Review on 💻 Enhanced Intel NUC 6 Performance Kit (NUC6i7KYK) - Core i7, Required Additional Components by Kevin Brianne

This is an amazing micro form factor PC. It's about 1/3 the size of my ASUS VivoPC and much more powerful. I went with 2 x 16GB SODIMMs and increased the memory to 32GB. I chose an Intel SSD6 500GB NVMe SSD for the hard drive to complete the build. I was able to get it working with the RAZER CORE, making it a great gaming PC without the bulky mini-tower. Pros: Small and powerful: The NUC can replace any desktop computer and is very portable. .- Iris Pro 580: I'm really surprised how well this GPU performed in 4K games. The fan ran at full blast during gaming, but it ran with moderate in-game graphics settings. - Thunderbolt port: It is compatible with RAZER CORE! Just make sure you update your Thunderbolt driver to the latest version available on Intel's website. I chose the ASUS GTX 1060 OC 6GB GPU and the game turned out fantastic. In addition, the NUC fan no longer runs at full speed when gaming, which is definitely a plus. Two NVMe slots, one for OS and one for apps/data. Good storage options before you need to connect an external USB 3.0 hard drive to it. Support up to 32GB RAM: You can run VM clients if you want. Cons: More USB 3.0 ports: I could have used two more USB 3.0 ports on the back or one USB 2.0 port on the front. The USB 2.0 port is for a wireless keyboard/mouse as USB 3.0 interferes with it. You should definitely invest in a USB 3.0 hub, especially if you plan to connect a BD/DVD reader to your NUC. The fan is always on: you can hear it and run at full speed when running graphics-intensive applications. Even the Bing website camera (live) gets the fan running. You should consider this if you plan to use it for HTPC and maybe install it in an entertainment device. In addition to fan noise, the device can also generate some heat. Not hot enough to be a problem, or too hot to handle, but hot enough that you don't want to put it in an enclosed space with no ventilation. NVMe performance seems reasonable and not as fast compared to PCIe NVMe adapter for NVMe SSDs. Using the same NVMe SSD on an HP EliteDesk 800 G2 (i7 6700U, 48GB RAM) compared to this NUC made the HP desktop feel faster. I don't have any recorded performance metrics, so that's a perception. Maybe someone can prove it if it hasn't already. Overall, I'm very happy with the Intel NUC Skull Candy. I compared it to offerings from Gigabyte and ZOTAC and am very glad I made that choice as it had a Thunderbolt port. I think I ended up paying more when comparing NUC + RCORE + GTX1060 as the main differences are having the latest hardware and the flexibility to upgrade the GPU in the future. Did I mention it's RAZER CORE compatible!