Intel NUC 5i5RYH Mini PC Review

[Redaktion]

Small, yet good. Intel has offered small desktop PCs for a long time now. We wish to test their latest installment: the NUC with its brand-new Broadwell chip. In the following in-depth review, we will delve into its features and performance.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-NUC-5i5RYH-Mini-PC-Review.138978.0.html

[djimeil]

When testing new hardware like the broadwell hd 5500 under a linux distribution, one must pay attention to have a quite recent kernel. I think that there is no wonder that the graphics failed under Ubuntu 14.04 and linux mint 17.1 as they are based on kernel 3.13 (with no broadwell support if i'm right). If your Fedora 21 installation didn't crash, the graphics should have worked well.

[TheRabbit]

How did you get the system to recognize 32GB of RAM when it only supports up to 16GB of RAM?

[Andrey Konstantinov]

djimeil, you are most likely correct: I work with Ubuntu a lot and each new generation of Intel CPUs/chipsets requires a more up to date kernel than stock for things to work properly. I've experienced similar issues with kernel 3.2 (Ubuntu 12.04 stock) running on Haswell - graphics weirdness, freezes, refusal to shut down properly...

Broadwell support is indeed missing in 3.13 IIRC, I think at least 3.16 is required. In Ubuntu 14.04 it can be easily installed with sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-utopic. The reviewer did say that same issues are present in 14.10, which uses 3.16 by default, so perhaps an even newer kernel will be required. But it will work for sure at some point, Intel's very keen about adding proper support for its products in the Linux kernel nowadays.

Also, a correction: 1866 MHz RAM is not supported by this NUC, I believe. Check its ARK page - only up to 1600 MHz is supported. The CPU's memory controller indeed supports 1866 MHz but only for LPDDR3 RAM, which is the embedded type used in smartphones/tablets and is not the same as DDR3L. You can install 1866 MHz DDR3L RAM but it will be downclocked to 1600 MHz automatically.

[asuagar]

Do you know if the Intel NUC NUC5I5RYH and 5I3RYK have the same fan and levels of noise?

[Andrey Konstantinov]

asuagar, very likely. Their only difference is that RYK doesn't come with a SATA 2.5" bay (that's what the H in the end of the model name stands for). Their CPUs and boards are identical, so the fans should be too. See http://ark.intel.com/compare/83254,83255

[asuagar]

asuagar, very likely. Their only difference is that RYK doesn't come with a SATA 2.5" bay (that's what the H in the end of the model name stands for). Their CPUs and boards are identical, so the fans should be too. See http://ark.intel.com/compare/83254,83255

Thanks Andrey by your fast answer.  :D

Best regards,
Andrés

[nucuser]

Just kernel update won't work. You need to update X.org as well. Ubuntu 15.04 should work out of the box. I use Mint 17.1, had to update kernel to 3.19 and X.org to the one from the bleeding edge repository - now even Borderlands 2 works fine ;-) Bioshock Infinite won't even start.

Annoying about Broadwell's GT3 HD 6000 is that it supports at most UHD resolution (not 4096x2160, black bars on sides), though 60Hz works there fine (except for occasional signal drop outs which can be caused by miniDP cable). I had similar drop outs on a Devil's Canyon HD4600 via HDMI when connected to UHD TV and switching to GTX970 solved them, so I guess the power via IGP is not up to par either.

32GB RAM is possible as BIOS doesn't seem to artificially block higher density modules as it was the case with Haswell. However the price of a 16GB module is too high, almost the same as the whole NUC.

If you set fan speed to 25% in the BIOS, it becomes inaudible.

Overall, NUC5i5RYH is very snappy, similar to my Zenbook's i7-3217U Ivy Bridge, and far faster than DN2820FYKH (which is anyway sufficient for a 1080p HTPC with Kodi).

[DanR]

Installed Linux Mint 17.3 (xfce, kernel version 3.19.0-32) on an Intel NUC 5i5RYH Mini PC. The operating system is installed on an SSD and is booted from an efi partition. I opted for 16GB Ram.

Before installing the operating system I upgraded to the latest Bios version (0353). So far everything is working fine straight out of the box including wifi and graphics output (3840x2160@60Hz on a Benq BL 2711U monitor and connecting via displayport).

Hope this helps someone who is planning to use a NUC with linux (especially since they come without operating system preinstalled).