New Intel NUC kits / June 2015

duren

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-nuc5ppyh.html
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-kit-nuc5cpyh.html

I was thinking of one of these units as an alternative to the 1037U's on AliExpress.

I know the wireless would most likely not work
I know I'd have to resort to VLANs due to the single NIC - is this bad practice? will it really affect my performance?

Thoughts? My biggest concern is reliability but how much less reliable than the Chinese 1037U's?

Ideally this thing would handle 100mbit openvpn.

vbcn

Watch out, I've just purchased this model (NUC5CPYH) and the NIC is not working (not detected by OS) with latest pfsense 2.2.4 :(

The best way to come closer to the Chinese 1037U would be to go by used or refurbished parts
and build your own appliance. Why wasting time and money and then nothing is working likes
expected? Then better go by spending ~$200 and all is up and running!

Intel Celeron G3260 @3,2GHz
mini ITX Board with Intel Ports
greater mini ITX case w. 1 PCIe slot
2 x 2 GB or 2 x 4 GB RAM
1 Intel PCIe Quad Port NIC from HP brand
250 Watt PSU or in the case integrated one

Or saving money more then 2 or 3 month for getting a complete box ready to go from Amazon
with 4 or 5 Intel GB LAN Ports with 2 GB RAM for ~$300, that will definitely 100% working for you.
Jetway Intel N2930 Network PC w/ 5X Intel LAN, 2GB

malahal

@vbcn:

Watch out, I've just purchased this model (NUC5CPYH) and the NIC is not working (not detected by OS) with latest pfsense 2.2.4 :(

pfsense 2.3 seem to detect the NIC, but I haven't done anything else. I will wait for 2.3 release (until then my chromebox is serving fine for now).

glint.bladesong

@duren:

but how much less reliable than the Chinese 1037U's?

Considering the NUCs are most likely made in Taiwan (I believe), what makes you think they are any less/more reliable? The one vbcn purchased has already got an issue. ;D

The 1037U on Aliepxress have Intel CPUs and Intel NICs supported by pfSense, the SDD and RAM you can buy locally if that helps your peace of mind (although they too are probably Chinese made…).

And for all the posts in the Hardware/Vendors forum you are going to be hard pressed to find a single complaint about these boxes (from people who have actually bought and are using them). I'd recommend buying one and trying it, no VLANS needed.

Or listen to BlueKobold and go buy a far more expensive Jetway box (which is also going to be made somewhere in asia... ;D )