If you have a 4K TV and are looking to future-proof your setup a bit, I suggest you look at HEVC hardware decoding as another important factor. I wish I did a bit more research before committing to the NUC. Have a look at this article: 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9152/futureproofing-htpcs-for-the-4k-era-hdmi-hdcp-and-hevc

My NUC (5i5RYK) can’t handle smooth playback of 4K HEVC files, even at 30Hz! It’s fine if you only need a slick 1080p setup, but not 4K. Even if I manage to get the adapter working (which I seriously doubt), I’m still going to have an issue when 4K HEVC vids become the standard.  I’m probably going to get rid of the NUC in favour of a beefier HTPC build with an Nvidia GTX 960 to get me there. That’s just my 2 cents.

Very useful info, thanks Jerry.  I see, from a link I followed there that Skylake (my NUC) appears to support HEVC decoding at UHD resolutions, I’ll copy and paste here:
Skylake’s MFX engine adds HEVC Main profile decode support (4Kp60 at up to 240 Mbps). Main10 decoding can be done with GPU acceleration. The Quick Sync PG Mode supports HEVC encoding (again, Main profile only, with support for up to 4Kp60 streams).

Yes I’m sure the skylake NUC will do a better job than my broadwell NUC but the question is how much better? This is the problem with being an early adopter of new tech. HEVC is fairly new and is very demanding on the CPU. In 12 months I’m sure it will be a different story as drivers and hardware matures to suit, but for now it is an issue. As 4K HDR blu ray starts to enter the market with the increased bandwidth requirements to support the visual awesomeness it carries, my little NUC is not going to cut it. To give you an idea, the playback of 4K HEVC is unwatchable… Probably putting out 4fps!

If I have learned anything from my NUC experience, it’s that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If you want serious performance you need some serious hardware. A proper mini ITX build will cost a few hundred more than a NUC but it’s modular,  upgradeable and has enough grunt for gaming as well … so I that makes it worthwhile for me. I hope you have better luck with your Skylake version though.

Jerry, what did you end up building or buying? (or what are you planning on)
I’m getting more and more disappointed by half-fulfilled promises by Intel’s NUC team.  Some 4K content plays perfectly well, some plays like absolute crap (depending on bitrate, mostly) and Intel has done very little in terms of comms with their customers.  I’d hope that they would pull some magic graphics drivers out of a hat, but then again, my realistic nature struggles against the possibility of that happening.  So, I’m considering selling my little Skylake NUC and investing in something a little bigger and a lot better.  Any suggestions?

Hey Ripped … firstly happy Easter to you.

Funny you should ask because I just bought my new rig to replace the NUC, and I was desperately hoping that the final package would arrive in the mail on Thursday so I could have some fun building my new HTPC over the Easter long weekend … but it was not to be.  I’ll have to wait until next week to get it built.  But anyway, here is my new HTPC build:

Case – Fractal Design Node 304 (white)
MOBO – Asrock H170M-ITX/ac
CPU – Intel i5 6400
RAM – 2x 4Gb Kingston HyperX DDR4 2133
HDD – Intel 120Gb SSD
GPU – Gigabyte GTX 960 2Gb Windforce
PSU – Corsair CS550M Plus Gold

All this is costing me a bit under $1200 which is more than I wanted to spend but it’s a pretty good spec machine, and should eat up 4K content for some time to come and also be good enough for some gaming as well.  I did a lot of research on the case and PSU because we also just bought a new TV cabinet and the case has to fit in it properly.  My main concerns were ventilation/cooling, space and noise.  There are smaller cases that will fit this gear in it, but I didn’t want to create a hot box, which would make all the case fans, GPU fans and PSU fans have to spool up to vent the hot air and make a lot of noise.  Of course there are bigger ITX cases as well, but most of them won’t fit the new TV cabinet.

My research tells me that this combination should be beefy enough to run my HTPC apps (mostly Plex) comfortably with the PSU & GPU fans on very low or even completely off.  The case fans are supposed to be inaudible on low speed as well, so I’m hoping that this is my magic bullet.

I don’t blame you for looking at a different solution.  I think the NUC is a good idea, and for many people it will be exactly the solution that they need.  But for those of us who are more in the ‘enthusiast’ category, it really doesn’t cut it.  Besides, when you start to look at HTPC cases, there are some really good looking designs around – you might be surprised.

Jerry

Thanks, that was very informative indeed.  A damn shame we can’t get some of those items easily in New Zealand, ASRock motherboards are pretty hard to find (and I do like them) and we are screwed over in terms of price over here too.

I’m having to balance my wants for both a decent HTPC and the Oculus Rift / VIVE at the moment.  Not quite sure which one will win out in the end. 🙂

Well FYI I have some feedback on ASRock mobos … don’t get one, go with something like ASUS or Gigabyte.  I have spent the whole weekend fooling around with the BIOS trying to get the CPU fan to spin properly.  I won’t bore you with the details but ASRock evidently have issues causing the CPU fan not to spin at all unless it’s going flat out – no good for a quiet HTPC build.  Anyway, I have it performing better now but not completely as it should be working.  Save yourself the hassle and buy a better brand.  
Shame about the price issue … we get screwed over here too but not as badly as you guys I’m sure.  Maybe try newegg?  They ship to Aus now, I don’t know about NZ though.  The VR setup sounds cool … good luck with it.

Oh by the way … my new HTPC kills 4K HEVC videos … runs native HDMI 2.0 out to my 4K TV, no skipped frames, CPU at 2% usage and memory (8Gb) at 20% usage … and best of all, no need to screw around with this miniDP to HDMI dongle that doesn’t work!

Balls, I’m going to have to sell my NUC now.  Thanks once again, native HDMI 2(a?) is a must for any future builds.  I have space behind my TV cabinet, so the build doesn’t even have to be too small… the NUC’s form factor is great, but there are simply too many sacrifices.  Just not worth it.

Hi Fran24,

Welcome and  yes it will