Reddit reviews Intel NUC D54250WYK1 4th Gen Core i5-4250U Processor with Power Cord

Edit: Nevermind my recommendations... You said on the cheap. Just get an old Windows PC.



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Raspberry is gonna be slow. Stay away.

Sounds like you are gonna need a Windows PC to do all that without a fuss.

I'd go for one of these but they still need memory, OS and a storage drive.

For HDs: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HZDLNWO/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1420117092&sr=8-1&dpPl=1&dpID=41RYI9FbYkL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

For SSD: http://www.amazon.com/Intel-D54250WYK1-i5-4250U-Processor-Power/dp/B00H3YT8CC


http://www.amazon.com/Asus-VM60-G106M-ASUS-Barebone-System/dp/B00LHYG44Y/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1420118442&sr=1-4&keywords=Vivopc

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkCentre-M73-Desktop-10AY001RUS/dp/B00FNQMNCE/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1420118442&sr=1-10&keywords=Vivopc

First IntelNUC build and just want to make sure everything will work together:

IntelNUC D54250WYK1 link

Crucial 8GBx2 DDR3 204 SODIMM link

Transcent 128BG SATA III mSATA link

Sound good? Shoudl I swap a piece out for something else?

They say their dimensions are 4.0 x 4.0 x ?.? inches

Comparable would be the Intel NUC [1] [2] which is 4.6 x 4.4 x 1.4 inches. I use one for a minecraft server/video server/file server at home.

[1] I5 processor: http://www.amazon.com/Intel-D54250WYK1-i5-4250U-Processor-Power/dp/B00H3YT8CC

[2] I7 processor: http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-i7-4500U-2-5-Inch-Thickness-GB-BXi7H-4500/dp/B00I14INK6

Everything depends on how much you want to spend. I'll outline what I did:

1. I use an Intel NUC with Windows 8.1. Whole thing cost around $1000 but it should last me for a while. Honestly, it's kind of a pain to set up and get working 100% (with Remotes and whatnot). And you'll need a keyboard to properly navigate it. In my bedroom, I have a Amazon Fire TV, which is much cheaper and handles 1080p, and only needs a single remote to navigate, but won't handle your usenet functions.
   
   
2. I have Tweaknews as a primary. Very few takedowns. reliable speeds. YMMV.
   
   
3. Yes. Don't risk getting caught. I have Private Internet Access.
   
   
4. I chose the most popular apps because of the wealth of resources out there. If I ever ran into a problem setting it up, a quick google would answer about 90% of my questions.
   
   
5. I use a [QNAP 8 bay] (http://www.amazon.com/QNAP-TS-869-PRO-8-Bay-SATA-6Gbps/dp/B007K9WEFI/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1406757597&sr=8-7&keywords=qnap) (16 TB total Raid 5). Rock solid. 8 TB for primary and the other 8 to backup the first 8.
   
   
6. Yes, once you get rolling on downloads, you do not want to lose them. Get Raid, make backups.
   
   
7. I use MySQL. [Here's how to do it.] (http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=MySQL) XBMC will only use ONE user account, so no tracking multiple users watched shows. You'll be messing around with XML files so make sure you have some comfort in this.
   
   
8. Use the right tool (like Sickbeard) and it will auto rename files for you. I manually download my movies and name them always in the same naming convention.
   
   
9. It will take a while to get everything set up and running. I've probably spent 40 hours over the last year making it as automated as I could and still don't have it perfect. Just tackle it a little at a time, and piece by piece you'll get there.
   
   
10. I have XBMC and Netflix because, sometimes, Netflixing is just easier.

Not sure that it will have enough processing power to run a plex media server - and if does, it probably won't transcode very well (that might not be an issue for you), or maybe you only need a plex player?

I recently setup an intel NUC (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H3YT8CC) with plenty of power to transcode all levels of video, it's an amazing HTPC, silent, small, fantastic performance, no complaints, but it cost around $600 fully configured (8gigs ram, 120gb ssd, wifi/bluetooth).

I have the D54250WYK1 and I can confirm it's pretty powerful. I run linux (Ubuntu Server) on it and everything worked flawlessly out of the box. I run some game servers on it (minecraft, ark survival evolved) it as well as a plex server and a few other things. It can handle quite a bit. Great little machine.. though I'd recommend getting the version with the 2.5" expansion bay (link) just in case you ever need the extra storage.

Been running it for about two years 24/7/365 without a hitch.

They're a little expensive once you get the mSATA drive and RAM.. but good power for the price. On par with a good laptop.