i5 on the other hand runs very quiet even when I push all 4 cores to their max at 3.6ghz for 5 minutes straight. If I were to do it over I would just buy only the i5 version for my use. I think Intel’s fan algorithm on the i7 is aggressive starting at even low turbo frequency. With the i7 capped at 3.0ghz (to manage fan noise), I ended up paying $100 more than I needed to and got less performance (compared to the i5).

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I debated whether I wanted to get my wife an All in one or this. We already had a monitor so why pay extra. I had the old skull canyon nuc which I returned because of fan and noise issues. Unfortunately this seems to just plague all nucs. Reviews said this is much better in terms of fan noise and is suppose to run cooler. Well I’d say this is marginally better at best. From the minute it turns on can year that tiny little annoying fan spinning. I’ve tried playing with the bios settings to find a happy medium for fan speed and temps but sadly I think I will have to return this again. I really wanted to like this.

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I had one of the 4th gen NUCs and loved it. It was crazy fast for its size, made absolutely no sound and made for a great HTPC. I wanted to upgrade and decided this was the one to go with as it would be running Plex. Overall it is snappy and super quick, but it is louder than the older versions. I guess having the i7 chip in it is a big reason why and it needs a fan to stay cool. Its not annoyingly loud and I would say for the most part it is pretty much unnoticeable. I love with this one you can customize the color of the LED light on the front. The only con I can come up with is that you cant use both an m2 and Intel Optane at the same time. I wish it had a dedicated Optane port on it. The 8th gen i7 also transcodes like a beast. This is the perfect HTPC.

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Currently using it as a small dedicated server running CentOS 7. The UEFI has useful functions such as automatic boot after power loss/restore which is great as it means that I do not have to babysit the server. Its pretty quiet and the fan is not noisy at full speed. Set up couldnt be easier, four screws on the bottom and anyone with half a brain could figure out how to install the RAM, SSD and/or a 2.5" SSD/HDD without the included instructions. The i3 version runs my server just fine, if I need to upgrade in the future I wouldnt hesitate to buy the i5 or i7 versions.

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I may update this review later but Im going to add the critical info here for people looking to do what I did. I chose the the short i3 variant (NUC8i3BEK) because I just wanted a simple HTPC and didnt want to spend more money on this. This thing will only be running YouTube and VLC (with media on the local network). Adding the RAM and M.2 drive took less than 5 minutes. I loaded this thing with the most basic M.2 SSD on Amazon and a single stick of 8Gb of RAM (because it was cheaper than buy 2 sticks of 4Gb). I installed Linux Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS without issues. After doing the online updates which took just a few more minutes, everything was great. We were able to stream 1080p and 4K video off YouTube without any hiccups. Again, just make sure you install those updates and enable the 3rd party drivers to get the best performance out of the integrated graphics. So this is now my new HTPC which I operate using a tiny wireless keyboard/mouse. Its exactly what I needed. Its quiet to the point of being practically silent and, being so small, it fits anywhere. If youre looking to build a small, quiet, discrete HTPC without breaking the bank, while still getting all the benefits of a full fat desktop OS (such as including ad-blockers in your browser), then getting a NUC is a great way to go. Overall, I spent less than $350 on the whole machine. And it runs better than I could have hoped for.

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After researching this for some time, the BEH model was what I decided on. The Intel i8-8259 is a great processor for the money, and outpaces many i7 processors currently being marketed in simlar units. Do your reasearch! Its use wont be that heavy, general office use, plus Quickbooks Pro. Very fast and responsive. I built with a Samsung 256G EVO 970 and Crucial 8G DDR4 2400 module. Planning on adding a 1TB 2.5" 7200 2.5" drive in the secondary bay for additional storage. Very happy so far.

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