I'm going between whether I should buy a NUC or just build a small profile, quiet PC. My only issue is that it's been a while since I've focused on a build and I've lost track on what prices vs. power would be for what I'm trying to do.
My uses are really basic for this system:
Web stuff: email / youtube / torrents
Minor office needs: Spreadsheet / Word / etc.
Run Plex (needs to be always be, so looking for lower power consumption, but needs to be able to trancode)
Quiet, my current one was built for gaming (see below) and is just too loud
Modest gaming (super modest, like, Minecraft maybe and stuff my kids might do)
Speed.
So far, I've been looking at the NUCs and it's going to cost my ~$700
NUC6i5SYH - $370
Samsung 950 Pro m.2- $200
Kingston HyperX DDR4 16GB - $115
Seeing as I'm finding near top-setting gaming rigs for $800, it feels like the NUC might not be that great of a deal. If I wanted to look at a small form, but quiet build, where should I start? Can I do this for less than $700? I don't need a full build, but some ideas on where to start my research would be greatly appreciated.
Side note: I'm replacing the (awesomely?) ancient system in my sig. ONly changes since the build in 2007 were RMA'd RAM, but still only 4GB. On Windows 10 now, which is the entire reason for the upgrade-just too slow at this point. 9 years out and this has been super reiliable!
My uses are really basic for this system:
Web stuff: email / youtube / torrents
Minor office needs: Spreadsheet / Word / etc.
Run Plex (needs to be always be, so looking for lower power consumption, but needs to be able to trancode)
Quiet, my current one was built for gaming (see below) and is just too loud
Modest gaming (super modest, like, Minecraft maybe and stuff my kids might do)
Speed.
So far, I've been looking at the NUCs and it's going to cost my ~$700
NUC6i5SYH - $370
Samsung 950 Pro m.2- $200
Kingston HyperX DDR4 16GB - $115
Seeing as I'm finding near top-setting gaming rigs for $800, it feels like the NUC might not be that great of a deal. If I wanted to look at a small form, but quiet build, where should I start? Can I do this for less than $700? I don't need a full build, but some ideas on where to start my research would be greatly appreciated.
Side note: I'm replacing the (awesomely?) ancient system in my sig. ONly changes since the build in 2007 were RMA'd RAM, but still only 4GB. On Windows 10 now, which is the entire reason for the upgrade-just too slow at this point. 9 years out and this has been super reiliable!